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Iphone Apple

'I Don't Get Why Apple's Multitrack Voice Memos Require an iPhone 16 Pro' (engadget.com) 63

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Apple unveiled a multitrack recording feature for Voice Memos at its recent iPhone event, exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro. The feature allows users to layer vocals over guitar tracks without headphones, utilizing advanced microphone technology and machine learning algorithms to reduce ambient noise.

Engadget argues the feature's exclusivity to the new $1,000+ model is unnecessary, given modern smartphones' processing power far exceeds that of early digital audio workstations. They contend that basic multitrack recording functionality could be implemented on older iPhone models. Apple's decision to limit this feature contradicts its inclusion of GarageBand on all iPhones and the availability of Audio Mix on base iPhone 16 models, which offers similar noise reduction capabilities. The story adds: Why is this particular feature walled behind the iPhone 16 Pro? It's a simple multitrack recording function. From the ad, it looks like the app can't even layer more than two tracks at a time. This can't exactly be taxing that A18 Pro chip, especially when the phone can also handle 4K/120 FPS video recording in Dolby Vision.
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'I Don't Get Why Apple's Multitrack Voice Memos Require an iPhone 16 Pro' More

'I Don't Get Why Apple's Multitrack Voice Memos Require an iPhone 16 Pro'

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  • apple is paying walling that feature!

  • Classic apple upsell?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kqs ( 1038910 )

      There's no doubt that upsell is a large piece of this. All companies want more profit, but apple is very aggressive. But there could be other things too. Maybe some specialized hardware bits which make this work better on some phones (the "ambient noise reduction" may be a hint); maybe it would suck battery life on older devices; maybe something else. Apple is 80% profit driven, but decisions like this always have multiple factors.

      • Yes. The Pro models have 4 microphones. The regular non-Pro phones have 2. That almost certainly factors into this.

        • Yes. The Pro models have 4 microphones. The regular non-Pro phones have 2. That almost certainly factors into this.

          Indeed!

          Especially since the "cute trick" this does to isolate your Overdub Audio (usually vocals) onto a separate audio track *without headphones/earbuds*, with you singing (or whatever) while listening to SPEAKER Playback of the "Base Track".

          I'll bet they used the multi-mic isolation software from the HomePod(s), and it probably works better, the more mics you have!

          So, there really IS a "real" reason. . .

      • "maybe it would suck battery life on older devices;" This would be such a piss poor excuse, but I wouldn't put it past Apple to use this or the average Joe buying into it. "bAtTeRy lIfE" would make a nice universal excuse for withholding features from devices that can technically run them, but they are a bit old so "battery life". So that means more $$$ for Apple in the form of customers buying new hardware.

        • "maybe it would suck battery life on older devices;" This would be such a piss poor excuse, but I wouldn't put it past Apple to use this or the average Joe buying into it. "bAtTeRy lIfE" would make a nice universal excuse for withholding features from devices that can technically run them, but they are a bit old so "battery life". So that means more $$$ for Apple in the form of customers buying new hardware.

          Nope.

          It needs the Pro's 4 mics to work:

          See:

          https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

  • I get why (Score:4, Informative)

    by MpVpRb ( 1423381 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @01:44PM (#64785841)

    Apple sucks

  • It's because "courage".

  • Because (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bjoast ( 1310293 )
    Because... shut up!

  • o nooos (Score:3)

    by zlives ( 2009072 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @01:55PM (#64785875)

    since the only way to do this is with apple pro 16...!!?
    i will just have to continue not doing this thing or caring about it

  • Nobody ever said there was an _engineering_ reason.

    Apple has done this with umpteen hardware/software things in the past. If you're surprised..... welcome, newbie.

    • Nobody ever said there was an _engineering_ reason.

      Apple^H^H^H^H^H Almost all Tech-based Companies ha^Hve done this with umpteen hardware/software things in the past. If you're surprised..... welcome, newbie.

