Castiv’s Musician Mounts for Apple iPhone, SmartPhones and Tablets

Castiv's Musician Mounts for Apple iPhone, SmartPhones and TabletsWe recently discovered a company from Canada named Castiv.  Did you know there are now over 500 apps for guitar players?  Apps range from learning how to play to metronomes and lyrics.  The question with using a tablet or smartphone while playing a guitar is where to put it.  Castiv’s mount line specializes on providing a solution to that question.   Castiv makes some very innovative mounts that make use of your apps while playing a guitar or singing at microphone stand much easier.  Ever try to play a guitar with an iPhone on your lap?  Not easy!

The current Castiv lineup includes the Guitar Sidekick which can hold an Apple iPhone or any smartphone.  This is a well thought out mount.  We have seen other mounts that use suction cups, similar to a car windshield mount, used on the body of the guitar.  It just didn’t look right and will effect the sound of the guitar.  These mounts attach to the neck of the guitar and the cradle can be tilted and positioned so that the musician can clearly see the content.  The grip can be used with acoustic, electric or classical guitars.  Compatible with most a guitars, it does not affect playing or tuning.  Works with practically any smartphone or portable media player.  The grip opens to 85mm (3.35 inches) and can even accommodate many phones with a case or skin.  The mounts allows you to easily access your favorite guitar apps such as: video lessons, lyrics teleprompter, audio recorders, metronomes, tuners and more.

The Castiv Tab Station is used on microphone stands with all models of iPad as well as similarly sized tablets.  Unlike many other microphone adapters and mounts being sold, this is an adapter for the top of the microphone.  These adapters come equipped with a 3/8″ and 5/8″ screw thread and will screw onto the top of any standard microphone stand.  Features an innovative holder that adjusts from 7 to 7.8 inches  (an iPad is 7.31 inches).  The cradle will rotate into landscape or portrait plus has an adjustable angle.  Use the Tab Station with your favorite apps such as video lessons, tuners, metronomes or lyrics.

The Castiv Smart Station is for using most smartphones on a microphone stand.  It comes with options to clip on top of the stand or anywhere to the stand itself.  The cradle opens from 2.3 to 3.3 inches so it will fit phones with or without cases.  Landscape or portrait are supported.  In testing this model, we found that attaching it to the top of a stand provided the most steady and useful experience.  Clipping it to the stand itself while the microphone was attached to the top seemed awkward, just my opinion.

There are other ways to mount your tablet or smartphone to microphone stands, and you can search the MountGuys site using the keyword ‘microphone’.  Castiv is a unique company that specializes in mounts for musicians.  There is a huge demand for these types and mounts and I’m surprised that no other manufacturer has a taken advantage of this niche.  The Castiv line seems to have the most elegant means of attaching the device to a guitar or microphone stand and their prices are reasonable.  It’s worth checking out.