Via Eliot Van Buskirk at Evolver

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We’ve heard that people who own iPads also tend to own iPhones, which stands to reason. Now, enterprising app developers have realized they can use iPhone apps as a sort of trial version of a more fully-fledged — and more expensive — iPad version.

We first noticed this with Algorridim, a DJ app that only costs $1 for the iPhone, or $20 for the iPad version. The iPhone version is basically a toy, but it demonstrates the value of the application and lets you see how it works. If you’re an actual DJ, the iPad version is about 20 times more useful — thus the price difference.

ShapeMix, whose $5 iPad version we covered earlier, tells Evolver.fm that tomorrow (Wednesday) it will announce an iPhone version called ShapeMix Mobile that costs nothing at all.

In both forms, ShapeMix lets music fans with or without previous mixing skills get their hands dirty with various songs, remixing their elements in a number of interesting ways. Basically, you tap these little blips in various ways and the song changes accordingly — it lets you really play music, instead of just listening.

The free iPhone version of ShapeMix comes with 100 songs for your remixing pleasure — just like the paid iPad version — and includes the same functionality on a smaller screen. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more developers of graphics-reliant apps take a similar approach, because once you get a taste of how it works, you might crave the larger pasture available on the iPad.

In both versions, ShapeMix also functions as a remix stems store, in that you can buy (or, in some cases, download for free) specially-processed songs that can be remixed within the apps from theShapeMix Music Marketplace.

What’s that, you say? You don’t buy music anymore? Well, what if each song came with the tools to deconstruct the original and make your own version? That has to count for something, ShapeMix is betting, and we’re inclined to agree.

If this sounds intriguing, check out the free iPhone version of ShapeMix. Be careful, though; if you like it, the big version will cost you.

via Kevin Holmes

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Shapemix [iPad]
If you’re a novice mixer looking to head onto the path of DJ superstardom, but find it all a bit confusing, or if your grandma has an iPad and she really wants to rip it up on the wheels of steel, but the virtual version leaves her lost and confused—well, this could be the app for you. Shapemix translates the task of mixing one song into another with accompanying visual patterns, utilising the multi-touch screen of the iPad. Tracks are displayed as coloured circles—move them up or down for volume, and left and right to control the panning of the sound. It comes with preloaded tracks so your grandma can start mixing straight away.

Via Eliot Van Buskirk

[Article]

The days of hitting a Play button and sitting back to hear a song the same way it sounded the last time are coming to a close — for interested parties, anyway.

Shapemix, which Apple recently approved for the iPad section of the iTunes app store, lets aspiring DJs and armchair music producers get underneath the hood of more than a hundred free tracks to add four high-quality, real-time effects, rearrange musical phrases, and record their tweaks into an entirely new version that can be shared with other users.

Shapemix ($5) goes well beyond most of the other early remixing apps, such as the one David Bowie has planned for this summer, which merely allows users to control each track’s volume. This app’s inclusion of recordable effects (as in, you can record what you’re doing to the sound over time) and its ability to rearrange songs completely make it a music toy worthy of attention from DJs and other people who know what they are doing, productionwise.

Plenty of ink has already been spilled about that aspect of Shapemix, but really, it’s not the first remixing app to port these power features from the desktop, and it won’t be the last. More intriguing: The upcoming Shapemix Music Marketplace will allow fans to purchase remixable music for use within the app, and could give fans a new, compelling reason to pay for recorded music.

If this app lets people get underneath the hood of songs they’re already familiar with — especially the superpopular ones that tend to crowd the dance floor — it could take off with the non–music-geek community in a big way.

According to Zack Sherman, co-founder of Legion Enterprises, which “incubated” this app for its developer Shapemix LLC, the song marketplace will appear within Shapemix “in the coming weeks” to include music from Downtown Music Publishing — a notoriously forward-thinking New York label that previously launched RCRD LBL with Engadget and Gizmodo co-founder (and former Wired.com contributor) Peter Rojas, among other things.

