TMEA 2017

I am thrilled to be at TMEA again this year! I am presenting my session, Digital Time Management for the Music Teacher, as part of the TI:ME Pre-Conference on February 8, 2017 at 4pm in room 210.

My book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, will be on sale at the Oxford University Press booth, where I will be doing a book signing on Thursday afternoon. I hope to see you there!

If you attended my session, here are the session notes: https://www.evernote.com/l/AAL5B_BZQg1AWJRx91KBz961XANaMJlA7U8

OMEA 2017 Presentations and Session Notes

I am thrilled to be back at OMEA this year. The three sessions I will present this weekend contain some cross-over software and services. Click the link below to see live session notes, complete with an overview of concepts to help you get digitally organized and download links to all of the apps mentioned in each of my sessions.

The Sessions:

Working with Digital Scores, February 3, 2017, 1 pm (Room 23)
Digital Time Management for the Music Teacher, February 3, 2017, 5 pm (Room 23)
Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, February 4, 2017, 10:45 am (Room 23)

The Notes:

https://www.evernote.com/l/AAKLhnbxxzNB4YmdbJXhLI64i_HYAgJ6Y_8

Conference season!

It is a pretty exciting time of year for me. I am presenting at the Ohio Music Educators Association conference next week and at the Texas and Maryland MEA conferences the following week.

At each conference I am promoting my new book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers. I am also introducing two new sessions into my repertoire: Digital Time Management for Music Teachers and Working with Digital Scores.

My book will be available for sale at TMEA and most likely at OMEA. I look forward to seeing you if you are at either of these conferences!

Syncing a File Between Logic and GarageBand (iOS) Through iCloud - First Test

I have taken it upon myself to test out the latest updates to GarageBand on iOS and Logic on Mac. Specifically, I have been pushing this new feature where you can prepare a Logic file you have started on the Mac for use on the GarageBand app on iOS.

This feature is compelling to me because a lot of my audio editing these days requires the power tools of Logic, but also the ease of simply booting up a project and making lots of light edits. For example, when I podcast, I usually only manage 2-6 tracks, not 30+. I need Logic for the control over my plugins, quick workflows, etc… but I also need a light and efficient way to make small edits on the go. I am constantly moving around between a busy schedule of public school, private lessons, concerts, gigs, and other miscellaneous commitments. It is nearly impossible to get any editing done on a Mac alone. The iPad is the perfect platform for this. Press the wake button, launch the app, and make a couple of quick cuts. There has not been a great way to work with Logic projects on the iPad, at least until this recent feature announcement.

Testing the First Project

Here is how I ran my first test of this feature. I created a Logic file on my Mac and added some software instrument tracks and audio tracks. I tried two audio tracks and two software instrument tracks for the first test. I wanted to keep it simple for the OS to handle and simple for me to keep track of how precisely it was syncing my edits (or not). 

After recording some MIDI notes and audio into these four tracks, I went to the File Menu and selected “Share->Project to Garage and for iOS.” This act creates a GarageBand version of the file in the “GarageBand iOS” folder which is stored within the iCloud Drive folder.

File Management is Messy as Usual

Ok, so this is where things get weird. It saddens me that Apple’s iCloud Drive model continues to overcomplicate the file syncing process. In my book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, I ponder why iCloud Drive does so little to compete with file services such as Dropbox, which has been simpler, more intuitive, and more reliable since the start. The same issue I describe in my book is at play in this Logic->GarageBand workflow. 

It is still weird to me that iCloud Drive has container folders within itself that are app specific. It seems to me that this is an unwelcome abstraction for users who are accustomed to putting files in whatever folder they want. You can do this in iCloud Drive, by the way, but then the counterpart apps on iOS do not practice the syncing the same way. For example, if you sync a Keynote file from a Mac to an iPad by placing it in the “Keynote” folder, you can instantly see it when you boot up Keynote on the iPad. However, if you save it somewhere else in the iCloud Drive folder, it will not appear in the file viewer on iPad. You have to manually go looking for it by clicking the “new” button and then selecting it from within iCloud Drive. I wrote more precisely and clearly on this topic a few years back.

