Continuing our quick look at some of the iPad related announcements at this year's Winter NAMM we have a couple of products from Behringer to mention.

iStudio iS202

This seems very much like Behringer's version of the already available iO Dock by Alesis, with a lower price tag.  Comparing the two, they have very similar specs and input/output options.  Have a look at the images below for a visual comparison.

The other connections for the iO Dock are on the sides as shown below:

Current prices for the Alesis iO Dock seem to be around £139+, with prices for Behringer's iS202 not generally available, but B&H have them listed at the moment for $149.99 (about £95).  If the Behringer is generally available for under £100, we think it has a good chance of success.

Check out the specs for the iStudio (iS202) at Behringer's site and the video below for a brief preview.

iX16 Digital Mixer

The iX16 digital mixer has been specifically designed to integrate with your iPad as the controller.  The iX16 has 16 audio inputs (hence its name we guess).  The controller app can control the sound mix over WiFi, so you can stroll around the venue with your iPad and stand exactly where you need to be to get the perfect mix, while the iX16 sits on the sound desk responding to your input.

It's all a bit clever really and not our area of expertise to be honest, but we have done our fair share of show and concert setups between us.  The iX16 and accompanying software is definitely on our wishlist.

For the full details check out the iX16 page and be sure to take a look at the video below for a brief look at the iX16 and the iStudio iS202 from musicianews.com (if you are watching this on your iPad, the video stops at around 3:32 but will carry on playing with a blank screen until 8:09).

If you create music on or via your iPad, you need to know about some of the very cool stuff announced at the Winter NAMM Show that has taken place over the last few days in California.

There is a lot to get excited about as always, so in the next few posts we are going to highlight some of the shiny new tech announced for your iPad.

iRig BlueBoard

IK Multimedia had several new products to announce at NAMM this year, but this is the one that got us the most excited.  

As anyone who has tried it knows, switching settings or presets in the middle of a song using any of the iPad guitar FX sims is pretty tricky and worst of all, it means taking your hands off the guitar which usually requires adapting the way you play the song to allow time for poking at the touch screen.

Foot controllers are the natural solution to this problem and this is not the first Bluetooth foot controller for iOS we have seen, but it might be the nicest looking.

The BlueBoard ($99.99 / €79.99) is a wireless MIDI controller (so it should work with most MIDI apps you have on your iPad.  It is advertised as working up to about 30ft away from your main iPad rig, so you could set it up on the other side of the stage for those spotlight solos whilst retaining some control over your virtual pedal setup.  It will also work with your iPhone/iPod Touch and your Mac if you have one.

Check out the video below and the web page for more details, suffice to say, we want one very badly!

iRig HD

More than just an update for the much loved (and to be honest still default for us) iRig guitar interface, the iRig HD is another device altogether.  

iRig HD a 24-bit A/D convertor, with thumbwheel adjustable pre-amp on the device and digital noise reduction plus many other features, but what really stood out for us is that this device can be used with your Mac too via an interchangeable cable that features USB, 30-pin and Lightning dock connectors.

This is for us a brilliant feature that means purchasing less cables or audio devices for musicians who use both iOS and Computer based processing/recording apps.

We have yet to hear what it really sounds like, but we are really keen to find out and we will be looking out for some good samples in the near future.

More details again on the web page and in the video below:

We are always interested to hear what you think and what announced products you are looking forward to seeing (or maybe just adding to your wishlist).  Let us know in the comments below.

It may not feel and respond like a real guitar, or bass, or drum kit or other instrument, but with the right app the iPad can sound like one if you play it well enough.

This is ably demonstrated in the video above by Dutch band Rigby, who you can see performing their new (Aha like) single 'One Life To The Next' [iTunes Music Store link] live on Vara, a National Dutch media network.

Instead of their usual instruments, the band travelled light with just their iPads, plugged into the radio station's sound board and they were ready to go.

We were very impressed with the result, what do you think?

App spotting will be rewarded with our deep respect. Leave a comment and tell us which apps you can see in the video.

Here's a nice sounding trance track made entirely on an iPad by Software Developer Rodi de Boer (@RodideBoer on Twitter). Here's what Rodi says about the apps he used (from the Soundcloud page for this track):

This is made on an iPad 2 with NanoStudio as the base. Sounds come from NanoStudio, BassLine and Addictive Synth and I used Hokusai for some sample editing when I got it to do what I wanted. Drum sounds come from layered and edited NanoStudio TRG samples.

