Your pocket is bulging with power.

Wait… okay, that sounded really wrong.

Anyway, the mobile software revolution continues. There’s so much stuff out there that it can actually be hard to track. Here’s a round-up to help you navigate everything that’s going on this week.

And even if you can’t stand another word about the iPhone, consider this: the explosion of iPhone software, more than just a fad, illustrates what happens when you give developers tools to make multimedia capabilities easier, then provide a distribution outlet. I don’t love everything about the iTunes approach, but those are lessons that could easily be learned in desktop and mobile development alike. The iPhone platform, if nothing else, is surprisingly uncompromising in the sound and visual interaction departments, especially for a mobile platform. And even desktop platforms could benefit from this kind of distribution mechanism (see also: Steam for games).

Also, we do have some of the first signs that the iPhone won’t be alone for long – new functionality on Google’s Android could take that platform in new directions. See my next story, Android/Linux/open source fans.

Disclaimer: don’t worry. I’m not giving up on desktop apps. Relax. In fact, even now as I look across these applications, while there are lots of cool ideas, it’s still clear this is a nascent area. The experience is nowhere near as rich as you get on the desktop. But it’s nonetheless worth exploring some of the ideas before we return to our (more powerful) desktop applications for music.

Field Recording, Microphones for iPhone + iPod touch

The big news this week was FiRe, which promises to be the “first professional field recorder” for the iPhone and iPod touch. The developer behind it is one of which we’re already big fans: Audiofile Engineering. AE make Wave Editor, which has rapidly become the secret weapon of choice for Mac audio producers and sound designers, as well as the batch-processing Sample Manager and adoptive parents of the excellent Rax plug-in host. Anything these guys do would get our attention, and then they go and add specs you wouldn’t expect to see on the iPhone:

• Accurate real-time waveform display
• Live, touch-controlled waveform navigation
• Audio markers
• Broadcast WAVE metadata
• Instant downloading in multiple formats – and easy sharing via FTP, Web server, or even a SoundCloud account
• Tag recordings with location data
• Overdub mode
• VU meters for input and output
• Configurable time units
• Mic flexibility: use Blue Mikey, Alesis ProTrack or even the internal mic

US$5.99, available now.

(Update) Hardware Requirements:
iPhone 3G
iPod Touch (second generation)
First Generation iPhone (headset ONLY)

http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/

iTunes link (which is tricky to find otherwise)

Let’s just cut straight to it: this is, bar none, the most full-featured app out there. It’s the first one that would make me seriously consider using this platform for recording.

This, of course, raises the question of which mic you might want to use.

If you’re on the iPod touch, you don’t have even a built-in mono mic. (Don’t knock it: I’ve put together entire pieces based on simple mono mic samples. Creative sampling artists will use anything.)

Even on the first-generation iPod touch, you can use some simple solutions that will let you do basic sound.

The Smule blog has a terrific round-up of recommendations for touch owners wanting to use their Ocarina app. Their technical needs are much lighter than what you might need for FiRe, but this is still worth a look if you have any interest in recording at all:

Microphones for iPod Touch Ocarina

The Griffin SmartTalk wins out for 2G owners. I have Griffin’s TuneBuds mobile, which has worked well enough for applications like RjDj. (Note that Smule have managed to get their app working with the first-gen hardware; FiRe requires the newer generation.)

At the fancier end:

Blue Microphones’ Mikey is a slim-line stereo condenser capsule that plus into the iPod accessory port. It’s hinged so you can play with placement at least a little, and there’s basic gain control (3 settings). It runs about US$80 street, which means it doesn’t have to compete with standalone recorders. Update: Audiofile Engineering say they’ve seen some issues with FiRe and Blue Mikey, and can’t officially support the combination. Readers have had some issues themselves. If you’ve already got a Mikey, this might be worth a try, but otherwise, you can await updated information as Blue and Audiofile Engineering attempt to address the problem.

Specific update: The problem sounds as though it is the combination of the production Mikey with second-generation iPod touch units running the current OS. This is expected to be fixed with the next OS release. Stay tuned for more.

