a review by Tom Piper
I’ve been collecting keyboard instruments of one sort or another for many years, and my full-size Yamaha is just too big to carry around. The iPad has offered some new musical opportunities, and I’ve just found a wonderful new app that deserves your attention.
iLectric Piano brings me the most playable, expressive and authentic sounding electric piano, electric grand and clavinet instruments available on a mobile device that I can play anytime and everywhere. With high-definition samples across multiple velocities, this app gives me a collection of 20 world-class electric pianos, electric grands and clavs (including one by registering) along with a capable recorder and metronome.
If that isn’t enough, I can also purchase the Electric Piano Expansion Pack for $9.99 to add another 20 high-quality instruments. It has the versatility to record my playing as MIDI with both overdubbing and punch-in capability, then export my track as audio via e-mail or file sharing or audio copy to other iOS apps. With the built-in MIDI Recorder, I can change the tempo of my piece or even choose to use a different piano AFTER I’ve completed my performance.
For composers of any level (of which I’m not very high), the MIDI Recorder lets me capture and develop ideas anywhere my mobile life takes me. iLectric Piano also includes some professional MIDI performances to help me audition the various electric piano instruments or just ignite my own creative muse.
The easy-to-use instrument editor puts real-time controls on the panel just above the keys to let me adjust the EQ, the amount of reverb, the overdrive and my choice of five modulation effects (chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and auto pan). I can also adjust the tuning and transposition of the instrument. All edit knobs can be assigned to my choice of MIDI controllers for external fine-crafting of my instrument’s sonic details. Virtual MIDI and MIDI Program Change are also supported.
In the technical jargon, this has low-latency for real-time playing with up to 48-voice polyphony on the latest devices. It is designed for use with iRig KEYS portable keyboard and iRig MIDI interface.
The iLectric Piano iPad app is available for only $19.99 at https://itunes.apple.com/. IK Multimedia continues to produce for a variety of musicians many wonderful products (ikmultimedia.com), most of which are specifically designed to work with iPhones and iPads.
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