Macgasm

Apple introduced a new version of GarageBand in its iLife ‘11 suite yesterday, and Xander Soren demonstrated some impressive new features. Let’s take a look at what’s new in GarageBand ‘11.

Groove Matching
Soren called it “an automatic spell-checker for bad rhythm,” and for the most part it works. In a session with multiple tracks, you can choose one track to be the master groove track, the one which all the other tracks will lock to. This track is indicated by a star on the left hand side. You can check off any other tracks that you want to match to the master groove track. This is great for generally tightening up a song, especially if you are recording live instruments against loops. Tools like this have been available to professional producers in Logic and other programs, but it hasn’t been this easy until now.

In my own testing, it works reasonably well, although it did sometimes introduce slight artifacts in the sound as it shifted audio around. It also doesn’t handle complex rhythmic tracks very well, and is more suited to straightforward rock or pop beats. There is no real control over it, so if you’re not happy with the result, there’s not much you can do to tweak it. For a one-click solution, it does what it does pretty well, just don’t expect it to work miracles.

Flex Time
With this tool, you can time stretch or shrink individual audio regions, as well as move them around. In the audio editor, you can click on a region’s start or end, and move it forward or back. This means you can change the start point of a particular note, as well as how long the note will be held out for. Soren used the example of a guitar chord that didn’t hold on long enough. He clicked on the end and simply dragged to stretch the note longer. You can also click on the beginning and delay the start of a note, or make it occur sooner if it was played late, for example. Very handy tool, and very simple to use.

More Guitar Amps and Effects
Garageband ‘11 includes 12 guitar amplifier models, from Marshall to Fender, Orange to Vox. You can also create a chain of 5 effect pedals, choosing from 15 different pedals. Each amp and pedal has a handy description that will pop up if you hover over it, so you can get a sense of which pedal and amp you might want to use for a particular sound.

Piano and Guitar Lessons
Here’s where things start to get interesting. GarageBand ‘11 offers a greatly expanded music lessons area. Offering instruction in piano and guitar, lessons can be downloaded from the Lesson Store covering the basics to advanced riffs and licks. These are free to download, and range in size from 300MB to 1.0GB in some cases. They feature a video of the teacher, scrolling music notation or tablature, and a picture of the keyboard or fretboard with numbers showing where to place your fingers. As you play through the lesson, you will see the music shown to you simultaneously on all three areas on screen. When you’re done the lesson, you can choose to play a song based on the lesson that you’ve just learned. Some lessons include more than one part that you can play along with. Once you select Play, you then switch to the “How did I play?” mode that was demonstrated at the keynote. You can play along with the music, complete with a backing band or orchestra, and record your performance. It measures how accurate you are at playing the right notes, and at the right time, and then gives you a percentage accuracy score. GarageBand ‘11 Lessons will also keep a history of your score over time, so you can track your progress.

The piano lessons feature Pop Piano and Classical styles, and I tried one of each. You must have a MIDI keyboard connected to your computer, either via USB if the keyboard has it, or through a dedicated MIDI interface if your keyboard lacks USB. One thing I found difficult during a play through of the Bach Musette lesson was that the piano notation did not scroll soon enough for me to read the notes in the next bar, resulting in some wrong notes as the score whipped across the screen.

Next, I tried the guitar lessons. To do this you will need a way to plug in your guitar to your computer, either via an external audio interface or a special adaptor cable, provided your Mac has an audio in port. If you have an acoustic guitar, it must also have a pickup. In my case I was using an electric guitar, which is what the Blues and Rock Guitar lessons are directed at. I was curious to see how well it would track my playing, and as I went through the Play mode, I was impressed with how it handled single notes, and even more impressed with how it handled chord recognition. (I got an 87% in the Blues Guitar Minor Pentatonic Scale Lesson, which is better than it sounds, really.)

Apple is definitely on to something here. As a music teaching system, it’s remarkable that you can learn some techniques, a scale or a lick, and then apply it in a song with a backing band immediately. And then you can get instant feedback as you’re playing as to how you’re doing, so that you can track your improvement as you do the lesson over again. Hopefully we will see more lessons offered, in different styles of music.

Even more intriguing is the “Open in GarageBand” button, which lets you open your recorded performance in GarageBand as a project, complete with the backing band split up into individual tracks for each instrument. As a learning tool for recording and mixing, this basically gives you the individual tracks for each of the lesson songs that you can do whatever you please with. Really powerful stuff.

Conclusion
I’m pretty impressed with Garageband ‘11 and its expanded editing tools. I’m even more impressed with the effort Apple has put into offering a good set of lessons to teach music skills, and to give musicians instant feedback as to how well they’ve played.

