https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8gffhbeU...&playnext=1Found this through an online collaborator who has kindly played fretless on a couple of my songs. He knows the producer, Eyal Amir. Pay attention to that name, I wouldn't be surprised to see this guy's name on some Grammy awards as a producer.
Check out Eyal's other stuff.
The singer has an interesting tone/style. Rudess looks like he is having fun with the iPad controller/synth as is Eyal.
Will there someday be a new Instrument Major at the conservatories?
"Applied iPad..."
*grin*
--Mac
Way osmosis koo! Thanks, Scott. Incredible!
These days you don't need to know how to sing and now play an instrument to have a "hit."
Auto Tune and iPad is all you need now, I s'pose.
What are the union guys going to do now? lol
Trax
Trax - you judge WAY too quickly. Autotune was not being used, IMO. This girl actually sings that way. She's a conservatory student - listen to her chops here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=estiCp-U8jk&feature=relatedShe sings Brazilian style jazz and can sing pure tone pitch better than you can imagine. The video I posted I did because of how incredibly unique it is to have this type of a sing, with Jordan Rudess - the best known prog-rock keyboard player today -
And Jordan Rudess - have you ever seen his written out musical scores? He could play circles around any of us here in any style. I'm completely serious about this. He plays 'proper' keyboards, as well as many different key-based controllers. I thought it was fun seeing him having fun with this new iPad controller layout.
Here's some videos of Jordan doing 'Proper' musician stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GwhO1_zIMo&feature=relmfuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNotmfp4E6g&feature=relmfuhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EmccyFdnOw&feature=related (check out his 'score', a monitor turned sideways)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgpiXgiB9dU&feature=relatedAnyways - the talent loaded in that video is pretty huge. The union guys will have to step it up actually.
-Scott
I like it
Thanks for posting Scott. There's no denying that the musical capabilities of the I-pad open some interesting new options for musicians... and the video you posted is a good example of a very high-quality production using only I-pad based instruments. Actually, I think ONE app (Geo-synth) created ALL the sounds in the song except the girls voice, (which is totally captivating. I bet we'll be hearing more from her too. )
Considering the musical niche we all share, I think these Ipad apps are a natural extension of what we already do. I'm genuinely excited about the possibilities. If I ever get around to posting a song on the user showcase, it will probably include at least one Ipad instrument
When you listen to Amir at the end, he's talking about using the Ipad as a controller for the regular softsynths we all know like Halion. You can't tell in this vid what the Geo synth itself sounds like but there's probably other vids that demo it by itself.
Thinking that a performer you hear do something that sounds like it didn't require a lot of pure classical music background is the same mistake I made 40 years ago. I would hear these simple parts played on a lot of pop hits and think I can do that, I can make it as a player too. It wasn't until much later I found out the guy hired by the producer to do that simple part is a graduate of Julliard or something. The vast majority of musicians that make it to this level are all well educated. Just because some of their stuff doesn't sound like it is simply the listeners lack of knowledge in that type of music. You have to be a monster player to do what they did in that video. Just the drumming was awesome. It looked to me like he was playing the drums in real time, not triggering loops. If so, that's some very good playing just tapping his fingers on an Ipad.
I can't say how many times I've listened to an interview with some kid player who is all tatted up, looks like some refugee from a homeless shelter yet as soon as he opens his mouth I realized this kid is very sharp, very well educated and plays his butt off. He usually has very well off parents too, that's how he was able to develop his talent looking like he does. I remember one guy talked about his mother being a classical concert pianist with a Steinway in the living room and he started playing it at around 5 or so then switched to guitar in high school. To look at him and listen to the very strange prog rock stuff he's now famous for you would never think he came from that background.
Bob
Did someone really call them a musician? ComPOSER would be more like it, IMO.
The girl can sing though. I was referencing in general that all you need now is a PC to "make music" with these days. No talent, other then being able to compose some chords in a DAW/iPad program. It's all good. I definitely hate the Auto Tune'd stuff tho.
Shh, I am starting to sound like Mac now.
I downloaded Geo synth today. There's nothing automatic about it... its the same as any other MIDI controller, except that the interface is a smooth piece of glass that allows sliding from note to note (or not)
Like any other instrument, you have to learn where the notes are, then be able to trigger them on beat and without triggering the wrong note. In other words, its a whole new instrument, and in order to use it, you have to learn how to play it. I first thought it would be a toy, but it makes sounds that I would definitely use in a song I wanted other musicians to hear.
All in all, I love it. Best $9.99 I ever spent.
the thought occurs to me that the natural progression will be to make traditional instruments with glass interfaces... like a synth with a glass keyboard that can be configured to look like ebony and ivory, or a harp, drums or virtually anything.