Tha Alesis ProTrack is even more impressive-looking, but at US$249 list, it does start to get into the realm of “you could just go buy a dedicated recorder.” The ProTrack extends the iPhone by adding a shell with an X/Y stereo mic pair – one that looks quite a lot like the Zoom H4 mics – and even has onboard XLR jacks and phantom power. You also get LED monitoring, a limiter, additional power (four AAA’s), a mic stand mount – basically, it turns your iPhone into a real mobile recorder.

The Alesis has its own app, but the Audiofile Engineering option is looking more powerful. Naturally, that’s the advantage of software – because the iPhone is essentially a computer, you can add whatever software you like.

I still think there’s a good place for a dedicated recorder. I’ve started testing the Zoom H4n, seen at right. (Not an iPhone hiding in a shell.) I’m already blown away – it corrects most of the navigation and quality issues with its predecessor, and unlike an iPod or iPhone, has fantastic battery life and onboard XLR input jacks. (Okay, the ProTrack does have XLR’s, so this is getting a little more interesting.) In other words, I’m not sure I’m giving up on dedicated recorders in favor of one of these yet. It’s still handy to have, though – and who says you can’t use both, given how essential it can be to have a backup recording in many situations?

Updated: Officially, here are the mics supported by FiRe:

• Alesis ProTrack – http://www.alesis.com/protrack
  (Requires iPhone 3G or 2nd gen. iPod Touch)
• Blue Mikey – http://www.bluemic.com/products/mikey
  (Requires iPhone 3G)

Thanks to Gaëtan Gravel and everyone else who sent this in.

Paul Van Dyk’s DJ Tools

This one was a bit of a surprise: Paul Van Dyk has released a DJ app, but it’s not just a quick, attention-grabbing, “DJ on your iPhone” gimmick. It’s more like a utility belt for DJs. I’m surprised to see that as a result it’s actually gotten some criticism. To me, finding some genuinely useful stuff you might want to have on your mobile device is the whole point.

What’s in there?

• BPM counter
• Frequency analyzer
• Noise level (the “NYPD Application”), with an oddly beautiful visualization
• Seismic reader (for testing your turntable, not for telling if there’s an earthquake happening – that you’ll probably figure for yourself)

And then some silly stuff, too – glow stick, anyone?

http://www.paulvandyk.com/

Not yet available – coming late May 2009

All interesting, but you know what this means: now we need Live PA Tools. (I can think of some ironic choices for that. Nominations welcome.)

Nine Inch Nails App

NIN, of course, had their app become available on 4/14. There’s been quite a lot written about it – so much, in fact, that I feel like the whole thing is a bit overhyped. The basic development here is that NIN is taking all their fan data and making it location specific. On the upside, this is a lot more than many high-profile bands have done with iPhone development. But then, these guys should be doing more – they have the budget to hire real developers. I do like the idea of fans being able to interact on their mobile device; that clearly makes a lot of sense. But few artists will inspire the kind of loyalty NIN does, which means the real question is, will someone be able to build a platform for everyone else? And if you are a more obscure artist, what should you be doing?

The app is free, so just a conduit for fans, really.

iTunes link

http://www.nin.com/

Gestural Beat Sharing, Celebrate Cinco De Mayo

ZoozBeat is the application I looked at in the fall: the idea is to make musical improvisation more accessible by allowing people to use fun gestures, taps, and the like to assemble beats. The software is not only for iPhone, but the powerful Nokia N95, too.

That story is worth checking out from the perspective of gestural music in general, not just iPhone or mobile apps:

Gestures, Mobile Music, and the “Low Floor” for Novices: ZooZBeat on iPhone, Nokia

The latest news: the guys have gotten funding, for one. More importantly to end users, ZOOZ Mobile is adding a sharing component, much like what we saw with Smule’s Leaf Trombone. New upgraded software adds a Latin component with Samba and Tejano rhythms and is ready-to-go for Cinco de Mayo. Sounds great to me – and the Latin market has been oddly ignored by a lot of musicians and developers. There are also new Pop, Hip-Hop, and Techno beats.

http://www.myzoozbeat.com/

Unusual Instruments

You’ve got plenty of faux-808 apps for the iPhone now. Our friend Henry Lowengard is taking a very different tack, with drone-friendly creations and detuned pianos. He describes this as well as I could, so here’s what he writes to tell us about.

