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DREAM THEATER Keyboardist Talks About SampleWiz App (Video)

June 20, 2011

Jordan Rudess, the renowned classical pianist and keyboardist for progressive band DREAM THEATER, recently spoke to Byte TV editor Gina Smith about SampleWiz, the long-awaited follow-up to hit app MorphWiz from his own iPad and iPhone app development company, Wizdom Music. Rudess shows how SampleWiz lets sound enthusiasts play around with samples and even use the iPad as a musical instrument to play along with traditional ones. In studio, Rudess did an iPad jam with teamBYTE contributor and guitarist Jon Hoffberg, which you can see in the last three minutes of the video below.

"Sure, this is an instrument I just keep making instruments," Rudess said. "But SampleWiz is more it is something for the sonic explorer. Whether you're a synthesist who just wants to play with cool sounds or play with [the app's built-in] library of sounds or it's great for DJs and electronic musicians [who need sampling]."

Priced at around $10, the app has an easy interface that allows for classic sampling Rudess recorded Smith saying "Welcome back, Byte" and sampled that at different tones and rates. But the app goes deeper, overlapping, and sometimes exceeding, such mobile music apps as GarageBand and SampleToy. It allows you to bend between notes, sample at higher frequencies, retain speed, and dynamically control samples. Rudess says such features are useful. "DJs are going to freak out when they see this," he said, adding that SampleWiz will be available on iPhone and other mobile platforms later this year.

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