Komp, a musical handwriting app for iOS, is in development

This is a great announcement from NAMM, reported by the Sibelius Blog. I am thrilled to see handwritten music apps get more competitive, especially since StaffPad is absent from iOS.

The little tidbit below gives me high hopes for the app. Handwriting, and all creative software for that matter, is all about the user experience. It has to feel natural.

NAMM 2017: Komp, a music handwriting app for iOS, is in development:

I asked Gene how he would compare Komp to the other music handwriting recognition apps that have emerged in the last couple of years. “We are all similar,” he said, “in that we understand that musicians want a frictionless way to transfer their creative ideas into a computer using the input technique that they are used to; pen and paper. StaffPad, Touch Notation, NotateMe and the various apps that use the MyScript library all have my respect. StaffPad is especially a product of extreme quality. I actually bought a Surface just to use it.”

Komp is different, Gene said, in several respects. “The various apps have differing philosophies about figuring out what a user is doing. StaffPad and the MyScript apps all wait until the user has input a certain amount of notation and then signaled the application to process their input. The end result can be pretty surprising. When I was at Apple, I had weekly meetings with Steve Jobs and there were two things that he was passionate about: never surprise the user and do the right thing. If you wait until a user has entered a whole measure of notation and then try to process it, you are usually going to surprise the user. Even worse, you are going to have no practical way to communicate back to the user what has gone wrong.

The article also mentions that Komp will use the XML filetype, which is non proprietary. This means that users could feasibly get a simple, fuss free, handwriting experience that can then be easily exported to other more powerful software on a desktop. If you ask me, that sounds like the perfect place for a tablet notation app to be. I will definitely try this one out and hope it is a good experience in practice.

Great update to Logic X and GarageBand on iOS today!

Ummmmm.... this is big news for Logic and GarageBand users who want to work on an iPad.

Jason Snell reports that Logic X for Mac and GarageBand for iOS are getting an update today which will include many new features, notably the ability to transfer projects from Logic on Mac to GarageBand on iOS (and back again).

Logic updated with Touch Bar support; GarageBand also gets an update - Six Colors:

Most intriguing for people who switch between Logic and iPad is the ability to export a mixed-down version of a Logic project and sync it to iCloud as a GarageBand project. That project can be opened in GarageBand for iOS—and tracks added to the project on iOS will be synced back to the Logic Pro X project via iCloud.

NPR's 50 Best Albums of the Year - Apple Music Playlist

Happy New Year!

I usually compile and post NPR's 50 Best Albums of the Year around the middle of December but it has been busy. I always find lots of great music on this list that brings me full swing into the next year and beyond.

I usually share this as a Spotify playlist, but as I have switched over to Apple Music, I just could not justify the time it would take to find all of the music twice.

That being said, I hope you enjoy. Some of my favorite albums of the year, many off this list, are to be shared in a blog post later this week.

Here is the link to NPR's list: Best 50 Albums of 2016

Here is the link to my Apple Music playlist: NPR Best 50 Albums of 2016

The following recordings were not available on Apple Music:

Jamila Woods - Heavn

Beyoncé - Lemonade (due to exclusive streaming deal with TIDAL)

Pavel Kolesnikov - Chopin Mazurkas

Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy - Darraje

Pure Disgust - Pure Disgust

New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert - Rouse: Symphonic Works

Mal Devisa - Kiid

NYSSMA 2016

Are you going to be at the NYSSMA Conference in Rochester, NY this weekend? Come check out one of my two sessions! Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers is on Friday at 7pm and Going Paperless with iPad is on Saturday at 2:30 pm. 

Did you attend one of these sessions? Click the links below for a copy of the live session notes.

Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers

Going Paperless with iPad

Syncing Feeling

Jason Snell over at sixcolors.com describes a few grievances with a new feature in macOS Sierra that syncs the contents of your Mac's Desktop and Documents folder across all of your devices and optimizes storage on the device by moving files that have not been opened recently to the cloud. In particular, there are problems with syncing package files associated with professional software, even including Apple's own Logic and Final Cut Pro!

