It doesn’t take much to get up and running recording music on your Mac, iPad, or even your iPhone. With a few pieces of additional hardware and the right software, it’s easier than ever to have a home recording setup that, thanks to iOS and some great third-party apps, is as simple and as intuitive to use as iOS itself.
Head below for our latest guide to the essentials for making music with your iPad, iPhone, and Mac, many of which are currently discounted for Cyber Monday: Expand Expanding Close
It’s Thursday and you have four days to get the perfect Christmas gift, but have no fear…9to5Mac is here. O.K., enough with the cheese, let’s talk app-enabled accessories. Oh, man, I need to stop.
But, seriously, app-enabled accessories are the perfect gifts: they come in a variety of price ranges and work with a variety of iOS apps. So, we looked at a few popular, unknown, pricey, and not-so pricey ones and rounded them up below. Hopefully, this guide will give you a few ideas and inspire you to go shopping A.S.A.P.
Note: If you buy through Amazon, and are an Amazon Prime member, you could get many of these products shipped overnight for just $3.99 each.
Ion launched this nifty toy in the fall, and it is really, really cool. Think Guitar Hero…but for jammers and free-stylers. Like Ion’s popular iCade line, it charges with AA batteries. So, no wires and no fuss. It also fits any iOS device. A padded storage compartment adjusts to fit the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, and there is room to plug in a Lightening adapter (not included).
The built-in speakers pump out great volume, but there is also a headphone output for silent practice, and it has electric, acoustic, and bass guitar effects. The guitar, which is useable by both left-handed and right-handed folks, works best with the All-Star Guitar app that comes with 10 free songs pre-loaded, with access to additional songs for download, but it also works well with Garage Band and WI Guitar.
It’s packed with features, feels sturdy, and is definitely a cool gift for the musically inclined. Oh, and it seems like a neat way to learn guitar.
Avid is best known for its Pro Tools software, the music industry’s leading DAW used by pros worldwide, and it is the biggest competitor to Apple’s Logic Pro, but perhaps just as popular among Mac musicians is Avid’s consumer M-Audio brand. It offers midi controllers, keyboards, audio interfaces, speakers, and DJ gear.
Today, Avid announced that it will sell off its consumer audio and video product lines to focus on “Media Enterprise and Post & Professional customers and to drive improved operating performance.”
Avid will sell M-Audio to inMusic, the parent company of well-known gear makers Akai, Alesis, and Numark. Its video editing apps, such as the recently launched Avid Studio for iPad, will be sold to Corel Corporation: Expand Expanding Close
