Sound from a Virtual Planet

I love drum machines. This particular infatuation began when I got my the original Roland Dr Rhythm as an antidote for the hours I spent playing with drummers who had more interest in fills and rolls than keeping time. It kept me honest. There’s something hypnotic about the unrelenting dependability of drum machines, and the best of them have very intuitive ways of programming rhythm patterns that inspire exploration and even performance. As I got more into using computers, sequencing programs and samplers replaced Dr Rhythm, offering a near infinite pallet of sounds and programming flexibility, but somehow they lacking the immediacy and convenience.

Enter the iPhone. I got mine the day after it was first released (2007 – iPhone Classic). When version 2 of the operating system was released earlier this year, the most intriguing new feature was support for 3rd party applications. While I didn’t expect to see versions or Reason or Live on my phone – yet, I was curious to see if music applications would be toys or useful mobile tools. So, what are the coolest apps I’ve found? Drum machines, and there are three winners I’ve come across so far.

Some of my all-time favorite drum machines were made by Roland. Dr Rhythm’s big brothers all turned out to be classics. While the TR-808 has developed the most cache, The TR-707, and TR-909 were more than worthy successors. The IR-909 from Roventskij literally puts a TR-909 on your iPhone. This first version does a great job of capturing most of the features from the original, while adding five additional sample sets from classics like the TR-606, and the TR-808. So how does a classic drum machine take advantage of some of the iPhone’s unique features? Try changing tempo. You hold the tempo button and tilt the phone forward to raise the tempo, tilt back to slow it down. Cool… With this, I’ve re-kindled my drum machine flame, and the coolest thing is that anywhere I can bring my guitar, I can practice with a minimum of effort, just pull out my phone.

 
The IR-909

While the IR-909 can store four patterns, there’s no provision for chaining them together to lay out a song form. This was a powerful feature of the original and essential if you were a songwriter. The iDrum from iZotope has the answer with a really cool system of colorful squares that represent patterns. These are easily chained and rearranged by touching and dragging these icons. Tap a square, and you’ll be able to edit the pattern with each instrument represented by it’s own square, each with sixteen steps with programmable dynamics. The iDrum was originally a desktop Mac application that designed to offer an intuitive drum programming tool for GarageBand, or any other Audio Unit compatible sequencer. iZotope has done a great job porting the original app to the iPhone, taking advantage of the multi-touch interface. Both the desktop and mobile versions of the iDrum can work together, sharing data, and saving songs as ringtones. Given iZotope’s track record of developing powerful DSP applications, we should see some interesting things for the iPhone from them in the future.

iDrum for iPhone

While both IR-909 and iDrum are drum machines in the strict sense of the word, Beatmaker, the "mobile music creation studio" from Intua, is a surprisingly full-featured application. Here, there are pages that allow the user to design their own kits, sequence and chain patterns, and even add a limited pallet of effects. Beatmaker is designed from the ground up to be integrated into the process of producing music by allowing the user to freely import and export data and samples. At 180 MB, the install itself is quite large for a mobile application, but includes a sizable collection of factory sample content, including signature kits from artists like Richard Devine. Both Beatmaker and iDrum come with on-screen help as well as PDF manuals.

Beatmaker

What these mobile apps really bring the to table is the ease with which you can do useful musical tasks. Part of the charm of a drum machine is that it’s a completely self contained device that does one thing, and does it really well. Drum machines were one of the first of a generation of electronic instruments, and likewise, it looks like they are leading the pack of mobile music applications.

At the AES convention in NYC last year I had a great conversation with a friend of mine at M-Audio. We were talking about what would be the killer lifestyle device for a musician. Gary, the iPhone is it.

Last week I participated in Berklee’s annual Music Technology Weekend Workshop…. basically an MTEC lovefest. This year’s group was the best in recent memory, with lots of enthusiasm and great questions. My sessions this year included a basic sound design workshop using Native Instruments Reaktor, a session on remix techniques using Pro Tools, and one on various and sundry plug-ins I call "Plug-ins You Never Heard About in School." While many of the participants at these sessions are up on the current crop of music technology products, I’m always surprised to see that there is little knowledge of what’s available outside of the mainstream industry. So, every year I scout out interesting plug-ins, that for many are off the radar, and come up with a collection of things that are unique, providing capabilities and twists that you might not see in higher profile commercial products.

One of my big points when talking to anyone about plug-ins is that anyone can build a well-stocked collection without breaking the bank, and most of the plugs on my annual list are either free or cost a nominal amount. There’s a perception that since the cost of commercial software can really add up, mere mortals have to make do with a limited pallet or, god forbid, use cracks. Not true. You just have to do a little digging and be prepared to put up with a few bumps in the road.

Now, before you get ready to load up you plug-ins folder, there’s a few things to keep in mind. Some of these plugs are beta, works in progress, or shall we say, etudes… As such, you have to adjust your expectations, and perhaps do a little head-scratching to understand what they are doing. With some of these, that might not be entirely clear to the developer. In some cases, these may not work with current operating systems, and some may just crash inexplicably. But, the rewards here are sound possibilities you won’t find elsewhere, and to a sound designer, secret weapons are everything.

What you’ll find below is a listing of the plug-ins we had a look at during my MTEC Summer Workshop presentation. As luck would have it, the August edition of Electronic Musician magazine has its own listing of cool plug-ins put together by their staff editors. You’ll see some overlap here, as well as a few things from the Windows world that I haven’t mentioned.

I’d like to do something a bit different with this blog entry. Instead of me giving you a rundown of these or let on to which happen to be my favorites, I’d like you to download some of these on your own and post a reply to this blog entry with reviews of your favorites.

In addition to the plug-ins listed here, check out the comprehensive listing found at: www.dontcrack.com.

And most of all, have fun!