We like this short track posted by electronic music artist alfonsemusic on YouTube. If you like it too you can download it free from SoundCloud and you can hear of Alfonse's music on his site.

Alfonse describes how he made the track using two great iPad apps from Korg: 

All parts were performed using Korg's iElectribe (beat) and iMS20 (synths) for iPad and each take was videoed as it was played. The parts were then mixed in Logic, adding some side-chain compression and overall mastering goodness.

Thanks for sharing this track Alfonse!

Despite it's erroneous claims to be "the first professional synthesizer designed for the iPad", a PR statement which has caused a flurry of disgruntled comments from some of the music press and a number of very fine iOS Developers, Animoog by Moog Music Inc is definitely a great sounding Synth app with a fine looking UI.

First Impressions

We have only just begun to play with it but we are very impressed with what we see and hear in Animoog.

We are, of course, not synth experts or Moog purists by any means, but we do know that this synth app has a fantastic range of sounds and offers some interesting and creative interactivity as a musical instrument.

These interactions are delivered, in part, via the Fairlight-esque wave modulation front screen and the unusual keys which respond to vertical movement of your fingers to effect modulation of the notes.

Then there are the backscreens which let you fiddle to your heart's content with the built in modules, some modelled on classic Moog hardware so that you can, as the Moog website says, "quickly sculpt incredibly fluid and dynamic sounds that live, breathe, and evolve as you play them."

We had no problem getting Animoog to work with our MIDI keyboard using iRig MIDI into the iPad.

Apparently it will work with Virtual MIDI in a future version.

30-Day Bargain Price

Animoog will normally cost you, a slightly too pricey in our opinion, $29.99 (~£20) but for the first 30 days it will only set you back $0.99 (69p) and for that price you have to download it and see for yourself what it can do.

Here is a video overview, including some helpful interface clues, from Moog themselves:

This week's posts in case you missed anything:

Photosmith - An Essential iPad App for Lightroom Users - Our in-depth look at this great new Adobe Lightroom companion for the iPad.

Video Find: Code Station iPad Dock Prototype - We want this prototype for real, check it out!

"I've just touched the tip of what the app is capable of letting me create!" Artist Shawn Harris gives us an inside look at the creative process behind the amazing music video he created with Brushes on the iPad for the song 'Thank Each Mistake' .

S1 and S2. Sony's first iPad competitors - Does the iPad finally have some serious competition, we take a look at Sony's new tablets set for release later this year.

SteadyLens. Smooth out your iPad 2 video footage in realtime - Can an iPad app really stabilise hand-held video in real-time? We have a video comparison of the SteadyLens app in action so you can see for yourself.

Video Find: Miniot Cover Review - Buying Decisions - The beautiful but troubled iPad 2 Miniot Wood Cover is reviewed highlighting some of the issues with the Cover's practicality.

GarageBand: The Strokes, 'You Only Live Once' - A simply amazing cover by the very talented Yuri Wong, more so because it was recorded entirely on GarageBand for iPad, and the video is very well put together too. 

Julie, Agosto, Setembro from PanaceiaFilmes on Vimeo.

You may have read about this story in the last few weeks, it is one that caught our attention, but we have just been sent some extra details by our friends from the brilliant MusicApps blog over in Brazil so we thought we'd let you know a bit more about it.

The short film Julie, Agosto, Setembro by independent Brazilian film makers Panaceia Filmes uses music played and recorded entirely with the sublime SoundPrism iPad app from Audanika as the soundtrack to the film.

Marcus told us:

The short movie, directed by Jarleo Batista, was released last March in Goiania and it will be shown in many festivals all over the country during this year. The Designer Victor L. Pontes has composed the soundtrack for the movie.

He has been playing with the app SoundPrism for iPad for some time and decided to show the results for the director. Jarleo thought it would be great for the movie because SoundPrism could create very nice and simple atmospheres using chords and different sounds. 

As you can hear on the video trailer, SoundPrism has a gentle, ambient sound that is ideally suited to creating moods in a film like this. You can also play more rambunctious sounds with SoundPrism if required, but in our experience the app really shines when playing the softer, more mesmerising sounds that are used here.