Imagine a piano in a summer home on a small lake, far in the north of the Northeastern United States. Imagine the piano sitting there for 60 or 70 years, untuned and unmaintained.
The naturally prepared timbres of the Lake Piano are now here for you, each missing felt, each individual nuance of the key action and character-filled tones. Briskly recorded one summer in lo-fi, these samples also contain sounds of children, cats, screen doors, and the summer breeze.

The first version of Lake Piano is relatively minimal, Henry says, played as a double row of scrolling piano keys and the ambient sounds stolen from a videotape he recorded. Henry promises more playability and more ambience in an upcoming upgrade, but you’ll get that automatically when it’s done, so you can always go play now.

And for droning on and on – literally:

Hi Droning fans:
I just sent in my new droning app Droneo to Apple for approval, so with luck, it’ll be in the store next week.
I’ll send a more widely distributed email when that happens, but I though you (pl.) might like to take a look at the Droneo "instruction site", http://www.jhhl.net/iPhone/Droneo/ and listen to this tantalizing demo:
http://www.jhhl.net/iPhone/Droneo/Audio%20Examples/Mp3/complex1.mp3
It’s basically my iPhone SrutiBox simplified to 8 oscillator voices, allowing a little more CPU time for complexity, and removing the preconceptions about Carnatic music and harmonium sounds that Sruti box engenders with its somewhat unpronounceable name.

For more on the SrutiBox, see our previous story.

Okay, I’m exhausted. Back to the desktop.

And of course, for the best source of up-to-the-minute mobile music creation news – well beyond just iPhone – be sure to read:

Palm Sounds

Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Who need them? The entire month of December seems to be on sale when it comes to music tech.

Christmas (and Hanukkah, for that matter) are nearly here. Whether it’s economic pressure or just some aggressive holiday pricing, there are some big deals out there that could make excellent gifts – or might just give you a nice list for shopping for yourself before or after the holidays. (Yes, it’s true: most of what readers suggested in our “gift guide” for the CDM Winter 08 special wasn’t really all that practical. But it does make a nice list of things you love.)

Here’s some of what’s on our radar screen:

Big Ticket Items Get a Break

$999 Tenori-On. In the US, at least, the Yamaha Tenori-On – the Lite Brite-style instrument tablet from innovator Toshio Iwai – gets a $200 discount. Based on reader feedback, that hardly moves it into impulse buy territory, but if you’ve been on the fence, your timing is right. Yamaha has also rolled out some very practical accessories (like a case and “survival kit” with stand), so if you know someone who owns one of these, accessories could make a nice last-minute gift.

And for the rest of us, there’s the US$20 t-shirt. You could mod that with LEDs and sensors and just let people play your chest. See the US store (curious to hear reports from The Rest of the World):

Tenori-On Store US

Moog bundles, Little Phatty break: The Moog Little Phatty is now available in Stage II Edition. (mmm, black!) It seems to have a slight street price break, down below US$1300 from a $1395 list. And to further sweeten the deal, the Moogs are presently bundled with a CP-251 control processor for feeding some analog control into your new synth. (See the video above. Really, an excuse to post this video is worth it.) In very much not a Recession Special, Moog also re-introduced the Taurus Bass Pedals.

Or, more fitting my budget at the moment, you can just get DVDs, books, and tasty apparel. Or perhaps a tattoo gift certificate; I hear the Moog fans love those.

