New Audio Recorders for iPhone/iPod Touch
Of late there have been a couple of cool developments in the area of audio recorders for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. First, Sonoma Wire Works and Retronyms collaborated to release Four Track. At $9.99, it’s actually a tad expensive for an iPhone app, but it’s the first multitrack recorder for this platform. It uses the built-in mic, but you can substitute a compatible third-party mic (such as the Shure Music Phone Adapter) for better quality. The recorder allows you to stack up to four mono tracks (16-bit, 44.1 kHz) and pan them, and the track length is limited only by your internal memory. Other features include clip lights and individual faders for each track, and file sending via Wi-Fi sync.
BIAS, makers of Peak and other software, recently released the iPro Recorder, a mono digital-audio recorder app that costs just 99 cents. It can record up to 13 hours of uncompressed WAV files for every GB on your device. It records at 16-bit resolution at either 44.1 kHz, 22 kHz, or 11 kHz sampling rates. One feature that I really like is that the visual interface flips around when you turn the iPhone (or iPod Touch) 180 degrees, which allows you to face the built-in mic away from you towards a source, and still see the controls right-side up. Also cool is a jog/shuttle control for manipulating playback. When you finish your recordings, you can export the file using the email button, which sends the recipient a message with a link to download the recording from BIAS’s own server. You can also send your file via Wi-Fi sync.
Both recorders are compatible with the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch 2nd Gen.