Reinforcing this Marcus goes on to say:

Jarleo and Victor decided to make all the soundtrack with the iPad using only the app SoundPrism. All the songs were composed and recorded (using the recording function inside SoundPrism) in just three weeks. According to Victor, the idea was to create a infant/naive atmosphere which was what the mood of the production needed.

They still don't know if they have created the first short film with the soundtrack composed and recorded using only one music app for the iPad.  

It is the only soundtrack we have heard about created using just the iPad, but if you know of another please leave us a comment.

SoundPrism is currently free in the App Store, so if you haven't tried it yet we highly recommend you go and download it now. The app is Universal so it will work on all your iOS devices.

If you want to take things further and use the SoundPrism interface as a MIDI controller with GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, etc. then SoundPrism Pro at $15.99 (£9.49) in the app store works very well over USB MIDI and also Wifi with very little latency. We hope to bring you more about this in the near future.

We liked this video from YouTube user tszheichoi because it shows how the Smart Instruments can be used to create a simple song, and it is his first go too.

The video also shows the view for each instrument being played during the whole song using some rather nifty Final Cut multicam work so you can see what is going on, with the GarageBand overview in the top left corner. Enjoy!

Although we are not sure about James Merryman's claim of 'First song recorded in GarageBand for iPad', we do think this is a fun, tounge-in-cheek, song and the fact that the video was shot on an iPhone 4 and edited in iMovie on the iPad makes it a winner for us. Enjoy!

Check out more of James' music, including his very popular Facebook 'Creeper' song.

The new GarageBand for iPad is an amazing app and we feel it is not overstating to call it a real 'portable studio'. This is evidenced in the video below by the very talented Jhameel. He has recorded one of his own original songs 'Cafe Du Monde' entirely on GarageBand within a few hours of getting his iPad 2.

We think it is impressive both for the short time it took Jhameel to turn this song and video around and the musical talent he demonstrates in using GarageBand. It illustrates perfectly what can be done with a $5 app in the right hands.

If you like Jhameel's music you can download his new album The Human Condition from his site on a donation basis and his debut album is still available for purchase on iTunes.

If you were to ask the iPad Creative team, "What are the two greatest things ever?", in one of our more whimsical moments, we would probably say the iPad... and Zelda.

Imgine how excited we were to find this video then, it is just perfect, we hope you like it too!

The video's creator is obviously a NES (and iOS) fan as he's also made some really creative video tutorials for Zelda and other classic NES games.

Known as GuizDP on YouTube (Guiz de Pessemier on Twitter) describes himself as "Freak video maker and iPhone musician". Be sure to check out the rest of his fantastic video library, and his website.

We think there is something lost in translation here, but this video struck us as very cute and really quite catchy, so we hope it brightens up your Friday! The band ICHIZU (Japanese language site), made up of two Brothers and a Sister, have a few iTunes albums out, so we think they are for real.

It is good to see our friends in Japan getting into the iOS musician spirit too, even if they do use the Fart Piano (admittedly for one note only). Enjoy!

In case you're curious, here is a list of the apps used in making this song:

Piano Studio
Pro Keys
Six Strings
Percussive
Bassist
Drums!
iBone
My Whistler
Cat Piano 
Fart Piano
CowBell＋

Ellen Hinton (aka EllenOnceAgain) has created a new iPad based song and iPhone video showing off her incredible musical talent and creativity.

A few weeks ago we let you know about her video featuring music played on an iPad, and video recorded on an iPhone 4. Now Ellen has released the new video above, a fantastic sounding retro mashup of Bruno Mars “Marry You” and Train’s “Marry Me".

To find out more about the super-talented Ellen and her music be sure to check out her site, where you can find out about the apps she used to create this song.

Congratulations Ellen on this one, we love it!

We were not fortunate enough to go to NAMM this year but we have been watching closely the iPad related announcements from there and we have mentioned a few of them over the last week, hopefully you saw those.

Now, a week later, lots of videos have been appearing on YouTube featuring these products and tantalising us further, so we thought we would pull a few of them together to distract you from your Friday. Enjoy!

Akai SynthStation49

Not the only keyboard with iPad dock at NAMM interestingly, but we included this SynthStation49 one because he also demonstrates the new version of the SynthStation app that is out soon which looks very nice. 

