Music apps always tend to be a tad wonky. They can be a neat little novelty, but you could drive a fleet of 18-wheelers in the divide between playing a real live instrument and goofing around on an iPad.
That said, it’s can still be a lot of fun and a great for when you’re killing time.
iFretless Bass is another interesting take on the idea. Designed for the iPad and iPhone, iFretless gets around the difficulty of trying to simulate a full bass guitar neck on the screen by allowing that range with it’s 9-string approach. This means you’ve still got access to 81 notes over 3 octaves, without any difficult scrolling.
In this video iFretless is being used as a MIDI controller, connecting to the SampleTank synthesizer app running in the background.
Let’s face it, you probably won’t be using this on your next gig or in the studio, but it does look like an interesting little app.
You can buy the app from Blue Mangoo for $4.99 in iTunes store.
What do you think? Will digital apps like this ever close the gap on live instruments? Is there any other bass apps that we should know about? Let us know in the comments!
Hi Justin,
I’m the developer of this app so my opinion is as biased as it gets. That said…
I’m a bass player, that’s why I made this app. But if I get called to play bass at a gig I’ll bring my six string Warwick, not my iPad. So as a replacement for bass guitar, we have not closed the gap on bass guitars and I don’t care if we never do because I love playing the real thing.
But iFretless is more than just a corny imitation of a guitar; it’s the most expressive MIDI controller I’ve ever played. And it’s a midi controller that works without any special hardware because the iPad already has at least twenty really first class synthesizer apps. With about fourth dollars and an iPad you can have a collection of about ten really excellent instrument sounds and the controller to play them, all in your iPad.
“Will digital apps ever close the gap on live instruments?”
We already have closed the gap on the most popular live instrument: electronic keyboards. An iPad with iFretless controlling IK Multimedia’s sampleTank is a more natural way to play saxophone, trumpet, violin, or lead guitar sounds than any keyboard.
Touch screen is the best option for any instrument that plays a lot of expression by bending the pitch. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never want to go back to using a keyboard with a pitch wheel.
– Hans
Hans, greatest synth app!
I couldn,t config the bend range when using ifretless as sampletank,s controler. How do I do This?
Thanks!
MMS requires aesccs to the baseband which the SDK does not allow.Video recording is being done by both uShow and iPhone View Recorder.As for other stuff (copy/paste, Bluetooth, MMS, etc.), only Apple is allowed to do that but they can all be done with a firmware update.
@Luiz Puglisi
There’s a setting for that on the iFretless midi menu – i think you’ll find it if you look there. SampleTank’s bend range is 2. I don’t normally check for comments on my posts on this site. Check out iFretless.com if you need to contact us for support.