🔗 Soundtrap Enable Import Export MIDI Music Files

Soundtrap Enable Import Export MIDI Music Files:

The MIDI music technology protocol is used worldwide to enable electronic devices -- computers, cellphones, karaoke machines and more -- to generate sounds. The enhanced MIDI support by Soundtrap furthers the creative process by making the multiple tools used to make music interoperable online. This is part of an effort by Soundtrap to broaden its ecosystem of best-of-breed industry solutions so that musicians and music creators have even more flexibility in their music-making efforts. For example, Soundtrap is now interoperable with digital audio workstations (DAWs) through MIDI File Export so users can send all or part of their composition to other solutions such as GarageBand or Pro Tools.

I experimented with Soundtrap with my general music classes last Spring. I was entirely skeptical about the prospect of running a DAW in a web browser but Soundtrap impressed me. It does a great job handling audio and MIDI files in a way that doesn't feel much slower than using a native app like GarageBand. My students loved the collaborative features and we were all left wanting more.

One of my GarageBand assignments in previous years was a MIDI remix, where I put MIDI files for familiar movie and pop songs in a shared folder and encouraged students to remix them, altering the instrument voices, form, and adding loops to transform the style. The fact that I can actually now do this assignment entirely in a web based application through Soundtrap's MIDI import and export is impressive. And this is not even to mention the fact that Soundtrap can perform import and export between other web-only based applications like Noteflight. Very cool. If you have been thinking about checking out Soundtrap for yourself, or for a classroom, I highly encourage it.

🔗 All 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked from Worst to Best

I love stuff like this 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked (linked below). It would take me forever to actually read all of it, but it is fun to see someone's take on it. Could not agree more that "Day in the Life" is No. 1.

All 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best:

At Beatles anniversary time, the stories write themselves. “It was 25/30/40 years ago today!” “The act you’ve known for all these years!” “A splendid time was guaranteed for all!” Last week’s 50th anniversary of the U.S. release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the most acclaimed rock album ever and the apogee of the Beatles’ cultural influence in the 1960s, is a time for all those chestnuts and more. But Pepper’s doesn’t make sense if it’s not put in context. And the only way to do that, given the weight of the Beatles’ presence, is to take a look at everything the band put on record over its eight-year recording career.

🔗 Redditors Design Worst Volume Sliders Possible

Redditors Design Worst Volume Sliders Possible

As someone with a love of great user interface design, and someone who interacts with audio output on a regular basis, these designs are downright hilarious.

🔗 iWork Updates Bring Professionally Drawn Artwork, New View Options, and More

iWork Updates Bring Professionally Drawn Artwork, New View Options, and More:

Today Apple released updates for its entire iWork suite across iOS and macOS. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers each received several improvements, some of which are shared and others of which are unique to certain apps.

The most significant update found across all three apps is that over 500 professionally drawn shapes have been added for use. These shapes span a variety of categories, including: Objects, Animals, Nature, Food, Symbols, Education, Places, Activities, Transportation, Arts, People, and Work.

So much to love here. iWork apps have received some hate from die hard Office users over the years but feature updates like this one remind me what I love about Apple apps. They are just so nice. I can see myself using these new shapes, much like I use many of the Keynote templates for my presentations, on a regular basis to make my documents more rich, beautiful, and professional.

🔗 GarageBand on Mac Now Syncs Projects with iOS

Read Cult of Mac's overview of the new GarageBand update for macOS. I think this is essentially adding the feature to the Mac version of GarageBand that Logic added a few months back. I played around with it for a few minutes last night, trying to sync a project between the Mac and iOS version of GarageBand. Unless I am missing something, this workflow runs into all of the same issues as the Logic feature that I wrote about when it was released. The process is not direct as you still have to manually prepare the file for syncing and create a duplicate copy whenever you go from Mac to iOS or iOS to Mac. And I really wish I could edit the audio on my iPad too. My iPad Pro is powerful enough!!!

🔗 Chris Russell's early thoughts on the iPad Pro

If you ask me, Chris Russell's Technology in Music Education blog is one of the places on the web to read about music technology in education. Chris is a big time proponent and writer on using iPads in music ed. He is also a great hold out when it comes to resisting new tech and pushing his current technology to its near death. As a reckless early adopter I admire him for this.

Chris just updated his iPad to the large 12.9 pro model. This device was updated recently alongside an all new 10.5 inch sized pro model. I hear that the 120Hz refresh rate on the screen of both these new models is out of this world. Needless to say, now that Chris is using an iPad Pro, I am curious to see what he will write about it in the coming months. 

His early thoughts are in keeping with this theme, basically stating that the iPad Pro is a monster piece of hardware desperately waiting for the productivity features of iOS 11 this fall.

