I’ve been considering the ways to create an iPhone app for my own music as The Horrorist. iLike is has a limited time offer which will take all your content from your iLike artist page, turn it into an app and get it onto the iTunes app store. They charge a one time fee of $99 and after that they split the profits with you. The one time fee is a limited offer until next week. I can’t find anywhere what happens pricewise after that. “I like” the idea and may jump on it this weekend.

We just launched our turnkey service so you can create and distribute your own iPhone app. It’s simple to customize your app and program it with content using the iLike Artist Dashboard. Learn more by watching the video overview. Get started – customize and launch your app now. – iLike.com

What do you think? Is this a deal worth going for? Am I missing a better offer from a competitor? Is this an idea who’s time as past?

Related post: The Death Cab for Cutie iPhone application

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da0Lm4yDB6g

I’ve mentioned before that the all time best record with scratching on it is Reckless by Ice-T: click here to listen. I’ve worked scratching into my own music a few times. Sometimes I ask my friend Matt (Satronica) who knows his “wheels of steel” quite well to send me something specific. There are a few scratch plug-ins that are just “ok”. Usually they are cool for some effect but nothing authentic. I like the video above both for it’s sound (not so far off base) and the fact that I can whip it out on a whim now since it’s all done with native Live devices.

Video showing how to emulate a scratch Like effect in Ableton Live 8 using the new delay Modes in the Ping Pong Delay. This is not meant to replace vinyl nor will it produce a totally authentic sounding scratch sound, but it is a Ableton Live only solution and is a nice add on to your effects arsenal. You can download the template: click here You will need Live 8 or later to open it. – DubSpot

Have you ever worked scratching into your songs? Is there a go to plug-in you like?

Related post: Scratch. A documentary about scratching.

Gaspar Noé. Do you know that name? If not go and rent a movie called Irreversible. Are you back? I apologize. I know that was really hard to watch. Now you will never forget the name Gaspar Noé. He’s a French director who up until this point had ridden the line between “The next Stanley Kubrick!” and “Disgusting useless film maker”. He has a new movie called Enter the Void which will help the world decide which tag line will be set upon his name permanently.

I’m not sure why but there is violence that is wrong,  violence like porn and violence like art. Our world has a large pool of music that fits in the violence as art category. Maybe violence as a musical form is the easiest way we as humans digest and excise such dark parts of our physiques. What I find so interesting about Gaspar Noé’s films is how they seem less like movies and more like my favorite evil album.

Have you seen any of his films?

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

As a reminder that the new Akai APC40 isn’t the only Ableton specific controller out there Tom Cosm from New Zealand let’s his video camera roll and he shows us his Vestax VCM600.

For more info: vestax.com/en/products/vcm600

Related post: Vestax VCM600 is a Ableton Specific Controller

Here’s two videos that both help you make music with hardware. One is based on 1970’s tech and the other is pure 2009. What’s more lust worthy? A green lit Minimoog Voyager or an iPhone with polyphonic velocity sensitive keys controlling Ableton and more?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W868tnYADDk

“The MF-101 Low Pass Filter’s ENV OUT Control Voltage makes a number of amazing Rhythmic Modulation techniques possible. This video shows some of these applications in a Dance Music setting. This technique is not limited to Dance Music. The applications are as endless as your imagination.” – MoogMusicInc

MSA Remote + VDMX + Ableton Live from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

“MSA Remote is a remote control application for iPhone & iPod Touch that sends OSC messages over the wifi network. This allows you to control any OSC supporting applications such as Max/MSP/Jitter, PureData, Reaktor, VDMX, vvvv, Resolume, Quartz Composer etc. In this video, OSCulator is routing the OSC (& TUIO) messages coming from MSA Remote to midi and forwarding to Ableton Live and VDMX simultaneously. Nothing is done in post, the same signal is controlling both audio and video. At the beginning of the video you can see the polyphonic velocity sensitive keys in action (yes, the harder you hit the keys, the louder the sound – works equally well when the iphone is laid on a table), and later on the faders, triggers and multitouch tuio-pad. Should be in the app store soon: www.memo.tv/msaremote_for_iphone” – Memo Akten

I like you so you can have both set ups but for fun answer me this: Which set up would you rather have?

