Thank you, iPad.

I feel a good chunk of my new-found free time* is going to be spend trying to mix/make/play music on the iPad.

iElectribe, Looptastic HD, Beatwave. These are only some of the applications made for iPad that will allow anyone to become a pseudo-DJ for microscopical fraction of the price it would cost with the physical counterparts of these devices.

I decided to grab a camera and record my first interaction with the KORG iElectribe application (an iPad version of the same physical artifact). I grabbed a simple “naked” beat and added various different sounds, pitches and effects as I went. Looking back, I can hear myself trying to emulate some of the beats in Justice’s “Let There Be Light”.

Have in mind that applications like the iElectribe were crafted before anyone had the chance to have an iPad in their hands. Imagine what will come next.

I believe the next thing for me to do is get my hands on a simple DJ Mixer and, if at all possible, another iPad —why not?

For the time being, I plan on using my iPhone as my “second” device. I already have invested quite a bit in music-making applications for it, and I think they complement the applications I’ve recently downloaded for the iPad nicely.

Well, some better than others.

Let’s see what else comes from this new bug that has bitten me. It’s exciting.

Now I’m wondering how awkward it would feel to have a “less-than-organic” version of a Monome 64 on the iPad…

[*My new-found free time refers to the fact that since January, 2010 I haven’t had to spend my free time trying to finish the my thesis in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana University. Graduation comes in a couple of weeks: 9th May.]