Underwhelmed with iOS Music Apps?

For iOS (iPhone, iPad & iPod), Android, Windows Phone, etc. App and Hardware talk

Are you satisfied with the current crop of iPad music Apps

Poll ended at Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:30 pm

Yes, you just have to take the time to learn what they can do.
44
60%
No, current apps are a waste of time better spent on superior PC/Mac software.
19
26%
It doesn't matter, even the worst app is a better love story than Twilight.
10
14%
 
Total votes: 73

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Warning: this is a "first world problems" post.

Am I the only one who is underwhelmed by the state of music software on iOS (specifically, for the iPad)? Maybe I'm just spoiled by Windows and Mac synths and DAWs. The iPad synths have a clumsy user interface, limited polyphony, and each of them wants to run as an island. Beyond professional music apps, if you just want to listen to MP3s, you don't have the options for sound-modifying plugins that were available in WinAmp 15 years ago. You can't "hijack" audio like you can on the Mac.

I have Animoog and Garageband for the iPad, and I can't imagine trying to do any serious music with either one of them. I would try Korg's iMS-20 but I have the Legacy collection for the computer, and the MS-20 module is the one that I use the least. I'd love to have something like a virtual CS-80, with the ribbon controller on the iPad touch screen. I'd love to have a Virtual Kurzweil workstation.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the current state of music apps on the iPad? What would you like to see? Where do you think the current apps are getting it wrong and getting it right?
Steve Conslaw

Put your hands up and come out slowly. He has a synthesizer, and he's not afraid to use it.

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Compared to the desktop iOS is still a young platform. It will take time for more "pro" level software to become available.

If you're accustomed to having thousands of dollars worth of pro level software at your disposal, then yes, iOS apps will seem very limited by comparison.

I'm quite satisfied with using little more than BeatMaker 2, Animoog and some drum samples. I don't bother with MIDI or anything. I don't have any controllers. It's just me and my iPad. I like this very simple production environment, and working within the limitations is a fun challenge.

That said, I think Audiobus will make quite a few things much easier for a lot of people, when it's released.

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Sounds like many of your complaints have to do more with iOS than the apps themselves.
And I agree with the poster above me that Audiobus will go a long way towards solving most of the issues people have making music on iPads.

Edited to add that, for the minuscule price I've paid for the majority of the apps I have, I don't feel like there is much to complain about. Really the only ones I feel any dissapointment with are those that are $20 and up, and that's really more of a psychological issue than failings on those apps.

BTW, the 4th jokey choice in your poll makes any percentages you get kind of useless...

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Against the back drop of what was available 20 years ago iOS music apps are a marvel. Brought too many to mention but happy to support the development but my iOs upgrades are finished !

Not to worry luckily its excelling as a WIFI midi controller via Thumbjam and it's glorious scales database :) maybe a quick peek at ladies doing things now and again

:hihi:

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Knowing full well that I can't do everything I'd typically do in my desktop DAW, I still am amazed at what I can do in the iOS environment. I've found a workflow that works very well for me with NanoStudio and any other synth/drum app that supports ACP. My biggest gripe is that the apps with the best piano and organ sounds (namely GarageBand and Sampletank) don't support ACP, so recording real piano parts for songs is pretty much out of the question.

That being said, I think working within the limits of the iOS environment has actually improved my songwriting skills, as I've needed to focus a lot more on individual parts and how they work together rather than falling back on years old piano playing habits.

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I used to use a PC. Now I only use iOS. For me simplicity is more productive. Not that u can't do complex stuff just check out Rheyne on YouTube, or load up sunvox ;)

I think I could get by with just Beatmaker2 & NLog (& maybe Auria). BM2 has loadsa cool stuff - clock sync, Dropbox, midi in/out, midi & audio sequencing, chopping, & is gettin better n better with each update! NLog is still great sounding :)

Also there's the freedom to not be stuck behind a desk ;) HST, some prefer working with computers.

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leggie wrote:maybe a quick peek at ladies doing things now and again

:hihi:
...multitasking at its finest!

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I've bought a few, but waiting for someone big to really take this seriously. I think Steinberg will be first.

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leggie wrote:Against the back drop of what was available 20 years ago iOS music apps are a marvel. Brought too many to mention but happy to support the development but my iOs upgrades are finished !