Komplete, More Komplete – Komplete + Kore: For a limited time, AudioMIDI have bundled Kore 2 – Native Instruments’ software and controller – with the Komplete pack (basically everything NI makes on the producer/instrument side). US$895 for the total, which is what you’d normally pay for Komplete alone. You don’t need much justification here as Kore 2 doesn’t add any cost, but to me, having the physical controller and the ability to easily navigate all the NI sounds makes Komplete more manageable. (And we’re big fans of using Reaktor inside Kore, because you can easily assign controls to all your custom Reaktor creations.)

I just stumbled across AudioMIDI’s deal; we’ve heard other folks find bundles like this in stores. So it could be worth shopping around in your neck of the woods.

Cakewalk Holiday Bundles: Cakewalk is bundling extras with their software, including video tutorials and a download of pyro Audio Creator, an audio recording, editing, CD burning utility (which can itself make a nice software stocking stuffer for your Windows-using friends at $40). You can get a pretty full-blown version of their SONAR DAW for about US$299 (even though that looks more like the upgrade pricing of Pro Tools), and I see they also offer the E-MU Proteus Pack for lovers of the old E-MU racks.

Bundle pricing is different in different parts of the world, so if you’re interested in this offer, best to check your local store:

http://store.cakewalk.com/

Applied Acoustics Modeling Collection: AAS is having a sale on their lovely psychically-modeled products, so Tassman (modular environment) + Lounge Lizard (the electric piano) + Ultra Analog + String Studio (the terrific modeled string instrument) + Strum Acoustic = US$349. Check out the Modeling Collection in their store. Ableton users got treated to a couple of these instruments in Ableton-styled remakes, but if you haven’t bought those yet or don’t exclusively use Ableton or want the whole suite, this is worth a look.

Native Instruments sale: Native is offering upgrades 50% off, software bundles (including a free synth with their Audio Kontrol 1 audio interface), and other holiday deals through 12/31.

Bargain Buys

Steinway? Never heard of ‘em. The Steinway piano, photo (CC) madabandon.

Gary Garritan has a bunch of his sampled instruments on sale for US$99.99: Personal Orchestra, Jazz Big Band, and Marching Band. The sale ends 12/21, so you’ll want to get on this quick. The nice thing about these instrument packs is that they’re fairly well-focused and lightweight, so you don’t need a massive hard drive and sample-playing machine to get them running. They’re ideal, for instance, if you’re working on a score and want a quick rendition. Garritan also has the lighter “Basic Edition” of the Steinway-authorized Virtual Concert Grand. It’s 1.3GB uncompressed, so you can download it, making a perfect last-minute gift for someone (or yourself). I’ve just grabbed it myself and hope to have a review for you next week. You don’t get all the multisamples, it’s 16-bit only, and you only get the classic audience view, but I imagine this is how a lot of people use their sampled piano a lot of the time anyway. It only officially comes out Wednesday, but that gives you time for a Christmas Eve install.

Garritan Order Page [includes Christmas special]

Steinway Comparison Chart

As always, the Garritan community has done a free Christmas album:

http://garritan.com/Xmas.html

And perhaps there’s a deal on a real Steinway somewhere, too, though that doesn’t quite fit into our budget category.

Costco Meg-bundle with Snowball Mic: Costco (the US-based discount club) is generally not a place to go buy music tech gear. But they have a pretty terrific deal running right now, if you can find it. Blue Microphones’ Snowball USB mic, a convention basic dual-capsule condenser with 16-bit digital converter, is bundled with some other extras. You get Koss UR40 headphones, and Mackie’s underrated music editing workstation Tracktion 3. Given that the mic and Tracktion usually sell for $100 or more on their own, US$99 for the three is quite nice.

Snowball Mic Bundle

It’s hard to beat this as a $100 gift for newcomers you know. The Snowball isn’t the best condenser mic around by any stretch, and lacks fully-adjustable gain, but it’s a nice little mic to toss in a backpack and plug in via USB.

[Update] Fantastic Image-Line sale: Whoops, meant to mention this and didn’t in the first draft of the story! Image-Line’s software always makes a fantastic discount buy (which is why it topped our software list in the CDM Holiday Guide). But it’s an even better deal now, thanks to discounts and a free time-manipulation effect. Adrian Anders writes in comments:

Maximus & Morphine – $99 each

Every order of $99 or more comes with their new upgrade to WaveTraveler, one of those plugs in FLStudio that made Mac-heads question their loyalty. It hasn’t been announced but there’s a good chance an OS X version is in the works :D

More deals to follow.

