Underwhelmed with iOS Music Apps?

[polaris20]

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.

That's the way I look at it. I paid over $800 for a Tascam portastudio in 1993, when I was 16 years old. I thought it was the most amazing piece of kit, that I could overdub 4 tracks. Along with the Alesis SR-16 drum machine and Zoom multieffects box, I had a blast.

Then in 2000, I paid about the same for a Boss BR-8. This was even more amazing; better sound quality, effects, more tracks.

Now for $655 I can have an iPad, a Focusrite audio interface that works with mics and guitars, and an 8-track DAW with virtual instruments, effects, and amp modeler.

No, recording on an iPad isn't as good as a computer. But for what it is in terms of size, weight, and portability, it's pretty amazing.

[michael2]

sometimes I think ios has saved my creativity. i have kids, work and go to school. music time can be very sparce (most of the time I find myself just reading about music for 10 minutes at a time throughout the day). ios while somewhat limiting compared to my DAW, opens up a whole lot of extra time to compose. i can whip out a couple of beats while taking a quick break at work, work on chord progressions with chord bot, make sounds and use them on alchemy, a whole of stuff I can do and it's fast to set up and go; then I can use it in Logic later to complete it when I have the time. I have written a lot of songs this way and am really grateful for it. I also remember the days of paying a fortune for a 4 track and don't miss that very much.

[danbroad]

Love the interface, dislike the clunky way you have to build tracks with separate apps. A universal protocol needs to happen, or a universal host. iLogic to do it first?

[audiojunkie]

Love the interface, dislike the clunky way you have to build tracks with separate apps. A universal protocol needs to happen, or a universal host. iLogic to do it first?

I have to agree here. In a perfect world, I'd have my Windows host & all of my apps working easily on a iPad-sized device that is extremly easy to use, instant-on, and not sandboxed. Auria with a MIDI sequencer and some great synths and samplers would suit me just fine. The developers of Auria have stated that they want to integrate a Midi sequencer and synths/samplers, so we may yet see this day. Currently, as it is, it seems that Beatmaker 2 or Meteor are the closest to being a complete solution. Personally, I like Auria so much, that I'd be happy to have an integrated Midi sequencer, audiobus, and some good synths/samplers. Either way, things just keep getting better and better.

--Sean

[martygras]

I think this is not so much a problem for me as I do mostly live recording of electric drums, guitar(ampsims), synths and occasionally vocals. Almost never sequence midi. I use midi as a communications protocol almost exclusively.

I don't necessarily think of the iPad as an instrument, but an accessory.

[jjmcjj]

This is my recording setup from the early/mid 90s. Ipad too limited?

[robogone]

Althought there seems to be quite a bit of development now, I wonder if it's sustainable? I can't say I've even been tempted beyond reading the description of various apps, and without having a full sized keyboard attached I'm not really tempted. But if I could attach a full sized keyboard then I might as well be using a laptop.

Not for me thanks.

[martygras]

Althought there seems to be quite a bit of development now, I wonder if it's sustainable? I can't say I've even been tempted beyond reading the description of various apps, and without having a full sized keyboard attached I'm not really tempted. But if I could attach a full sized keyboard then I might as well be using a laptop.

Not for me thanks.

I agree, to a degree.
I can write some things using the iPad interface, but I also needed a weighted keyboard with midi and not being rich (especially after buying an iPad) I bought a "Williams Allegro" 88 key weighted keyboard for about $300. Yeah I know. For that price I expect it to explode anytime now.
I use an old M-Audio midisport > CCK > iPad. So far I'm very happy with the response through midi.

[peanut_gallery]

I spend about 1/3 of my time in NanoStudio with a Korg X5 attached to my iPad. That's to get in all the two handed or "finesse required" parts recorded. The simple synth parts, the arranging, the mixing, the experimenting with new sounds/parts via the touch screen, these are all done in the comfort of a couch or arm chair when I have 15-20 minutes to spare here and there. The "pick up and go" productivity this affords me would never happen with my laptop DAW.

[Angus_FX]

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?

Yes, though in terms of max number crunching power it's a fraction of what you get on an i7, and varies from model to model. Impossible to give an exact like-for-like comparison, but an iPad 3 would likely work out about on par with a dual G4 in the 1GHz range or a single core Pantium M closer to 2GHz. So a respectable CPU for getting music made on, but nothing like state of the art.

