There is an iPhone or iPod app available for free on iTunes for Movement 2010, Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival. It’s actually a great idea and an excellent resource for festival goers. You can check out the entire festival lineup, the entire lineup by stage or the lineup for each day by stage. From the lineup pages you can check out artists bios and visit links to websites, videos on YouTube and music on Beatport and iTunes.

The most useful feature on the Movement app is the ability to add artist’s sets to your own schedule: a better alternative than carrying around an outdated, tree-killing, printed schedule or aimlessly scratching your head while wandering to your next destination. There’s a map of the Movement festival grounds and a list of ‘official’ (aka ‘not interested’) afterparties. Also included is a cool friend finder that allows you to move an “I AM HERE” arrow around pictures of the festival stages and maps to help your friends find you. Sounds corny? Maybe. Have I spent more festival time trying to find people than hearing music? Some years. Will I use it? Come on.

To pass the time in between bass pounding sets the app includes a music note icon in the upper left hand corner which allows you to stream Paxahau radio anywhere.

Fucking technology… and thankfully the wallpaper for the app is not that creepy, emo Plastikman live promo pic of Richie. He looks like the gay younger brother from Wedding Crashers. You know, the one that likes to paint…

Visit iTunes to download the Movement 2010 App.

Digidesign, makers Pro Tools, the industry standard in Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), as well as a slew of plug-ins, consoles and live performance rigs, is retiring… well, the name at least. The end of Digidesign and their flagship software Pro Tools is far from over, but parent company Avid, makers of video and film software, has decided to merge Pro Tools, as well as their other three major companies, M-Audio, Pinnacle and Sibelius, under the umbrella name Avid.

So what does the new company name mean for Digidesign? Not much really; Pro Tools will still be ProTools and staff and support will remain virtually unchanged. The only change customers will notice will be the Avid name and new logo on upcoming packaging and a new website that will be launching on April 12, 2010.

Avid promises the new site will include improved navigation, organization and overall  user experience. The new Avid.com will include all current Digidesign.com pages. At first, the new site will only include Digidesign US, but within a few months the international Digidesign websites will be included as well.

Who will see the biggest advantage? Customers who purchase products from multiple Avid companies; such as ProTools HD for DAW, M-Audio Axiom Pro 49 for a MIDI controller and Sibelius for scoring music. Digidesign.com will be the first company website to integrate into Avid.com, but M-Audio.com, Sibelius.com and Pinnaclesys.com will soon follow suite. This complete transition will begin providing multi product line customers benefits like a simplified product registration, single login ID, and a one-stop source for all product information, support, downloads and news.

The biggest advantage most likely will come by the way of new products and current product integration – like the recent additions Pro Tools M-Powered, Video Satellite between Media Composer and Pro Tools, and Sibelius integration into Pro Tools. Think of Adobe after their acquisition Macromedia – each of the company’s related software now integrate seamlessly, allowing users to flip back and forth, starting projects in one program and polishing in another, using each programs unique benefits to your advantage. Don’t rule out the possibility of suite packages or integrated plug-in packages.

Nine Inch Nails APP: Approved and Here. Download it for free at iTunes.

One of the newest digital Dj softwares, which has received numerous praise, has announced an update which promises innovative new creative tools and workflow enhancements. Torq 1.5 brings even more creative options to the only digital DJ workstation designed to merge live DJ performance and advanced music production. New features in Torq 1.5 software include Tempo Anchors, Tempo Master, zplane élastique time stretching, send/receive MIDI Clock, a new toolbar and a variety of workflow enhancements.

The software’s new Tempo Anchors allow users to set the phase grid exactly on the beats of the song, even if the song changes tempo. Tempo Anchors make it possible for Torq to remove tempo variations from songs so you can easily blend old styles and new. For example, if you have an old ‘70s funk song that was recorded without a click, Tempo Anchors enable you to perfectly match that song with the steady beat of today’s computer-driven productions. You can also assign a track you’re spinning to serve as the Tempo Master for everything in Torq, so looped samples and other tempo-based features will automatically match the natural tempo changes in the song.

Torq 1.5 software can also send and receive MIDI Clock for total synchronization with drum machines, effects boxes and other computers. Multiple DJs can connect with each other and share the same tempo across systems, which improves collaboration between artists.

View More of the new features in Torq 1.5.