In case you haven't seen it, Apple dropped a serious 2.1 update to their GarageBand app for iOS at the end of January. Click to watch a recap video or read the recap below.
The jamstik’s bluetooth brother the, “puc+” recently had it’s biggest debut with Andy Grammer's band on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Zivix's product allowed the band to play wireless keytars making it possible for an amazingly choreographed performance on the popular late night show. Read on to hear about the experience and check out some more pictures!
If you've read the previous entry, I used the analogy of MIDI keyboard controllers being similar to QWERTY keyboards. This is the most rudimentary idea of conceptualizing MIDI control. It leaves out a lot of details but helps frame the basic concept. In this entry I'm going to break down what really happens when you play a "C" on the jamstik or a keyboard controller, and hopefully bring some clarity to the whole concept.
Why not just play an actual guitar? There's a time and a place for everything...
If you've seen or heard the statement "the jamstik is a MIDI controller" and thought "I have no clue what MIDI is," you're not alone. From it's introduction in the 1980's through to today, MIDI has left a lot of people scratching their heads. I'm going to do my best here to help bring some clarity to what MIDI is and how it functions, especially in connection to the jamstik and puc.
"Apps We Got To Have” is a series dedicated to sharing info about the apps that we love to use with the jamstik. We’re not concerned with doing “deep dive” style reviews where we go over every detail of an app in exhaustive fashion, we’ll leave that to Dischord and Synthtopia. What we want to do is demonstrate the one or two things we love about an app, what makes it valuable for use with the jamstik.
Recently, I re-created Charli XCX’s song “Boom Clap” using only a MIDI guitar controller (jamstik). We set out to do as much as we could with the jamstik exclusively in GarageBand and the iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 really works well for this, so it’s not really a challenge to work only in the iPhone as a “limitation.” Like we demonstrate in our “GarageBand Loop Recording” video, you can record your ideas without stopping the music if you make your instrument track selections in advance.