Technology has always been used to improve recordings and musical performance, whether it was splicing tape, or punch ins, or auto-tune and digital editing. As technology has improved, the tools have become more sophisticated. I’m glad that Apple has given us the tools to correct mistakes, but also a way to improve musical skills so that those mistakes don’t happen in the first place.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the Mac App Store, some of it negative, and most of it coming from people who don’t have much authority on the matter. The Omni Group has put together  an opinion piece on the Mac App Store, and they’ve published it on their blog. It’s an interesting read.

I’m not really surprised that the Omni Group is looking forward to the Mac App Store. They clearly get it, and they’ve gotten it for years. They get that it will be a better buying experience for consumers, and they get that it’ll be a more secure billing system. They get that most people don’t want to figure out how to install their apps, and they get that people want quality.

Overall, they get it.

Ken Case, the author of the article on the Omni Group blog, titled Looking forward to the Mac App Store, outlines a lot of very interesting thoughts about the Mac App Store.

Here’s the best point in the article, amidst a bunch of excellent points:

I think the real benefit is that our software is far more likely to reach consumers who otherwise simply wouldn’t see it.

This point being made by Case really illustrates my opinion about the Mac App Store. A lot of people seem to forget that there’s an entire market out there that has no idea where to begin finding applications. A store front for OS X applicatins is going to result in some pretty huge exposure for developers. But, much like the iOS App Store, there’s potential for disaster, as crap starts creeping in and people try to make a quick buck.

Apple’s going to have a difficult time curating the Mac App Store, and we will surely hear a lot of complaining from people who get denied access to the party. As a consumer, I don’t mind that. I want the best of the best being put up on my screen. But, as someone with a vested interested in this, it has me a little concerned.

Applications that I need or prefer might not make it into an App Store, like LittleSnitch. Do we really think something like that will make it onto the store? It’s a really useful application for some people, but the utility of the app will be limited to a small niche group.  We don’t know if these applications will find their way into the Mac App Store, and only time will reveal Apple’s plan.

Thank goodness the Mac App Store isn’t going to be the only avenue for installing applications, but the Mac App Store is going to be the best option.

Article Via The Omni Group

Civilization 5 is going to be released sometime during fall 2010, and we’re super excited about getting our hands on it. Aspyr and crew have put together a trailer of cut screen footage from the game to get everyone hyped up.

Mission accomplished: we’re hyped up.

This version of Civ5 will bring hexagon tile movements, a new engine, immersive audio alongside native language speech, and a whole bunch of new civilizations. Something tells me I’ll be wasting a lot of time on this over the holidays.

Fall’s quickly turning into winter, so we can probably expect this game to drop any day now.

Article Via OS X Daily

There’s been a lot of words written about AirPlay’s potential. Some have guessed that it will let you stream apps to your TV through the Apple TV, others think it’s how Apple will redefine the television.

I caught a glimpse of the latter last night while messing around with the CityTV.com application, my Apple TV and iOS 4.2 beta 3 on the iPad. It had happened previously, the Airplay button showing up while streaming video from the CityTV app, but within 8 hours of noticing it the first time, it had disappeared entirely. Sadly, when I noticed it the first time, I was laying in bed, messing around at 2 AM. I thought to myself, “I’ll write about this in the morning.” Eight hours later the button had disappeared entirely. But, last night, while getting caught up with Modern Family episodes, the button was back again. This time I dropped everything and tried it out.

The audio was sent to my Apple TV and out of the television speakers immediately. It worked like AirPlay has worked to date, and in every way we would expect it to work. This is going to change everything.

While Google’s out trying to get you to buy Google TVs, Apple’s trying to redefine the space in a way that no one else has done yet. Video on demand, from whatever device you want, while still being able to push things to your television set, should you want it, with a $99.00 Apple TV.

Think about that for a second. If a Television agency has an iOS app that lets you stream their shows, you’ll be able to then stream them to the TV as well. Channels become apps, and your viewing lineup can be on demand, and you can do it directly from the iPad or iPhone. Use the iPad and iPhone as remotes, and the Apple TV as a conduit.

It was a pipe dream before, but now that CityTV.com (in Canada) is exploring the potential of pushing the videos to your TV, it could become a reality. AirPlay might be available to anyone who wants to toss a video stream to your TV from their app.

For those of you who aren’t Canadian, CityTV is a television company in Canada that has the rights to rebroadcast a lot of US content. While we have NBC, CBS, and other American channels, it’s the CityTVs and Globals that have been fighting to keep the Hulu apps out of Canada. But, it seems like CityTV and now Global are doing an end around and bringing their own apps to the App Store, complete with AirPlay technology.

