DMb | Dance Music blog & Podcast

FL Studio Mobile for iPad iPhone and iPod Touch Available Today for iOS

I’ve been drooling more and more lately as I have been awaiting this day when FL Studio was available for mobile devices. It is finally here and I’m headed over to grab it, but I thought I’d pass the word on first. Now it’s not a full version of FL as there is no support for VST plugins and you can’t load your own samples yet but I imagine those very key features can’t be far around the corner. I remember running Fruity Loops on a crappy 133 MHz Pentium machine and using VSTs so the iPhone 5 and iPad should be able to as well.

FL STUDIO MOBILE KEY FEATURES
Load and extend projects in the FL Studio desktop version
Resizable, stackable piano keys & reconfigurable drum-pads
Stuffed with FL Studio quality instruments, drum kits & loop files
99-track sequencer, Piano roll editor & Step sequencer
WAV, MIDI & FLM (project) import/export
iPad HD version, iPhone 4 Retina Display support
Compatible with the Akai SynthStation 25

Just go to the App Store if you have an iPhone/iPod for Touch FL Studio Mobile OR if you have an iPad forFL Studio Mobile HD.

FL STUDIO MOBILE FAQ
What about Android OS? It’s on the roadmap, stop nagging! We have a development team working on a low-latency Android audio-engine and there are many screen resolutions and device specifications to consider, it’s not as simple as you may think :)

Does this mean FL Studio on Mac OSX soon? FL Studio Mobile is not a port of the Windows version of FL Studio. It is the product of a completely separate development team, and code, so FL Studio Mobile, while compatible with FL Studio has no impact on FL Studio development and vice versa.

Can I load my own samples? Not in version 1.0. We plan to enable user uploads in a future update.

Can I use VSTs? No, iOS does not support VSTs and frankly the devices it runs on don’t have the CPU power to perform the synthesis you are used to on a desktop. FL Studio Mobile uses high quality sample based instruments made from Image-Line plugins and sample packs.

Visit the FL Studio Mobile Website for more info.

via: ImageLine Press

We recently tested out Sugarbytes’ Guitarist VST Instrument and this is what we found.

PROS:
Can sound very realistic
Great songwriting tool
Useful wah pedal
Nice GUI

CONS:
Not always realistic
Lack of solo mode to enable playing of individual notes

OVERVIEW:
Looking to create guitar tracks without spending the time and effort to learn guitar? SugarByte’s Guitarist might be worth a look. Available for Win/Mac as standalone, VST, AU, or PPC plugin, Guitarist is advertised as a total guitar solution.

What IS Guitarist exactly? It’s a rhythmic guitar track generator that combines guitar sounds, an amp module and three effects modules with a series of step sequencers and a special effects section. Patterns (and entire songs) can be recorded and played back. For live use, the built in keyboard can be made to trigger sequences or change the current chord a sequence is playing.
It’s worth noting here that the keyboard which allows access to chords and patterns doesn’t provide any easy way to play single notes. So if you just want to play a melody (and disengage the sequencer) you’re out of luck. But for quickly generating rhythmic grooves and progressions, fortunately there’s a lot Guitarist has to offer.

DETAILS:
Guitarist contains 4 guitar types, 2 amp models (+direct), and three effects modules run in a fixed configuration. Effects include modulation,dynamic effects,reverb, delay, reverse and a 3-mode wah pedal. To build progressions and grooves, a chord sequencer is run through a pattern step sequencer (and also an animation sequencer for extra variation). Entire songs can be constructed by chaining patterns together in the song sequencer.
The keyboard can be used to play 24 user defined chords, with some of the keys acting as triggers for the patterns. Pressing a chord key will override the chord sequencer, and play that chord instead through the selected pattern. Another handy feature for playing live is the Action Section, which allows you to alter the groove with real time effects such as looper, timestretch, force slow, dead or damped notes.
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Key new features include:

• 64 Bit plugin wrapper – FL Studio now hosts 64 Bit VST plugins for access to unlimited memory.
• Autosave / Autobackup – Don’t lose a project or data again.
• Revised Playlist – Individually resizable tracks. Lock tracks to Clips. Live performance time Marker options (Jump to, Loop, Pause & Skip)
• Revised Mixer – Fully Automatic Plugin Delay Compensation (A-PDC). New waveform meter view.
• Revised Piano roll – Export as sheet music option. Vertical zoom with not properties view. Magic lasso selection & note-handle stretch. Edit ghost notes by double Right-click. Waveform view.
• Pattern Picker – opens from the Playlist, Piano roll or Stepsequencer. Select Patterns & Channels.
• Patcher (free) – chain instruments & effects for easy saving of complete instrument & effect chains.
• ZGameEditor Visualizer (free) – visualization effect with movie render capability.
• Pitcher (demo) – real-time correction/harmonization plugin responds to Piano roll note control.
• Newtone (demo) – pitch correction editor for precise control, pristine quality stretching, re-pitching and correction.
• Keep on disk & 32 Bit Bridge – now give each Audio Clip / Sampler Channel / Plugin access to at least 2 GB memory and up to 4 for VST Plugins.
• Fruity Edition – gains access to Pattern Clips.
• Lifetime Free Updates – are extended to all FL Studio 10 box customers onward & as usual all download customers.
• …learn more by visiting the ‘FL Studio 10 What’s New?‘ page.

