Gorillaz iPad Album
During their American tour between October and November last year, Gorillaz wrote an album on an iPad which they released on their website over Christmas. Albarn also revealed what apps were used in the process…
Ready For The Fall
The album is called ‘The Fall’ and can be heard for free on the Gorillaz website (in exchange for signing up to their mailing list).
The album is being touted as an ‘iPad album’ – however, although many of the sounds may have been generated/composed on the iPad, there are also quite a few external influences, such as guitars and a Moog Voyager (a fairly significant and pricey piece of kit).
And then there’s the fact that the album was mixed by Stephen Sedgwick at Studio 13, and mastered by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road Studios.
The iPad Apps
So the iPad is definitely a useful musical sketchpad, although it still needs a bit of help in getting to the finished product. While not everyone has access to Abbey Road Studios, the app store is a different matter… so how much would the Gorillaz iPad arsenal set you back?
Well, of the list of apps posted on the Gorillaz website, three are free:
- Mugician
- Sylo Synth
- Harmonizer
Mugician (by Rob Fielding) is a particularly interesting exploration of how to use a multitouch interface as a performance instrument, and well worth checking out.
The paid apps are priced as follows (in Euros – though some apps do have sale periods; for example, iElectribe was on sale for half its current price, so its always worth keeping an eye out for introductory prices on new apps):
- Synth €0.79
- Speak it €1.59
- Soundythingie €2.39
- Funk box €2.39
- Gliss €0.79
- Amplitube €15.99
- Xenon €3.99
- Ielectribe €15.99
- Bs-16i €3.99
- Mellotronics m3000 hd €9.99
- Cleartune €2.99
- Iorgel hd €2.99
- Olsynth €5.49
- Studiomini xl €4.99
- Bassline €0.79
- Dub siren pro €2.99
- Moog filtatron €3.99
There is a free version of Amplitube, but in order to use it you will need to get the iRig hardware adapter to feed your guitar/mic through the effects – which costs about €30.
So all in all, to get the full app bundle and the iRig adapter, it will set you back €111.13. If you want to leave out Amplitube, then the price drops to a more reasonable €66.14. Still, not bad for a diverse set of mobile music-making utilities…