Musician’s Corner: AnyTune Pro HQ Helps With That Ripping Solo You’ve Always Wanted To Learn
by Lory Gil
July 23, 2012
Here we are again with another installment of Musician’s Corner. Last time, we told you about a fantastic music app that works both for the causal music fan and the serious digital drummer. This week, we’ve got a music-teaching app that slows down songs so that you can learn them, note by note. As an added bonus, thanks to Anystone Technologies, we’re giving away five copies of AnyTune Pro HQ to our music-loving audience. Read on to find out how to enter the contest.
Before we talk about the app, I want to let our readers know that IK Multimedia is having a Summer Strummer sale in which they will be offering huge sales on their AmpliTube line of products. Currently, you can get the desktop version of Amplitube 3 for 70 percent off. Get it while the summer is hot.
Now, on with the show.
After spending the past three weeks getting ready to record a new album with my band, I’m so happy to have found out about this “slow downer” app. It was pivotal in helping us learn the notes to some of the more complicated solos for the cover songs on our set list. What makes this app so cool is that it slows down songs without changing the pitch. If you’ve ever tried to figure out what Dave Mustaine is doing in “Killing is My Business,” you know how hard it is to learn some of those shredding riffs by the greats. With AnyTune, you can slow it down and even loop certain sections in order to practice it over and over again. Not only that, but you can set the looped clip to speed up overtime until you are playing as fast as you should be.
There are so many helpful features with this app that the developer must have first-hand experience trying to learn cover songs. I imagine him sitting on his living room floor at 18 years old, playing a beat up copy of “Hell Awaits” by Slayer, and frustratingly trying to play along.
With AnyTune Pro HQ, you can import songs from your device’s music library and see the song on a digital track. You can then highlight the section of the song you are trying to learn and loop it. You can add a delay to the loop so that, when it restarts, you have a couple of seconds to realign yourself with the beginning of the part. Users can adjust the speed of the tempo and change the pitch to a different key without affecting the rest of the song. There is also a loop editor that will allow users to move, adjust and delete any loops.
Another impressive feature of AnyTune Pro HQ is the “LiveMix,” which lets musicians play their instrument directly through the app using an iPad adaptor like the iRig. All you have to do is plug your guitar into the iPad and, using AnyTune Pro HQ, play along with the music you are learning. You can even see your instrument as one of the tracks on the board and have control over volume and pan. For picky musicians, there is a detailed equalizer that will adjust the lows, highs, mids, gains and frequencies of your plugged in instrument.
This app is a little on the pricey side. At $14.99, it is hard to tell a starving musician that it is worth the money. However, any dedicated performer will know that good art does not come cheaply.
Check out the video to see how well this app will train your guitar fingers for Shred Fest 2012.
http://youtu.be/UlL0Dy0DTpI
All right, all you music lovers. It’s time for you to impress me with your knowledge of guitarists. If you’d like to win a copy of AnyTune Pro HQ, tell me who you think is the best guitarist from the past 30 years. If I like the cut of your jib, you may win one of five copies of this app. If you are wondering what type of music I like, read the review above for hints. The contest ends Wednesday, July 25 at 11:59 p.m. CDT.
