Shit Just Got Real...

TNR-i, the Tenori-On clone for iOS created by Yamaha (so it would stand to reason it’s pretty close) is now available in the US app store finally, a week after it appeared in Japan and the UK. You can grab it here. Note that I haven’t purchased this yet, and am in no way endorsing it. We get iTunes gift cards as a reward from one of our credit cards, and I’m waiting for this month’s to arrive so I don’t have to, like, pay real money for it. If you’ve purchased the app, please let us know the good, bad, and ugly. Does it work with CoreMidi, or is the only way to sync it with that stupid Game Center method they came up with? And does it work in Landscape mode? Those are my two main questions.

Slightly related, the Alesis IO Dock is now available for ordering, $199 at Amazon. I played with this a bit at NAMM, and assuming the shipping version is the same as the one I fucked with, it’s a solid little piece of kit, and turns the iPad from a cute but slightly annoying device to an actually useful musician’s tool in one fell blow.

Now, it is worth mentioning at this juncture that I have it on good authority that, unless you’re in any particular hurry, it might be a good idea to wait a couple months to make a purchasing decision vis-a-vis the IO Dock. I can’t say any more than that, but I think you can figure out what I’m getting at, without me beating you over the head with it.