Mac|Life Audio and Music RSS Feed

What We Didn't Get Yesterday

J Keirn-Swanson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:44:54 -0500

So there were all kinds of new tweaks and price drops and so forth with Apple's incredibly popular iPod line, but yesterday's event was more notable for what didn't happen than what did.

First off, despite the popularity of the number nine in the catalog of The Beatles and yesterday's propitious dating, there were no announcements about the Fab Four's catalog at long last coming to iTunes. As the remastered CDs hit the brick and mortar stores in the physical form, digital Beatles continues to be elusive despite Yoko Ono's predictions. Label EMI missed a serious chance to make some coin on the hype and excitement of the re-release paired with The Beatles RockBand game hitting the shelves.

Source: AppleInsider

Less hot in the rumor loop was a revamp the Apple TV which hasn't seen an update since 2007. With lagging delivery dates, speculation suggested that the 40GB models were on their way out in favor of a newer model with a larger hard-drive than even the 160GB model. Alas, as the music-related title suggested, the show was strictly iPods and iTunes.

While this might have reasonably been a good place for a major refresh of the iPod touch, possibly throwing a camera into the mix, instead we were treated to iTunes 9 which was fitting with the date, but considerably less big news.

Which meant of course that Tuesday's biggest hope -- the highly anticipated, incredibly longed for, much dreamed of Tablet -- was Wednesday's biggest tearjerker. It was all music all the time and there was no love for Mac nerds on this front either. There seemed a strong chance when Phil Schiller busted out the games and the game stats, a tablet Mac seeming a good fit for your gaming experience, but no.It was not to be.

The event was over. Rumor predictions were batting around 50%, which isn't unusual, but the biggies didn't make the cut. Oh well, there's always next time. There's always 2010. Get your rumors started....now.

Things 1.0.4

Cultured Code — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:25:16 -0500

Organize your tasks in an elegant and intuitive way. Things combines powerful features with simplicity through the use of tags and its intelligent filter bar. A Leopard style source list allows for quick and easy focusing. Together with a beautiful user interface, Things aims at the seemingly impossible: making task management both easy and fun.

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later

To download a demo copy of Things 1.0.4 (4.3MB), click here.

Audio and Music: Full Software List

The Software Vault — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:56:40 -0500

Here's a list of all the demos, trials, freeware, shareware, and donationware in the Audio and Music section of the Software Vault. Check back often to see what's new and what's been updated.

Just click on any software title for more information and a download link.

Sponsors:
WireTap Studio 1.0.6 shareware - If you can hear it, WireTap Studio can record it.

Guitar Method 3.0 demo - Learn to pay guitar - any kind of guitar - quickly and easily.
Intermediate Piano and Keyboard Method demo - Polish your piano playing with this polished tutor.

iToner 1.0.6 shareware - Unlimited custom ringtones for your iPhone!

Jax 1.0 trial - Get more out of iTunes, AppleTV, and the iPhone.

Piano and Keyboard Method demo - New to the piano? This tutor will have you tickling the ivories in no time flat.

Editors' Picks:
Ableton Live demo - Your companion during every stage of the musical process.

AlarmClockPro 8.0 trial - This iTunes and Web-enabled alarm clock enhances the quality and serenity of your daily life.

Audiocorder 5.1.1 trial - Easily record from any audio source that you connect to your Mac.

Awaken 3.1 trial - This digital alarm clock will wake you with tunes from your iTunes library with any of its built-in alarms.

Backwards Machine demo - This VST and AU audio plug-in lets you reverse continuous audio in real time.

ButtonDesign 1.5 trial - Create buttons, and easily update styles and templates as your design changes.

CDFinder 5.0.1 trial - Organize your disk and data archive and keep track of your digital media assets.

ChatterBlocker 1.1.2 demo - A more polite alternative to telling your co-workers to shut up.

CoverScout 2.3.4 demo - You have the music, now get the album covers.

DiscLabel 4.1 demo - Create, print, and share professional-looking CD labels, jewel case inserts, and DVD covers.

Fission 1.5.1 demo - Jump into audio editing within minutes.

Music Man 2.1 trial - A full-featured music player and ripping device.

MusicRenamer 2.0 donationware - This powerful MP3 file-renaming tool makes manual editing passe.

SFX Machine Pro 1.1.1 demo - Create sensational sound effects easily.
Sound Byte 3.4.0 shareware - Play AIFF, WAVE, mp3, and other sound files at the click of a mouse.

