App Music: Mobile Music Making (seminar @ BSUA 2013)

Berlin Summer University of the Arts

Artistic Courses | Music

Matthias Krebs

July 29th – August 2nd

2013

App Music: Mobile Music Making

Matthias Krebs | Universität der Künste Berlin

Some excellent music apps offer innovative digital musical instruments to the users. The app music

seminar was a composition and sound workshop in which participants tried out perspectives and the

potentials of ‘app music’ through a collective ‘learning by doing’ approach. Results of the interactive

creative activities were presented in a public performance at the c-base (www.c-base.com).

The seminar addresses interested parties as well as musicians, sound artists and music technologists,

who like the idea of making music with digital sensor controlled devices (smartphones and tablets) and

who are seeking an interactive exchange with others on new musical forms.

More info: http://www.matthiaskrebs.de/app-music-seminar-bsua-2013

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App Music: Mobile Music Making

Matthias Krebs

date: July 29th - August 2nd 2013

place: UdK Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12

language: English

http://www.matthiaskrebs.net/

http://www.c-base.com/



http://www.matthiaskrebs.de/app-music-seminar-bsua-2013










Agenda

1. aims of the course

2. music making

3. overview: Music Making Apps

4. music making

5. iOS in-out-sync

6. apps used in the course

7. video diary

8. additional and sources

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Matthias Krebs

is an app musician, physicist and

opera singer. For many years now,

he has participated in several theater

productions as a sound artist and

composer. Since 2006 he has been

focused on electroacoustic music,

synthesizers and net music. In 2010

he founded the DigiEnsemble Berlin.


http://digiensemble.com/


AIMS OF THE COURSE

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download this slides: www.slideshare.net/matzerak/app-music-seminar-bsua-2013


http://www.slideshare.net/matzerak/app-music-seminar-bsua-2013










Aims of the course (collected in the course)

• how to effectively use built in sensors for musical expression (motion control,

camera)

• experimental laboratory: a creative space to explore music and make new

discoveries.

• how to use musical apps for dance performances

• overview of hardware controllers

• how to create instrument interfaces (with Beatsurfing)

• Can you express emotion and meaning with mobile music apps?

• a public performance to present the results of the course

(In the course we will mainly use mobile devices running iOS.)

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MUSIC MAKING

__OSTINATO

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classical piece – just for a quick introduction to „digital music“ ;-)

Ostinato for 8 iPods – by Uwe Schamburek (DigiEnsemble Berlin)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJtpFFaOHY (from August 2011!)

• Apps: ThumbJam (iPod, iPad), Geo Synth (iPad) and MIDI in MOTION (iPad)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJtpFFaOHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJtpFFaOHY


Images from the fist day

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OVERVIEW: MUSIC MAKING APPS

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Making Music on iOS vs. Making Music on Android

iOS Android

+ more music making apps (~2000) - fewer music making apps (~150)

+ more musical APIs (core midi, core audio,

audiobus, virtual midi, audio copy etc.)

- support for MIDI and USB-audio is not

implemented in android

+ more external add-ons (yamaha, tascam,

akai, k&m, ikmultimedia and many more)

- it’s starting (k&m, ikmultimedia)

+ latency (around 6.6ms (128 samples) to

26.8ms (1024 samples))

- latency (around 30ms to 200ms) is not

utilisable for “real-time” music making

+ more developers for musical apps and

some bigger companies like korg, moog,

yamaha etc.

- it’s starting

+ more apps utilize many different kinds of

built in sensors

- not many developers have yet

experimented with built in sensors

- more expensive devices and add-ons + wider distribution of android devices

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More: http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/07/30/why-

android-the-1-mobile-platform-wont-get-great-music-apps


http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/07/30/why-android-the-1-mobile-platform-wont-get-great-music-apps






















Overview: Music Apps (categories to find a way through numerous apps)

music apps to explore, share and have fun with for a little while

• Music Player Apps / Radios

• Musical Fun Apps / Generative Music Apps / Music Games / Artistic Apps

music making/creation with musical apps (app music)

• Soundtoys / Virtual Instruments

• Experimental Apps / App Instruments

• Musical Tools / Utilities

• Beatmakers / Drum Machines / Virtual Studios

• Audio Capture / Looper / Sequencer / Multitrack / Effects

• MIDI / OSC / Controllers

• Djing / Remix / Launchpads

• Synthesizers

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MUSIC MAKING

__EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY

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Listen!

“This track is an incredibly creative bit of ingenuity from Pants Of Death called

“Generative Garden.” The core of this song comes from bird songs captured in

MIDImorphosis and converted to MIDI, combined with sounds from Poly,

Caelestis, Nave, and PPG WaveGenerator – this is the sort of awesome

creative thinking that will be pushing iOS music into the future!”

• https://soundcloud.com/pantsofdeath/generative-garden

There’s a wealth of inspiration here – give it a listen and then make some great music of your own!