Image-Line Sale

Peak Pro 6 Sale

The Mac-only audio editor has gotten some major upgrades to its playlist, RAM-based editing, new DSP goodies, dither modeling, another UI upgrade, and additional delivery and dynamics processing. Correction: only the upgrade pricing gets you as low as US$99. But there is a DDP export extension and free mastering plug-in with Peak Pro 6, an upgrade sale, plus other discounts:

Peak Pro 6 sale

Of course, that still leaves the “everyday low price” of Wave Editor from Audiofile Engineering at US$79, which has earned big fans like CDM contributor and game sound designer W. Brent Latta. Wave Editor has added some delivery options of its own, meaning you could easily choose either one. That makes two terrific choices on the Mac, which had traditionally been a bit behind on straight-up audio editors when compared to Windows’ Sound Forge and Audition.

Cash Back on Live

Ableton has a Holiday Special with up to $150 cash back on Live 7, Live LE, and Ableton Suite. There are some other promotions on, so well worth checking.

No promotional fees were collected in the making of this article. I do accept candy canes from readers if you happen to run into me. 

Deals by You

I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface here. Seen any great deals / discounts yourself? Picked up anything you want to share?

If you haven’t yet, do check out all we stuck in our Holiday Guide:

On Demand: CDM Winter 2008, with Gift Guide, Bending and Slicing Tutorials, More

Blue Mic’s new Icicle and subsequent discussion of alternatives like CEntrance’s MicPort Pro has generated some interest and chatter. Matej Isak sends over a review he did of the MicPort Pro:

CEntrance MicPort Pro review [Mono & Stereo]

CEntrance links to some other good reviews online on their product page. Highlights:

• Craig Anderton writes a detailed review for Harmony Central and in March did a short round-up of “fun stuff to plug into your USB bus.”
• Steve Fortner at Keyboard is quite fond of the thing.
• MusicTech gives it a perfect score, even though I’m always suspicious of perfect scores and, well, scores in general.
• Chris Breen likes it at Macworld, as does Joshua Topolsky for Engadget

So, there’s a round-up of people I know and like. I’m still sticking to a dedicated interface, at least until someone makes one of these that doubles as a standalone mic pre. (CEntrance, you listening? I’d even add a little bulk for that, honestly.) Interestingly, one commenter points out that while I didn’t like the lack of a headphone jack for direct monitoring, some people might prefer to listen through the host, so that keeps Blue’s offering in the running.

Certainly, to anyone who thought an XLR-to-USB mic pre wouldn’t appeal to anyone, this proves otherwise.

I’ve personally always been happy carrying around any one of a number of portable USB/FireWire audio interfaces. But as readers pointed out following Blue’s announcement of the Icicle yesterday, various solutions have offered direct mic – to – USB hardware with preamps for connecting a single mic to a single USB port. And several tech blogs picked up on the Icicle announcement, so clearly there’s a need for someone.

The major oversight of the Blue Icicle is that (as near as I can tell) it doesn’t have a headphone jack. Result: the only way to monitor the microphone would be through your computer, which adds latency. And I’m a little hesitant on what the quality of the pre is, as well.

The Icicle isn’t your only option. Readers point to the Mic Mate Pro from MXL, and I’ve heard very positive stories about CEntrance’s MicPortPro. The MicPortPro gets high marks on audio fidelity, both anecdotally from those we’ve heard from and in reviews from Keyboard, TapeOp, and the like. Ronald Stewart writes to say he uses it with his Indamixx, the UMPC-based, tiny portable PC, so I imagine it’s an interesting option for those who like obsessive degrees of portability.