Sound Studio 3.5.5 demo - Give your audio recordings a professional touch with this powerful software.

Tuna Pitch freeware - A free tool to make sure your guitar always hits the right note.

You Control: Tunes 1.5.2 freeware - Take complete control over iTunes from the Mac OS X menu bar.

Ableton Live

Ableton — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:44:55 -0500

Ableton Live accompanies every stage of the musical process, from creation to production to performance. In the creative stage,Live is transparent, intuitive and responsive, capturing inspiration and encouraging the flow of musical ideas. During production, Live provides all of the professional tools and studio compatibility required to complete and perfect projects. On stage, Live delivers the expressive control and stability that innumerable performing artists have come to rely on.

REQUIREMENTS: Any G4 or faster, (Intel Mac recommended) 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended), Mac OS X 10.3.9 (10.4 or later recommended), QuickTime 6.5 or higher, DVD-ROM drive

To download a demo of Ableton Live 7 (102.4MB), click here.

Updated: WireTap Studio 1.0.6

Ambrosia Software — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:09:22 -0500

WireTap Studio is a professional audio recording, editing, and management solution, allowing you to manage and manipulate your audio with ease. Discretely record from a specific application, record all of your Mac system audio simultaneously, or even record from any hardware/line-in device of your choice.

After recording, edit your clips with WireTap Studio's revolutionary and completely lossless editor. Lossless master recording technology enables you to edit your recorded audio without any loss of quality or content. Come back days, months, or even years later and undo the changes you've made. You can even take a file you mistakenly recorded at a lower quality and increase the quality at any time, without the need to re-record.

Even better, patent-pending LivePreview™ technology enables you to preview your audio before you capture it, saving you lots of time and stress. No longer will you need to record multiple bitrates and formats and then compare them side by side. Change the bitrate, compression format, or even add Audio Unit effects, and hear the changes in real time - before you record.

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X 10.4 or later, QuickTime 7.0 or later, 1GHz G4 or faster, or any Intel Mac

To download a copy of WireTap Studio 1.0.6 (25.6MB), click here.

Updated: iToner 1.0.6

Ambrosia Software — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:41:15 -0600

iToner enables you to quickly transfer custom ringtones for your iPhone - without modifying, hacking or having to reset your iPhone. Simply drag and drop your MP3, AAC, WAVE, or AIFF audio files on iToner's window, click the Sync button, and you're done.

Your iPhone allows you to assign different ringtones for your different contacts. With iToner, now you can have a Barry White ringtone for when your girlfriend calls, Frank Zappa for when your college buddies ring you up, or the theme from Jaws for when your boss is calling.

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4.10 or later, iPhone

To download a copy of iToner 1.0.6 (7.2MB), click here.

Updated: Sound Studio 3.5.5

Freeverse — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:04:37 -0600

Sound Studio 3 is an easy-to-use Mac OS X application for recording and editing digital audio on your computer. Digitize tapes and vinyl records, record live performances, create your own mixes with crossfades, tweak the levels and EQ, apply digital effects and save in all major file formats with Sound Studio 3! Sound Studio continues to be regularly updated to add new features and to take advantage of the very latest Apple technologies.

With Sound Studio 3 you can record professional sounding Podcasts and other audio dialog. Positioned between more expensive programs with steep learning curves and far less robust apps, Sound Studio is for anyone who needs to record or edit audio with a professional tool, but at a consumer price!

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4 or later, 16 MB VRAM minimum, 512 MB RAM minimum

To download a demo copy of Sound Studio 3.5.3 (14.7MB), click here.

New: SFX Machine Pro 1.1.1

The Sound Guy — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:40:56 -0500

Audio effects are a blast to create, but it's not easy to find an affordable equivalent of a Swiss Army knife for doing just that. SFX Machine Pro is a one-stop shop for audio processing at a reasonable price - and it makes sweet sounds.

The app works flawlessly as a plug-in for GarageBand and Ableton Live, with exceptional processing efficiency. Putting SFX Machine Pro to work is a snap - what the interface lacks in looks, it makes up for in intuitiveness. The 300 presets are divided into categories; click a category, and the variations are presented in an adjacent Preset column. When you choose one, the sliders display the controls, which vary for each preset. The controls open up endless possibilities, and what's more, you can save your own custom presets.

REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later

To download a demo copy of SFX Machine Pro 1.1.1 (3.3MB), click here.