Things get murkier when you consider that iCloud Drive has two GarageBand folders. One for iOS and one for macOS. I get why they did this. Projects made on an iPad and shared with an iPhone are automatically saved to the iOS folder which makes that process less convoluted. And the same is true of two Macs working on the same project that was started on macOS. Mac projects have to do some prep work to get files ready for iOS so it is important to make the distinction. But since macOS is capable of this prep work, why can’t it happen automatically when the Mac version of a file is closed? And why, if iCloud is capable of syncing complex GarageBand projects, does the Mac version still try to save projects to a local folder called “GarageBand” that is stored within the “Music” folder by default? 

iCloud Drive still sports these strange, app specific, folders, including two segregated folders for GarageBand projects. This does not even include the local GarageBand folder that is stored within the Music folder on the computer's hard drive.

This process only gets more complicated with Logic thrown into the mix. Here is why…

Back to the Story

Ok, so I prepped my Logic file with four tracks to be worked on from an iPad and it saved it as a GarageBand project and placed it into the “iOS GarageBand” folder within my iCloud Drive. Now I go to my iPad and boot up GarageBand. Hooray! The file is already waiting for me in the file browser when I launch the app. I tap on it, and it opens, reliably! Except my two audio files have been compressed into one track. I can understand this because audio tracks take up far less processing power when they are collapsed. But what if the audio part is what I wanted to edit on my iPad? Shouldn't this be an option when I prepare the file for GarageBand? The iPad version can definetely handle more than one audio track at a time.

Next, I fool around with this project on iPad for a bit, adding audio effects to the vocal track I recorded. In this case, I am adding the effect that makes the voice sound like a monster and the audio track is just me saying “YAAAAAAAAASSSSS” over a funk beat. So my wife is now rolling her eyes from the couch. 

This is the only edit I make, because again, I am trying to keep this simple. I go back to my Mac and find the “GarageBand iOS” folder. Certainly, I can open this file right back up in Logic, right? Wrong. I double click the file and it opens in GarageBand. Fair enough, but wait, now GarageBand wants me to save the file to another location because it has to reformat it for the Mac. So I have to create a duplicate copy elsewhere? Doesn’t that sort of defeat the point of this new feature? Ok, fine. I click “Save As…” Where does GarageBand want to save the new version? The “GarageBand” folder within my “Music” folder. Seriously? Not even the “macOS GarageBand” folder in my iCloud Drive? Ok, I get it. Most users have only 5GB of iCloud space. Apple is making the right decision here. So now I have two versions and have already interacted with four different folders just to manage this one file. 

1. The Logic file was originally stored in the “Logic” folder from within my “Music” folder.

2. The “macOS GarageBand” that I saved the GarageBand version of that Logic file to.

3. The “iOS GarageBand” folder that I had to send the iOS version of the file to.

4. The local “GarageBand” folder that I am now being prompted to save my GarageBand for Mac file within.

“Sigh.” Am I done yet? Nope, because I have to open the local copy and prepare it to go back to Logic, which then offers me to save a third copy of the file. Where? In my local “Logic” folder, also located in the “Music” folder… Are you keeping up? My original Logic file was created in that folder, so now I have four copies.

I am not really sure what I expected. If GarageBand and Logic can do all of this heavy lifting, it seems some of the file management stuff could be automated. My dream scenario would have been that I could save the Logic file right to the iCloud Drive from the Mac, open it from the same location on iOS (using GarageBand) and then just seamlessly go back and fourth between the two, but who am I kidding. I guess we just aren’t there technologically. 

Conclusion

It seems like this feature is just laying the ground work for a future where either Logic exists on the iPad and can sync projects over iCloud (my iPad Pro is certainly powerful enough for it). Or for a feature much like I just described above, where the iOS never gets Logic but the two become closer and closer in feature parity until it doesn’t matter.

That second scenario is what happened with a lovely app Apple used to make called Aperture. Aperture was to iPhoto what Logic is to GarageBand. iPhoto and Aperture became so compatible that at one point, you could even direct both apps to edit the same photo library. Want to know what happened to Aperture? Apple discontinued it a few years back. Now we have the Photos app to replace both iPhoto and Aperture. And while I miss some of my pro photo editing tools from Aperture, photos are an area where I can get by with most of the features that are still left over in the Photos app. But Logic is NOT an application that I could get by with if it were ever dissolved into GarageBand. So lets hope Apple is not following down that same path…

Komp, a musical handwriting app for iOS, is in development

This is a great announcement from NAMM, reported by the Sibelius Blog. I am thrilled to see handwritten music apps get more competitive, especially since StaffPad is absent from iOS.