Most importantly, the MicPortPro corrects a number of the weaker points of the Icicle. It has the headphone jack for zero-latency monitoring. It’s made of aluminum, and seems to be pretty solid in build. It supports 24-bit/96kHz recording. ASIO drivers are available on PC (still not sure about that on the Icicle). And it has nice, dedicated knobs for gain. There’s even a software driver for aggregating more than one MicPortPro. It’s roughly twice the cost of the Icicle, but if I were in the market for such a thing, the MicPortPro looks like it wins on just about every single point.

My one gripe: it’s nice to have the unit bus-powered, but why not add the ability to put in batteries so it can double as a standalone mic pre when you aren’t using your computer?

Ultimately, a dedicated mic pre and/or dedicated audio interface seems more functional to me for most folks. But I’m pleasantly surprised to see the MicPortPro is able to make this category make a bit of sense for those who want it. The bottom line seems to be for some people, portability is everything, even just to supplement gear you’ve already got.

CEntrance Product Page

Thanks to everyone who sent in feedback. As always, keep it coming. Even the grumbling – I may grumble back, but grumble away. You’re among friends.

Ever wished you could take any mic you wanted and plug it directly into your computer? With Apple nixing FireWire and the whole size issue, it’s not quite practical to expect an XLR jack on your computer. You could use a USB mic, but they’re useless in other situations. Blue Microphones has a new product called the Icicle, which is a small, pen-sized gadget that has XLR on one end, USB on the other end, and a preamp and a converter in the middle.

Price: US$59.99. No drivers required.

I actually have a couple of questions about this on the PC – will Blue have ASIO drivers? Is this less useful without the nice Mac feature of being able to aggregate interfaces? The primary question, of course, is how it all sounds. Recording engineer Tom McCauley has endorsed the product and is involved in the launch event, but the proof is in the product.

It certainly could fill a key gap, though, especially if Blue has nailed the quality. Specs from Blue:

• Studio quality microphone preamp
• 48V phantom power
• Fully balanced low noise front end
• Analog gain control
• Plug and Play driverless operation
• 44.1 kHz, 16-bit CD quality converter
• Mac or PC operation

It’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this. IK Multimedia’s StealthPlug is a similar concept, for instance, with 1/4” guitar/bass jacks in place of XLR mic connections. And we’ve seen a few USB-XLR cables with audio interfaces, like Lightsnake’s, though I can’t think of any that have caught on. Blue is doing a huge push behind this, so this could be The One.

It’s certainly a prime stocking stuffer target. Just make sure no one tries to eat it.

Certainly, the venerable audio interface isn’t at any risk. Dedicated interfaces give you more I/O options and other functionality, not to mention output. In fact, I use dedicated interfaces so much for input and output alike, I actually can’t see myself making much use of the Icicle. Once you’ve got an interface plugged in, you probably have an XLR jack. On the other hand, somewhere there’s someone with a MacBook Air who wants to just lug in a mic and record beatboxing in a hotel room, I’m sure.

So what do you think? Would you use something like this? In what situations?

Blue Microphones

First up, the new Mikey from Blue Microphones is a stereo condenser mic designed for the iPod (4G, 5G, 6G, iPod Nano 2G, 3G and iPod Classic). It’s not for the new iPod touch, but basically other iPod models are ready to go. You can’t set gain beyond three pre-determined levels, but it does double as a speaker and has a positionable head. I’m not sure I’d use it for really serious recording situations – Blue’s lower-end mics haven’t performed quite as well as their high-end models, as you’d expect – but it appears to be a pretty nice solution for a lot of situations, and fantastic for recording practice sessions and the like. At US$79.99 list, it’s practically an impulse buy. I’m curious to hear how it stacks up to the cheaper digital recorders out there, like those from Zoom.

Blue Microphones [A product page for Mikey was unavailable at press time]

The Mikey isn’t for the iPhone / iPod touch, but we have seen a slew of new recording apps out there, like Griffin’s iTalk (as seen on ZDNet from our friend Jason O’Grady). Most of these are pretty dead-simple – the Apple SDK includes a recording mechanism – so the primary engineering challenge is just writing a tool to get the audio from your mobile device to your computer, since (cough) Apple left that bit out.