Not to worry luckily its excelling as a WIFI midi controller via Thumbjam and it's glorious scales database :) maybe a quick peek at ladies doing things now and again

:hihi:
I think you're right, I am more disappointed with iOS than the apps themselves. I realize the operating system is young, but it was developed from OS-X. The core audio/audio units structure of OS-X is very good, and it was pretty good from the beginning. I guess there are some under-the-hood improvements in iOS5 and iOS6, but the apps still seem relatively primitive. I don't know how much is due to the need to write down to earlier hardware. For example, the third generation iPad has 2 cores in the CPU and 4 cores in the GPU, and it has 1 gig of RAM, so it has twice the processing power and 4 times the RAM of the first generation iPad. The next iPad will probably have a 4 core CPU.

Maybe some of the more technically minded folks out there could answer this next question. Does the iPad have a SIMD signal processing accelerator like Altivec or SSE? It seems like my old G5 iMac handled multiple audio streams much better than my 3rd generation iPad.

I also think that Apple needs to push wireless midi, even if it means introducing their own controllers. I think it is great that the entrepreneurial companies have come out with midi interfaces for the iPad, but the iPad isn't really happy with having things attached to it.
Steve Conslaw

Put your hands up and come out slowly. He has a synthesizer, and he's not afraid to use it.

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'Mobile Music' aka iPad music is just like 3 years old?! Even witch broad recognition since WinterNAMM 2012 it's still a niche market
And esp. more pricey apps hold on to the old concepts of Mouse & Hardware Clone.
While more heuristic approaches like (while not exclsively limited to) Lemur Konkreetlabs, SpaceWiz or Beatsurf or the Synths from The Strange Agency are still the excpetions. Not saying that apps like iKaossilator or iElectribe and Beatmaker (esp. since the last 2 updates) do not work wonderfully.

What I am saying is: We have have just begun exploring the possibilitis touchscreens and the possiblities of 'tablet based music'.


There is also some spot on read from Chris Randall (Audio Damage) on the general topic of 'new concept software'.
http://www.analogindustries.com/blog/en ... ustries%29

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I have not touched my guitar amp or my pc-laptop guitar sims since I bought an Ipod 4g and most of the apps currently available (Jamup pro, Amplitube etc.)
I don't make living out of music and don't play currently in a band but I do like to play and rehearse and it very easy and fast to connect my guitar to the ipod and the sounds are good enough for me. Garageband is a bit awkward to use but I'll just buy the iRig KEYS when available. As I started with hardware sequencers in the 80's these gadgets are simply amazing. I'm just hoping that the pricing of the iPad mini is reasonable...

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I was there when midi was introduced so I know how to adapt and get things to do what I envision.

I'm ecstatic at what I'm doing with Ios synths, gyros, accelerometers, loops, ampsims, samplers etc...

Maybe I'm not doing what everyone else is doing though.

:)
"All generalizations are false".
"Don't quantize me bro"!

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As is, iOS offers a lot more to musicians than what a lot of our heroes had growing up. There is more in my pocket than what a lot of classics where written and recorded with.
No longer with IK. Here is my Website | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

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I'm very excited by the possibilities, and a bit frustrated by the current reality. I'm exhilarated by the potential of a tablet with a touch screen to be a virtual warehouse full of completely new instruments, played in completely new ways, producing sounds that other instruments can't. Since I got my ipad last spring, I've been playing the Animoog every day, playing it more than my guitars and keyboards combined. I can play it in ways I can't play a normal keyboard, like holding one note steady while bending a second. Being able to assign a lot of different parameters to the Y axis makes it one of the most expressive instruments I've ever played. Definitely not just a toy.

The frustrating thing is that I have a bunch of apps that I never play with because they're held back by traditional design. A traditional keyboard interface is too clunky for me to use on the ipad, especially after playing with alternative keyboards like Animoog, BeBot, or GeoSynth have. Other apps feel too sluggish to use as a serious instrument. The possibilities are endless, but in reality there are only a handful of apps I use regularly.

Online, I see a lot of naysayers dismissing tablets as serious music tools, a few people enthusiastic about tablets as highly portable beatmakers and DAWs, but almost nobody excited by the potential of a touchscreen to unlock whole new instruments and ways of playing. I hope more musicians and developers catch a vision for something unique. I'd love to see more apps that let me customize my playing surface, or let me fine tune individual notes so I can play with microtones, or let me assign any parameter to the Y axis.

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The touch screen aspect really changes not only how you play and control these apps but also how you think about performing with one. Its harder for traditional musicians to "mess with their workflow" in a way. A keyboard player may be used to keys and knobs. Using their hands and fingers to control FX, swells and even creating whole new sounds like that are relatively new.

I think the younger generations have already taken it and started running with it. In the next few years more people will be exposed to the music and performances being made with iOS devices and it will open their minds to try these new ideas and workflows out.
No longer with IK. Here is my Website | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

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