SoundCloud has added volume control, a new info panel showing track stats, a download and buy panel, a share panel with support for direct sharing to your favorite social network, a handy switch to toggle comments on/off for faster navigation and threaded comments to it’s already sleek Player Widget.

To be honest I wish I didn’t love SoundCloud so much because I hate the idea of paying more than $50 a year on a web service. I also fear that if I upload 1000s of songs over the next five years and then SoundCloud goes out of business I’d feel majorly screwed. Imagine I use the above Player Widget in all my blog posts and then SoundCloud disappears. I know this is an issue with all cloud computing but I feel a bit more confident Google (and even Yahoo/Flickr) will be here in the long term or if they do cancel a service there will be good migration options. Now all that said, SoundCloud as a site is fantastic. In fact, it’s pretty much everything I want in a music storage and share online service. The guys in Berlin should really be congratulated for doing such a beautiful job.

I’m on SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/thingstocome

Related post: SoundCloud is a nice looking way to share music.

Ableton Live & Akai APC40 from Sound Recipes on Vimeo.

This video has been making the rounds this week. The new Akai APC40 Ableton Controller definitely seems to be the one to go to for controlling Live at the moment. If nothing else it sure looks pretty!

Want some more APC40 videos? Check out Ableton’s offical intro video: click here and Akai’s own promo video: click here

Are you going to get one of these?

Propellerhead is one of my favorite music software companies. I use pretty much everything they have released so far with joy. Their ware sounds great, doesn’t crash, has a nice Swedish aesthetic and is priced right. It’s been glaringly obvious the one piece of kit they lacked in their arsenal was a way to record actual audio. Better late than never is the motto of the day because our favorite virtual rack guys have stepped up to the plate. If this is going to replace your DAW or not will depend on your personal taste and workflow. My guess is it will be a nice tool to jump in and out of just like Reason is.

“Welcome to Record, Propellerhead Software’s brand new recording software. Record gives you unlimited audio tracks, world class effects and mixing gear, and a whole new take on music recording. With an intuitive, straightforward interface and a hands-on approach to capturing performances, Record was designed for musicians – not audio engineers. This is recording done right.” – Propellerheads.se

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe7Iapsu_38

If you can’t wait for release day there is a beta program now in action. Sign up: here

For more info: www.record-you.com

I’m a list maker. As far back as I can remember I was writing out lists on paper. What to do today. What do to next week. Things I meant to do last week but want to definitely get to this year. Things I need to do that have to do with the music business. Things I need to do that have to do with home life. You get the idea. Naturally computers make list making and reminders even more “enjoyable”. However, I’ve been torn as to which application to use.

My first stab at a computerized to do list was in a Filemaker database I created. After that got boring I just had a to do list on a TextEdit document. Then I had that list TextEdit document inside a iDisk (mobileMe) folder so it would be available on all my computers. When online web apps took over I tried Remember the Milk and Todoist. I settled on Todoist for about a year. Lately, with my new job and Bronx renovations I realized I am managing a ton more projects and need another layer of help. This weekend I tried out The Hit List and Things. I really like Things a lot and think it maybe my next choice. The iPhone app for Things also looks pretty sweet. Although I’m already syncing a bunch of stuff (mobileMe, dropbox, Spanning Sync) and I think it’s slowing my machine down (duh!). I really think web apps are the future though. Google’s new Task’s look interesting. Maybe I should make a musical GTD inbox? I could sing all my to do lists! Surely I would remember them that way.

So by now maybe you get my point? Yes I need to choose a tool and they are useful but it’s all a bit ridiculous. That said, what’s your favorite choice for remembering all the things you have to do?

If you want to know a little more about the art of “Getting Things Done” or GTD check out David Allen: click here

photo credit: eston

I pity the fool who doesn’t love his mother. Especially on Mother’s Day! My mother put up with me screaming my head off in the basement making hardcore techno tracks. My mother still cooked me dinners even when I stained the bathroom permanently green with hair dye. I remember one year she was going to the drug store and I asked her to pick me up a “music magazine”. She came home with one of those glam rock magazines with a guy who looks like a chick on the cover. She said, “I was so embarrassed buying this”. I explained I meant “Keyboard” or “Electronic Musician”… I felt so bad she was embarrassed! Thanks ma for putting up with so much stupidity!

Mr. T certainly feels love for his mother and to prove it he wrote this song: