The iPad has a massive head start in software and a clear lead in design elegance, but in the tablet market, it’s no longer alone. As expected, this week’s Consumer Electronics Show brings a slew of tablets. Don’t call them iPad rip-offs, either. Given product development cycles, many of these products were likely in the pipeline before competitors saw the iPad. (There’s no doubt in the intervening time the iPad has made its mark, both as a benchmark of what to be and how rivals might differentiate themselves.)

Browsing, e-books, and games lead app consumption on iOS, but music software has nonetheless pushed the envelope of what these platforms can do. Music applications are often the most deep, sophisticated, and desktop-like (as in tools like Korg’s iMS-20 and Propellerhead’s ReBirth), and they’ve been some of the most adventurous in pushing the multi-touch interface (with countless unusual controllers and experimental interfaces). They’ve also made heavier use of hardware and network connectivity, with users regularly working with MIDI and audio hardware and wireless MIDI and OSC to connect to desktop computers.

So, what are the tablets to watch? And will these see the kind of heavy use by musicians and music developers the iPad has?

Honeycomb Android Tablets

The pitch: These devices are clearly iPad rivals, but with second-generation features (faster performance, cameras, higher-resolution screens). In turn, some or all of those same features are likely to crop up in a revised iPad some time in the spring.

Good example: The Motorola XOOM (see Android Tapp), due in the first quarter of the year here in the US with mobile connectivity from Verizon, is an indication of what’s to come. The videos are a bit dorky, from both Moto and Google, but the tablet itself looks quite nice. Motorola has also done a good job keeping up to date with OS updates on its Droid phone line. See also tablets from Asus and LG.

The hardware: Faster CPUs – while still far from desktop-class, dual core processors should boost audio processing capabilities. Faster GPUs – the NVIDIA Tegra is a serious GPU. Front- and rear-facing cameras. Higher-res screens, at resolutions around 1280×800. HD video. More hardware connectivity. (HDMI, USB, 30-pin ports, or some combination.)

The software: Android “Honeycomb” is what we’ve all been waiting for. Likely to carry version 3.0, this is the tablet-ready version of the OS.

How might music developers approach it? Initially, most won’t. Android is turning into a vibrant platform for general-purpose software development, but music developers face software that’s harder to develop than mainstream apps, yet with a potentially smaller audience and greater risk. And this whole field, iOS included, is very new. That means it’s more likely commercial music developers will focus efforts on iOS, even with new tablets. There’s a chicken-and-egg problem for music: early adopter users eager to consume music apps went for iOS, which brought developers there, which brought more users… There will be exceptions, and those few exceptions are likely to get lots of attention from Android users, carriers, and handset makers, but growth here will take more time.

Look instead for a vibrant open source community – not so much because Android is technically an open source platform, but because it’s easy to develop for and doesn’t require a Mac. Open source software should be a good fit, too, because it’ll allow a community of savvy users to crowd-source testing the wide array of Android phones and tablets out there. With phones alone, the payoff was limited, but with tablets, that could change. And that in turn could eventually lead to more commercial development.

How might musicians use it? The iPad has proven itself as a music platform, but I expect some musicians will snap up Android tablets, too. Faster processing speeds will give these platforms more robust sound-making capabilities, and at what looks to be competitive prices. Tablets in general work well as touch controllers for music apps and they’re great for reading (and soon, I suspect, editing) music notation. Free software like Pd, Processing, and OpenFrameworks will open up sophisticated sound and visuals. New capabilities in the browser could mean the web browser could turn into a tool for collaboration, a control surface, or a recording environment. And these machines could make nice, low-profile portable machines in place of a laptop, particularly if hardware connectivity is available. (See “lingering questions.”)

Versus an iPad: It’s all about the software. Android tablets should have competitive touch displays, performance, and hardware quality. But the Android OS can still be uneven for developers in terms of performance. And forget about “fragmentation” – more devices can be good; often the issue is odd device-specific bugs. On the other hand, Android could prove to be a more flexible platform, offer hardware choices that appeal to certain music applications, or provide better hardware connectivity. The simple truth right now is, we don’t know. But viva competition.