The little tidbit below gives me high hopes for the app. Handwriting, and all creative software for that matter, is all about the user experience. It has to feel natural.

NAMM 2017: Komp, a music handwriting app for iOS, is in development:

I asked Gene how he would compare Komp to the other music handwriting recognition apps that have emerged in the last couple of years. “We are all similar,” he said, “in that we understand that musicians want a frictionless way to transfer their creative ideas into a computer using the input technique that they are used to; pen and paper. StaffPad, Touch Notation, NotateMe and the various apps that use the MyScript library all have my respect. StaffPad is especially a product of extreme quality. I actually bought a Surface just to use it.”

Komp is different, Gene said, in several respects. “The various apps have differing philosophies about figuring out what a user is doing. StaffPad and the MyScript apps all wait until the user has input a certain amount of notation and then signaled the application to process their input. The end result can be pretty surprising. When I was at Apple, I had weekly meetings with Steve Jobs and there were two things that he was passionate about: never surprise the user and do the right thing. If you wait until a user has entered a whole measure of notation and then try to process it, you are usually going to surprise the user. Even worse, you are going to have no practical way to communicate back to the user what has gone wrong.

The article also mentions that Komp will use the XML filetype, which is non proprietary. This means that users could feasibly get a simple, fuss free, handwriting experience that can then be easily exported to other more powerful software on a desktop. If you ask me, that sounds like the perfect place for a tablet notation app to be. I will definitely try this one out and hope it is a good experience in practice.

Great update to Logic X and GarageBand on iOS today!

Ummmmm.... this is big news for Logic and GarageBand users who want to work on an iPad.

Jason Snell reports that Logic X for Mac and GarageBand for iOS are getting an update today which will include many new features, notably the ability to transfer projects from Logic on Mac to GarageBand on iOS (and back again).

Logic updated with Touch Bar support; GarageBand also gets an update - Six Colors:

Most intriguing for people who switch between Logic and iPad is the ability to export a mixed-down version of a Logic project and sync it to iCloud as a GarageBand project. That project can be opened in GarageBand for iOS—and tracks added to the project on iOS will be synced back to the Logic Pro X project via iCloud.

NPR's 50 Best Albums of the Year - Apple Music Playlist

Happy New Year!

I usually compile and post NPR's 50 Best Albums of the Year around the middle of December but it has been busy. I always find lots of great music on this list that brings me full swing into the next year and beyond.

I usually share this as a Spotify playlist, but as I have switched over to Apple Music, I just could not justify the time it would take to find all of the music twice.

That being said, I hope you enjoy. Some of my favorite albums of the year, many off this list, are to be shared in a blog post later this week.

Here is the link to NPR's list: Best 50 Albums of 2016

Here is the link to my Apple Music playlist: NPR Best 50 Albums of 2016

The following recordings were not available on Apple Music:

Jamila Woods - Heavn

Beyoncé - Lemonade (due to exclusive streaming deal with TIDAL)

Pavel Kolesnikov - Chopin Mazurkas

Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy - Darraje

Pure Disgust - Pure Disgust

New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert - Rouse: Symphonic Works

Mal Devisa - Kiid

NYSSMA 2016

Are you going to be at the NYSSMA Conference in Rochester, NY this weekend? Come check out one of my two sessions! Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers is on Friday at 7pm and Going Paperless with iPad is on Saturday at 2:30 pm. 

Did you attend one of these sessions? Click the links below for a copy of the live session notes.

Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers

Going Paperless with iPad

Syncing Feeling

Jason Snell over at sixcolors.com describes a few grievances with a new feature in macOS Sierra that syncs the contents of your Mac's Desktop and Documents folder across all of your devices and optimizes storage on the device by moving files that have not been opened recently to the cloud. In particular, there are problems with syncing package files associated with professional software, even including Apple's own Logic and Final Cut Pro!

Syncing feeling: iCloud Drive in macOS Sierra:

With any luck, Apple’s hot on the case of fixing the bugs. Perhaps the teams in charge of Apple’s pro apps are working on coordinating project files a bit more aggressively. And I suspect that I might be a little responsible for this new Apple tech note, which suggests that if you’re using a pro app, you should move your projects out of synced folders or turn off Optimize Mac Storage.

Yep, that’s Apple saying that people who use pro apps should just turn off or avoid using a major new feature of macOS Sierra.

