NAMM 2017: PageFlip Dragonfly Page Turner Review

Aloha!

Sorry this post is a little late, but I wanted to share a little about a cool product I tried out at the 2017 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim. At this show, the founders of PageFlip introduced their new Dragonfly 4-pedal controller, and after seeing it I was definitely impressed.

The Dragonfly is a device that helps musicians manage their sheet music and chord charts by simple pedal clicks. I first saw similar products in action at a stage show in Las Vegas, and I loved the idea of being able to view the music on a tablet and control the page turns wirelessly. After speaking with the founder of PageFlip I had a lot better idea of what was going on, and I was very impressed.

PageFlip is based out of New York City, and they were founded in 2002 by people with backgrounds in occupational therapy and engineering. They were not happy with what was on the market and sought to develop better page-turning technology that was more affordable. Their products are a godsend to people with disabilities and musicians, and over the years they have refined their products to be easy-to-use, versatile, durable and quiet.

The latest product is the Dragonfly, which can connect via Bluetooth or USB to your iPad, Android device, or computer. To make this work you will need a compatible app on your device, and there is a huge list of apps on the PageFlip website (a few of the popular ones are ForScore, OnSong, and Newzik). You will also need digital versions of your music, and there are plenty of services out there that can scan your music in if you cannot figure out how to do it yourself. This unit has four pedals that can be programmed to do pretty much whatever things you would like, such as turning pages, switching songs, volume control, and control of multimedia content. Here is a list of Dragonfly features from PageFlip:

- compact 4-pedal design with standard dual pedal footprint

- four illuminated pedals for use in dim locations

- five programmable pedal modes for a completely personal experience

- 30-minute inactivity period before entering sleep mode

- wireless (Bluetooth) or wired (USB) connectivity options

- silent operation

- sturdy, hefty design for durability

- operates for about a year using two AA batteries (or AC adapter)

I had a chance to try out the DragonFly at the show, and it worked marvelously. The pedal has a very sturdy feel to it, and the pedals are laid out logically. The pedals have a nice feel and there is no annoyingly loud click when they are selected.

For $129, the Dragonfly is a great deal, and it includes a one-year warranty and the excellent PageFlip customer service. If you are working in the orchestra pit or on stage it is a must-have product, and if you have limited use of your hands it would be a great way to be able to still read your favorite books or control your computer. By the way, if you do not need to control as many functions there are some less expensive models in their line-up, so you might want to poke around their website some to see what you really need.

I think the PageFlip Dragonfly is a really cool and useful product, and I am going to purchase one of these pretty soon. For more details or to see their full line of products, head on over to pageflip.com

Mahalo!

Review: Apogee JAM Guitar Input for iPad, iPhone and Mac

Greetings!

I recently had to lay down a couple of quick guitar lines for a voiceover track I was working on (long story), and it turned out to be no big deal. When you need to add a little guitar to a digital track, and there are plenty of ways to do it (the worst way being the built-in microphone on your computer), but one of the easiest has to be using an Apogee JAM to directly throw the sound into the Garageband program of your Mac.

This has to be one of the simplest devices I have run into. When you open the box you fill find the JAM (made in the USA!) and USB, Apple 30-pin and Apple Lighting connectors. The JAM itself has a ¼-inch input, a US output, an LED and a gain control. The gain is easy to use: if the LED is green, you are ok, and if it is red, turn it down a little bit. There are no batteries involved, it is powered by whatever you plug it into, which would be your computer, iPhone, or iPad.

When plugging it into my computer or iPad, no set-up was needed, Garageband immediately recognized the JAM and I could start hacking around right away. Supposedly it will also work with Logic and Mainstage, but I do not have those so I could not verify if this is true. It is optimized for guitar and bass, and it did not have any trouble with any of my passive or active instruments; even the 18-volt preamps worked with no overloading. There is no mention in their literature about keyboards or mics, but I do not see why they would not work pretty well too.

This is a digital unit, and the sound is very good through all registers. There is no noise added to the singal, and it does a good job of delivering a clean signal to the device of your choice. By the way, the JAM gave me the opportunity to finally screw around with the amplifier emulations in Garageband, which is a fantastic way to lose all track of time!

At $99, the Apogee JAM is not the cheapest interface out there, and it is not even the best now that there the a newer product on the market – the more sophisticated Apogee JAM 96k (for $129). But it is simple and effective and mine is not going anywhere anytime soon. Check one out for yourself and see what you think!

Mahalo!

Peavey iPad Tablet Mounting System Review

Aloha!

When I do shows, I use a DJ program on my iPad to sequence songs, and have never been happy using it with the Apple case on my sound table. It is never at the right angle, and it slides around, not to mention that sometime it accidentally gets touched and completely screws up whatever is playing at the time. So, I set out to find a good iPad stand mount that would work with a tabletop mic stand, and settled on the Peavey tablet mounting system.

The Peavey mount is essentially a plastic plate that uses different inserts so that most iPads will fit. The kit I got came with adapters for the the original iPad, as well as the iPad 2 & 3, the iPad Air, and the Mini. After assembled, the mount can screw directly onto a standard microphone stand threads, or it comes with a mounting arm that attach it to a microphone stand post or boom.

