Anazing app, so what's next

[project52]

I guess this question should probably be posted on the help/support thread, but I'm on a roll over here.

Has anyone used this app yet with the Blue Mikey? Is it supported? If so the forthcoming stereo record option will be fantastic.

Thanks again

[MusicMagic]

Hi project52,

Congrats on your new app. I assume you are recording a click track as suggested earlier to get your chops down until a metronome comes onboard?

Quick feedback question. Do you have experience with the other iPhone 16 track app, Rectools08? I would be interested in your comparisons and contrasts with MultiTrack.

Thanks!

[MusicMagic]

I have a curiosity question in a "just wondering" mode. I noticed that Rectools08, which has a more extensive feature set, is listed at 0.4 MB in size by the App Store. In contrast, MultiTrack, which has a much smaller feature set (at the moment), is still twice the size of Rectools08, weighing in at 1.0 MB. I was curious why such a difference in app size, especially considering the feature sets? Would these be like different algorithms for analog to digital conversion, or other coding factors?

My iPhone 16 track experience is with Rectools08, so let me apologize for constant reference to this app. This app is all I have for comparison to MultiTrack right now.

Thanks!

[project52]

Hi project52,

Congrats on your new app. I assume you are recording a click track as suggested earlier to get your chops down until a metronome comes onboard?

Quick feedback question. Do you have experience with the other iPhone 16 track app, Rectools08? I would be interested in your comparisons and contrasts with MultiTrack.

Thanks!

Thanks for checking out the blog, I'm just getting started!

I actually just purchased MultiTrack yesterday. I'd been looking at it and reading about it for a little while, and having spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on various recording hardware and software over the years I figured $15 was the least of my worries. Plus, I really do want to support the community of software developers that are out there turning the iPhone into something very cool...certainly something I could've never imagined in my younger days tooling around with Fostex and Tascam cassette tape multi-tracks...so I haven't used this software for any of the blog recordings yet. I love that there is an input gain control and input monitoring. I could personally care less if there are effects, EQ, or editing. For me it would just clutter the software up, but that's what suits my workflow. I export all of my wav's to my laptop and do my mixing, processing, and for now record live drums with Reaper (which is a fantastic piece of software that you should all be familiar with). As for the lack of metronome, it wouldn't be hard to import a click or digital drum track, but that's more work/time than I'm looking to put into on the front end of a recording. For me, the iPhone magic is all about getting a high-quality take of a song idea right as I write it and never look back.

I'm about to pick up a Blue Mikey, and if it works with MultiTrack I'll probably be using it then for recording my acoustic work and/or live recordings of my other band, live shows, and field recordings. Otherwise, I'll continue to record using the FourTrack app, which is simple and effective.

As for RecTools08, I checked it out but was pretty turned off by the look of it. It just seems a bit hard on the eyes. But, like I said, I'm really thrilled that folks are out there developing this kind of software for such a bottom-floor price.

[pwnified]

Thanks guys for your input. These are all great suggestions.

See here for preliminary input options:
Input options and microphones

I'm still really banking on a metronome coming soon to make this my go-to app (if I go through the time to add in click tracks, etc, it's kind of defeated my purposes for recording to the iPhone - at that point I can just jump onto my laptop)

Yes, indeed. Thanks for putting that into perspective.

but I have another item to add to the request list that might logically go hand in hand (though I have no idea what kind of programing challenge that this presents): time code/counter. At least for me, that's the kind of basic tool that you would have on an analog multitrack.

Another great suggestion. Might be hard to squeeze it into the interface though, maybe an optional semitransparent floating rectangle in the upper middle of the waveform display. Have to think about this.

I noticed that Rectools08, which has a more extensive feature set, is listed at 0.4 MB in size by the App Store. In contrast, MultiTrack, which has a much smaller feature set (at the moment), is still twice the size of Rectools08, weighing in at 1.0 MB.

I think it mostly has to do with textures. The executable itself is probably similar in size, although I uploaded as a fat binary so it's as fast as possible under both processor types. (I think the App Store strips out unused binaries on the fly because the file size I uploaded was closer to 1.6 MB)

My iPhone 16 track experience is with Rectools08, so let me apologize for constant reference to this app. This app is all I have for comparison to MultiTrack right now.

