# On The Cusp...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2010-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/on-the-cusp/

![On The Cusp...](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/2kopen.jpg)

As one of the business's worst-kept secrets, virtually everyone knows that Apple will announce a tablet computer tomorrow. Virtually everyone also knows that there won't be too many surprises. It's going to be, for all intents and purposes, an iPod Touch with a 10.1" screen, despite all the wishing for Amazing Things. (And, for the record, I'm fully prepared to redact this post the minute the announcement is made, and monkeys ride unicorns right over the rainbow that is shooting out of Steve Jobs' ass.)

Why am I posting this? Well, in addition to Apple, virtually every major computer manufacturer is releasing a tablet in the next two quarters. Acer, Dell, HP, Asus, and a slew of OEMs all have keyboard-less tablets of some form planned, ranging in size from 7" to 12". This form factor is going to be the Next Big Thing for the next year or so. I, for one, am fairly pleased with this event as I believe it is a useful form factor, both for music and real life.

We don't get to witness many major sea changes in the computer business (which is, for all intents and purposes, the music business these days). The original Mac, Windows XP, OSX 10.3, the iPhone, and that's about it. All else are variations on a theme. (One could make the argument that this tablet is just a variation on the iPhone theme, and thus a continuation of that theme.) When these things occur, they change the way we think about computing, and thus the way we think about making music. Of course, a guitar and an amp and a fair amount of time alone in your bedroom to practice will still get you the furthest in this business, but we all know that.

Anyhow, we're going to see some exciting shit in the next year, as all the tech companies take advantage of this new form factor. I predict that Jazz Mutant needs to port their shit promptly or they're gonna go out of business. I also predict that we'll see the mid-size music software companies taking the most advantage of this new form factor. But what I _hope_ to see are some really intriguing new ways to make music on what is, for all intents and purposes, a new instrument that nobody knows how to play yet. I'm no Apple Fanboi. I generally like their computers and dislike their software. But in this one instance, I'm going to make an exception, because their ability to push the entire industry in a certain direction is going to lead to some exciting new shit for us as musicians.

**EDIT:** Matrix has an interesting bit about this very same subject on [his site.](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-world-in-synthesis.html) There are polls and stuff. You can go there, then click to get back here, and thus enter a circular world of gear wankery.

## Comments (10)

**inteliko** (2010-01-26):

I wont fuck with touchscreens for another 2 years until they iron out some of the wrinkles they are going to have, plus cause im broke too. Im sure they will be bad as the new line6 guitar monosynth sounds. Like a circuit bent shit sandwich. Maybe Eric Barbour should hire them for R&D :)

**inteliko** (2010-01-26):

..oh and Reaktor is gonna be a blast on these.

**Chris Randall** (2010-01-26):

Wish in one hand.. You're not gonna see Reaktor on the iPad, or whatever they're calling it.

-CR

**shamann** (2010-01-26):

The one thing I've heard suggested about this new Apple thing that gives me pause is that the emphasis for the device is on consuming - video, publications, etc - and not on creating. Which in a worst case scenario, wouldn't offer enough power/flexibility to do much more than fiddle around with some iphone apps.

But I am interested in it for its consumer side, as it's the kind of portable reading/viewing device that would suit me, much more than the current crop of netbooks, eReaders, smartphones or laptops do.

**Chris Randall** (2010-01-26):

Well, that's an interesting point. The thing about the iPhone that makes it so attractive from a developer's standpoint is that you get relatively low-level access to all the hardware on the device, and the hardware on the device is pretty good, and you already know how to do it because it is essentially OSX.

It obviously isn't a general-purpose device like a normal computer, but by the same token, it actually _is_ a normal computer. The iPhone is, for all intents and purposes, a Unix server to which you have root access, and it is roughly as powerful as a mid-90s SPARCstation or SGI workstation (the same sort of computer that Toy Story was created with). So there's a lot that can be done on it, to be sure. The iPad will have a more powerful CPU, so it can do more. It's really up to the programmer at that point, how much time he's willing to invest versus what he can expect out of it.

The cost of the developer's license keeps a lot of the most experimental people out of it; plus, those people trend to a particular sort of environment which the iPhone OS ain't.

-CR

**shamann** (2010-01-26):

I'm not extremely well-versed on the iPhone, but aren't there limits to how many apps you can run at one time, saving user files, stuff like that?

**Chris Randall** (2010-01-26):

Yeah. They're just easing in to background apps now. Saving user files is pretty easy. Getting at them from somewhere else is the tricky part.

-CR

**boobs** (2010-01-26):

as a consumer i have no need to read books on an LCD of any size. i'd rather just have the book.

i'm sure there are corporations that have a big need for these types of things and healthcare companies have been into them for a while now. in some places nurses are carrying them around and all charts are paperless.

i know media companies (NY times etc) are looking forward to it hoping it will put a boost in the subscription service if people can view full sized articles on these things in a more intuitive interactive way.

i'm interested to see what it can/can't do but don't predict i'll be buying anything like this.

i think it all depends on the apps that come out for it and agree w/CR that "a new instrument that nobody knows how to play yet" would be pretty cool. but any kind of new app that takes advantage of the interface in some kind of way that isn't simply a novelty will be cool.. so long as it actually does something useful.

it'll take a whole lot of awesomeness to separate me from my mouse/track pad.

**Crashproof** (2010-01-26):

The sad thing to me is that the media, and a lot of people, are going to treat this like it's the first goddamned tablet PC ever.

And because the Partially Eaten Fruit Logo is on it, it actually *will* be a game-changer, and all previous tablet PCs and most of them for the next couple of years will be historically irrelevant.

**wgparham** (2010-01-26):

If I can load most current iPhone/Touch apps on it, and it doesn't cost but so much, and it's multi touch, I'm in. I have big hands and the iPhone/Touch platform is interesting to me, but I can't use a single one of the apps without severe difficulty. The idea of being able to use some of the more clever apps out there makes me happy. And the idea of a Jazz Mutant Lemur that I don't have to pawn my liver for makes me slightly giddy.

-WGP