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http://iosmusicandyou.com/2013/08/05/

ios-music-weekly-8513-81113


https://soundcloud.com/pantsofdeath/generative-garden





http://iosmusicandyou.com/2013/08/05/ios-music-weekly-8513-81113











IOS IN-OUT-SYNC

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Virtual MIDI (Interapp MIDI)

Virtual MIDI ports allow multiple apps that are running on the same device to send

MIDI to each other via the background (multitasking).

Use app A as a MIDI controller for app B:

SoundPrism Pro (interface) to control NLog Synth (sound)

StepPolyArp (arpeggiator) to play BassLine (bass synth)

More: http://www.iosmusician.com/app-lists/virtual-midi

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http://www.iosmusician.com/app-lists/virtual-midi






Audiobus (Interapp Audio) - http://audiob.us

Bring your audio apps together.

Send audio from an app... ...Filter it through another... ...Receive it in another. Live.

At first launch Audiobus.

Than DM1 as source,

AUFX:Space and

Audioshare to record the

output.

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http://audiob.us/


Audiobus and Virtual MIDI combined

Geo Synth (interface) controls ThumbJam (sampler) via Virtual MIDI.

The sound of ThumbJam is processed by Turnado (effect) and

recorded by Multitrack (sequenzer).

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Images from the second day

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MIDI over Wifi

You can easily control one iPad through another by MIDI using Wifi:

• Have your iPads in the same network.

• Choose „network session“ as MIDI –Input/Output

• Some Apps require the activation of Remote Hosts to establish

connections.

• Play…

Combine all:

Geo Synth -> ThumbJam // Audiobus, Turnado

Tornado operated via MIDI over Wifi by Beatsurfing (controller) on another iPad

Another possibility is to use OSC.

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WIST

WIST stands for Wireless Sync-Start Technology and has been developed by

Korg to sync playback of audio between apps running on multiple iOS devices,

using a Bluetooth connection.

Another possibility is to sync via MIDI clock, but this has some difficulties.

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Use WIST on your iPad in 5 easy steps:

1. Turn Bluetooth on for both iPads.

2. Open the music app you wish to use and turn WIST

on for both iPads.

3. Wait for the iPads to connect.

4. When they’re connected, select who will be the

“MASTER” and who will be the “SLAVE” by selecting

which iPad is designated master from each “SLAVE”

device. This will send a request to the “MASTER” to

connect.

5. Once the request is accepted, playback will

synchronise to the master iPad until WIST is

disabled from either device.



Hardware Controller (examples)

Core MIDI:

• MIDI interfaces: Alesis IO Dock

• Drum Pad: MPC Fly

• Camera Connection Kit with a MIDI

interface via USB

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• Airturn’s Bluetooth foot-pedal via

Bluetooth



Exchange and Export Options

Moving audio from app to app

AudioCopy/AudioPaste (Sonoma) and Intua Pasteboard

• http://iosmusicandyou.com/2012/08/03/ipad-iphone-music-

app-tutorial-moving-audio-with-audiocopy-audiopaste

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Other possibilities:

• Import and export your samples and patches using iTunes Sharing, per Mail,

Dropbox, Soundcloud


http://iosmusicandyou.com/2012/08/03/ipad-iphone-music-app-tutorial-moving-audio-with-audiocopy-audiopaste






















APPS

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Some Music Apps that have been used in the course:

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ThumbJam

Loopseque

Samplewiz

Audiobus

BeBot

StepPolyArp

Loopy

Geo Synth

iKaossilator

SynthX

iDen

AudioShare

Turnado

DM1

Sound Wand

GyroSynth

Grain Science

MIDI in Motion

Samplodica

SingingFingers

Curtis

SoundyThingie

Reforge

Thor

AUFX:Space

Protein

SoundBrush

iFrettles

TouchOSC

SoundPrism Pro

Samplr

Nlog Pro

iElectribe

GlitchBreaks

Multitrack

MobMuPlat



Creating music apps for iOS devices by your own

http://www.mobmuplat.com

MobMuPlat hosts and loads from a list of

available user-created audio apps.

Creating your own work consists of two

parts. First, creating a graphical user

interface (GUI) with the MobMuPlat Editor;

second, creating the audio engine using

the graphical programming language Pure

Data (PD).