One simple difference: I expect Bluetooth MIDI will be very doable on the Android tablets. (There, at least that’s something that you can predict.)

Versus a Laptop: Tablet form factors and touch interfaces are more appealing for live performance and collaboration. They still lag in maturity and horsepower, however. Laptops have easy hardware connectivity, are far more capable of audio processing tasks, have more mature, tested designs, and generally deliver more bang-for-your-buck. That remains significant competition, and explains why commenters on this and other sites can be so skeptical of the tablet hype, even given the potential of the new designs.

Bogus claims: Android developers (Google and third parties alike) tout the “first” software to be developed “specifically for tablets.” It’s supposed to be a slam of the iPad as a giant iPhone, but these devices are still based on the Android platform. Worse, the consistency between iPad and iPhone interfaces is generally a good thing. The real issue is quality of design, one app at a time. That’s been especially true in music, as developers work – with varying degrees of success – to re-imagine these platforms as musical instruments. So I call marketing BS.

Lingering questions: The big questions all have to do with the new Honeycomb OS. While Android is open source, it’s anything but transparent – developers are usually the last to see new OS versions, and Google doesn’t say much in advance. As a result, we haven’t seen what Honeycomb will look like to developers. That leaves gaping questions, in particular, about hardware connectivity, and how developers may be able to make use of new ports for USB, HDMI, and the like. I’m also concerned that OS upgrades may be as spotty on the Android tablets as they have been on phones.

The other question: price. Will WiFi-only tablets be available, to rival the popular offering from Apple? Or will you only be able to get a $500 Android tablet after you sign a two-year data agreement with your mobile carrier, in turn limiting availability of the tablets in different countries? (Yuck!)

Windows Tablets (and Linux?)

The pitch: This one’s easier. These are basically PCs in tablet form factors. Want the horsepower and software of a laptop, but with multi-touch input and a slim, tablet case? This is for you. (See also the Indamixx tablets, one Atom-based, one Core-based – they take this model, too.)

Good example: Asus’ EP121 (see Engadget) has a Core i5, Wacom stylus, and Windows 7. It’ll cost around $1000, but then again, you get performance that rivals a laptop and you don’t have to sign a mobile contract – not a bad deal.

The hardware: Core-architecture Intel processors, more RAM, big SSDs. Some will have stylus input, in case you don’t like finger painting.

The software: Windows 7. Expect Linux alternatives to crop up quickly, too – and since this is essentially a PC, this is a better candidate for running Linux than the Android tablets.

How might music developers approach it? I have no idea whether Windows and Linux developers will take note of these machines, but if I were them, I’d consider one of these machines as my next laptop – especially as some will come with easy, detachable keyboards so you can actually code on them. On one hand, developers don’t actually have to do anything – because they run Windows (and probably Linux), existing desktop software will “just work.” On the other hand, desktop UIs can be kind of a mess with touch input.

Again, I think the open source development community might actually experiment first, even before commercial development becomes as viable as it has on iOS. If you use a tool like OpenFrameworks, you can simultaneously target this machine, an iPad, iPhone, and an Android device, all with native audio processing (using something like Pd, even), and OpenGL-accelerated graphics.

How might musicians use it? I’ll bet money we’ll see someone go out with Ableton Live on these machines. If it’s desktop software, it’ll run on these computers. The key is watching to see if Windows and/or Linux developers find ways to build touch-savvy apps. If commercial developers don’t, it’ll still make a killer machine for carrying around Pd or Processing or OpenFrameworks contraptions.

Versus an iPad: For a simplified, elegant, touch-centric design, there’s no contest. This is Windows running on tablet. On the other hand, this is a tablet that acts like a laptop, so for performance and desktop-class apps there’s no contest, either. And while Apple has some USB support via its Camera Connection Kit, it sure is nice to have normal USB ports here on the side. Real stylus input also isn’t available on the iPad, and having used the stylus doodads that are supposed to work on the iPad, I bet stylus lovers will choose this.

Versus a Laptop: Here’s where it gets interesting. Finally, people who like laptops won’t have to give up on touch input, especially as some of the new tablets will have keyboards. Of course, if you don’t care about tablets or touch, or you want a laptop that runs Mac OS, this isn’t terribly relevant. At least your choices aren’t as restricted.