Get it HERE.

I’ve really grown tired of Apple telling me what I can and can’t do with my devices, what kind of software I’m allowed to run, what kind of hardware I’m allowed to use, and which computers I’m allowed to upload music to my phone from. The iPad is just more of the same crap in a pretty case. While I will admit the iPad has it’s uses and I love my I really do enjoy my [jailbroken] iPhone, I find it very hard to tolerate the hardcore limitations Apple places on the users of its mobile devices. I would love to see someone get OSX or even Linux running on the iPad and then we will truly see what something like the iPad could have been capable of.

Enter the HP Slate. This little baby not only looks to be packing some processing power but it is an “open” device. There are USB slots, video output, memory card slots, and it is running a proper full operating system so users can install whatever software they want. Which means we could see users running Ableton Live, FL Studio, Soundforge, ProTools, Serato, Traktor, and so much more. I can just imagine a DJ set using one of these or playing live with 2 of these machines and actually tweaking knobs on a virtual TB-303 with your fingers instead of a mouse. The possibilities are wide open and I can’t wait to see the Slate in action someday soon.

Image Line’s newest VST instrument has just been released which is basically a subtractive synth powered by an addititive synth engine. I’m already intrigued. To make things even better they are offering a special deal until the end of the year…Pay only what you think it is worth plus a few bucks to cover the fees and stuff. So go get the demo and they pick up this unique synth for a great price.

From the Press Release:

Image Line Software, the developer of FL Studio (formerly FruityLoops) has released its newest VSTi named Harmless. With a unique twist, Harmless is a subtractive synthesizer powered by an additive synthesis engine. Harmless has no tabs or hidden controls, with all features clearly visible in helpful color-coded groups. Over 100 parameters, most automatable, are available on the clear one-page GUI making Harmless perfect for live performance and sound-design experimentation. (more…)

While software like Serato is very stripped down, it allows a DJ to quickly and easily perform his/her primary task – beatmatching and mixing music. The first time ever using Serato I quickly figured out how to use it with no instructions. The first time I looked at the user interface for Torq it made me want to cry. This interface is easily the most hideous looking thing I have seen in DJ Software market hands down! Even if M-Audio sent me a free copy I wouldn’t install this on my computer. I’m only reporting this new version of the software for those of you that do use it. I would love to hear some first hand comments about how great this software is so I can learn not to judge the software by the GUI, but I doubt I will hear any. Please let us know if you use this.

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The Otus from Eks is another new DJ Controller to enter the game, but this one definitely has some features I’d like to try out in person if we can get a test unit in here. A few features that really stand out to me are the ability to control 2 decks with just the one controller and the touch sensitive pitch ribbon. This sleek new DJ controller can be had for 649.00 € via the Eks Website.

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This is an exciting announcement for users of Serato and Ableton software. It can only lead to more creative and interesting DJ sets in the future.

Here is the announcement from the Serato website:
Serato and Ableton are happy to announce a partnership, which will pave the way for the future of Digital DJing.

With shared artist rosters from hip-hop (DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Nu-Mark, A-Trak) to electronica
(Paul Van Dyk, DJ Sasha), both Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live are renowned as the premier
performance platforms in clubs around the globe.

While Serato’s Scratch Live excels in vinyl emulation, music library control and lightning quick hands-on scratching, Ableton Live provides the tools for production, on-the-?y remixing and beat creation.

“Ableton and Serato take different approaches to modern musical performance,” says Ableton CEO
Gerhard Behles, “But both companies live by the philosophy that software should be straightforward,
easy to use, and most importantly, reliable and stable onstage and in the studio. Ableton has never had an answer for the DJ who wants vinyl control, and rather than try to emulate what Serato do so well, we simply make sure that our products work well together.”

Serato Audio Research CEO Steve West agrees. “After years of talking together, we’re thrilled to be
working with Ableton. It’s exciting to think about what we can offer to DJs and producers: the ability to go beyond just spinning records and add a personal stamp to the music they play.”

Just where this Serato and Ableton collaboration will take us has yet to be seen but one thing is clear: the worlds of DJing, remixing and production for artists worldwide have changes ahead.