Syncing feeling: iCloud Drive in macOS Sierra:

With any luck, Apple’s hot on the case of fixing the bugs. Perhaps the teams in charge of Apple’s pro apps are working on coordinating project files a bit more aggressively. And I suspect that I might be a little responsible for this new Apple tech note, which suggests that if you’re using a pro app, you should move your projects out of synced folders or turn off Optimize Mac Storage.

Yep, that’s Apple saying that people who use pro apps should just turn off or avoid using a major new feature of macOS Sierra.

Unfortuantely, all to many signs today point to the fact that Apple is

a. not thinking about the pro user.

and

b. releasing buggy updates to their cloud services that create caution amongst users as to whether or not they should trust iCloud with their data.

New iPhone Announcement, September 7, 2016 - Reflections

Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 2, the iPhone 7, and a new set of wireless AirPods this past Wednesday. I wanted to take a hot second to jot down some quick reflections on some of the announcements. These are in somewhat chronological order.

Just one brief note: I went into watching this event without any real interest in purchasing anything announced.

Mario

Not sure what it is, but the announcement of a Mario game coming to iOS made me feel like a seven year old. It looks to have the characteristic tightness and polish I expect from Nintendo games. I will definitely buy and play this game. Also very cool that it is going to be a fixed price and not have in app purchases.

iWork

Oh boy. Anytime iWork gets mentioned, I sit up in my seat a little. It was announced that iWork is getting real time collaborative features (yeah yeah, just like Google Docs in 2007). The cool thing is that collaborators can be working on Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents from on the web or in the native applications on Mac or iOS. As these apps are my primary tools of choice for making docs, spreadsheets, and presentations, I am pumped that Apple is working on this.

Sadly, these features depend on the reliability of iCloud sync to be awesome. If these newer features work as well as existing iWork document sync, I am going to need see them in action first hand before getting too excited.

Pokemon Go for Apple Watch

Again, I found myself surprised that one of the most exciting announcements for me was about a game. Pokemon Go is the perfect fit for Apple Watch. It will resolve every reason that I do not currently play the game often (even though I find it entertaining and aspire to play it more).

The app reconciles the fact that playing Pokemon Go is basically a workout and therefore tracks your calories and distance as you play and records this data to the Apple Health app. It tells you when Pokemon are near as you walk so that you don't have to be staring at your screen the entire time, ignoring the moment and running your battery dry.

I will play this game a ton.

Apple Watch Series 2

I was not planning to be excited about this device but it might be the most compelling thing to me about the entire presentation. Apple Watch Series 2 brings GPS, waterproofing, speed increase, and water related workouts to the watch and also has some new and cool designs.

The Nike+ version of the watch has a breathable sport band and comes with some extra software installed to help track runs and motivate the user to get outside.

I have the stainless steel version of the original Apple Watch but I have bounced around the idea of getting a cheaper aluminum model just for the work out features and speed increase. It was also announced that watchOS 3 will come out next Wednesday, September 13th. This update is advertised to improve speed so much that it will feel like a new watch. So far, reviews have indicated that the hype is real. I will wait to see how much faster my watch feels next week before deciding if I really want a the new model.

iPhone 7

Well, they really did it. They took away the headphone jack. Honestly, I think this is where the technology needs to go, but as an audio professional, I think I am going to introduce a lot of friction into my life for the next year if I early adopt this technology. I still want the ability to plug my phone into any sound system I come across, and while using a Lightning to 1/8th inch adaptor is not a huge hassle for me, I would really rather just not deal with it. Eventually I do believe the entire industry will move this way, but I really wish that in pushing things forward, Apple had gone with a standard solution like a USB C cable, not one that is proprietary like Lightning.