Lingering Questions: There’s really only one big, ugly question: will anyone buy these? I think there are tons of reasons for musicians to prefer the laptop-style design with its extra horsepower and standard USB ports. The general market, though, is another matter.

Also, PC reliability has been all over the map, so as with any of these hardware offerings, we’ll have to get hands-on experience to know just how viable these machines are.

And Now, We Wait

Apple’s iPad remains the one safe bet you can go buy today, but in the coming weeks, that will change quickly. I think competition is healthy, not only for people who want alternatives to iOS, but for dedicated iOS users, too. And a big design challenge for software makers and (ahem) publishers will be making sure that the stuff we make works on these different platforms, so people with iPads and people with Android tablets can make some music together.

Stay tuned…

Apple added the ability to connect custom hardware to its iPhone and iPod touch platform last year, so it was only a matter of time before someone made a music hardware interface. Ion Audio, the budget brand of Numark/Alesis/Akai, gets there first, with the Ion iDISCOVER Keyboard. It docks your Apple mobile into a case with a 25-key MIDI keyboard, pitch and mod wheels, and preset buttons for patch and octave changes.

http://www.ionaudio.com/idiscoverkeyboard

It’s just what many of us wondered when we first saw Apple’s hardware SDK; David Battino even suggested this very idea.

Of course, there is a slight problem. Part of the whole advantage of the iPhone is its mobility, which a huge honking dock tends to kill. (For less money, you could just plug a keyboard into your Mac, or buy a low-end CASIO or Yamaha keyboard.)

And then there’s the fact that most of the interesting music apps on iPhone don’t use MIDI keyboards. Ion has to provide their own app to fill the gap, which also makes me wonder whether this will work with any other software; I’m guessing not, but I’ll find out. Update: Word from the CES show floor is that Ion plans to open this developers; whether that’s anyone or just partners or even decided yet, unknown, though I hope to snag them at NAMM. Us hard-core geeks would naturally have preferred a standard MIDI interface, so you could use unusual sequencing apps with hardware synths. (Never mind; I’ll take a MIDI Command, instead.)

That raises another question, though — all due kudos to Apple for providing a hardware interface. When will we see third-party hardware support on a platform like Google’s Android? It seems the “open” philosophy of the platform would be best served by an open approach to hardware, too, and technically speaking, the job wouldn’t be that hard, thanks to the fact that Android runs a standard Linux kernel. That could allow any kind of controller — mass-produced or homemade — you want.

I’ve got lots of questions about the iDISCOVER, though; I’ll try to track down answers this week at NAMM. I’m not quite sure who would want this particular product, but it does raise some interesting issues about mobile music tech, especially given the earlier discussion this week.

Thanks to Derek Dumais for the tip. Oddly, Ion seems to have their own version of Akai’s mini-keyboard, too; it seems to be white instead of black but otherwise appears identical. (Consumers want white, pros want black?)

For all the focus on clever little music apps on your phone, it’s the slate/tablet form factor that seems to hold the greatest promise for live performance. Thanks to a larger screen area, these devices look far more usable for control – equipped with multi-touch, they could be reasonable substitutes for hardware control surfaces, a la the Lemur.And with greater horsepower under the hood, you might not need to use them as a controller – you could run an entire live gig off them.

With this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), many onlookers expected news on these devices, particularly as industry buzz anticipated a big announcement during Microsoft chairman Steve Ballmer’s keynote last night. And we got that news – sort of. Unfortunately, manufacturers teased “concepts” and prototypes, without much in the way of details – a repeat performance of 2009′s fuzzy glimpse at this device category.

