Category: Music

I’m very excited about Apple’s new product. You may have heard of it, it’s called the “iPad.”

In all seriousness, though, from the day Apple publicly announced it, my feeling has been that this device could be groundbreaking with the right software. The video below demonstrates just how powerful and remarkable iPad software can be. In the video, Robert Scoble interviews DJ Rana Sobhany, who demonstrates the software she uses with two iPads to create music.

In order to get the full context, you have to watch the whole video. However, I’ve attempted to summarize below just how amazing software on the iPad can look and feel:

• 3:00: Demonstration begins for the Korg software
• 5:20: Explanation of what the Looptastic app does
• 6:10: Demonstration begins for how she puts it all together
• 6:50: Notice as she adds more music on the left iPad, she uses two fingers to drag two different things into the mix.
• 8:00: Again multiple simultaneous finger interactions with the controls.
• 15:44: Demonstration of using audio effects like the high pass filter

What I find amazing about this demo is that how obviously simple it is to use this software. When she drags things in from the musical palette, the motions she uses look completely natural and it’s obvious she doesn’t have to think about how to get where she wants.

At the beginning and end she makes the point that iPad applications are going to get better now that developers actually have iPads. The initial influx of apps were created using Apple’s software simulator that runs on a Macintosh computer. While it gives you a good idea about sizing of controls and such, there are many lessons you learn once you pick up the iPad and try to use an app. In the case of the Korg app (the first she demonstrates), it is obvious that the developers were seeking to mimic a “real” (i.e. hardware) component by having things like dial controls. Although they look cool, such controls will likely morph into other controls that are easier to control on the iPad (for example, sliders).

You can follow Rana Sobhany on Twitter or visit her website, destroythesilence.com.