An idea for iPhone/iPad developers.

condra

Hi Devs.

The forthcoming iPad will clearly have some killer uses and I think it will pay for some developers to "get in early".

One area where there would be a lot of market potential is products for people who are (like myself) involved in music production and DJ'ing. This is a very lucrative market. People will pay big money for the right products.

Synthesizers, beat making software etc comes to mind, but there is another area where I see huge potential - MIDI/OSC control.

Most music production/recording software such as Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, and Cakewalk Sonar support MIDI or OSC as standards for controlling onscreen parameters.

This is the Jazz Mutant Lemur:


famously used by Daft Punk:


The Jazz Mutant Lemur is a much sought after, but expensive, touch screen device made specifically for use with music software. Users can design custom control GUIs to match their needs. It costs about 1800 euro.



With the right software, the iPad has the potential to blow the Lemur out of the water and give these sort of features to the masses.

In the music production community, there is great excitement about this very prospect.
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=135227&sid=e69cc34b77501ee2866be92f70d5b648&p=1070947#p1070947
There are plenty of people in the music production community who have already pledged to buy an iPad specifically to be used as a studio gadget.

There is currently a product available for the iPhone which does something along these lines, but it is still a bit clunky:
http://www.itouchmidi.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbTxvTIjPlE&feature=related



No doubt, the team at iTouch MIDI will be continuing to develop and refine their products, but I believe there is plenty of room for competition.

If someone was to develop some refined and elegant software for the iPad, which allows users to make custom GUIs for controlling music software through MIDI/OSC/WiFi, I can see it being a massive hit in the music production and digital DJ'ing market.

It could start as a basic piano roll controller, and gradually be developed and refined to be customisable and include faders, buttons, matrices etc.

I hope someone out there will see the potential, and consider taking up such a project.

bobbytables

I'm a software developer, but many years back I used to play gigs with set of poxy Numarks and a lovely DJM600. I own an iPhone, but one of the first things that crossed my mind is that 99% of my interactions with the device are via a touch screen and that I was getting a consistent and limited tactile response regardless of the relevant function. I'm not complaining about the iPhone, nor was I under any illusion that it would be any different, because it works very well for the set of applications I use it for.

However with the likes of a DJ Mixer, I could put my hand to a DJM600 with my eyes closed, just listen, and be confident that my gestures/interactions will invoke the desirable result. If I had an iPad with a mixer interface on it, I would have to visually observe every step of the process to ensure that I didn't mess up. It would be less about just listening and much more about visually observing because I can't feel anything other than sliding my had across a flat surface.

I'm probably way off the mark because I don't DJ any more, but I would consider the "feel" and tactile response offered by DJ/musical equipment to be fairly important in terms of the overall user experience.

I'd love to hear about any successful experiences you have had with purely touch screen devices in this context. As you clearly pointed out, others have been doing it, but I just wonder how much better it is (and I'm usually the first person to jump at a new way of doing things, but not too sure with this one).

Atomic Pineapple

Another point to add to BobyTables post would be that even if you got used to where everything was on the screen and could handle it without even looking at it is that the touch screen on the ipod touch is not exactly precise.

I'd imagine the ipad will be the same, just like any touch screen out there at the minute.

I'd imagine you would need a precision touch screen to make something like that work along with dedicated technology.

condra

Both valid points and the "tactile vs virtual" debate is an ongoing one in the music production community, and most seem to agree that there are pros and cons on both sides.

Clearly, the main advantage of hardware is the tactile feedback, just like using buttons to text message, or real keys to play a piano.

The advantage of using a touch screen device such as an iPad will be when users can design and save their own custom layouts to suit their own needs. People who DJ or perform with Ableton Live use it in many different ways, and a generic hardware controller such as a UC33e (below) means a certain amount of compromise, because the artist has to fit his workflow to match the hardware controller.

Every time a company such as AKAI Pro come out with a new controller device, the community responds with each individual wishing for different features - "I would have liked more faders", "it would be perfect if it had a cross-fader" etc.

With touch screen control, a digital DJ or studio artist can set up as many or as little faders, buttons etc as she likes, and this can compliment a hardware set-up very easily.

A live performance artist or musician can have a different template ready for each song they will be performing, and the software can sync with these templates to have any instruments, samples, BPM info, effects etc ready instantly.

In studio, the touch screen software can mimic the exact layout of software instruments and effects, or sync with the host softwares mixer, or indeed be used as an experimental music controller using grids, paths, step sequencers, interactive matrices, or anything from bouncing balls to semi-interactive chain reactions.

There are also cool control possibilities for people interested in VJ'ing, lighting, theatre, art installations etc.

There is definitely a market for these products because there are so many possibilities already available in software such as Ableton Live and Max/MSP.

Just like there will always be a market for cellphones with real buttons, touch screens will never completely replace tactile hardware for the pro audio enthusiast, but with so many possibilities, lots of creative audio people will be jumping on touch screens to use them in a multitude of different ways.

Bobbytables, to answer your question, I run iTouchMIDI on my iPhone, among other audio/midi apps, and for me the main problem is the limited screen real estate, something which the iPad will not suffer from.

Using iTouchMIDI, precision (with faders, XY pads, and buttons) is surprisingly good, even on the iPhone, and if you check out videos of the Jazzmutant stuff, you'll see that precision is not an issue with larger touch screen surfaces, as long as the GUI isn't cluttered.

The beauty of creating some control software for the iPad would be that the host software on the main laptop does all the heavy work. At its most basic level, the control software needs to be able to send MIDI messages through WiFi (or USB/adapter?) It could start life as a basic 4 fader application, and grow and become more refined over time.