Retronyms today introduced Hook – a new music performance, mashup, and DJ app for iPhone and iPad that offers ‘the clip launching capabilities of Ableton Live in a futuristic multitouch environment’.
Here’s what they have to say about Hook:
Arrange and trigger loops on a grid and create dynamic, expressive transitions with the Flux Fader — a multitouch “smart crossfader” that allows you to expressively make transitions between any combination of tracks/cells on the fly. The Flux Fader includes a two-axis control with 9 riser synths, glitch and gate effects, tempo-synced filter sweeps, an EQ, beat drop, tape stop, and filter drop. Combining all these to make transitions is the heart of playing live with Hook.
Hook includes a full editor complete with auto transient slicing and waveform editing. Tight integration with AudioCopy makes it easy to drop in your own loops and sounds from other apps.
Real creative power can be found in the integrated sampler — record from mic/line, other apps via inter-app audio, and grab hooks from iTunes and Spotify. Change tempo in real time, and keep all your hooks in sync.
Hook is a killer mashup tool with a full mixer, tons of tracks, integrated FX bus, per-cell fx, transpose, time stretching, tuning, timing and trigger settings, and more.
Hook will be available July 21st for iPhone and iPad.
With integration for ‘open audio in’ or Audioshare I’d be down. More IO has never been a bad thing.
My question is whether not they will have an app that offers complete functionality.
Retronyms has a long history of making applications for the iPad that look great and work great, but do 90% of what you want them to do, and they’re missing a crucial 10%. Like midi out on MPC Pro!
Interesting thing to me is that there are now three companies making variations on Ableton Live that run on the iPad. When Abketon going to do it?
Thanks for posting that- couldn’t agree more. And yes- interoperability with more than AudioCopy (hello AudioShare!) is an actual need. As is a standard MIDI I/O implementation and IAA integration. Hook should be a host for open creativity, not a garden wall! Don’t follow the lead of Propellorheads, Retronyms should take a look at how Novation have evolved IMO
jup yes to all of what you said, except that i would say its 80:20.
the missing midi of the mpc is the joke of the century when you think of what moc stood for originally.
I sure hope it’ll have Ableton Link integrated.
Im one of the Beta Testers and yes it has ableton Link…
i love the ipad for experimental sound design, and just as a sound module or whatever – but honestly i cant jam out properly on it alone without the tactile feedback, i dunno maybe its that “old dog new tricks” thing, but fingers on flat glass just isnt the same as fingers on keys, buttons, knobs, etc in certain geographical configurations with certain levels of tension reactive to a certain velocity
theres very little muscle memory with the ipad – thats a problem for me
Agreed. A young lady I work with was so upset about a concert she attended because “The guy just played his iPad”.
Participated in a digital-hardcore show in Toronto years ago were Merzbow was the “headliner”. He did his set sitting a at table behind two laptops. At the end of his set someone in the audience yelled out, “put in another CD!”. Funny how some things never change.
Cheers!
it isn’t an old dog thing, we are just built that way, though some things are cool on a touch screen, controls don’t give the force feedback that your body needs to recognize it is doing something physical
I’ve learned that if this guy is in the demo video, then you know the product is a piece of crap.
hehe true 🙂
As to all of you who decry an iPad not having any tactile substance, I offer that the saxophone (my main instrument) and an acoustic piano (my secondary instrument) do this in abundance. I have several wind controllers and digital pianos, but they all pale in comparison to their acoustic counterparts in this regard. Of course an iPad has no moving parts, much less one’s breath inside of it. As to DJ’s just pushing a couple of buttons or throwing in a CD, as the rather tepid “Musician’s Union” said in their slogan – in 1976 – “live music is best.” Back to practicing….