So word around the grapevine is that the new Apple tablet (“iSlate”, but more than likely to be called something else) is set to be revealed on the 27th of this month. Myself owning a 15" Unibody MBP, I didn’t give too much of a crap about a tablet, never have owned one since I couldn’t think of any major use.
But today it just dawned on me: do you think (given the amount of DJs who use Apple laptops to do their performances) that it’s viable that some may lean towards this new product for touch capabilities with programs such as Ableton or Traktor?. It would certainly be a better choice in some aspects than a mouse pad or external mouse, and would give the DJ less of a “checking email” by flipping the tablet and simply touching the screen for whatever commands they want to execute. Hell who knows, maybe someone can make a JazzMutant Lemur style program to interface with the tablet capabilities.
One thing which comes to mind is the CDJ-2000 “search strip” which allows rapid seeking through a track via a touch sensitive strip. A potentially similar usage on the Apple tablet with Traktors waveforms?
Opinions?
(constructive if possible please, nobody cares to read more mac vs. pc crap).
Well I’m guessing it’ll be multi-touch, so you are right. essentially it will have the capabilities of being a cheap Jazzmutant Lemur.
Not sure if it’ll run OSX, so maybe it won’t run Traktor or Ableton? There are a few apps for the iPhone that let it act like a MIDI controller, so I’m sure that it will at least have these capabilities.
I’m not sure about cheap given that it’s Apple we’re talking about, but I’m fairly certain that its adhering to the typical tablet definition of a laptop with a flip screen that has multi touch. I can’t imagine why Apple would fabricate essentially a big iPhone considering they are releasing another revision of it soon.
I guess the bigger question would perhaps be how big the screen is?
I’m guessing it’ll be a 10 inch tablet with a software keyboard running a souped up version of the iPhone GUI (with an iPhone 4.0 also released with a hi-res screen).
And it’ll be cheaper than a Lemur. The Lemur is £1500.
Assuming it’s got a 10" screen, that’s really treading the line between inconveniently small on real estate, and very portable to carry around. Really hoping it’s a 13" or so.
I suppose if BT can get away with using his iPhone to perform with, even if the iSlate is running an iPhone derivative interface, someone might develop some ground breaking application which can take advantage of what it has to offer.
well the thing will probably only connect via wifi and i doubt that it will run a proper “desktop” OSX. what might be possible is to install a vnc client, this combined with screenrecycler would allow you to have the tablet work as an external monitor for your main machine. now this would obviously have latency implications.
as for what to actually run on that second monitor. taktor is out and will remain out for the next 1-2 years as NI UI is stuck in the stone age. so for get about touch interface, forget about multi monitor support.
ableton might be more feasible, but they also do not have multi monitor support, but they at least try to be friendly to touch (or at least pen’s).
now what could of course happen is an advanced version of iTM DJ or TouchOSC, again with latency via wifi, but that could then be used to control pretty much anything and could become a very good addition if only to display the current values of double assigned knobs on your current control surface (such as a vci-100).
I’m going to guess that this is more of the possibility. Massive version of TouchOSC, since it’s also rumored that certain developers are already producing apps for it. For DJ’ing, I picture using it as a $700-800 version of a Lemur that’s been redesigned by Apple to be slimmer and more functional, with better multi-touch and screen. I don’t however see it being a functional second screen, but more of an additional control surface.
the apple pad looks kinda cool i guess. I was awaiting the crunchpad… but it got canned about a week before its release due to legal issues. It looks like it might be reincarneted in the form of the Joojoo?
I don’t know about this. I haven’t done extensive research on it, but I don’t think it’s gonna have any USB ports or anything of the sort. From how everyone seems to talk about it they want to use it like a Lemur. Doesn’t a Lemur connect to a computer to run? Can it run by itself like a normal computer? From my observation it seems like the Lemur is a very customizable MIDI controller. If I’m wrong I’m sorry, but it seems like everyone is under the impression that this is going to work like a full functioning Macbook with weaker specs. I really don’t think it’s going to be like that. I think this is Apples response to the new rise in ebook machines. I don’t think I’d ever buy one of those Kindle things from Amazon, but the idea of an 10" iphone with a few more features is a lot more pleasing than something that you can only read books with and that’s where I think Apple is trying to go with this.
Basically all I really think is going to happen is that Apple is going to come out with another product that people are going to drool over. The few tech/dj savvy people that get ahold of one will do cool stuff with it but nothing revolutionary because of its limitations.
What I really mean by this post is that I hope that I am horribly wrong and the new product really is something that blows all our minds because that’d be one awesome piece of hardware.
Yeah, the crunchpad has 1 usb port. Only problem is that it runs a custom OS, so you would need to flash something else on there (which may or may not be possible) in order to run it.
