FiRe Studio: A Look at the iOS App for Multi-Track Recording
I have become quite a fan of Audiophile Engineering’s FiRe2 recording application (see my previous review). Now, the folks at Audiophile have introduced FiRe Studio, which is essentially a multi-track version of FiRe2.
As with FiRe2, there is a little bit of a learning curve, but FiRe Studio is similarly loaded with an informative user manual. Once you’ve gotten a feel for how the application works, it is quite fast and capable.
The only issue I ran into was in trying to use my Apogee JAM with FiRe Studio. The app simply did not register my device. I’m happy to report that my email to Audiophile support was answered within hours and I was told, “It could be an issue in that FiRe supports 16 bit/48 kHz and JAM is actually set at 44.1/24-bit. If this is the cause for the issue, we will certainly look into a fix.”
I love developers that are both responsive to questions and problems as well as anxious to find a fix for the issue and make sure that their application is what every user hopes it can be. I feel confident that the issue will be resolved in a future update.
In the meantime, I did explore the app using the built in mic, and it works wonderfully. A quick tap on the settings icon allows you to set up a click, alter the display, set the audio to play-through or not, change the display or alter how I interact with the app.
Tapping on the mix setting allows you to share the file via FTP, Sound Cloud, Dropbbox, iTunes, as well as title your mix and make notes. Rotating the device to landscape allows you to actually mix the session. You can also set meta-data and markers.
As with FiRe2, many features are accessed by rotating to either landscape or portrait mode. Often forgetting that (and finding myself referring to the manual), I realized that many features show up just with a simple device rotation. This app does most everything that you could expect it to, but it does take a little exploring to get a feel for it.
FiRe Studio is available from the App Store for $4.99 and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.
