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With the awesome reception that Smule has received for Ocarino, Zypher and Magic Piano to name a few, it’s no surprise to see more companies pop up with their own virtual instruments. Jordan Ruddess (below) launched a virtual musical instrument company called Wizdom Music (MorphWiz), that develops apps for the iPhone and iPad and has released one called MorphWiz, which has become very popular since it’s initial release.

This is a product that is packed with very diverse tone manipulation features that demonstrate it’s purpose, providing one with a modern musical instrument in a new form; the virtual instrument. For example, you can change the sound wave velocity, adjust the finger vibrato, adjust the attack, set the scale, adjust sound delay, record performances on the mobile device, just to name a few of the details within this app. Frankly, a classically trained musician or composer would have to be impressed and get a total kick out of using MorphWiz.

Here is Ruddess playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on an iPad:

While granted electronic instruments isn’t a new concept, the difference lies in the elimination of a kinesthetic manipulation of physical keys, strings, holes, or what have you, apart form tapping, swiping, and pinching a glass surface. More importantly, these virtual instruments are now more widely available and attractive to a diverse consumer base of mostly non-musicians. The great thing about apps like MorphWiz is that advanced music theory knowledge isn’t really required to indulge in instant music making–assuming of course one shelled out the money for any one or all of the Apple touch platforms.

Excerpt from morphwiz.com:

MorphWiz is a both an expressive musical instrument and an exciting visual experience. Created by Jordan Rudess and Kevin Chartier, MorphWiz is enjoyable for beginners and seasoned musicians alike. It contains over 50 presets programmed by the wizard himself, Jordan Rudess, to allow for an instantly musical experience from the moment the application is first opened. For more experienced users, a wide array of synthesis, effects, and visual options allow the instrument to be precisely configured to the user’s tastes.

I counted 82 presets to be exact, among which my favorites were “Aliens R Us”, “An Asian Way” with it’s cool pentatonic (five tone) scale and fancy sounds, and lastly “Space Tilt”. There were more, but that would amount to a very long list. Here are some screen shots below of the apps user interface.

I had a chance to play around with MorphWiz prior to writing this post thanks to Jordan’s publicist, Christopher Buttner, president of PRThatRocks.com. I will likely do a video review of the app later this week along with some other apps I want to review. MorphWiz costs $9.99 in the app store and you can download it here.

Brief info about Jordan Ruddess

Jordan Rudess is the keyboardest for the successful rockband Dream Theater, who are currently touring and opening for Iron Maiden. Check them out on their site and myspace page. By the way, I like their song “Wither”. Check it below the photo.

Before I go any further, one might ask how this is relevant content for this blog. It’s probably a stretch, but Hulu.com is an awesome blend of web technology, social media and televised content in light of the growing demand for great DIY video content on the web. To see people pooling and recruiting talent discovered online is fascinating. This is a prime example of web culture. Don’t you agree? Move right along…

This is a bit late, but The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers debuted on Hulu.com on July 7th. Just prior to the debut Paul Dateh recently announced on his blog that his music will be featured in the 10th Chapter “I Seen A Man”. Keep a lookout for this. I happen to like Paul’s music and think you should check it out. His sound and combined talents are certainly unique and worth good attention.

Coming back to The LXD, I watched the first episode and…it’s different. It’s a unique blend of Heroes meets America’s Best Dance Crew. If you’ve seen any part of the first season of Heroes, then you will clearly get that vibe from The LXD. It’s very interesting. Check it out in the link above.

Visit Paul’s website, pauldateh.com and also watch this cool mashup he put out back in May. This video is so awesome! It gives me goosebumps, in a good way!! Also you just wanna get up and cut a rug, had me dancin’ in my seat at my computer. lol

This might shock you but I don’t want to talk so much about the fact that it was shot entirely with an iPhone 4 camera. The most I’ll say about that is the image quality was superb enough to even pursue a project with the mobile device. Great! But in any case…

I want to mention the post production work on this video, as I think it’s wonderful. You might be shocked to know that this video was shot in 9 locations (the obvious part of the video), but it was all accomplished in one day. Wowzers!

The video was color corrected using Final Cut Pro, and admittedly rushed, according to the production notes. I think that ironically, the look is very artistic and effective in spite of the setbacks and short timing, per the editors mentioning. Among the logistical limitations were the iPhone 4′s limits: “lack of lighting, aperture and shutter speed control”.

I just want to say hats off to the producers of this music video! It’s a job well-done.

Please check out this video editor and his work via the links below:

Artist: flakjakt – flakjakt.com
Song: “Cascades”
Director/DP/Editor: Marty Martin
Website: themartymartin.com”
Twitter: @themartymartin
Tumblr Tumblr Blog

Here is the YouTube video for iPhone viewers.

Hmm. Where to begin? Okay. On the day that the iPhone 4 was revealed Apple launched their design video, and as I was watching, at about 0:45 seconds into the video the music became very familiar. For a brief moment I thought it was Phillip Glass (I know that’s a terrible thing to say). Bare with me, I’m going somewhere with this and hopefully you’ll see the connections I’ve made. Hit play on the video below and keep reading (it’ll start in the correct place).

The music you’re hearing is the instrumentals to OneRepluic’s beautiful song “Secrets” from their 2009 album “Waking Up”. “Okay David. What’s your point?” Well I was just noticing the possible irony of this song having been chosen to feature in the design video for the iPhone 4 after much controversy on it’s leak by Gizmodo. In short, the phone was prematurely leaked online after a prototype was found in a bar where it was mistakenly left behind by an Apple employee. Long story short, since the prototype’s new owner couldn’t return the device to Apple after a number of failed attempts, he resorted to selingl it to the highest bidder, and Gizmodo answered the call (read the long version on FastCompany.com).

So all I’m saying is in light of this leak scandal, I think it’s funny that a song about the revelation of secrets is playing in the background during a pivotal moment on the iPhone 4′s greatest feature: FaceTime.

If you think that this is a stretch just consider that it only boils down to two things (Occam’s Razor): it’s either unwitting yet tasteful coincidence or a cleverly produced subtle statement. Would you agree?

For all you guys that have purchased an Apple computer with Leopard or Snow Leopard you will have gotten this lovely introduction below. “Uh, duh David! So what?”

Now I’m admitting ignorance here by saying that I naively thought that the music for the OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard intro video was created in-house by Apple. But apparently not because the band Honeycut created this song with their hip-hop infused experimental musical style. And of course I love it.

What do you think of their music? Comment! Click click click!!!

Just discovered this great music by a UK based alternative/ambient band Codes in the Clouds. I was checking out some work of indie filmmaker, Mike Hedge, when I came across this video right below. Wow! The music is so moving, and I love the creative aspects of this teaser done by Mike Hedge and Miguel de Olaso, also known as simply Macgregor.

Check out their latest album Paper Canyon. Really great stuff!