      FTFY.

    • Nobody ever said there was an _engineering_ reason.

      Apple has done this with umpteen hardware/software things in the past. If you're surprised..... welcome, newbie.

      Actually, it is precisely because of a Hardware Limitation.

      See my Explanation:

      https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

  • I'm not sure why Engadget is so hung up on "can/can't" when the problem is "won't." Apple's here to make money. What's not to get about that? I'd probably be upset if I had an Apple 15 and wanted to use the feature without getting a device upgrade, but I wouldn't be confused about why I would be gouged, especially by Apple.

    • 100% this.

      also, "utilizing advanced microphone technology and machine learning algorithms to reduce ambient noise".

      it's probably an in-house dev app that was developed to target the latest "neural processing engine" (or whatever apple calls it, the "more parallel than a CPU but still not quite a GPU/TPU" cores), and then release time came around and they took the most promising experimental apps to bundle with their new phone with that latest in-house hardware.

      could Apple go out of their way to develop an "

      • 100% this.

        also, "utilizing advanced microphone technology and machine learning algorithms to reduce ambient noise".

        it's probably an in-house dev app that was developed to target the latest "neural processing engine" (or whatever apple calls it, the "more parallel than a CPU but still not quite a GPU/TPU" cores), and then release time came around and they took the most promising experimental apps to bundle with their new phone with that latest in-house hardware.

        could Apple go out of their way to develop an "almost as good" alternative for older hardware? yes, of course. do they have any incentive to do so? no, not really.

        i guess e-begging like this might increase the chances of Apple releasing such an alternative eventually, but... it's kind of sad anyway.

        Sorry. The answer is simple.

        See:

        https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

      And it's a shitty app that isn't even ready for one model. Apple's software engineers suck at making software almost as bad as their hardware engineers.

    • Engadget exists to make money as well, and that is done by clickbait. 99% of the internet is trash.

  • Bow to your corporate masters.

  • Hardware (Score:5, Informative)

    by WankerWeasel ( 875277 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @02:12PM (#64785931)

    I'd guess it's because only the Pro features the 4 studio-quality mics. The other models only feature 2 standard mics.

    • Makes sense. Apple doesnâ(TM)t like to ship anything less than great, so if two mics is âoeonlyâ pretty good, theyâ(TM)ll limit it to the 4 mic version. Of course it could be a conspiracy based on a click bait headline.

      • Honestly, I don't know why you'd need multi-track recording in a voice memo in the first place. How many people want to lay a quick demo and can't be bothered to download an app outside the factory installed Voice Memo app? Seems pretty silly to care about. Anyone actually looking for multi-track recording is going to be 10000x better served with something like GarageBand, which is also free to all iPhone users, or one of the many other audio recording apps.

        But hey, the tech media needs to make all these cl

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          Exactly. This feature is just to demo the new hardware in the Pro and every is suddenly acting like everyone in the world wants... no... NEEDS this feature in the voice memo app!
        • If I see something that says "Voice memo" I assume that it's just there to take voice memos. In fact, I would expect Dictaphone quality audio and not something that is suitable for music, but that's just me.

    • You can't give a serious answer to a rage-bait question.
      This is Slashdot, where there are exactly two attitudes towards Apple allowed:

      Fan-boy enthusiasm
      Walled-garden rage

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Plus it gives apps that do multitrack recording on iPhones a few more years of life and the ability to prove themselves they're worth it.

      I'm sure other than the microphone issue, Apple could make it work just fine on older devices. But sometimes if there's already a big collection of apps, to make them all obsolete overnight would just land you in legal trouble.

      After all, it could be anti-competitive if Apple released a multi-track recorder app. By artificially limiting it to iPhone 16, they're ensuring dev

      • Plus it gives apps that do multitrack recording on iPhones a few more years of life and the ability to prove themselves they're worth it.

