There’s no question that GarageBand represents one of the better values in music software, especially since even Apple expect a lot of its users will simply acquire it with their Mac. It still ranks high on software you’d recommend to a beginner on a budget. Apple’s decision this year to add lessons, interactive lessons that introduce you to musical concepts, and to invite famous artists to play familiar songs, is a fantastic idea.

The Artist Lessons themselves, however, have been relatively few in number. I expect more are coming, but so far the only release since GarageBand came out was this week’s three episodes, featuring Sting and Sarah McLachlan.

Yes, that’s right, here’s Apple’s artist lineup: Sting, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy, Norah Jones, Colbie Caillat, Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, OneRepublic, Ben Folds

So, at worst it feels a bit like the 1990s, and at best, like the tour schedule at Long Island’s Jones Beach. The issue here is, musical tastes are varied; part of what drives people to music in the first place is personal expression. There are a total of just 13 songs on the platform, all picked by Apple. Some of the lessons are pretty good, and the production values are slick, but there’s not enough quantity to satisfy people hungry to learn music and the choices overall are bland.

With all due respect to Apple, though, you can’t expect Apple to provide everything. Some artists and publishers have already built their own lessons. It’s time for others to step up, too.

Play this track:

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.

We’ve all seen newspeople interviewing the “average guy on the street” with this sort of device affixed to the handle of their mic:

Ever wanted to add a veneer of professionalism to your otherwise ameteurish audio/video production? It’s easy! Here’s how:

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming on board to help Peter with CDM it’s this: The kids love a portable recorder. The Edirol R09 and Zoom H2/H4 articles are among our most popular ever.

Now Korg are supplementing their existing multi-track digital recorders with the 20GB, pocketable MR-1 (US$899 MSRP), and the 40GB, tabletop MR-1000 (US$1499 MSRP).

Shipping right now, these are “1-Bit” recorders, recording “DSDIFF, DSF, and WSD 1-bit formats, as well as multi-bit PCM format (BWF) with resolutions up to 24-bit/192 kHz”. If you’re like me and thought that more bits was better, Korg have helpfully provided a PDF entitled “Future Proof Recording Explained”, to clear up any misconceptions you had about the usefulness of more bits. The executive summary: When you’re sampling really really fast, the only numbers you need are 1 and 0, to indicate whether the sample is up from last time, or down. That’s my only insight on the science part for now, people who understand more feel free to debate the 1-bit revolution in comments.

Hardware Features

MR-1

• 20GB internal drive (6 hours @ highest quality 1-bit, 20 hours @ CD quality, MP3 support apparently available mid-2007)
• Ability to plug in external FAT32 USB hard drive for expanded recording space
• USB 2 transfers
• Rechargeable lithium polymer battery (no word on battery life) or AC power
• Dual balanced mini phone plug inputs
• 2 track simultaneous recording and playback
• Includes stereo electret condenser mic
• Backlit LCD
• Dimensions: 64 (W) x 120 (D) x 24 (H) mm / 2.52″ (W) x 4.72″ (D) x 0.94″ (H)
• Weight 200g (7oz) with batteries
• More specs (including plenty with dB and Hz for the audio nerds)

CDM’s man in San Fran, Lee Sherman, is on-hand at the WWDC keynote to bring us the latest. We’ll know if there’s anything music-related, or anything related to an upcoming apocalypse (like Apple’s switching to Intel, or pre-installing Windows, or Dell is pre-installing OS X, or Apple is marking all machines with the mark of the beast or something.) And we’re not just copying and pasting from IRC — you can expect our usual spin and distortion.

It’s like you’re there: Hit reload on your browser for the latest. And, for the full keynote effect, get several thousand friends, about 1/2 huddled over their laptops, onto uncomfortable chairs in an auditorium.

(read more)