London, March 6: Three art students from Austria have pushed the boundaries of their technical imagination to another high – by using two iPhones and an iPod Touch to form the "iBand.”

Seb, 24, Roger, 25, and Marina, 26, a trio of tabletop musicians, have shunned the regular instruments in favour of custom music applications loaded on to the touch-screen gizmos from Apple.

The videos they put on YouTube last month of what they call the first iBand have been attracting heavy traffic from technophiles and curiosity-seekers.

The band's first real song, Life is greater than the Internet, appeared on YouTube six days ago and has attracted over 60,000 views so far.

"Of all possible things you can do with a mobile phone, what could be more meaningful than to create music," theage. com. au quoted Seb, as saying.

"We have been thinking about forming a band that would only use iPhones as musical instruments for a long time now, since the possibilities of the iPhone as a programmable, customisable platform became obvious with the first wave of third-party applications,” he added.

The custom music applications are not permitted by Apple, but can be used after performing an easy software hack.

These music applications are called MooCowMusic Pianist, MooCowMusic Drummer and PocketGuitar.

Buttons displayed on the touch screens symbolize different sounds, permitting the band to imitate a mixture of real musical instruments.

Seb said that though he and his band mates play conventional instruments, they decided to form the iBand to "create a new type of sound".

"To use the iPhone as a musical instrument isn't about getting a technically perfect song together. It has very innovative input methods, but we could also use any sort of synthesizer and full band equipment; with today's technology there are no limitations,” he said.

The iBand works by connecting the iPhones and iPod Touch to a mixing table, which is consecutively connected to a regular stereo hifi system so the trio can hear what they're playing.

Everything is recorded and mixed live, barring vocals, which are added afterwards.

Seb insisted that they are more than just gadget freaks having fun, saying that the iBand's first song gives the message that real life is just as important as virtual life.

"It seems that many people are sucked into the black hole of the web too deeply, losing their idea of what life can really be," Seb said.

"We think that although the internet comprises the possibility to lose oneself within it, the technical developments of our world can also be used to realise the potential of oneself and the life that is given to every one of us; to realise that there is something higher to be sought and found in life,” he added. (ANI)