Audio jack aside, the new camera features on the phone look compelling and I am definitely interested in them. Maybe next time around...

AirPods

Along with the audio jack removal, Apple announced a new set of wireless "AirPods" that are designed just like the ones that come in the box, but without wires. The AirPods come in a chargeable case that charges the pods itself. As soon as you take them out of the case, they immediately pair to whatever Apple device you want to use them with (Mac, Apple Watch, iPhone) in one tap. They seamlessly pass audio from one of these devices to the other in one tap without fiddling with Bluetooth settings. They allow you to talk to Siri and get a couple hours of playback from a few seconds of charge.

If you have seen the product photography of these, the potential for loosing them is immediately obvious. That being said, I am very compelled by these devices because they are the only one in the presentation that actually solve new technological problems for me in a user friendly way. If these don't sound like garbage and fit my ears, I will definitely buy them. If you are compelled by these but fear of loosing them, Apple's headphone company, Beats, is also releasing three new wireless headphone models that use them same pairing technology as the Apple AirPods. Each of the Beats models have a wire to attach the two ear pieces together.

Conclusion

I think for me, it is looking like:

iPhone: I'll wait.

Apple Watch: See how fast watchOS 3 feels first.

AirPods: See how they sound and fit first. If the fit is bad, consider Beats.

Watch the Video Trailer for My New Book

The video trailer for my new book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, is out!

Thanks to all who helped to make it happen...

Video produced by Four/Ten Media
Narration: Terry Eberhardt
Acting: Jennifer Retterer, Cecilia Bullough, Martin Vandenberge, Robby Burns
Editing: Kevin Eikenberg
Music: Square Peg Round Hole

Yosemite Style Sibelius icon replacement for Mac

A few years back, Apple released the OS X update Yosemite for Mac, drastically changing the way that the user interface appears. The first thing you may have noticed with this transition is that the icons for various different apps changed, becoming less glossy and three dimensional, and adding distinguished color gradient effects.  

If you are anything like me, it may bother you that certain third party software developers have neglected to update their app icons. For me, Avid's Sibelius is one of the only icons I keep on the dock that does not have this modern look. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It's hideous, actually. So naturally, I changed it. 

DeviantArt has a bunch of Yosemite themed icon remakes available. Click here to download a much improved Sibelius icon, depicted below. They also have icon replacements for Pro Tools, Avid Media Composer, and tons of other apps. Following the link also includes very clear instructions on how to properly make the icon change on your computer.

Google Docs, Sheets get iOS 9 split screen (finally)

From the Six Colors blog:

Today brought some great news. Updates to Google Docs and Google Sheets add split-view multitasking to those apps at last.

This is a big deal for iPad users. Now it’s possible to update a Google document or spreadsheet while also viewing Safari or using any other multitasking-capable app you can think of.

Yes! I am recently relying way more on Google Docs and Sheets to collaborate with my colleagues. I am also using my iPad increasingly more often as a work device. These two apps were previously the only two I used on a regular basis that could not be opened alongside another app on my giant iPad Pro's display. Now I can finally do something like, for example, plan a concert in Notes on one side of the screen while referencing my score inventory in Google Sheets on the other side.

Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood on NPR All Songs Considered

I am really enjoying listening to the most recent episode of All Songs Considered. Jonny Greenwood discusses the new Radiohead album, A Moon Shaped Pool. He talks about all sorts of interesting things like how they differ their approach to writing and recording each album, and how the band functions more like a group of co-arrangers rather than an ensemble of different instruments.

Click here to listen to the episode in Overcast.

All Songs +1: A Conversation With Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood :

It's not really about can I do my guitar part now, it's more ... what will serve this song best? How do we not mess up this really good song? Part of the problem is Thom will sit at the piano and play a song like 'Pyramid Song' and we're going to record it and how do we not make it worse, how do we make it better than him just playing it by himself, which is already usually quite great. We're kind of, we're arrangers really."