A few days with the new 12.9″ iPad Pro | Technology in Music Education:

I have been putting off the purchase of a new iPad for some time–and it was time to upgrade.

That iPad arrived on Tuesday, and I have been using the iPad Pro in my daily life for the past three days.  I have been reading a lot about the iPad Pro models on all of the technology news outlets.  The general consensus is that the iPad Pro is wonderful, but it costs a lot.  This sounds like typical Apple to me.  That said, my 2008 MacBook (which I am still using) was pretty expensive ($1500 if memory serves), but it is still working for me nearly 9 years later. 

I have been integrating the iPad Pro into my life, and for the most part, what I have to say is this: it is a big iPad that does what iPads do.  I am able to do some more split screen activities as the size better allows for it, and it is wonderful for reading music.

🔗 Pro Tools 12.5 Review - Cloud Collaboration Tested

Pro Tools 12.5 Review - Cloud Collaboration Tested:

Pro Tools 12.5 is Avid's latest version of Pro Tools, bringing cloud collaboration features. Here is our extensive review of Pro Tools 12.5 complete with video demo and our conclusion.

Cloud collaboration enables users of Pro Tools 12.5 the ability of working on projects together with other Pro Tools users around the world offering a set of integrated tools for sharing all or some of your Pro Tools session so other people can add their own parts or mix tracks.

I would love to know if anyone reading this has use for or has tested the cloud collaboration features of Pro Tools. They demoed really well when first announced. The process seems reliable but really clunky. If Apple had a bigger stake in this area, I wonder what collaborative features would look like in Logic Pro. 

🔗 Glenn Gould’s Every Detail. But Why? - The New York Times

Glenn Gould’s Every Detail. But Why? - The New York Times:

The first Beethoven sonata I learned as a young pianist was the dramatic “Pathétique.” When I started working on it, I tried to copy the way the great Rudolf Serkin played it on a recording I loved. There is a place for learning by emulating masters, but it can easily become inhibiting. Fairly early on, aspiring musicians must develop their own voices.

So when a score that meticulously transcribes every detail of Glenn Gould’s famed 1981 recording of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations was published recently, while I was impressed with the painstaking effort involved, I questioned what it was for.

What’s its purpose? For whom is it intended? From what we know of Gould, he would have been baffled, even horrified, at the idea that a student learning the “Goldberg” Variations would precisely mimic his performance. He was too restless a thinker to consider any recording of his at all definitive. And imitating a pianist as idiosyncratic as Gould may not be a good idea for impressionable young musicians.

🔗 My Headphones, My Self - NYTimes.com

This is a fun article from back in December…

My Headphones, My Self - NYTimes.com:

You see them on every block: people being propelled through their routines listening to their own individualized soundtracks, with the outside world serving as a stage set.

Headphones are now fashion statements. Status symbols. Fetish objects on par with luxury watches and limited-edition Nikes.

I also liked this quote:

“Headphones are the front line of urban social defense,” said Julie Klausner, a comedian, actor and writer. “I’m introverted and socially anxious by nature. My worst nightmare is sitting next to someone on a plane or someone who wants to strike up a conversation on an elevator.”

🔗 Mixing Call Me Maybe

I love reading stuff like this interview from Dave Ogilvie about mixing the song “Call Me Maybe.” Here are a couple of parts that jumped out at me.

Dave Ogilvie mixing “Call Me Maybe”:

Back at home in Vancouver, Ogilvie is well known as a top mixer and producer, although he is more strongly associated with electronic and industrial music than breezy, catchy pop. He has worked with Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, the Birthday Massacre, Marilyn Manson, Einstürzende Neubauten and many more…

…

'Call Me Maybe' thus conceals some darker elements beneath its radio-friendly surface. At first listen, it's a rather fluffy, lightweight, bubblegum pop song, but closer inspection quickly reveals another dimension, which is most apparent in a hypnotic four-to-the-floor bass drum that becomes monstrous in the choruses and a muscular string hook. The song also comes across as a genuine representation of Carly Rae Jepsen's character.

…

"The main thing that Josh wanted me to do during my mix of 'Call Me Maybe' was to make the kick drum really prominent and punchy. He wanted me to do everything I could to make it super-special. I think I spent a good couple of hours on the kick drum alone, and kept pushing myself to create the ultimate kick drum, and have it super-loud and driving the track. When I finished the mix, I thought it really was very, very loud, and I was a little apprehensive about the power of the bottom end, wondering whether I'd gone too far with it for a pop song. But Josh and I looked at each other and said: 'This is what we are shooting for.' So we printed it like that and when I later heard it on the radio I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome.' It seems to work because of the space in the track, which I was careful to leave, which means that you can hear the punch the kick drum is intended to have on computer speakers and in cars and in stores, in fact pretty much everywhere.