At the time of writing, the AirPlay button has disappeared again.  It’s bizarre, but it keeps appearing and disappearing at random, without having to update your iPad app.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a case for a Mac OS X App Store. I know that Apple did not just magically read the article and go ‘Great idea.’ The Mac OS X App Store is something that has been in development for a while. Now that it will be arriving in the next 90 days, I figured I would take a good thorough look at the good, the bad, and potentially dangerous aspects of a Mac OS X App Store.

This is what I thought it might look like.

But alas, I was wrong. Let’s go through some of the differing aspects of the Mac App Store.

Payments. The split for revenue is going to remain the same as the iOS software: 70/30. Is this good or bad? I am not entirely sure either way. Yes, it is the same percentage iOS developers are used to, but this could be entirely too onerous for some current Mac Developers who do host their own store. This may work well for independent developers who do not currently have a storefront and do not wish to set one up.

Free Updates. The iOS App store requires that any developer provide free updates to their applications. For most developers providing updates is not a problem. For some, they may wish to charge for an update. Within iOS, this can be accomplished by providing an update, but allowing for an ‘in-app’ purchase to gain additional functionality. There was no mention of updates at the ‘Back to The Mac’ event and there is also no mention within the Mac Developer agreement. An alternative is to create a new version and release that as an entirely separate application, but there are complications with that unless your application allows syncing.

Application Portability. With the Mac App Store each user will be able to run ANY applications downloaded within the store on ALL of their devices. This is much like the iOS model where you only buy the application once and run it on all of your iOS devices. This will make users quite happy, yet developers, like Adobe, will be chagrinned due to losing sales since they can no longer charge a user on a per-license basis. Pricing for applications has not been unveiled, but I presume it is going to be the same as the iOS App Store where you can go from free to $999.99, if you wish.

Digital Rights Management (DRM). There was no mention, during the ‘Back to the Mac’ event of any DRM being allowed on the applications during the presentation. This would also include serial numbers and the like. The Mac developer agreement states that NO DRM can be used without Apple’s express permission. This could prove interesting considering there may be some companies, not many, that may be able to convince Apple that they need to have DRM for one reason or another. However I do not believe there will be that many companies who will attempt to go through the hassle.

Curation. Apple has developed a walled-garden with iOS Applications. As an individual, you cannot add your own third-party devices without jail-breaking your device. Apple is beginning to set the basis of a locked-down version of the Mac with the introduction of the Mac App Store. They are beginning to curate what is ‘readily’ available to the Mac audience.

Steve Jobs stated in the ‘Back to the Mac’ event that this will NOT be the only way to go get applications onto Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. I think that come Mac OS 11, the only way to get applications will be via the Mac App Store. If this does come to fruition, I firmly believe it would be the end of the Mac. But it could easily be that come Mac OS 11, there will be a complete merge of iOS and Mac OS and there will only be one set of hardware and one way to acquire applications. This could be a very bad precedent, and ultimately it would be a turn for an entirely closed platform.

Being tech savvy, I am sure there will be additional stores cropping up, in addition to any that are currently available. For the new Mac user, which accounts for 50% of Apple’s sales of Macs last quarter, using Apple’s Mac App Store is going to be a no-brainer. Moreover, the Mac App Store is going to become a ‘trusted’ place for new Mac users to be able to download and install applications quickly and easily, and from a trusted vendor.

The Roll-out of Mac App Store. Apple has a 90-day release window for the release of the Mac App Store. Sure, they could have easily waited until the release of 10.7 Lion, slated for Summer ’11, to roll-out this feature. Instead, they decided to do surprise the tech journalists and Mac users by introducing this early. Apple has opted to jump on the momentum of the iOS App Store and port it to the Mac OS sooner rather than later. This move will allow Apple to gain additional revenue more quickly. This move can only add to the $1 Billion Apple made last quarter off of the iTunes store as a whole. This will also allow users to transition more quickly to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion by getting them accustomed to installing applications via iTunes instead of from an unknown website. One would hope that all of a user’s current applications will work with Mac OS 10.7 Lion upon arrival, although I am sure there will be some updates along the way.

Developers. I am not entirely sure how current iOS only developers will feel. I know, as an independent developer, that the Mac App store, if I choose to build an application for the Mac, is a great way to sell my application. It allows me to reduce the amount of time and effort spent setting up a storefront and would allow me to put more time toward development, which is never a bad thing. However, the 30% cut that Apple gets is somewhat bothersome. With the iOS apps, you do not have a choice. With the Mac App Store, for the time being at least, you are able to put your applications on another store, or host your own. If you can negotiate better rates then it might be easier to host elsewhere.