That said, having been wrong about when it’ll happen, I’m still convinced we’re about to see a flood of new PC devices with interesting potential for music performance. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Dell has a tablet “concept.” Dell’s own keynote included a brief mention of a five-inch tablet. That could make a nice form factor to stow on a keyboard or music stand as a controller. That’s about all it’ll do, as the pictures show only an audio output jack. But it will evidently have multitouch. This is only a “concept,” with no details publicly released; I’ll be following up with Dell if they announce an actual product. Photos:

Dell Tablet Concept [Flickr]

More on Dell’s new lineup (the rest of it is shipping, and may interest you more, anyway — Dell is taking advantage of wildly cheaper PC component prices to deliver some amazing machines under $1000)

HP’s Slate: Seen briefly in Ballmer’s CES keynote, the Slate is a “consumer notebook” in a slate form factor. The only good news relative to Dell’s model is that this is supposedly hardware that will ship. The bad news is, HP isn’t saying much else. The device does have a nice, sizable screen, at at least 10″ or larger (if my ability to tell the scale of things relative to Steve Ballmer’s torso is correct). That could make this an appealing alternative to other devices and form factors.

And, oh yeah, Apple: Here’s the power of Apple: PC makers, who have been shipping tablets for years, and who have shipped alternative form factors for years more, are accused of ripping off an Apple product that isn’t yet public, and about which most of us know nothing about (including, indeed, if it actually exists in the form we think it does). Not only that, but sight unseen, I’ve heard many people who assume that the Apple model of this currently-nonexistent product category will be superior, even though they don’t know what OS it’ll run, what it’ll do, what it’ll look like, what size it’ll be, or what it’ll cost. PC vendors, of course, had the opportunity to provide a clear alternative, and instead made their picture somewhat murky, too.

I don’t just mean Mac fanboys, either, who could be excused the pre-emptive positive review. Even The New York Times got in the act. Ashlee Vance of the NYT Bits blog wrote in advance of Ballmer’s speech:

It could be one of Steve Ballmer’s riskiest trade-show moves in years.

On Wednesday, Mr. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer … This product better be good because Apple is expected to unveil its take on the slate/tablet form factor later this month … The last thing Mr. Ballmer wants to hold up is a me-too device.

Yes, how dare he … announce … a product … that might compete with a product that no one has seen yet? What a risky move! (Deep thought: can a product be “me-too” even before there’s a “me,” or in this case, an “i”?)

That said, yes, most industry analysts expect an Apple announcement later this month. I’m skeptical about whether such an announcement will be useful to our audience, however. If Apple chooses its relatively locked-down iPhone-style operating system over the Mac OS, and if there’s no hardware input and output, and if the focus is buying magazines and books from iTunes, I think I’ll pass. Of course, some PC vendors may go a similar route.

And, in fairness, I’m sure part of what has prompted PC makers to unveil prototypes of non-shipping products is fears of what happens if Apple gets there first. It’s too bad Apple doesn’t leak a secret plan to solve global warming, or give away chocolates.

Android is a big winner. Murky as the slate announcements were, the one message that has been clear out of CES is that we’re going to see more of Android.
HP may even ship a version of HP Slate running the OS, says TechCrunch. Ordinarily, this would be relatively bad news; on Windows, you can run any music software, whereas Android is relatively limited. But I think that could improve, with open source controllers and work on porting free multimedia tools like Pd (Pure Data) and Processing.

Just keep in mind…

Don’t forget “traditional” tablets for multi-touch. Sure, these smaller slates are interesting, apparently an attempt to blend the appeal of e-readers like Kindle and Nook with handhelds like the iPhone. But why carry a tablet and a laptop when a multitouch laptop could be both? Yep, tablet PCs are back, now with multi-touch input as well as pen. And their convertible form factor means you could have multi-touch control without your arms getting tired.

Case in point: Dell’s Latitude XT2 joins entries from Lenovo and HP. HP’s TouchSmart tm2 (as seen on Engadget) finally improves on HP’s previous, somewhat underpowered entry; I’ll be looking more closely at it. Also appealing: the HP is the first of these devices I’ve seen to pack discrete graphics, which could give you a machine with enough graphics muscle to do live visuals and video, plus music, all with multi-touch control and the I/O ports you’d expect on a laptop. It could be an all-in-one live performance beast if it pans out; I hope to check it out soon.