        I'm sure other than the microphone issue, Apple could make it work just fine on older devices. But sometimes if there's already a big collection of apps, to make them all obsolete overnight would just land you in legal trouble.

        After all, it could be anti-competitive if Apple released a multi-track recorder app. By artificially limiting it to iPhone 16, they're ensuring developers of similar apps still have a few years of life in them where they can show why their app is better over the built in one.

        Yes, we unfortunately live in a world where such decisions are probably made like that. Do you add a feature? Will it lead to anti-trust, anti-competitive lawsuits? Apple probably figures hey, kill two birds with one stone - limit it to iPhone 16 to boost sales of it, but also avoid angering app developers with similar apps. Because angry app developers might call for more regulations.

        Prediction - in a few year's time, we'll have documents from Apple's EU antitrust investigations revealing they kept the multitrack recorder from working on all devices to avoid angering developers and triggering antitrust regulations.

        It is only because of the 4 Mics. It cannot be brought to any iPhone with less Mics, seriously.

        See:

        https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

    • I'd guess it's because only the Pro features the 4 studio-quality mics.

      Correction: prosumer mics.
      An actual professional isn't going to be recording the vocal tracks to hit pop songs using an iPhone. This is more along the lines of being good enough for stuff like making YouTube videos, where there's so much data compression applied anyway that nobody's going to notice the audio wasn't recorded with a real professional grade microphone that costs nearly as much as an entire iPhone. (for example, a Shure KSM44A goes for about a grand)

  • It's so obviou$ I'm surpri$ed you had to a$k! (Score:3)

    by Malay2bowman ( 10422660 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @02:40PM (#64785983)
    Apple discovered that people spend too much of their time multitrack recording. It's becoming so epidemic and gravely serious that people are letting their family and personal relationships and even their employment and physical health and grooming fall by the wayside because they are so addicted to multitrack recording during every waking hour. So Apple, being the socially responsible company it is, only made it available on their most expensive phone so people will not fall into the trap of multitrack recording addiction, and serious, professional musicians always pay big bucks for their gear. So kudos to Apple for recognizing this widespread problem and taking a solid moral stand to combat it. The world thanks Apple for taking the inevitable blows from an angry public, and standing up for what's right. - - So why else did you think Apple was doing thi$? :-]

  • There is an actual reason if anyone cares (Score:3)

    by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @02:52PM (#64786041) Homepage

    This is yet another consequence of vertically integrated markets. Apple makes the hardware, the operating system, and the most popular applications. How does Apple finance improvements to those applications? By selling new hardware. They won't do that if they allow the software to run on old hardware.

    We all complain about OS vendors putting ads into their operating systems, muscling out 3rd-party vendors, or crippling the OS on older hardware. But we consumers created this problem by demanding that the OS and software be essentially free with years of free updates, then refusing to pay for software updates, while also refusing to use F/OSS alternatives. So we boxed ourselves into having a market where the only one who can make money is the hardware vendor. We are moving to a world where the only commercial software in existence is either tied to a piece of hardware, or tied to a web site that sells your data to advertisers.

    This is similar to how Camera vendors release the identical camera under different names with different capabilities soft-locked behind the firmware.

    It would be interesting to see what would happen if Apple offered a $10 upgrade to add support for multitrack voice memos. Would people pay?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ddtmm ( 549094 )
      Good perspective. Nicely said.

    • Agree 99%

      Its Phantom Value would would not see uptake at any price. But its cute for Apple to tout that it is actually selling 'exclusivity' hardware going forward, now.

      Divide and conquer seems destructive and counter to its seamless platform aesthete and a clever upgrade channel to empower multi-modal input to other Apple apps by later adoption through its hardwares. Since early days, software has always been hardware defined - software ambivalent.

      It could be Apple seeding a platform for a new accessory se

    • This is yet another consequence of vertically integrated markets. Apple makes the hardware, the operating system, and the most popular applications. How does Apple finance improvements to those applications? By selling new hardware. They won't do that if they allow the software to run on old hardware.