Sherman told Evolver.fm that each track will cost $2 — a significant markup from what tracks cost within iTunes. As with tracks sold there, Apple will claim its usual 30 percent. But considering that you get to do things with these songs that would be impossible with the free versions on YouTube or Bit Torrent, we have a feeling plenty of people will pay for them — assuming Legion can line up the necessary licensing deals, which can be notoriously tricky with any app that let users create and share new versions of songs.

“We have been working with a number of publishers over the last few months to populate the Shapemix Music Marketplace,” said Sherman by e-mail. “The music-licensing process is a perfect example of how Legion Enterprises is working with the companies that we incubate. We enable the founders to focus on great product development, while we handle business development, expansion and growth of each company.”

So basically, Legion will try to negotiate these complicated deals and allow Shapemix to do what it does best: develop software.

Sherman downplayed the difficulty of licensing these songs, predicting that the coming year will see “thousands of songs” available for remixing within Shapemix. If he’s right, we’ll soon find out how much people are willing to pay to play.

Via Antony Bruno (@AntonyNBruno), Denver

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Shapemix
Music remixing apps are becoming a commodity, but Shapemix for the iPad is different in that it blends the more advanced features of a mixing board with a far easier to use user interface for the amateur to navigate. Most of the simpler remixing apps gain their simplicity by dumbing down the capabilities. Shapemix separates the elements of each song in a way that lets users mix any combination of about 100 tracks included in the app. Songs can be shared via existing social networks and via the company’s site.  The songs at launch are rather generic, but the company is talking with developers to included licensed music going forward. The first on board is Downtown Music Publishing, and music from the deal will be released in the coming weeks.

Via Devindra Hardawar

[Article]

If you’ve ever dreamed of leaving your desk job and starting anew as a DJ (which  isn’t unheard of these days), Shapemix for the iPad will get you started.

Shapemix ($4.99 on the iTunes App Store) takes advantage of the iPad’s multitouch interface to let you mix music in “visual space,” instead of dealing with the complexity of professional mixing software. Shapemix is one of those apps that makes tablets seem like less of a fad and more of a legitimate computing platform — that’s why we’ve selected it for VentureBeat’s Mobile App Spotlight, where we highlight cool new apps.

While Shapemix is certainly no replacement for pro solutions, it’s a cheap and simple way for anyone — from kids and novice musicians, to more experienced types — to dabble in music mixing.

The app comes preloaded with two songs to help you get your bearings with its interface, as well as over 100 free tracks that you can use to create your own songs. The tracks include instruments like drum beats and guitar solos, and you can also customize them with reverb, delay and other effects.

Shapemix’s interface is one of its most compelling features. The Mix view lets you view the individual tracks as colored circles, which you can move up and down to control the volume, and left and right to control left and right stereo panning. The Time view is a more traditional audio timeline, except with full touchscreen support.

Once completed, mixes can be published to Shapemix’s website or Facebook. It’s a shame the app doesn’t offer you a standalone audio file to share with friends, but I’m sure intrepid users will find ways around that. The company says that eventually the app may allow users to download their tracks. Users can also download additional tracks and songs at Shapemix’s website. More songs and tracks will be headed to the app as well thanks to a partnership with Downtown Music Publishing.

The app, which came out of Legion Enterprises’ incubator program, was developed by musician and RISD graphic design professor Colin Owens, who in a former life was frontman for the techno band “Blind.” The company tells us that Owens spent years developing curriculum that brought together visual artists and designers, and he also spent a significant amount of time researching audio software tools. Before the iPad was released, he had to make do with a Korean touchscreen device to develop the core concept of Shapemix.

Both Shapemix [shapemix editor note: Boston] and Legion Enterprises are based in New York City. Legion Enterprises recently invested $10 million in tournament gaming company Major League Gaming, and it has a beer pong app called Red Cup Nation in the works.