More analysis of the options – and why the upcoming battles could be a battle for computing’s soul:

Gotta Be Mobile has long been a stalwart analyst of, and advocate for, the tablet PC. Here’s the surprise: even die-hard Tablet PC fans are skeptical about just what the new “tablet” or “slate” means. And the bigger surprise: even outside of the world of music and visualist sites like CDM, people are asking the question about whether the future of slate/tablet computing is passive consumption. Here’s Tablet PC MVP Warner Crocker writing for the blog:

Then there’s the question of what do we do with these things now that we seem to be on the threshold of seeing them everywhere? That boils down to content and in most cases that means consuming it, not creating it.

Floating on a Sea of Tablet Paradoxes

Christophe Stoll of precious, the Hamburg-based design firm responsible for everything from familiar soft synth user interfaces to rock band graphic looks, has similar skepticism. His take is even more far-reaching: in the midst of rabid gadget consumption, what about affordability, ecological impact, and truly open, community development? His first story looked at some of the shiny possibilities in the future:

The tablet innovation race: Three commented examples of what Tablet Computers could look like in the near future.

A follow-up story, however, responding to comments by me and others, wondered if a more open, sustainable, hype-free future could apply more intelligent design:
Tablet innovation race II: Some more critical thoughts regarding the ongoing hype around tablet computers.

Bottom line: by this time next year, I do expect that we’ll have some powerful, new, affordable solutions for multi-touch control and portable music and visual performance. Just what form that will take, though, isn’t much clearer now than it was this time last year. I hope that situation will change soon – and I hope Apple doesn’t prove to be the only company able to articulate a vision for the category.

Quick: you’ve got to sell UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC’s) to a mass market! How to do it? Well, Intel decided to show off pro audio and music production on the Linux-based Transmission, from Trinity Audio, as we saw earlier this week. I’m not entirely sure what got Intel thinking our geeky way, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. And in all seriousness, Linux really an ideal OS choice here, because of its ability to be customized to the application.

The other flipside: low-power is the future. Computers now suck up 15% of the electricity in the US — electricity that produces a lot of our pollution and greenhouse gases. You do the math. A lot of that power gets used up in data centers, but the aggregate of all those homes counts, too. That will impact the future of all end-user operating systems.

Trinity has sent us some photos of the Intel booth at CES. Yes, Linux audio is getting some wider exposure. And even if you’re attached to Mac or Windows as your desktop/laptop platform, a mobile Linux device could be an ideal companion in the near future. We’ll have a chance to look at Trinity’s own device next week at NAMM and see how it stacks up.

We first took a look at the Pacemaker DJ when it was announced in May. The idea is interesting: it’s a mobile 120GB hard drive with touch controls for internal mixing/cross-fading, effects, a separate cueing output, and pitch control, along with rich format support (even OGG, FLAC, AAC). That’s all well and good, but the device will apparently cost US$700.

Barb Dybwad at Engadget optimistically offers that “it’s a relatively low-cost convenient practice setup for DJs on the road or an attractive option for aspiring amateurs.” Hmmm … I normally agree with Barb, but in this case, let’s make that:

• relatively high-cost
• DJs would normally practice with real decks or software, not this
• aspiring amateurs have much more attractive options. (A laptop and Deckadance, for one. Assuming you’ve got the laptop, that’ll set you back US$99 – 179. And you could pick up a basic M-Audio controller for about US$100, and it’ll be easier to control than this.)

Not that you need me to tell you any of that. I’d still like to get my mitts on one to see what they’ve done; I just can’t imagine who this is for. If you know, write in.

Beatportal goes way over the top and asks if this is “a revolution for DJ and youth culture.” Let me answer that question: no. Youth culture? Dude, I grew up in a generation for which Garbage Pail Kids and slap bracelets revolutionized youth culture. Kids don’t really need that much for entertainment. The ones who really define culture tend not to blow a grand on mobile gadgets. And as far as something that is “set to revolutionize the way we think about DJing and mixing,” didn’t laptops do that already?

Still, since I was one of the people arguing for a “pro-level” iPod way back in 2001, I have to admire the idea. It just seems to lack some meat, like recording capabilities, or the ability to really integrate into a DJ setup. Of course, in 2001 I was much more innocent and immature. I’ve been working out, and now I can lift big boy hardware.

Speaking of things you probably don’t want: Dr. Dre-branded headphones manufactured by Monster Cable. I don’t know, maybe they’re great.