Likewise a bass or guitar with a glass neck that can be played in the traditional sense, or as these ipad apps. That would be true guitar synth, with no strings for false triggers or special pickup sensitivity settings
I already want one, and they don't even exist yet.
Trax you can't be serious, are you? Did you listen to any of the other links? Jordan Rudess is a classically trained virtuoso and the singer is down with Brazilian jazz in a major way. Yes they are musicians in the truest sense of the word.
Spend some time on YouTube with both names. Its not April 1 is it?
My thoughts on it; maybe old skool, but if you don't have a mic to record your "instrument" with in a studio/daw, it isn't a 'real' instrument. YMMV
Trax
I have had this app in my wish list on iTunes for a while and decided to buy it today after watching this video along with others found on the net. Thanks for posting.
I am a mainly a guitarist with several keyboards but have never been able to get comfortable with the keys so I figured why not try something with a different aspect. I have tried the developer's other app called Mugician but couldn't figure out any of the options but liked the different way of triggering sounds.
I have only had it for a while but I do like getting away from the white and black keys set in the the key of choice. Yes, it may be cheating a little but I have learned to progress with the sometimes odd style of making music on an iDevice.
Whether or not I can accomplish my musical desires with an IDevice or not is still forthcoming but I think it may be a step in the right direction.
Sitting in my rocking chair on the porch this evening triggering awesome sounding VST's on my DAW via WiFi with Geo was quite relaxing. Not that the built in sounds (JR's Dream Theater's patches) are any where near bad, but the flexibility of the app is quite surprising.
I haven't looked through the manual yet but after seeing the video of where you can import custom samples into the app via SampleWiz? (another creation of the same developer) It has even more potential to disconnect from the wires that bind us to our DAWs (along with the other impressive DAW and synth type of apps showing up).
Again, I hope that PG Music recognizes the iDevice/Android market to further develop BIAB/RB and other apps to cash in on this potential market.
Trax - you haven't watched the videos.
If you were calling Jordan Rudess a comPOSER implying he's a poser, you haven't watched the videos. Be prepared because when you do, there's some crow pie that goes by the name of 'humble' to be eaten.
Here's some at a proper acoustic piano - with microphones, since that's what qualifies it for you I guess:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nlhbXhAfAQChicago Blues with Marco Minneman (just a pickup session)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uxEhQRfkCfIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP9mszAATx0&feature=relatedBut I also enjoy watching his having amazing fun with other keyboards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=81FfFSMgc98The reason that you see him looking off - is that he writes out these parts and he's reading from a score, at least to keep track of his place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htz-JPkI9_g&feature=relatedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_LiTarYFgY&feature=relatedThis one is simply insane prog-rock featuring Tony Levin on Stick, John Petrucci on electric guitar, Mike Portnoy on Drums and Jordan on synth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_LiTarYFgY&feature=relatedBut there's only mic's on the drums and guitar amps - does that mean that all electric guitar and electric bass players are not musicians?
See Jordan's chart in front of him?
Quote:
My thoughts on it; maybe old skool, but if you don't have a mic to record your "instrument" with in a studio/daw, it isn't a 'real' instrument. YMMV
Trax
Um, you mean like your MIDI keyboards?
I agree 100% Scott. I've become a big fan of JR just in the last two years or so because he's also done some killer demos for Kurzweil and Korg. One of those was so complex he was using a score on an electronic gadget. I couldn't tell what it was but I want one when the prices come down. Any keyboard player who listens to him for 10 seconds can tell he's classically trained. You don't get chops like that playing with games in the basement.
I don't do prog rock or whatever you should call it so when I was checking out demos for my latest keyboard I had never heard of him. I already have some of your links bookmarked, he's one of the guys I sit back and listen to when I don't feel like playing.
There's also a very cool series of videos about Dream Theater holding auditions for a new drummer. Fascinating insight into how the music biz works at that level. Good talk plus the actual auditions feature some great playing.
Bob
Wow. Doubting the talent of Jordan Rudess? Talk about having a set of juevos....
You HAVE heard of Dream Theater, I assume?
Jordan may have the fastest fingers out there. What he does on the synthesis side is just an enhancement of his sounds, not a detraction of his talent. He is a player.
It is almost comical how people who are using a program that plays instruments FOR them have the audacity to make comments about PROFESSIONAL musicians that are light years more talented than any of us here. Comments about "auto tune and iPad" are totally ridiculous. If the tools are out there, are they not out there to be used? I mean, this whole "automobile" thing.... do you have a really big yard where you park your horse and buggy? Carpenters have battery operated tools now ever since that "electricity" thing caught on. I have a bathroom INSIDE my house now since the invention of plumbing.
Post after post here praises the interfacing of RB and iPhone and iPad. Is that heresy too?
Just because you are too cheap to buy technology and/or don't know how to use it, don't put down the players who have embraced it.
