The sweet sounds of a Smule

Most of the big gadget blogs have covered this today, but it’s so cool that I had to do a post myself. You may have seen my posts on the iBand, a group of musicians that turned their iPod touches, iPhones and a Nintendo DS into a band….well, hold on to your pants because here comes another addition to the iPhone instrument collection – the digital Ocarina from Smule. 

What’s different about this then? Well, this is just out there and all kinds of crazy, which is what makes it so cool. Think of it as the recorder (as in the musical instrument they make every kid in primary school play) of the iPhone world. Some boffin has developed an app that lets you blow into your iPhone mic then play a tune using the touch screen. Check out the video below.

MyTake – What will they think of next? But seriously, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, opening up the iPhone to third party developers is the smartest thing Apple have done. The PR value alone has to be worth thousands. How do you keep a product interesting and newsworthy – give it to the community and let them reinvent it every month. 

Ladies and gentlemen...The Trons!

We’ve had iBand, now here’s………The Trons! Who are they then, you ask? Well they are/it is a band of robots or automated musicians if you will. The brainchild of an electronic engineer from Hamilton NZ called Greg Locke, the band is actually made up of parts that his mates have given him, or stuff that he’s managed to scrounge together. 

The Trons consist of a keyboard player, a drummer, two guitarists and what can only be described as a “warbler”. Greg already has a MySpace page for the band and even uploaded a few tunes to YouTube, which is where he secured the band’s first international gig. Apparently, the PR firm for Mercedes-Benz got in touch with him and asked if The Trons would be interested in performing at the Paris Auto Show. But this wasn’t the first gig for the Kiwi bots, they have already toured New Zealand’s South Island. 

MyTake – Some men look at their garden and think, I’ll dig a flower bed…..some men look at their shed and think, I’ll build a tool rack…This bloke look at his bedroom and thought, I’ll build a band to entertain me. Greg Locke, we salute you. Yes, it’s an example of innovation at its purest, but it also demonstrates that technology and software is becoming more and more accessible and that we’re all only an idea (and maybe a few beers) away from our very own Robert band. Check out the video below.  

iBand: Revisited

I posted about this a while ago, but I recently been seeing a few more articles on them so I’ve decided to revisit the phenomenon that is iBand. The trio are actually from Austria and decided to form the band based on a hunch and a whim, which I have decided to call a “whunch”. Like most people with an iPhone, they imported them as soon as they were released in the US and in their case, they have been tinkering around with them ever since.

The three musicians – Seb, Roger and Marina - have gone form a YouTube flavour of the day to being interviewed on TV and releasing a single. What next for these iphone-lovers on the bleeding edge of music? "We're not looking to make money off of our services," said Marina. Although not yet signed-up to a record label, the band writing a number of songs and plans some public performances that according to Seb "will not be conventional concerts.”



MyTake – Will we ever really see an act pawned by YouTube last the test of time? We’ve had people such as MC Lars that have had a fair bit of success and more recently Tay Zonday and his Chocolate Rain who, let’s face it, has been the butt of too many a joke. Will iBand last? Probably not, but what they have done is show the rest of the world what’s possible and maybe even set the tone of the next generation of musicians. After all, do you reckon the first bloke to pick up the guitar would have been any good next to Hendrix?

I hope you like Jammin' too

Welcome to the next generation of jamming! Since the dawn of time, mankind has been using everything and anything to make music and that's not set to change any time soon. A bunch of guys have taken two iPhones and a Nintendo DS and created the "iBand". Check out the video below.

MyTake - Music is becoming more and more accessible, letting more people get involved and make music. I wonder how many great artists were never discovered because they couldn't get in a studio, or couldn't afford a guitar. The idea that people could sit around jamming on their iPhones then share the result with pals via Facebook or MySpace is one I think will happen sooner than we think. It's all about content, and sharing that content - the more personal that content gets, the more it’s worth sharing.