--Sean

Before you get your hopes up TOO high, it might be a good idea to read this old post from Audio Damage's Chris Randall about why the iPad's hardware limitations may not let this app live up to the hype: http://www.analogindustries.com/blog/entry.php?blogid=132683 3189677

Wow! Sobering commentary. It will be interesting to see what happens.

--Sean

By the way, does Meteor have any support forum or any place to communicate with the developer? I tried to find a forum but couldn't find one (except for a tiny unofficial forum with a few comments and nothing else. I tried emailing to the developer, but never got any response back.......

--Sean

It's not that sobering. We already knew all of that already (that VST's would need to be ported, and reside as in-app purchases). That's the limitation of the iPad. it is what it is.

Yeah. I thought the point though that you can't really call them VSTs if they're not in the VST format was pretty interesting, too. But if you want a really sobering read, read the Meteor manual. Every other page has helpful tips with ways to reduce CPU cycles and a reminder of how limited the iPad processor really is. But it's good advice. It just seems to me that the Auria guys promised the proverbial moon with their NAMM reveal. It'll be interesting to see what they can deliver. Aside from the 3rd-party support, it seems to me like Meteor is already doing the PC-esque DAW thing about as well as it can be done.




But I would LOVE to be wrong!

So, stupid question:

With the built-in Midi sequencer and built-in synth, sampler, and drum machine, would I be able to sequence a few tracks in the midi-sequencer, then render the sequences to an audio track within Meteor to save resources?

--Sean

The sobering part was that someone actually came out and said that what Auria is promising can't be done, and then gave facts to back things up. That's why I'm saying it will be very interesting to see how Auria plans to back up its claims.

I can imagine getting by with 48 tracks by somehow rendering and playing only a stereo sub-mix of everything that is stored in the 48 tracks (entirely possible). But I don't see how they will be able to back up their claim of the capability of recording such a high simultaneous track count. I wonder to myself if they are building this system with future hardware in mind. It is entirely possible that next year a new iPad could come out with a quad-core or better processor (or in two years a processer that doubles even that processing power)... Follow what I'm saying? They could basically be saying that the system is ready for 48 track recording, and is only waiting for the hardware to catch up...

--Sean

I'm excited about Auria and will probably buy it if its reasonable priced, but I wish there were more Groovebox apps like iElectribe. I'd like to just have fun with beats, synths & sample(r)s when I lay on the couch or sit on the bus. And then transfer the tracks to my Mac when I want to mix it. I want to play with iMC909, iRS7000, iElectribe EMX/ESX etc.
I think thats where the iPads of today are, in terms of HW specs and fun factor.

It's actually not a stupid question: if you use the MIDI sequencer (this is within Meteor) with the built in virtual instruments, you can actually do the sequencing in a MIDI track, add insert effects to that tracks, and then freeze the track (which renders the virtual instrument and any effects) so free up resources. If you need to edit the MIDI track, you can unfreeze it, edit the MIDI and refreeze it. You can also bounce it down to an audio track, but since you only get 12 tracks total, it probably makes more sense to freeze it.

You can also freeze audio tracks that you've added insert effects to.

Check out Rhythm Studio, which is on sale this weekend for $0.99. It's not completely full featured or anything, but it is a fun way to quickly build up some synthy-sounding tracks. Within the span of a bus ride (or potty visit) you can have a rockin' electro track which you can then AudioCopy (which is nice).

I hadn't considered that, and it's very possible. It's pretty cheap to say "Oh yeah, our app can do that... just not on any hardware that currently exists."

So it will be interesting to see what happens if/when this is released.

Agreed!

--Sean

^ I think you guys are right about the "catch". Nevertheless if Auria won't be able to record 48 tracks on IP3/IP2 but will play at least 24 with FXes offering descent editing options it is still an interesting piece of software. Anyway we will see soon i guess.

I agree. It will still be interesting. Here's the strange thing..... I went back and read the press information about it, and they claimed that with an iPad 2 it would handle 48 tracks, but with an iPad 1, it can only handle 24 tracks. In this particular case, they are talking about existing hardware, but I just don't know how they are going to be able to pull this off. We're talking about convolution Reverbs, multiple tracks of audio, effects on every track, etc. I still wonder if they've found a way to do an on-the-fly bounce-down of available tracks. I know Reaper has found a way to do faster than real-time freezing and playing of tracks, so it's not impossible to fathom.

Let's just assume that they are talking about true 48 track mono / 24 track stereo with all of the effects and such that they are claiming to have. What conceivable way could they pull this off? My only thought would be that they somehow, before the tracks play, do a pre-render of all tracks, and instead of playing all of the tracks, they are playing a single stereo comp of the 48 tracks. This is possible with current technology. In fact, this was possible a decade ago with computer DAWs. So I won't say that what they are promising is impossible. I just don't see how they would be able to do any live automation of control parameters. Have they mentioned anywhere that they offer "Live or realtime" automation? If automation is all done using pre-rendered automation lanes, then everything that they claim is possible--but Meteor is already doing the things I'm mentioning, so........ I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

--Sean