Sonoma Wire Works’ FourTrack is a different animal. It’s a full-blown four-track recorder (well, at least you can record one track at a time and play back four). I could try to talk about it, but the talented Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired.com’s Listening Post does a great job:

The New Hotness: FourTrack Audio Recorder for iPhone, iPod Touch

Sonoma FourTrack: Product Page, iTunes App Store

Here’s the catch with FourTrack and a lot of these apps, though: what do you do for a mic? Options are extremely limited on the iPhone and second-generation iPod touch – at least until Blue Mics releases a Mikey for iPhone. Pro options, or anything coming close to it, are out of the question.

And those of us with first-generation iPod touch models are entirely out of luck. While prior to 2.x firmware, hackers had managed to make DIY solutions for mic support on the first-generation iPod touch, that solution is still missing on the second-generation unit. Part of the fault appears to be Apple’s: they left out software support in the earlier models, and they aren’t exactly making third-party hardware makers’ job easy, either. It’s a problem with phones in general: the Google Android-based G1 from TMobile doesn’t even have a standard headphone jack, let alone mic input.

For that reason, I can’t personally comment on the FourTrack because my iPod is useless with it; I defer to Eliot for that. But here’s the feature list – US$9.99 and (with the iPod touch 2nd generation, required) a third-party mic sets you up.

• Track Count – 4
• Track Length – unlimited
• Recording Quality – 16 bit, 44.1 kHz
• Calibrated Meters – accurately monitor record and playback levels
• Recording Clip Lights – ensure input levels do not cause distortion
• Calibrated Faders – accurately adjust playback level of each track
• Pan Control – move tracks from left to right
• Time Line – seek to anywhere in your song instantly
• Shuttle Wheel – accurately move within your song
• Slide-to-Record – prevents over-writing your tracks
• Latency Compensation – accurate to within 1ms
• Compressor-Limiter – automatically fattens sound of the output mix
• Song List – unlimited song count
• WiFi Sync – copy recordings to a desktop computer

Part of the beauty of mobile apps is that someone will find some novel use for them. But for many, I fear that mobile recording could just be a novelty. I’m all for multi-function devices, but I don’t see iApps coming close to the array of dedicated mobile recorders out there any time soon; it appears more hassle than convenience, which would be the whole point. FourTrack is definitely the most serious app I’ve seen yet, but I still think recording may be best left to recorders, at least for now.

Blue’s Snowflake USB claims to be the "first portable USB microphone to hit the market." (I thought they were exaggerating, and then picked up the "USB" bit — okay, fair enough.) It’s just US$79, plug-and-play on Mac and Windows, bus-powered, and comes in a cute case that doubles as a stand or screen clip. Blue’s mics are quite nice — I’m just a little skeptical in terms of how this performs in terms of quality, given its bargain price and small size. Hope to get one of these to try out, and we’ll see.

Oh yeah, that and it costs quite a lot more than $79 list if you wind up having to buy a MacBook Pro to match. Blue has sent along this gear pr0n to inspire us. I’m sure someone has a PC laptop that also would look nice with it.

Snowflake Product Page [Blue Microphone]

The announcement was made at winter NAMM in January, but the version photographed here evidently has some cosmetic tweaks for the final production version.

Should be available now-ish. Any owners of the previous Snowball USB mic (the non-portable version), we’d love to hear from you.

Updated: I knew the Snowball had gotten somewhat mixed reviews (in contrast to some of Blue’s excellent, higher-end mics), but here’s one from CDM reader Thomas for Ars Technica (via comments):

A Snowball’s Chance: Blue Snowball USB Microphone mini-review

Review audio samples

My guess is, while the mic may satisfy less-demanding users, readers here may not mind carrying a little more bulk to get their choice in mics. After all, just about any mic is "portable," and even if it’s a bit of a pain to carry an audio interface, too, the flexibility in getting results could be worth it. This is an interesting design concept, though, so I wonder if other makers will pick up the idea and run with it.