KORG iElectribe for iPad

Forum for Apple iOS devices
Post Reply
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

Damn, this looks pretty interesting! I kind of dislike the drum/percussion sounds, but I hope they allow you to import your own. I also wonder how flexible the synth sections is.

http://itunes.apple.com/app/korg-ielectribe/id363714043?mt=8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4GMAi-3QYg
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

Okay, so this turns out to be way less interesting that the fancy look suggested, very unfortunately.

So you have 8 sounds, which can be either synth-based or preset samples. The synth actually had like 5 parameters so makes little sense. Preset samples sound very crappy, and you can't seem to load your own. I do not see anything except for 1 effect that you can play on top of your pattern...

Maybe a future proper demo will reveal that there is, in fact, something more serious inside - but so far this looks like a very lame product from Korg.
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

Well, what can I say in one sentence? "The user experience of a Windows-based device simply cannot compare to Apple's iPad". Apart from a few third-party applications, Windows is 10 years behind in usability. They just don't have the same level of sophisticated simplicity, don't have the same 30+ years evolution of Apple's interface that wraps around what you do.
jsepeta
Posts: 283
Joined: 07:21, 31 March 2004
Location: Indiana USA
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by jsepeta »

I concur. After waiting a week, I went ahead and bought an iPad. I think this device, or others like it, have the potential to change a LOT about how we make music. I picked up the iElectribe, and if Korg or Roland or Yamaha or Native Instruments made a half-dozen apps as nice as this, hardware synths wouldn't die, but they'd become so much less important. Although I think the iPad is overpriced if all you use it for is surfing the web and tapping out the occasional email, having a common platform that hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people own means perhaps less hardware diversity, but ample opportunity for making really cool software. No this won't replace my DAW or my Fantom X8, but it's a really well-made device and I don't see how kludgy knockoffs from HP or Dell will be able to compete. Windows 7 is a LOUSY interface compared to OSX & the iPad OS, and if people flock to Windows or Android they'll likely be disappointed in their tablet experience. If Apple just addresses a few minor complaints, I don't see much need to jump to another untested platform.

Microsoft has been pushing tablet computers for 10 years, and never made a dent in the market. They were just too bulky and expensive. $699 is even a little steep for the 64mb ipad I bought. Right now I'm hoping that more vendors will come out with useful apps to overshadow this initial cost. We'll know by Christmas if Apple's able to ride the iPad to another successful product niche. I don't see how they can fail, and like the iPhone, owning a big chunk of the market right out the gate will prove helpful when Google & Microsoft & Dell & HP & Sony finally hit the ground with some credible competition.
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

Nice to hear you're happy with your iPad!

As for it's price, I can't agree with you that's it's expensive. Look at iPod touch - it costs $300 for 32 GB. iPad has 2x more processing power, and a 5x bigger screen, and in 32 GB costs only 2x that price.

I am really looking forward to what kind of stuff people come up with for it. So far I am waiting to see how my favourites such as BeatMaker and Argon get updated for this big screen and fast processor. I hope they not only use the screen real estate but also offer more features (like more tracks, effects etc.). I must admit even on my iPod touch BeatMaker is great for remixing loops, a lot of fun and quality is on par with a $1000 sampler hardware.

Also, yes, the problem with Windows 7 on tablet devices is that Windows 7 was not designed for finger operation. In the similar way, Mac OS X would also make little sense with a touchscreen. On both these systems the interface was designed for the mouse. iPhone OS, on the other hand, was designed from the ground up for multi-touch. So of course any other OS will suck compared to it, unless the authors spend their time re-designing all of it's GUI elements for multi-touch screens.
jsepeta
Posts: 283
Joined: 07:21, 31 March 2004
Location: Indiana USA
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by jsepeta »

The iPad may or may not be expensive, considering what it's compared to. For $700 i could have purchased a pc notebook, or maybe a couple of (lame) netbooks. It's practically the cost of my Mac Mini. But it has a different purpose and utility - to be small enough to take anywhere. Specialized devices for reading ebooks cost less, as well as screens for displaying sheet music. But taken as a generic object that can do both of these tasks handily, as well as many others, the iPad may be UNDER-priced. It all depends on the software that comes out for it.

$300 for a phone is expensive. $300 for a digital walkman (ipod) is also expensive. but the utility of a phone or walkman that plays games, surfs the web, allows typing emails, etc is worth the cost to MILLIONS of apple's customers. so I guess perspective is important.

$700 is a lot of money, practically 2 weeks' salary for me. but over the course of a year, or more, and having the potential to change not just how I do what i do, but what i do, and also to influence those around me to do things differently? that's priceless.

Oh, what I want for this is a virtual Roland D2 - using multi-touch, it would be pretty wicked. I can't see spending $1500 on a Tenori-On, but having similar fuctionality on the iPad would be cool indeed.
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

jsepeta, this price comparison vs. PC laptop or netbook is not exactly correct. I won't make parallels here, just mention that the iPad, and even regular Macs, are vastly different in operation to Windows-based computers. You ARE paying for a better device all-round, both in much more excellent hardware design, amazingly user-friendly software, and great integration of one with another. My 2.5 year old daughter can operate the iPod touch - launch a video, flick through photos, draw, play some games, etc. She would not be able to do this in such a way on a PC laptop or netbook. Think about how much more accessible and intuitive your iPad is compares to them.
jsepeta
Posts: 283
Joined: 07:21, 31 March 2004
Location: Indiana USA
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by jsepeta »

The new company I work for is starting development on Android apps using the new low-cost Android tablets. Their build quality is not up to that of the iPad. Sometimes, you _do_ get what you pay for.
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

Re: KORG iElectribe for iPad

Post by Artemiy »

As some say, Apple engineers their hardware on near sexual level :-) Seriously, these guys do a fantastic job with their enclosures.

This is the reason why an iPad will look completely at home docked on the backseat in a Rolls Royce. Can you imagine any device that wouldn't look out of place there? I can't name any.
Post Reply