I only have an iPad 2, and it snaps solidly into the Peavey mount, and it can be installed or removed with fairly little effort, but it does not seem like the tablet would be very likely to a fall out on its own. Once mounted, there is quite a bit of adjustment to the head, using a lever on the back of the mount to lock it down once find an angle that you like.

In the real work, it works very well. It is nice to get the iPad off the table and at an angle where I can see it better and compensate for glare and sunlight. I would not go to a gig without it, and as an added bonus, it makes for a lot more professional-looking DJ set-up!

Besides the fact that the Peavey tablet mounting system works like it is supposed to, the other thing that is great about it is its price: about 30 bucks from Amazon. It is much better than anything else out there that I have tried, so if you need something like this I recommend that you give it a try.

Mahalo!

algoriddim djay iPad App Review

Sugoi!

If you do sound long enough, eventually somebody is going to ask you to dj a party, or maybe you just want to fill in between sets with a little something more than a playlist from your iPod. If you are like me you are not going to want to go out and buy two turntables and a dj mixing console for situations like this (not to mention haul them around). But, with the miraculous invention of the iPad, you can buy an app that does a good enough job of cuing up songs and beatmatching that most drunken partygoers will not know the difference.

I have messed around with different apps, and algoriddim djay is the best one that I have tried so far. Professional djs will sniff at the simplicity of this program, and with good reason. I have seen what a good dj can do with their turntables and there is something special about the way they can cue songs, match beats, use the fader and scratch. So this will not really apply to them. ¬

Algoriddim has taken advantage of the generous real estate of the iPad’s gorgeous screen, and put together an intuitive interface that most anybody can figure out within five minutes. If you have used their djay program for the Mac, you will see that there are a lot of similarities. On the screen you will find virtual versions of the basics that are in any dj coffin. This includes two decks with a crossfader, volume controls, speed controls and cue icons for each deck. Some really cool extras are an Automix icon, a record button (so so can save your mixes) and waveform displays for each deck. Each deck also has pop-up displays for EQ and song selection.

Pressing the song selection icon (the one that looks like music notes) will pull up the familiar music menu that you see on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. This lets you select music by playlist, artist, song, or album. On my iPad, some of the older music that I ripped in shows up as grayed out, and will not play. I am not sure why, and I guess I will have to copy those CDs in again. Bummer. But, most of my music plays just fine.

The best way to figure out how djay works is to start messing around with it, and you should be able to figure out all of the important stuff within ten minutes. When you select a song, it will populate the waveform display, and often times will provide you with the BPM. After the song starts playing you will notice that the needles on the imaginary turntables will actually move toward the center of the imaginary record as it plays. And yes, you can scratch the turntables too.

The controls on the touch screen do take some getting used to, and this type of interface will never be quite as controllable as having actual knobs and faders to move (especially for fat-fingered guys like me), but it gets close enough for casual use. The visible waveforms help with cuing up new tracks, although the one output makes things a little less cool. If you purchase a split cable, you can listen to your second song so you can cue it up properly. I really need to pick one of those up.

The Automix works well enough if you need to run off to the bathroom for a few minutes, but generally the app works better with a real person there to select songs and get things cued up. Of course, if you are a pro DJ, this app will not be up to your standards, but in my world I have already used djay for a party and a fundraiser and it worked out really well. A few times I needed to purchase a song I did not have from iTunes, and this app worked just fine in the background and it did not miss a beat.

The algoriddim djay application is full of cool features, does what it is supposed to, and is a steal at $19.99. But if you keep your eyes on the App Store you will occasionally find it on sale for $9.99. Besides being useful, it is also really fun and it is a worthwhile purchase for anyone with an iPad.

Mahalo!

iPad vs. iPod Touch

Well, I love new gadgets, and in the hype leading up to the release of Apple’s iPad, I was giddy like a schoolgirl with the dreams of getting one.

You see, I saw the iPad as a giant iPod Touch. And I love almost everything about the iPod touch. It can play music, games, movies, and do all kinds of gnarly apps. Plus it is a nice web browser, good enough that I spend very little time using a real computer around the house (God bless wi-fi!). The bad part: once I hit 40 my close-up eyesight has gone to the dogs. So, it is a bit too small.

However, the swelling started to go down after the iPad was released, and seeing that it did not have a USB port or even an SD card slot. Wait -- it can’t run Flash? For $600+, I expected a bit more.

And here is the best part: no camera on the iPad. Hey, the new iPod Touch has 2 cameras on it. How is it even possible that Apple did not put them on the iPad? Is this another example of Apple testing out a prototype on the public?

But the final death knell for me was when I tried one out. It is just too big, having the same footprint as my trusty netbook. I want something a little more portable.

In mitigation, there are plenty of really bitchen apps for the iPad, especially for music-related things. The Korg drum machine is amazing! And the display is sharp, so it is great for watching video.

But, this is just not good enough for me, so I am sticking with the iPod touch. That is, until they can come out with something priced and sized somewhere between it and the iPad. Rumor has it that next year we will see a lower-priced iPad with a 7-inch screen. If it is cheaper, I may be in.