Unfortuantely, all to many signs today point to the fact that Apple is

a. not thinking about the pro user.

and

b. releasing buggy updates to their cloud services that create caution amongst users as to whether or not they should trust iCloud with their data.

New iPhone Announcement, September 7, 2016 - Reflections

Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 2, the iPhone 7, and a new set of wireless AirPods this past Wednesday. I wanted to take a hot second to jot down some quick reflections on some of the announcements. These are in somewhat chronological order.

Just one brief note: I went into watching this event without any real interest in purchasing anything announced.

Mario

Not sure what it is, but the announcement of a Mario game coming to iOS made me feel like a seven year old. It looks to have the characteristic tightness and polish I expect from Nintendo games. I will definitely buy and play this game. Also very cool that it is going to be a fixed price and not have in app purchases.

iWork

Oh boy. Anytime iWork gets mentioned, I sit up in my seat a little. It was announced that iWork is getting real time collaborative features (yeah yeah, just like Google Docs in 2007). The cool thing is that collaborators can be working on Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents from on the web or in the native applications on Mac or iOS. As these apps are my primary tools of choice for making docs, spreadsheets, and presentations, I am pumped that Apple is working on this.

Sadly, these features depend on the reliability of iCloud sync to be awesome. If these newer features work as well as existing iWork document sync, I am going to need see them in action first hand before getting too excited.

Pokemon Go for Apple Watch

Again, I found myself surprised that one of the most exciting announcements for me was about a game. Pokemon Go is the perfect fit for Apple Watch. It will resolve every reason that I do not currently play the game often (even though I find it entertaining and aspire to play it more).

The app reconciles the fact that playing Pokemon Go is basically a workout and therefore tracks your calories and distance as you play and records this data to the Apple Health app. It tells you when Pokemon are near as you walk so that you don't have to be staring at your screen the entire time, ignoring the moment and running your battery dry.

I will play this game a ton.

Apple Watch Series 2

I was not planning to be excited about this device but it might be the most compelling thing to me about the entire presentation. Apple Watch Series 2 brings GPS, waterproofing, speed increase, and water related workouts to the watch and also has some new and cool designs.

The Nike+ version of the watch has a breathable sport band and comes with some extra software installed to help track runs and motivate the user to get outside.

I have the stainless steel version of the original Apple Watch but I have bounced around the idea of getting a cheaper aluminum model just for the work out features and speed increase. It was also announced that watchOS 3 will come out next Wednesday, September 13th. This update is advertised to improve speed so much that it will feel like a new watch. So far, reviews have indicated that the hype is real. I will wait to see how much faster my watch feels next week before deciding if I really want a the new model.

iPhone 7

Well, they really did it. They took away the headphone jack. Honestly, I think this is where the technology needs to go, but as an audio professional, I think I am going to introduce a lot of friction into my life for the next year if I early adopt this technology. I still want the ability to plug my phone into any sound system I come across, and while using a Lightning to 1/8th inch adaptor is not a huge hassle for me, I would really rather just not deal with it. Eventually I do believe the entire industry will move this way, but I really wish that in pushing things forward, Apple had gone with a standard solution like a USB C cable, not one that is proprietary like Lightning.

Audio jack aside, the new camera features on the phone look compelling and I am definitely interested in them. Maybe next time around...

AirPods

Along with the audio jack removal, Apple announced a new set of wireless "AirPods" that are designed just like the ones that come in the box, but without wires. The AirPods come in a chargeable case that charges the pods itself. As soon as you take them out of the case, they immediately pair to whatever Apple device you want to use them with (Mac, Apple Watch, iPhone) in one tap. They seamlessly pass audio from one of these devices to the other in one tap without fiddling with Bluetooth settings. They allow you to talk to Siri and get a couple hours of playback from a few seconds of charge.

If you have seen the product photography of these, the potential for loosing them is immediately obvious. That being said, I am very compelled by these devices because they are the only one in the presentation that actually solve new technological problems for me in a user friendly way. If these don't sound like garbage and fit my ears, I will definitely buy them. If you are compelled by these but fear of loosing them, Apple's headphone company, Beats, is also releasing three new wireless headphone models that use them same pairing technology as the Apple AirPods. Each of the Beats models have a wire to attach the two ear pieces together.

Conclusion

I think for me, it is looking like:

iPhone: I'll wait.

Apple Watch: See how fast watchOS 3 feels first.

AirPods: See how they sound and fit first. If the fit is bad, consider Beats.