The only other one worth mentioning is 4 track, but its REALLY basic and requires bouncing to do anything remotely complex. I was also extremely aggravated by the constant crashing.

As far as I know, MultiTrack is the only 16 track available on the app store.

[MusicMagic]

Thanks guys for your input. These are all great suggestions.

See here for preliminary input options:
Input options and microphones

Thanks for the input options document! I think new users and those cruising this board for information will be assisted nicely, especially if "how do I actually get audio into my iPhone?" is a basic question confronting them.

As far as I know, MultiTrack is the only 16 track available on the app store.

Yes, yes. Quite right. In my rush to post, I mistakenly alluded to Rectools08 as "16 track" when only 8 are supported. I obviously have mentally lumped anything over 4 tracks into one category.

Again, thanks for interacting.

[project52]

Another great suggestion. Might be hard to squeeze it into the interface though, maybe an optional semitransparent floating rectangle in the upper middle of the waveform display. Have to think about this.

I actually thought about that too after suggesting it. My initial thought was an easy fit would be to slide the menu button up or down and fit the counter in there. Maybe a better fix that could incorporate some other features in the future and a more DAW-look would be to redesign the whole transport section with smaller buttons and with the metronome, counter, and whatever else, and then have the whole transport get bigger when you touch it to make the controls more accessible (which is a great work around that you've developed for this app by the way).

[MusicMagic]

I like project52's suggestion for a slight reworking of the transport area. My initial reaction when first eye-balling the transport section was . . . "hmmm a little squandered real estate here." I know you are striving for simplicity, but I think project52 is on a good track, especially the ideas of a few more useful DAW-type items in that area (loop points, fast forward, reverse, or whatever) and of ballooning some of these controls when touched to make them more user-friendly and easily manipulated by touch, as with other controls for the app--if you are worried about the touch ergonomics in an area getting "too crowded" for your tastes. Believe you me, you are nowhere near the infamous problems of Rectools08 in this area.

[MusicMagic]

So, project52, my cable came in today. Yeah! Looks nice, very professional.

However, I cannot get the mic input recognized. The internal mic of the iPhone is all that I get. I have the cable plugged in, and everything turned on, then boot up MultiTrack, but get nothing but the iPhone mic input. I went over to Rectools08, booted her up, and had the same problem. Rectools08 also would not recognize anything I had plugged into the mic input of the cable, instead giving me the internal mic of the iPhone as the audio input. I tried microphones, active and passive guitar pickups, but nothing that I plug into the mic input of the new cable is recognized as an audio input when a track is armed and ready to record.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

[spyderum]

Hi everyone, I just purchased this app after a lot of deliberation over the few options I had in the app store. I chose multitrack mainly for the stability and future enhancements (fingers crossed). I really like the simplicity as well. That being said it could use some improvement. After reading this thread I think most of the ideas have been covered. My list= Metronome, Editing(Trim,Copy/Paste,Undo),Snap to grid, Effects and Appearance.
First of all I think there is space you can utilize on the bottom row if you remove the spacers in between the IN, OUT, and Transport bars. You could push the transport to the right and condense it a little. Then push the in and out faders to the left and put the counter in between with a metronome underneath it. When the metronome is pressed it balloons and you you can set the tempo. For the editing I would add a edit button to the left of the record enable buttons and above the mute buttons on each track. When selected it would enable editing for that track or multiple track depending on how many are selected. This way you could copy paste whole choruses for example. When an edit button is pressed another song position handle is placed on the left of the pointer. You could then drag the handles away from each other to split the pointer and what is in between will be selected. You could press and hold the area selected to either trim or copy. Then select an area to paste too. Not sure about the undo part.... Under the menu button there could be a mixer button that would take you to a separate mixing screen. This could be set up like a standard daw mixer where you could add effects, eq's, compressors or whatever. Still adding the ballooning effect where necessary. As for the appearance, I think a glossy look would do wonders. Make the track controls look like the song buttons on the menu screen for example. These are all just suggestions since you're asking about new features. I really like this app so far and I can't wait to see what the future holds with it. Thanks for your hard work!! Late..