Alesis StudioDock

There are not enough superlatives to describe how excited we are about the Alesis StudioDock!

Amplitube Fender

Nothing really new in this video but it recaps all the main features of the new AmpliTube Fender version and gives us a quick look at the 8 track recorder, we are thinking about getting hold of a Strat-type of guitar just to test it, we did see a Tele copy in a secondhand shop down the road...

iRig Mic & VocaLive app

A live demo of the new iRig Mic which we hope to see soon and voice effects from the VocaLive app. The Choir effect looks like it might be useful and the Morph effect will let us do our Darth Vader impressions and scare the kids. Nice:

Just a few videos from NAMM 2011, there are loads on YouTube if you want to see more. We know it is going to be an exciting year for iPad and Audio and we can't wait to see how it all pans out.

Although it is not out yet, what you see above is an overview of the gear included in the new AmpliTube Fender for iPad. The video also shows off the gorgeous user interface, something that always impresses us with the AmpliTube apps.

This new version, featuring only Fender authorised amp models and effects, promises to be amazing especially if you have a Strat or Tele type of guitar.

We have to say that the early desktop versions of AmpliTube are responsible for getting us excited about amp modelling. IK Multimedia's status and past experience in this area really stands out in their products, as is shown by Fender's heavy involvement in this app.

All the details are on the product page, so we won't repeat them here, but be sure check them out. The new Fender version of AmpliTube will cost $14.99 as a standalone but you will be able to buy these new amp models and effects individually or as a bundle via in-app purchase if you already have the original AmpliTube for iPad, like many of us do. There will also be a free version to try out first, as always, which for some people is enough.

The video below is the official trailer for the new standalone Fender version of AmpliTube. We are really looking forward to seeing more of it, what do you think?

Laughing in the face of anyone who says the iPad is not a device for creating content, Geoff Kaiser posted this video that shows off some of the many musical instrument apps available on the iPad and his musical skill.

We were impressed with Geoff's creativity not only in playing these virtual instruments but also in putting the video together by layering up the parts. Nice one Geoff, thank you for sharing this video with us.

If you enjoyed Geoff's video please pop on over to his YouTube page and let him know.

So, you are learning to play a song on your instrument of choice and you are just getting into the flow of the piece when you have to take your hands, or at least a hand, off the instrument to turn the sheet music, interrupting your progress and throwing off your pace. If the sheets are loose leafed pages you can also end up inadvertently tipping the whole stack off your music holder and on to the floor (or is that just us?).

Even if you have 'gone digital' and loaded your sheet music or tabs onto your iPad, you still have to pause right in the middle of a phrase and turn the page by swiping or tapping the iPad screen.

Masterdaelion is an app that aims to help you solve this problem. The strap line on the website reads 'Focus on the essence of music' and the developers aim to help you do this by providing a wireless page turning function within a sheet music displaying app.

You will need:

• An iPhone with Bluetooth enabled
• An iPad, also with Bluetooth enabled
• Some sheet music loaded into the Masterdaelion app (in the common PDF format) via iTunes File Sharing.
• A moveable limb or body appendage that you can wave in front of the iPhone (or someone to do this for you)

You must have an iPad and an iPhone, each with a copy of the Masterdaelion app installed (a one-off purchase for both devices as it is Universal).

After linking the iPhone via Bluetooth to your iPad, the app uses the camera in the iPhone as a motion detector basically. As soon as something moves across the iPhone's field of view it tells Masterdaelion on your iPad to turn the page.

The iPhone simply needs to be pointed at something fairly plain, such as a wall or the floor, so that it can detect when an object enters the frame.  The video below shows an early demo of the app in use, and why you might want to use it too.

We thought this was a creative use of the Bluetooth pairing and a nice way to integrate the iPhone and iPad, but we are not sure about the price at $20.99 (£12.49).

Frankly, for the functionality it provides, although unique, we think that is far too much to charge and will probably prevent a lot of people buying it, especially if they are students with limited iTunes credits.

The good news is there is a Free Lite version of Masterdaelion in the app store, so you can try it out first. If you decide you really need it, then you can go ahead and get the full version of Masterdaelion knowing what you are paying for and you have not wasted any money if you don't like it.

We want your thoughts, have you tried Masterdaelion (Lite or Full versions)? What do you think? Are there any alternatives? Let us know in the comments below.