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

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.

AIMS OF THE COURSE
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download this slides: 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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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

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

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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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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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

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

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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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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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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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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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
matthias.krebs@udk-berlin.de
Contacts:
matthias.krebs@udk-berlin.de
+49 177 7373939
www.facebook.com/matthiaskrebs
www.gplus.to/matthiaskrebs
www.twitter.com/matzerak
www.slideshare.net/matzerak
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

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

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