The Only JamPad Band?
November 21, 2011 3:50 PM   Subscribe

As the encore for their 12th annual moe.down Festival in Mohawk, NY, the band members of the festival's namesake, moe., paid tribute to the recently-deceased Steve Jobs by performing their song Crab Eyes ... entirely on iPads.

Four of the iPads were running standard instruments in the GarageBand iOS app to play the guitar, bass, and drums parts. The $2 app Mallets was used to perform the song's vibraphone parts. "We performed the song live and what you hear is a live matrix mix (stereo audience mix blended with a stereo soundboard mix). There are no overdubs, and this is one take, live." For a comparison, check out Crab Eyes performed live on more traditional instruments at the All Good Festival in 2007.
posted by Hey, Zeus! (16 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
A few days after hearing of Jobs' passing I came up with the idea of a tribute to him in the style of Portal 2's ending sequence but replacing the turrets with Apple products and their sounds. I have neither the talent or know-how to make it happen, but the idea immediately made me choke up a little bit.
posted by Awakened at 4:00 PM on November 21, 2011


And yet I have made three albums with the iPad and was not invited to this funeral, perhaps because one of those songs was called "Fuck You You Fucking Fuck" and another was called "The Devil Went Down of Georgia," and that's really what they were hoping for with this whole iPad revolution.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 4:08 PM on November 21, 2011


Down ON Georgia, rather.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 4:08 PM on November 21, 2011


I like this.
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:08 PM on November 21, 2011


I'm not the biggest fan of either Apple or moe, but I still enjoyed this video. Playing music on those things is a lot harder than it looks, at least in my experience.
posted by mannequito at 4:11 PM on November 21, 2011


Awakened: I have neither the talent or know-how to make it happen, but the idea immediately made me choke up a little bit.

This makes me think of mods, but I'm not sure if they've been made obsolete by newer programs. Demoscene4ever
posted by filthy light thief at 4:40 PM on November 21, 2011


Great idea! It actually must be tough to play an instrument without much of a tactile response, e.g., no frets on the fretboard, no bounce back on the drums. This just proves that if you give a jam band something to jam with then they will jam.
posted by quadog at 5:21 PM on November 21, 2011


This is depressing.
posted by New England Cultist at 5:29 PM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


New England Cultist: "This is depressing"

Yeah, how dare people pay tribute to people they respected, and especially in a creative manner. And what's with all those people always talking about and singing John Lennon songs? All the guy did was play a guitar and some stuff with words, and people think he's the hottest thing since just plain old bread.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:41 PM on November 21, 2011


@ DoctorFedora - not true. They think he's the hottest thing since Jesus.
posted by eustacescrubb at 5:49 PM on November 21, 2011


To be fair, it was his own fault for giving them that idea
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:57 PM on November 21, 2011


Yeah, how dare people pay tribute to people they respected

I was referring to the fact that iPads have taken over traditional instruments
posted by New England Cultist at 7:40 PM on November 21, 2011


I was referring to the fact that iPads have taken over traditional instruments

Eh. Maybe we'll see something like that someday (the iPad has a lot of potential here), but I think this is more of a novelty. The surest sign to me is the skeuomorphic ui -- a touchscreen guitar will never be as good as a real one for a guitar player, same with a touchscreen keyboard or touchscreen drums. They've done a grand job performing on it anyway, and I guess it shows you can, and in tribute to Steve I think it's quite nice. My guess is that not a one of them would give up their actual instrument for the iPad, though.
posted by weston at 8:45 PM on November 21, 2011


a touchscreen guitar will never be as good as a real one for a guitar player, same with a touchscreen keyboard or touchscreen drums.

I suppose it depends on how you use them. This is my latest album. Every single instrument is digitally created and played on the iPad (albeit modified on GarageBand on my laptop.) For my purposes, the touchscreen guitar is preferable to an actual guitar, but it helps to think of the iPad itself -- the various digital instruments, as well as the virtual recording studio -- as being the instrument.

I would say I am much better at creating solos on the iPad, in part because it's very easy to experiment.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:01 PM on November 21, 2011


I had never heard moe. before this. Literally all I knew about them were sticker on cars, and vague memory of an ad featuring the bald guy in some guitar magazine. They don't sound at all like what I imagined.

In both versions of this song, they sound bored.
posted by toekneebullard at 9:26 PM on November 21, 2011


I was referring to the fact that iPads have taken over traditional instruments

Like how because sometimes people use Segways for goofy one-off fun, they have totally replaced walking and bicycles! This depresses me too!
posted by freebird at 10:14 PM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


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