iZotope Announces iDrum for iPhone and iPod Touch

August 13, 2008 – 4:56 am by Jonathan Grand

Worthless software for overpriced hype device, or a little musical revolution in disguise?

iZotope iDrum for iPhone and iPod Touch (so many i’s) allows the sketching of beats on an everyday portable device, which could prove useful for songwriting. The application makes beat-making available to everyone with its simple interface.

“The iDrum application takes advantage of unique features of the iPhone platform — users can tap virtual pads to create rhythms, shake the handset to clear patterns, and use slide and flick gestures to navigate the application’s interface. Immersive, colorful visuals show the relationship between different sounds in the beat, allowing users to create new rhythms by creating visual patterns. Using a special companion application, beats can even be turned into ringtones for iPhone.”

“The first two versions of iDrum, Hip Hop Edition and Club Edition, are now available for US$4.99 each from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch, or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore/. iZotope plans to release different genre-based editions of iDrum in the coming months.”

According to the company, the original iZotope iDrum application for Mac and PC is already a favorite tool of both home musicians and GRAMMY-winning producers.

Seems obvious that an application with different genre-based versions is far from being professional. This iPhone version could become useful to a limited niche market in the long run - and a toy to most of the people. Still, it’s good to see a great company like iZotope having smart ideas!