Limitations and the muscially ambitious

edited June 2009 in General
Hello,
I bought a copy of beatmaker for my iphone... It's a very fancy program indeed and I'm glad intua was johnny on the spot as far as its prompt release. My congratulations to the intua team on their success.

As for my $20...

Here's the thing... we don't all make techno (or hip hop or what have you)... Instead of focusing on updates the provide secondary, special interest features such as midi out, please include the following for us kind folk who require a little more than 1 bar of 16 unpitched sounds:

An arbitrary number of kits in a session- A MUST
Increased pattern length - beyond one and preferably more than four... 16? 32? 64? 29,459 or until we're simple blue in the face
Unlimited patterns - Our band uses a gameboy a fair bit and I fully understand it's limitations; we have worked around them, but i don't see any reason for even greater constraints on the hardware an iPhone has to offer.

I'd like a keyboard, triplets, tempo maps, time signatures and all of those other fancy bits, but there are ways to get around them if these three core features are in place.

Lastly, and I'm sure you can pack this back in with the special interest features but, it would be great to see wifi synchronization of multiple iphones and perhaps an accelerometer controlled tempo function.

Short of this, I'm simply waiting to jump ship to the first musician oriented sequencer that comes along. My days of turning out four on the floor acid house are long since numbered.

Best Regards,
Casey

Comments

  • edited 3:19PM
    I'm glad your music production transcends all the "special interest features" however your requests seem to mirror those made thus far so there must be lots musician oriented musicians using Beatmaker rather than the tech-hop-n-bass (or what have you) scallywags that it seems this application is aimed at.
    I bet Intua are working around the clock to retain you as a user by accomodating your special needs... especially as they already have your $20.
  • edited 3:19PM
    squeaky wheels my friend...

    Like you said... nothing too unique about my needs, just a bit of context for their necessity and an expression of frustration with the prioritizing of the, thus offered updates.

    I sure the fine folks at Intua have the integrity to consider their current users good faith investment in their software. We're not all scallywags, you know.
  • edited 3:19PM
    Well..it's up to Intua to decide whether to go real pro or stay in 'pro toy' field. I bet they will have lots of success if they implement some pro features like keyboard, time measures , better pitch shifter etc. If they do it..I'd even use it professionally and endorse the product further more.
  • edited 3:19PM
    It is what it is....a $20 app for a cell phone and or mp3 player.........One would think a cell phone would be the last tool "musician oriented musicians" would look towards, to make music.
  • edited 3:19PM
    I didn't say anything about "musicain oriented musicians" I said a "musician oriented sequencer," and at that, I'm not asking for staves and transposing notation.

    As far as I can see these are minor additions, that are well within the capabilities of the iphone hardware, that would benefit everyone, musician and non musician alike.

    I honestly can't see why anyone is arguing these points. (though I can't say I mind keeping the topic bumped, so keep em coming)

    As a professional composer; who has done a number of commercial, musically adept compositions on gameboy and various kids toys (hell, I have an album with a Chinese fan acting as a kick drum); I can't help but wonder if "one's thoughts" are a little naive.

    Its a tool. It can and should be better.
  • edited 3:19PM
    I started using this App only a couple of days ago and its the best Apps I've come across for the iPhone, I was pretty gobsmacked in all honesty with what it could do and how slick the layout was.

    The first things I did notice though being the geek I am is that it didn't have loops longer then a bar and you couldn't select time signatures.

    Having MIDI export on this program makes in instantly useful instead of being just a novelty, I mostly write metal (with an industrial electronic feel) so I've been using this program when chilling out with my guitar and come up with some great ideas but not being able to use different time signatures makes me feeling like I could be getting more out of it.

    I read this post and had to reply to this one as its relevant to my requests and top of the list as far as I'm concerned. I don't agree with Casey's attitude on the matter though. I'm just a music geek who likes quirky timings with no delusions of being pro, something that's thrown around far to much these days since people discovered Myspace and think their friends and fans are one and the same. Drum and Bass and Hip-Hop are no fans to odd timings these days so it was a little self centred to assume that people cross genre wouldn't appreciate these features. At the end of the day why threaten to jump ship if Intua don't deliver? Hell this software would cost three times the price at least if it was for a PC or Mac... I believe they'll deliver the goods, if not I've still got a great tool... I mean MIDI export from a phone? That's stupid.... in a great way!

    Can't wait to see how things will develop, I hope they get these features in... but if I have to wait I don't doubt that I'll have some great stuff in the mean time. Keep up the good work guys!

