This week, we make our music more magical with FabFilters on iOS, edit multiple streams of 4K video with Lumafusion 2, stay private with Guardian Firewall, and ridicule Microsoft’s Office to-do app, which has finally been released on the Mac.
LumaFusion 2
Photo: Luma Touch
LumaFusion is the go-to video-editing powerhouse on iOS, and now it is even more powerful. The app, which already does most of what you can do when editing on the Mac, now adds support for external monitors. You can hook your iPad up to a display, and view the video on the big screen, while you manipulate the clips and timeline on the iPad itself.
You can also work with up to six tracks of 4K video simultaneously. We knew the iPad Pro hardware was powerful, but only now are we seeing what it can do. LumaFusion 2 is a free upgrade for existing users.
Price: $14.99
Download: LumaFusion from the App Store (iOS)
Microsoft To-Do: List, Task & Reminder
Photo: Microsoft
Microsoft’s Office 365 to-do list is now available for the Mac. “Going beyond a mere list of items to check off, this software is designed to automatically prioritize tasks that are most important,” wrote our own Ed Hardy this week, admirably managing to find new words to describe what is little more than a plain old to-do list, one that should have been on the Mac a long time ago.
“Naturally, the app makes it easy to carry forward unfinished items from the day before,” he added, with valiant redundancy.
Price: Free
Download: Microsoft To-Do
Guardian Firewall
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Guardian Firewall is a proper, privacy-guarding firewall for iOS. When available (next month, for new users), it will block apps from sharing your private data without your knowledge. The app is the front end to a virtual private network that routes all your data through Guardian’s own servers. Dodgy connections are blocked, keeping your private data private.
Price: $10 per month subscription
Download: Guardian Firewall from the App Store (iOS)
FabFilter bundle
Photo: FabFilter
FabFilter makes some of the best audio plugins for desktop computers, and now the company has ported those plugins to iOS. This is a big deal, not just because it means that iPad and iPhone users gain access to possibly the best EQ, reverb, compressor and other plugins on what is still a fledgeling platform, but because it means that the big players are taking iOS seriously as a music platform.
These plugins aren’t cheap, either. In iOS terms, $30 for an audio unit plugin is an order of magnitude higher than what we’re used to. But it’s also good news, because real prices mean sustainability. That $2 compressor plugin looks like a bargain, except that it never gets updated, and stays buggy forever.
The whole set is available as a bundle for $150, with individual apps from $29.99.
Price: $150 (bundle), apps from $29.99
Download: FabFilters from the App Store (iOS)