We’re just counting the hours until next week, when the NAMM show hits and we get really cool music stuff. Those gadget bloggers in Vegas at CES don’t know what they’re missing.

I had Chairman Bill running in a corner of my screen while I cleaned house, hoping for something interesting like gesture recognition in Windows 7, so I didn’t snag images quickly enough. Gizmodo has a good write-up with images and on-demand video from CES should be available soon. He did choose JayZ over Timbaland as his producer, I’m guessing because even Gates was offended about that whole Finnish chiptune controversy.

Since Gates is currently a Windows user, I suggest loading up the retirement laptop with platform-exclusives FL Studio and SONAR (alongside plenty of great cross-platform tools). And since presumably Gates still has a house filled with flat-screen projection surfaces, might I suggest a side order of VJing — especially if the music thing doesn’t work out?

Sadly, this leaves the rest of us dreaming for a gestural, multi-touch operating system that isn’t installed in a hotel lounge doing cool-looking but semi-pointless things.

While on the subject of Gallo Speakers, here’s about as far as you can get from the baby-sized A’Diva satellites: speakers that tower 78″ tall, pack some 12 4″ aluminum woofers each, and deliver nearly omni-directional sound. Micro speakers (5″ each), yes, but in a slender but tall enclosure.

The Reference 5LS speakers, due third quarter 2007 but shown recently at CES in prototype form, alternate mid-range spheres with tweeter cylinders vertically. The idea is to deal with phase and dispersion issues in a nearly (though not quite) omni-directional speaker. Gallo also showed off a reference amp that would couple with the speakers (the Reference SA).

Anthony Gallo Speakers

Click through for some drool-inducing photos. Now I need to make up a reason to build a sound art installation with these units. (I have until later 2007, after all.)

I never copy and paste press releases, but since people are already asking for more details and there’s nothing up on the Web yet, here’s an excerpt with more of the technical bits (and happily, Gallo tends heavier on actual technical specs in their PR than the usual marketing-speak!):

Scheduled to be released to the public in the third quarter of 2007, the towering speaker stands 78” tall, boasts an incredible 12 custom aluminum 4” woofers and features seven of AGA’s proprietary CDT II tweeters, which possess power-handling, off-axis response and efficiency that approach the textbook definition of ideal. In addition, the Reference 5LS has eight 4″ carbon fiber midrange drivers, each housed it its own 5″ spherical enclosure.

“The Reference 5LS is really the ‘big brother’ of our flagship Reference 3.1,” states Anthony Gallo, award-winning speaker designer and founder of AGA. “While it’s not completely omni-directional, it is the closest any line source has ever come to being omni-directional. This loudspeaker is the culmination of more than 25 years of loudspeaker design research. After a lengthy development cycle, we’re extremely excited to unveil our new flagship to the public at the CES show.”

Many line sources horizontally offset their various drivers, but AGA alternates tweeter cylinders with mid-range spheres – one atop the other – in perfect vertical alignment. Because of this, the phase and dispersion problems caused by driver offset are entirely eliminated.

Capable of being driven by a single, capable amplifier, the 5LS offers the options of bi- or tri-wiring, as well as bi- or tri-amping. Although capable of handling massive power, the crossover-less design and high efficiency of both the CDT II tweeters and carbon-fiber midrange drivers are perfect matches for low-powered, high-performance amplifiers. The first-order low-pass filter used for the bass drivers (The only crossover employed in the 5LS) can be bypassed, enabling the LF enclosure to be driven from the LFE output of a processor, or from a separate amplifier.

At 7” wide by 11” deep, the Reference 5LS sports quite a slender profile. The twelve 4” woofers fire out the back and equal the cone surface of a 15” subwoofer, while offering speed and transparency that a large single driver cannot match. In addition, the Reference 5LS features AGA’s patented S2 Technology, as well as their trademark spherical enclosure, which eliminates any external diffraction.

For even more groundbreaking performance, the company’s optional Reference SA amplifier, which features volume, phase and crossover adjustments, is ideal for this application. The Reference SA allows the speaker to be placed for optimal imaging and soundstaging performance, and then fine-tuned for bass using the SA’s control facilities.