    Leonard
  • JRKJRK
    edited 3:19PM
    Hello,
    I bought a copy of beatmaker for my iphone... It's a very fancy program indeed and I'm glad intua was johnny on the spot as far as its prompt release. My congratulations to the intua team on their success.

    As for my $20...

    Here's the thing... we don't all make techno (or hip hop or what have you)... Instead of focusing on updates the provide secondary, special interest features such as midi out, please include the following for us kind folk who require a little more than 1 bar of 16 unpitched sounds:

    An arbitrary number of kits in a session- A MUST
    Increased pattern length - beyond one and preferably more than four... 16? 32? 64? 29,459 or until we're simple blue in the face
    Unlimited patterns - Our band uses a gameboy a fair bit and I fully understand it's limitations; we have worked around them, but i don't see any reason for even greater constraints on the hardware an iPhone has to offer.

    I'd like a keyboard, triplets, tempo maps, time signatures and all of those other fancy bits, but there are ways to get around them if these three core features are in place.

    Lastly, and I'm sure you can pack this back in with the special interest features but, it would be great to see wifi synchronization of multiple iphones and perhaps an accelerometer controlled tempo function.

    Short of this, I'm simply waiting to jump ship to the first musician oriented sequencer that comes along. My days of turning out four on the floor acid house are long since numbered.

    Best Regards,
    Casey

    You sound like a whining cry baby. There are better ways to address your concerns and needs. Instead of implying that hip-hop and techno producers only use one bar loops, step your game up and post in the "features request" thread. Short of this, I'm simply waiting for you to jump ship. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->
  • edited 3:19PM
    Yo, yo these ain't no sniffles... Its just... It's just... I got no thread postin' game.

    JRK are you feeling a little threatened?

    I checked out your myspace page and lo and behold... One bar samples lifted from artists who had enough sense to keep writing past the single bar you saw fit to steal.

    But let us give credit where credit is due. Those are by far the most unique beats I have ever heard, and the idea of recontextualizing old soul samples into a hip hop idiom... Staggeringly inventive.

    You have surprised me to my core.

    You are the very cliche you are trying to decry.
  • JRKJRK
    edited 3:19PM
    Yo, yo these ain't no sniffles... Its just... It's just... I got no thread postin' game.

    JRK are you feeling a little threatened?

    I checked out your myspace page and lo and behold... One bar samples lifted from artists who had enough sense to keep writing past the single bar you saw fit to steal.

    But let us give credit where credit is due. Those are by far the most unique beats I have ever heard, and the idea of recontextualizing old soul samples into a hip hop idiom... Staggeringly inventive.

    You have surprised me to my core.

    You are the very cliche you are trying to decry.

    LOL get a life chump. Threatened by your sorry words!

    And FYI, samples aren't "lifted" unless you try to avoid paying for the sample.

    Thanks for stopping by my page <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->
  • edited 3:19PM
    I'm always glad to listen.
  • edited 3:19PM
    Casey, I don't know what kind of music you make or whether it is any good, but your smug attitude is what really stands out. How about live and let live? Do your thing without putting down others. Just makes you look bad.
  • edited 3:19PM
    how exciting... the first drama on a brand new forum! <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->


    -PELicanWord
  • edited 3:19PM
    My first "studio" setup consisted of Atari 1040 ST and Steinberg Pro-24. It was very limiting by today's standards, but I have still managed to create some fantastic tracks. Years later and Cubase 4.5.1 arrived - It does everything but cook Your dinner BTW <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->
    Guess what..? I am struggling more now than before to create meaningful songs.
    Personally I think that "limitations" of the software can lead to and bring more creativity. Take Roland's TB-303 or TR-909 for example - both very simple instruments that became classics BIG time and yet their interface and sounds are more "primitive" than that of BeatMaker.
    The question is - are You creative enough to use BeatMaker...?
  • edited 3:19PM
    I have been reading this forum with great interest and have really laughed out loud at the to and fro banter between a couple of members here

    this software is awesome, a sequencer in your pocket is just great so it has limitations but as someone here has said it can lead to stretching your creativity

    as they say necessity is the mother of invention.

    more features must be in the pipeline and I agree with the wish lists people have posted how far can we push the hardware ???