      We all complain about OS vendors putting ads into their operating systems, muscling out 3rd-party vendors, or crippling the OS on older hardware. But we consumers created this problem by demanding that the OS and software be essentially free with years of free updates, then refusing to pay for software updates, while also refusing to use F/OSS alternatives. So we boxed ourselves into having a market where the only one who can make money is the hardware vendor. We are moving to a world where the only commercial software in existence is either tied to a piece of hardware, or tied to a web site that sells your data to advertisers.

      This is similar to how Camera vendors release the identical camera under different names with different capabilities soft-locked behind the firmware.

      It would be interesting to see what would happen if Apple offered a $10 upgrade to add support for multitrack voice memos. Would people pay?

      This is a cutesy fallout from the Pro's 4 Mics.

      The Multimic Array is REALLY there to make Siri and Dictation/Voice Control (much!) better. The Multitrack Memo App's Cute "Isolation" trick is just a cute way for Apple to play around with that MultiMic Isolation Software, probably borrowed from the HomePod.

      Next iPhone Gen, all base models will have 4 lesser-quality mics, with the Pro having 4 Better mics.

  • If every phone could do that... (Score:3)

    by Plumpaquatsch ( 2701653 ) on Friday September 13, 2024 @03:11PM (#64786083) Journal
    Why doesn't every Android phone have that feature? Or at least one?

  • Obviously, the other models could do it too. But apple wants to give you the illusion that the IPhone 16 pro is worth more. So it puts artificial limitations into the others.

    • Obviously, the other models could do it too. But apple wants to give you the illusion that the IPhone 16 pro is worth more. So it puts artificial limitations into the others.

      Sorry, no.

      There is an actual hardware limitation that makes the App impractical.

      See:

      https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

  • You have to market software features to sell the new hardware.

    They want us all in the cloud anyway, some company should just make a good economical thin client phone that just does basic voice calls with a very good screen to stream your OS image running on the cloud. It would have great battery life and you can pay for the new cloud features instead of new hardware that goes to the dump every other year.
  • It's an AI gimmick for a voice recording app that removes the backing track it just played back over the speaker from your voice. It's a demo and maybe even only works on the new processor that way. We all know it could be done on older hardware. In fact, it can be done with different software. That's not the point, though. This is not anything anybody needs. It's not like you'll get a studio-quality recording from this. And if just want to record an idea, it doesn't matter if your voice is isolated or not.

    • It's an AI gimmick for a voice recording app that removes the backing track it just played back over the speaker from your voice. It's a demo and maybe even only works on the new processor that way. We all know it could be done on older hardware. In fact, it can be done with different software. That's not the point, though. This is not anything anybody needs. It's not like you'll get a studio-quality recording from this. And if just want to record an idea, it doesn't matter if your voice is isolated or not. You can just use the also included garage band for the same purpose. That voice memo function is a nice tech demo, but really, it's not as anybody is really missing out here.

      It's the Pro's 4-Mic Array. Necessary for the Isolation Trick to be able to create enough "signal to noise" (isolation) dB between the Playback and the "New Audio".

      See:

      https://apple.slashdot.org/com... [slashdot.org]

  • The visual scene/photo recognition feature just announced should also be able to run on any iPhone since it does the AI on the server.

    iPhone 14 Pro never got the 24MP mode of the 15 nor the "fake lens" UI even though it has the same resolution sensors.

    iPhone artificial software limitations have been around almost as long as the iPhone.

  • As a dev, supporting back before the most recent OS and hardware creates progressively more work with each additional version. That's engineering time. Combined with Apple wanting to push people to their new devices, there's zero reason for them to support back.

    But as Engadget says, older devices can probably manage it, so looks like there's a great opportunity for a third party to step in and provide it. Of course the catch there in my experience is that people who won't pay to upgrade their devices, al

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