EPIC FAIL
I-pad + geo-synth as midi controller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3wfqKSLS...DF989EEB554F058listen to the sax, which is typically a difficult instrument to emulate with most midi controllers. The ability of a glass surface to allow a wide range of percussive, sliding, strummed or plucked note-on triggers makes it particularly well-suited for use as a MIDI controller for many instruments.
Yeah, most synths have a pitch wheel.. .but there is something more intuitive about sliding up to the note in the same way you would with a fretless instrument.
Quote:
Just because you are too cheap to buy technology and/or don't know how to use it, don't put down the players who have embraced it.
EPIC FAIL
aww come on, Eddie. There really *IS* a "your mileage may vary" aspect to this discussion. We all have different preferences. There are plenty of excellent musicians that each of us never listen to, for a variety of reasons. No need for any of us to dismiss someone else's opinion. Opinion never claims to be absolute truth, so it isn't really subject to debate. It's like arguing for an empirical statement that vanilla is better than chocolate.
I thought his comments were opinionated, yet left plenty of room for others to have a different opinion. That's fair play. Until we start deriding the character of those who think differently than we do, it's all just discussion. That's a GOOD thing.
Scott, just had a chance to go through your second set of links. That keyboard battle is killer. Great stuff and oh by the way, it's jazz. Pure jazz. Not straight ahead for sure, but jazz none the less. Progressive rock is just a term, this kind of call and response is jazz all the way. Love it. The guitarist ain't too shabby either.
Bob
how to use Ipad apps as MIDI controller for your DAW
1) download wireless midi driver:
http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/rtpMIDI.html2) follow installation tutorial:
http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/rtpMIDI_configuration.html
I will retract my comments when I see him awarded his first Grammy.
"An iPad and autotune"? From Dream Theater? That's like saying Liberace was only popular because of the flamboyant clothes he wore...
I wonder of this guy even knows who Jordan Rudess IS? Geeze, the guy owns a software development company and wrote those interface apps. Or if he has ever seen Dream Theater perform? (I have seen them 3 times.) I suppose next he will put down John Petrucci because he plays through effects pedals and it isn't "pure".
I just get angry when some relative nobody dares to make a statement like that.
Next let's attack Wolfgang Puck's cooking....
No need to go name calling - I didn't know who Jordan Rudess was until 4 years or so ago and there was a silly picture of him hawking some synth plugin over at KVR audio forums.
Then I started doing some digging and was impressed by both his humility and sheer wizardry of all things keyboard including a grip of alternative controllers.
I don't really like listening to Dream Theater because of the singing of all things. However, I do watch them and I actually put up some links to their new drummer auditions here many months ago (which jazzmammal referred to).
The original post in this thread I just thought was cool because of it looking like a few incredibly skilled people from very different backgrounds having a great deal of fun doing something silly yet fresh and unique.
They do make it look like child's play.
However, Tommy Emmanuel does the same thing with acoustic and electric guitar playing. We don't call his Maton and Larrivee acoustic guitars, 'toys'.
Anyway, one of my regular online music collaborators, Andy McRory, knows Eyal Amir - the third person in the videos, and he posted the video on his Facebook page. Eyal posted back to Andy's page and that caused me to watch the very first one.
I hadn't watched much of Jordan's stuff, but his on-line presence seems to show him as a decent guy. I wouldn't mind just hanging out with him. His sheer keyboard awesomeness doesn't seem to come through with any egotistical behavior on-line.
Needless to say, I look forward to the age of iPad controllers.
-Scott
Agree Scott, he seems like a really nice person. How many superstar players who are as busy as he is bother to post vids of themselves working with a metronome practicing modified Hanon exercises? He's explaining exactly what he's doing and why and telling the viewer his personal practice tips. It's a very good lesson for any pianist. You posted another one of him explaining how to relax while playing very fast passages. Not bragging but I'm almost as fast as he is and I continually have the problem of right hand burn out when I'm performing because I get excited, the band is cooking and into it and I forget to do what he said and then I hope the next tune is a ballad. I really took that vid to heart. I've bookmarked both of those and I suspect he's posted more lessons.
Mac, I know you're lurking you should save that Hanon link and post it when you're expounding about the virtues of practicing with a metronome.
Bob
Scott, have you looked at all into videos of Rudess and Petrucci in their offshoot band, Liquid Tension? It's Mike Portnoy on drums and Tony Levin on bass and Stick, and you won't have to endure James Labrie's caterwauling. I honestly think he is completely the weak link, but it's kind of like having to watch the 9th batter on the lineup strike out 3 times per game as the price you pay to see the top 5 hit again.
@jazzmammal - a friend at work has Liquid Tension Experiment volumes 1 and 2. I'm listening to #2 right now - much less 'proggy' than I expected, and nearly jazz-like. More Toto sounding than anything else I can think of off-hand, without vocals.
-Scott