App Pricing. Currently, with the iOS Apps, it is a race to the bottom. If your application isn’t priced at $2.99, it doesn’t sell as well as a similar application at $0.99. To me, this just seems like consumers mis-judging the value and time of the developer that is required in order to create the applications that they want to download. It is not often you see an application go up in price. Sure, there are those that are done to make a point, but it does not happen often. I hope that the Mac App Store will buck this trend and return applications to the ‘normal’ levels that we have been seeing right now.

Waste Reduction. Some of the items not generally thought about when purchasing boxed software is the amount of extra packaging that goes along with that product. You have the box, instruction manual, disc, sleeve for the disc, and any other doodads that may be within the packaging. Not only does this take energy and materials to create, but it also takes up some space for a user to store this package. With the Mac App Store, all you have to do is login and re-download your software.

Overall, I believe that the Mac App Store was the biggest announcement made at the ‘Back to the Mac’ event. The introduction of the App Store is a cause for concern regarding the direction that Apple is taking the Mac. Of course this is fully within their right and anybody who does not wish to play in their yard can pack up and leave. I am not 100% sure how well this will work for Apple. I think for the average or new Apple user this will see it as a fantastic addition in order to get their feet wet. However this can potentially be dangerous on several levels. I hope Apple does not alienate developers. If that happens, there will no longer be a need for an App Store regardless of platform. If you would like to see a preview, head on over to Apple’s Preview page.

The brand new MacBook Air is incredibly sexy. There isn’t a single hipster who wouldn’t want to be seen with it at Starbucks. It gives off good vibes, but what might not be quite as obvious is the true appeal to the non-nerdy crowd.

The MacBook Air’s light weight, beautiful hardware isn’t nearly as scary as a Dell, HP, or even a MacBook Pro with plugs and ports and slots this way and that. The Air is as simplified as a computer can get at this point, and that is the beauty of Apple as a consumer company. The number of gigaflops don’t really matter to Grandpop and Aunt Mabel. What matters is that the hardware is as user-friendly as the software. Frankly, I think “Friendliness” is the biggest ally we have to convert our technophobic relatives into 21st century citizens. Apple is making software and hardware in combination for both me and my mom. That’s huge.

We’ve seen the same thing happen with the iPod and iPhone. MP3 players and smart phones were the realm of the mega-nerd not too long ago. Today, they are vital devices many people couldn’t imagine being without. The Jobsian version of Apple is something that everyone can get behind. I appreciate that, and I hope you do too.

Tell me, would you start your technophobe of choice with an iPad or MacBook Air? Frankly, I can’t decide quite yet. They’re neck and neck for me, so leave a message in the comment section of this post to be heard.

One of the interesting announcements yesterday was that Apple was bringing the App Store to the Mac. This has a whole bunch of implications and I have mixed feelings about it all — but that’s another post. The interesting news is that Firemint, the legends behind Flight Control (and Real Racing) have already announced that they are bringing Flight Control to the Mac.

This is an exciting announcement in terms of how some developers view the store being brought to the mac. Will we see other app developers following their lead?

For me, there was something magical about the first time I discovered Flight Control on the iPhone (and again on the iPad) and you actually knew this was designed exactly for that touch platform. I remember showing a friend and they were completely amazed and addicted to it within the first few landed planes. They bought it for their touch right away and immediately became competitive. I think a huge part of the appeal is in the way you use your fingers to guide in the planes. It is such an intimate way to control them. So amazing was this new way to play that it spawned a huge area of copy cat games, some just as amazing as Flight Control. I’m not sure if the Mac version, lacking the touch interaction, will be able to compare.

For me, I now see my iPhone as my little gaming device — and to some extent my iPad, and that’s where these types of games will stay. I’m curious to see if they can make the transition to the Mac, but I think I’m leaving my iMac for the big boy games, and my casuals will stay on my portable devices. But hey — don’t quote me.

Article Via theappleblog.com

While rumors of a Verizon-powered iPhone continue to swirl, customers are still flocking to AT&T for Apple’s iPhone. In fact, the carrier announced today that this past quater, it activated more iPhones than ever before. This is from AT&T’s press release:

AT&T’s third-quarter integrated device growth included 5.2 million iPhone activations, the most iPhone activations ever in a quarter. This is 62 percent more than the previous quarterly record of 3.2 million activated in the second quarter of 2010. Approximately 24 percent of those activations were for customers who were new to AT&T.

These are impressive numbers, but that last statistic is especially important. Twenty-four percent of the 5.2 million activations were new AT&T customer. That means those customers are locked into a two-year contract with AT&T.

There has been some speculation that a Verizon iPhone will start a mass exodus from AT&T. I really don’t see that being the case. Yes, I do think over time AT&T will lose a significant number of customers to Big Red, but contracts will keep most people in place for the time being.

Article Via Cult of Mac