[ObiWonder]

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.

That's the way I look at it. I paid over $800 for a Tascam portastudio in 1993, when I was 16 years old. I thought it was the most amazing piece of kit, that I could overdub 4 tracks. Along with the Alesis SR-16 drum machine and Zoom multieffects box, I had a blast.

Then in 2000, I paid about the same for a Boss BR-8. This was even more amazing; better sound quality, effects, more tracks.

Now for $655 I can have an iPad, a Focusrite audio interface that works with mics and guitars, and an 8-track DAW with virtual instruments, effects, and amp modeler.

No, recording on an iPad isn't as good as a computer. But for what it is in terms of size, weight, and portability, it's pretty amazing.

I remember the SR-16! I even had an HR-16 before it! Crazy to think with an iPhone or iPad you have more sounds and features!

[setAI]

I think a LOT of people have realized that the "everything including the kitchen sink" approach of PC/Mac DAWs and plug-ins is a Faustian bargain- yes you have all those options but too many options can drown creativity- and right now the iOS synths offer a nice balance of features and limitations- and unlike the PC/DAW it really all smoothly integrates into a PHYSICALLY PLAYABLE instrument- I haven't used MIDI or multitrack sequencers in years- so the connectivity limitations mean nothing to me - I like a few powerful instruments to play live with single-take two track recording- using arpeggiators and manually beatmatched loops for rhythm- so to me all that is important is sound/ tweakability/ and playability- I evaluate synth apps like I do acoustic instruments

[gabebrunogarza1021]

I also think that Apple needs to push wireless midi

Huh?

...as a WIFI midi controller via Thumbjam and it's glorious scales database

Maybe you didn't read this quote, WIFI midi controller VIA ThumbJam.


Two examples of using ThumbJam as a WIFI midi controller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2mCJS68TZk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx95i4eF_uw

...and it's glorious scales database

I searched the internet and found two places with tons of scales and created the import file that ThumbJam allows, now I have over 4000 addtional scales in ThumbJam at my disposal. This has been the best $7 I ever spent.

[Cloudwalker.]

As it has developed so far, I'm quite happy with iOS music.

I view it more as a collection of individual, hands-on, and unique sound modules; to be played live and interactively.

Animoog, TC-11, Samplewiz... they all offer something new and unique that you don't find on hardware or computer plugins. It's kind of exciting.


I don't find myself really using 'traditional synths' on iPad; don't really see any reason to. For that I'd turn to hardware or computer plugs.

[Keebo]

First let me proceed this post by saying that my lack of familiarallity with certain apps may preclude my following objections.

I have been holding back on this topic because I have totally enjoyed the many apps that I thought were beneficial to me in a mobile situation. And many are in that respect.

I've been a DAW (Cakewalk, Coscos, PG Music, VST., etc.) user for quite a while and have adapted somewhat easily. Right now I am waiting for a scan of Windows 7 that has been ongoing for several hours. That, and a much faster OS boot, really makes iOS devices that much more appealing.

Having said that, I had an idea in my head this evening about a song I wished to create on the iPad. At first I thought I would record the ambient sound that drove my idea but using more than one app to do so became quite cumbersome regarding getting the sample into an app that I could further the development process.

Having failed to do so as quickly as I had hoped (much more than a minute or five), I switched to an app that would let me record the part into a sequencer using a tone closely resembling the sound that I was hearing.

What I found after trying six different iOS DAW's, was that only one allowed me to get close to the idea in my head (using a MIDI instrument and the DAW-like editing of notes I have come to expect) but it could not export the MIDI to another app or my DAW as was expected.

I am sure that this is not an issue for the younger or more experienced users here but this was the first time that my idea has gone by the wayside.

Truth be told, I imagine that it is more of a fault on my part than the apps themselves but if I were working within my DAW of choice,mthe idea would have been already saved and built upon in much less time.

I guess what I am saying is that I hope future developments in iOS apps take in consideration that a lot of us have been programmed in a particular manner and expect certain aspects to reflect that.

I am not reflecting this towards the exceptionally well designed non DAW apps such as synths that take advantage of touch screens. These apps are the main reason I chose iOS. Apps classified as a DAW (or semi-DAW) should consider a workflow closer to what we are accustomed to.

This of course is IMHO.