    I was astonished to find out that the iphone has a processor thats runs at over 500 mhz, so thinking about that and the sort of software and computers I used to use to write music
    there must be more exciting Beat-maker developments to come.

    as a tool I love its great to get your ideas down sure its biased towards dance music but with some creativity you could make almost any genre of music

    £11.99 I paid and its one of the best software purchases I have ever made

    keep the updates coming

    Brett

    ps my site is http://www.ionosphere.co.uk if you hadn't guessed I produce dance music check out my site
  • edited 3:19PM
    true musicians can make music with whatever instrument they have.

    this is a music instrument, therefore "musician oriented" instrument, as for any other instrument. It's incredibly hurtfull for anyone who's making music with this kind of instruments to consider them "non musicians".

    of course more features would be nice, but beatmaker will NEVER be a piano or a guitar, it's just not the same. a sampler/sequencer is an instrument on it's own, either you can use it, either you can't.

    if you're a pianist and you want to play the guitar, you will not ask fender to build you a guitar with keys on it, you will learn how the guitar plays and they play it as it should be. Beatmaker (and any sampler/sequencer for that matter) is an instrument on it's own, it's not supposed to be some sort of "piano emulation".

    if you can't create anything with it, don't blame the software, blame yourself, practice some more, and eventually something will turn out. For myself, I play many instruments (guitar, bass, piano/rhodes, synth, organ, accordion) and I also play with sequencer/samplers.

    as you would do for any other instrument, practice and play by it's rules.


    so to take the title:

    beatmaker is for the "musically ambitious", because it means that you get to learn to play a new instrument. So either you're really ambitious and take the challenge, either you're not ambitious at all and you just want to stick to whatever you already know.
  • edited 3:19PM
    I can only reiterate the sentiment stated thus far... Intua has done, and is continuing to do a great job with this app. It does far more than I ever expected out of a pocket sized production station... and in combination with other tools (software and hardware), the possibilities are vast. This app is the reason I got an ipod touch.

    I also really like all the comments about being creative while working around the limitations of your environment. It opens the door for true innovation. I'm sure the pending updates to this app will continue to amaze.

    Edit: woah... just saw how old this thread is...
  • edited 3:19PM
    "zack&quot wrote:
    Well..it's up to Intua to decide whether to go real pro or stay in 'pro toy' field. I bet they will have lots of success if they implement some pro features like keyboard, time measures , better pitch shifter etc. If they do it..I'd even use it professionally and endorse the product further more.

    ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? "PRO TOY" FIELD? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF JUST WHAT THEY'VE ACCOMPLISHED HERE? FOR YOU TO USE ON YOUR PHONE? NOT TO MENTION PROVIDING YOU WITH A FORUM TO RUN YOUR MOUTH SAYING STUPID CRAP LIKE THAT. CODE ANY APPS LATELY BUD? INCREDIBLE. YOU HAVE A SERIOUS TOOL FOR DEVELOPING IDEAS, REGARDLESS OF LOCATION, TIME OF DAY, OR THE AVAILABILITY OF AN INSTRUMENT. "PRO TOY" HUH.

    ****INTUA...YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE WITH BEATMAKER. THANK YOU. NEVER BEFORE HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO PUT DOWN A COMPLETE MUSICAL IDEA, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, WITH TOTAL EASE, LIKE I DO NOW. WHILE NOISE.IO, AND SEVERAL OTHER PROGRAMS, MAKE SOME REALLY SWELL SOUNDS AND ALL, NOTHING CAN MATCH BEATMAKER, NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE! THE MEMBERS OF THIS FORUM, WHO WANT TO PISS THEIR UNDER-PANTS, WHINNING ABOUT EVERY LITTLE INSIGNIFICANT BUG, OR "PRO" FEATURE THEY MIGHT BE LACKING, LIKE THEY'VE BEEN PERSONALLY LET DOWN IN SOME WAY, SHOULD REMEMBER THAT THEY HAVE OBTAINED NEARLY THE SAME BASIC FUNCTIONALITY OF MOST OF THE $300-$700, COMERCIALLY AVAILABLE, DAW's, FOR 20 BUCKS, ON THEIR FREAKIN' PHONE! MOST OF THAT COMPLAINING IS, NO DOUBT, AN EXUSE FOR A LACK OF REAL CREATIVITY, AND INGENUITY. FOR THE ABILITY TO BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN MY IDEAS, AND COME BACK TO THEM, AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHENEVER THE INSPIRATION STRIKES ME, I WILL GLADLY WORK AROUND THE OCCASIONAL CRASH OF BEATPACK, OR ANY OF THE OTHER SMALL ISSUES THAT HAVE NEVER REALLY AFFECTED THE OVERALL FUNCTION OF THIS APPLICATION. QUIT WHINNING YOU LITTLE PEE-HOLES, YOU COULDN'T HAVE MANAGED 10 YEARS AGO, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY HAD TO HAVE REAL TECHNICAL SKILLS TO WORK AROUND THE DAY TO DAY ISSUES INVOLVED WITH JUST PLAYING A GIG THAT INVOLVED ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS. PUNK ASS GIRLS. IF YOUR BUTT HURTS THAT MUCH, LEARN TO WRITE CODE, OTHERWISE SHUTUP, AND SAY THANKYOU!****
  • edited 3:19PM
    Im not 100% sure if all the S*** talking is nessisary but I will say this:

    This app really has helped me out a TON. None of the other apps can provide this level of musicship for me. Often I am at work and I will think of something to lay down and I get to... whenever I want. Lots of different types of music flows through me, but I mostly produce insane thrashy industrial beats and play along with my guitar at home. When I am at work though, I love to just get down on some Techno heavy beats and some sick hip-hop beats. I am pretty new to these forums, and I will eventually provide some links to some of the stuff i've made for feedback. I will agree that Time Signatures and the forementioned problems would be greatly appriciated, but I am happy with what I have right now, and I can only go up from there. Intua, you have done a great job so far and continue to keep it up. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->
  • I'd love to see a piano roll but hey, it's 20 bucks. Comparing it to a professional DAW is like comparing... something small to something big.
  • edited 3:19PM
    the musicallay ambitious should really use a computer, though great music is often made with limited means.
  • edited 3:19PM
    the musicallay ambitious should really use a computer, though great music is often made with limited means.
    Absolutely true. I just think dispite the limitations this program has, it can still do more than all the other music apps on iTunes combined lol.
  • edited 3:19PM
    "zack&quot wrote:
    Well..it's up to Intua to decide whether to go real pro or stay in 'pro toy' field. I bet they will have lots of success if they implement some pro features like keyboard, time measures , better pitch shifter etc. If they do it..I'd even use it professionally and endorse the product further more.

    ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME? "PRO TOY" FIELD? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF JUST WHAT THEY'VE ACCOMPLISHED HERE? FOR YOU TO USE ON YOUR PHONE? NOT TO MENTION PROVIDING YOU WITH A FORUM TO RUN YOUR MOUTH SAYING STUPID CRAP LIKE THAT. CODE ANY APPS LATELY BUD? INCREDIBLE. YOU HAVE A SERIOUS TOOL FOR DEVELOPING IDEAS, REGARDLESS OF LOCATION, TIME OF DAY, OR THE AVAILABILITY OF AN INSTRUMENT. "PRO TOY" HUH.

    ****INTUA...YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE WITH BEATMAKER. THANK YOU. NEVER BEFORE HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO PUT DOWN A COMPLETE MUSICAL IDEA, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, WITH TOTAL EASE, LIKE I DO NOW. WHILE NOISE.IO, AND SEVERAL OTHER PROGRAMS, MAKE SOME REALLY SWELL SOUNDS AND ALL, NOTHING CAN MATCH BEATMAKER, NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE! THE MEMBERS OF THIS FORUM, WHO WANT TO PISS THEIR UNDER-PANTS, WHINNING ABOUT EVERY LITTLE INSIGNIFICANT BUG, OR "PRO" FEATURE THEY MIGHT BE LACKING, LIKE THEY'VE BEEN PERSONALLY LET DOWN IN SOME WAY, SHOULD REMEMBER THAT THEY HAVE OBTAINED NEARLY THE SAME BASIC FUNCTIONALITY OF MOST OF THE $300-$700, COMERCIALLY AVAILABLE, DAW's, FOR 20 BUCKS, ON THEIR FREAKIN' PHONE! MOST OF THAT COMPLAINING IS, NO DOUBT, AN EXUSE FOR A LACK OF REAL CREATIVITY, AND INGENUITY. FOR THE ABILITY TO BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN MY IDEAS, AND COME BACK TO THEM, AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHENEVER THE INSPIRATION STRIKES ME, I WILL GLADLY WORK AROUND THE OCCASIONAL CRASH OF BEATPACK, OR ANY OF THE OTHER SMALL ISSUES THAT HAVE NEVER REALLY AFFECTED THE OVERALL FUNCTION OF THIS APPLICATION. QUIT WHINNING YOU LITTLE PEE-HOLES, YOU COULDN'T HAVE MANAGED 10 YEARS AGO, WHEN YOU ACTUALLY HAD TO HAVE REAL TECHNICAL SKILLS TO WORK AROUND THE DAY TO DAY ISSUES INVOLVED WITH JUST PLAYING A GIG THAT INVOLVED ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS. PUNK ASS GIRLS. IF YOUR BUTT HURTS THAT MUCH, LEARN TO WRITE CODE, OTHERWISE SHUTUP, AND SAY THANKYOU!****

    You're a douchebag. I wrote the post you qouted more than 6 months ago. Since then Intua implemented some great features. Lastly, stop shouting you bad mannered slob and lose that Caps. Thank you
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