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Review:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/02/make-a-pd-patch-run-it-on-android-ios-right-away-two-free-solutions


http://www.mobmuplat.com/





























VIDEO DIARY

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Lukasz made a great video diary during the course

Playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLygm3I2VVj4XvDVrodRP2CQNRVpARf9Qh

Camera & Edit by Lukasz Fabijanczyk (http://about.me/lufafilm)

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http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLygm3I2VVj4XvDVrodRP2CQNRVpARf9Qh

http://about.me/lufafilm


ADDITIONAL

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Sources for iOS (Apple)

• http://www.ipadmusic.com

• http://www.iosmusician.com

• http://www.idesignsound.com

• http://smitematter.com

• http://discchord.com

• http://musicapps.com.br

• http://iosmusicandyou.com/archives (Tutorials)

Groups

iosmusic making on Google+

• https://plus.google.com/u/4/communities/100470036831607240814 (iPad Music Makers) [85]

iosmusic making on Facebook

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ipadmusician (iPad Musician) [584]

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/417484654972379 (iOS Music Makers) [53]

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/313781651056 (iPad Audio/Music Apps) [814]

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http://www.ipadmusic.com/

http://www.ipadmusic.com/

http://www.iosmusician.com/

http://www.iosmusician.com/

http://www.idesignsound.com/



http://smitematter.com/

http://smitematter.com/

http://discchord.com/

http://discchord.com/

http://musicapps.com.br/

http://musicapps.com.br/

http://iosmusicandyou.com/archives



https://plus.google.com/u/4/communities/100470036831607240814


https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ipadmusician



https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ipadmusician/



https://www.facebook.com/groups/417484654972379

https://www.facebook.com/groups/417484654972379/












Sources for android

• http://www.musicalandroid.com

• http://www.androidmusician.com

• http://createdigitalmusic.com/tag/android

• http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/android

• http://www.palmsounds.net/search/label/Android

• http://android.appstorm.net/category/roundups/music-roundups

Groups

android music making on Google+

• https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/112224065710281650914 [129]

android music making on Facebook (just started)

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/androidmusicmaking [20]

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http://www.musicalandroid.com/

http://www.androidmusician.com/

http://www.androidmusician.com/

http://createdigitalmusic.com/tag/android

http://createdigitalmusic.com/tag/android

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/android




http://www.palmsounds.net/search/label/Android

http://www.palmsounds.net/search/label/Android

http://android.appstorm.net/category/roundups/music-roundups






https://www.facebook.com/groups/androidmusicmaking

https://www.facebook.com/groups/androidmusicmaking


14 things you should do to help the world of mobile music http://www.palmsounds.net/2013/02/14-things-you-should-do-to-help-world.html

1. Keep making music on mobile

2. Share what you make on SoundCloud or wherever makes sense for you

3. Tell everyone about mobile music making

4. Tell people about the apps you love and why

5. Think about gifting a mobile music app to someone who might enjoy playing

6. Rate the apps you love in the app store and leave reviews

7. If there's something you don't like about an app then give constructive criticism and don't just

leave a bad review. Remember that developers can't respond to reviews on the app store

8. If you like one of the excellent mobile music based blogs then buy your apps through that blog as

that's how they make money.

9. If you're so inclined, start your own blog about mobile music making and let people know

10. If you can, then make videos of what you're doing and let everyone know that you've done them

11. Tweet!

12. Make your music in unusual places, just because you can

13. Join the communities at developer's forums and get involved in the discussion

14. Enjoy it!

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http://www.palmsounds.net/2013/02/14-things-you-should-do-to-help-world.html
















THX for Listening.

www.matthiaskrebs.info (en)

www.matthiaskrebs.de (de)

www.appmusik.de

Musikmachen mit Apps

www.digimusiklernen.de

Musiklernen mit digitalen Medien

Matthias Krebs

research associate

[email protected]

Contacts:

[email protected]

+49 177 7373939

www.facebook.com/matthiaskrebs

www.gplus.to/matthiaskrebs

www.twitter.com/matzerak

www.slideshare.net/matzerak

www.pinterest.com/matzerak


http://www.matthiaskrebs.info/

http://www.matthiaskrebs.de/

http://www.appmusik.de/

http://www.digimusiklernen.de/

mailto:[email protected]



http://www.facebook.com/matthiaskrebs

http://www.gplus.to/matthiaskrebs

http://www.twitter.com/matzerak

http://www.slideshare.net/matzerak

http://www.pinterest.com/matzerak


About Matthias Krebs

Matthias Krebs is an app musician, music educator,

physicist and opera singer. For many years now, he

has participated in several theater productions as a

sound artist and composer. Since 2006 he has been

focused on electroacoustic music, synthesizers and

net music. In 2010 he founded the DigiEnsemble

Berlin at the UdK Berlin Career College. It is currently

the first professional music ensemble that regularly

performs mobile music on stage. Further, Krebs

delves into the field of app music (music making with

apps) in his blog as well as in several music article

publications and in his current dissertation.

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Matthias Krebs | Universität der Künste Berlin / 34

Professional musicians with diverse musical

backgrounds got together to explore how to turn daily

mobile devices into instruments. They perform their

music live on stage.

Currently, they predominantly use apple devices.

Nevertheless, they are experimenting with different

mobile platforms. With this they aim at finding ways of

using all of these daily devices as music creation tools.

www.youtube.com/digiensemble

Gewandhaus, Leipzig 2012

www.digiensemble.com

BMW Welt, Munich 2013


http://www.youtube.com/digiensemble

http://www.digiensemble.com/

Self Improvement

App Music: Mobile Music Making (seminar @ BSUA 2013)