Niclas Tamas – iOS music pioneer
Written by: Niclas Tamas
I started using Gestrument in December 2012. It was just an app I used on and off the first half of 2013. Since August 2013 I’m dedicated to Gestrument for composing, performing and recording my work. Emoticons and The Deamons of Apel Street are pure Gestrument and available on niclastamas.com and on Soundcloud
I’ve been composing, mixing and producing my music solely on my iPhone since 2009. Being an iOS musician gives me a total freedom of space, time and movement when it comes to music creation. I can make music everywhere. On the bus to and from work. In the taxi between assignments. I can sit in libraries, coffe shops or in a green park a summers day. There are no constraints. All I need is my iPhone, my headphones and a charged battery. Actually, 80% of The Deamons of Apel Street was created this way.
For me, Gestrument represents the core of iOS music creation. It gives me infinite paths. An unconstrained universe of creativity, real time experimentation and endless exploration. Gestrument represents the unstoppable force of childhood curiousness.
I treat and look at Gestrument as an instrument. And being an instrument it takes time, patience and endurance to master it. And I’m not even close yet. But I’ve covered some ground, I guess.
In 2014 I’m writing three piano pieces for Gestrument, Alchemy, VirtualANS and voice called Téli estéken (Winter evenings). Scheduled release (Spring 2014).
I’m also starting my journey with the 59-minute piece The Laws of Mechanics And Beyond. Scheduled release in December 2014.
I publish a monthly Music Diary. It contains notes on my work with Gestrument, my creative process and glimpses from my daily life. Subscription is easy. Just send a mail to musicdiarybdo@gmail.com.
I will make a series of Gestrument tutorials during 2014. Visit niclastamas.com or my YouTube channel to check them out. The first two will be released in March.
About the presets:
Orchestra 01
This setting was used to record Emoticons in one continous take. I discovered quite a few playing techniques apart from using only my index finger. But the most important lesson was to start evolve a sense of “touch awareness” on the iPhone screen.
Orchestra 02
This is the setting for The Daemons of Apel Street. It is more evolved and built on my experiences with Emoticons.
Using the pulsating function and different note values I could execute fades. I developed my tap technique and finger point skills.
In the third movement, I sweep my index finger upwards and downwards at the edge of the screen. This, in combination with rythmic diagonal movements, create stunning orchestral effects.
Niclas Tamas is an iOS music pioneer and composer of electronic music in various styles. Since 2009 he has been in the forefront of iOS music. He still uses only an iPhone in his music endeavours.
Born in Sweden 1964 and of Hungarian decent, he spent his first 20 years in Linkoping. He started to play the piano at 4 and treble recorder at 7. He pursued his musical career and education until he was 20, composing and performing piano music by Beethoven, Satie and Chopin. He had to give up this career due to panic stage fright.
In 2009 he got his first iPhone and started to make music again after a 25 year break. Using the app iSequence he released what is probably the first album entirely composed, mixed and produced on an iPhone on the 20th of October 2010. “Last Train to Vienna” was followed by three albums made the same way.
In 2011 he started to work on the electronic suite “Pieces of Life”. It was concluded in August 2013 with the release of “Morphogenetic Fields”. “Pieces of Life” comprises of five parts with a playing time of over three hours, entirely composed, mixed and produced on his iPhone.