KVR Audio

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:47 pm

The Gorrilaz latest album was made entirely on an iPad and the world raved about it for this reason. The only problem is...

.... it's f*cking sh!t.

So my initial answer would be "yes, of course you can, but i'm yet to hear it".

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:55 pm

Personally I don't get the appeal of doing *everything* on an iPad. It's just far too limited compared to a laptop. It can be a very inspiring *instrument* though. The direct, interactive nature of a big touch surface can lead you in new directions. Apps like Morphwiz and the synth app I'm writing now can add a lot of spice to a track.

el-bo (formerly ebow) · Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:07 pm

kuniklo wrote:It's just far too limited compared to a laptop

i don't think it's FAR too limited, and the limitations i have discovered are a blessing, forcing me to think creatively

anyway, it's not about which is better but whether it's possible to make good music with them

circuitous workflow aside, if you can't make 'good' music (whatever that is), in nano or bm2, then you can't make good music

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:15 pm

You can limit yourself on a laptop without buying an ipad, thus forcing you to be creative without any extra cost

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:22 pm

ebow wrote: i don't think it's FAR too limited, and the limitations i have discovered are a blessing, forcing me to think creatively

It's a subjective thing, of course, but the music I make and like requires a lot of attention to detail and detailed editing on an iPad is painful. Many years ago atom heart said his ideal music tool would be a big 2-3 foot touch surface with everything in one integrated UI. I'd love to see some kind of monster tablet on the market.

el-bo (formerly ebow) · Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:29 pm

kuniklo wrote:
ebow wrote: i don't think it's FAR too limited, and the limitations i have discovered are a blessing, forcing me to think creatively
It's a subjective thing, of course, but the music I make and like requires a lot of attention to detail and detailed editing on an iPad is painful. Many years ago atom heart said his ideal music tool would be a big 2-3 foot touch surface with everything in one integrated UI. I'd love to see some kind of monster tablet on the market.

i do understand...the only thing i find is it's a little fiddly, using my ipod touch...so, an ipad would be great for me...i guess i'm also lucky that i don't have a 'music i make', so i can approach anything without trying to shoe-horn my particular style into any software i use...new medium + new apps + new workflow + new paradigm = new music

Jesse Gorter · Post by **Jesse Gorter** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:30 pm

is there a good app with a piano roll and also good electro piano presets?

I'd love to sketch melodies :)

9headshydra · Post by **9headshydra** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:36 pm

What do we need to make electronic music ?

Synth, sampler, a sequencer, a mixer, some fx

Does iPad with some apps can do this ?

Yes (beatmaker, nanostudio, isequence, rebirth, .... + audio copy)

At this point the only limitation i meet in producing music on iPad is due to the lack of ram (only 256 mo on iPad v1) an issue iPad 2 owners perhaps don't have (audio apps are intensive about ram usage so sometime you need to reboot the device to clean the ram , a less than 30 s operation )

Sure there are many limitation about audio shaping manipulation, the same we had with the first hardware samplers too

And i admit i miss the sound of uad plugins

But seriously with iPad i have more than what i could expect to own in the beginning of the 90's

And music was good in the 90's

el-bo (formerly ebow) · Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:05 pm

9headshydra wrote: At this point the only limitation i meet in producing music on iPad is due to the lack of ram

something that can be helped out with a little resampling

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:25 pm

I don't own an ipad. But I've seen enough good stuff on the platform to make me want to buy one. However the idea of making a complete track on it seems more like a gimmick than a reality to me. I think it's possible with a bit of creativity & something like Garage Band. But Garage Band is not that good. Not compared to the sort of things we can run on laptop/desktop machines so why would you bother? IMO it seems more like an exercise in what is possible to do with an ipad. But beyond that I don't think it is something I would set out to do when I have much better tools for the job in my humble home studio.

I'm more interested in some of the things available as performance/controllers & some of the more quirky 'instruments', for want of a better way to describe them, that seem to be in abundance. You could then record stuff from the ipad to your DAW & use the material there. So as a fun way to play around with sounds or do things in an original way I think the ipad is a real winner. But for making a complete track? Yes, but there are much better ways to be doing this so for me the ipad has some way to go before it could even think about taking on desktop/laptop solutions.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:36 pm

UltraJv wrote:You can limit yourself on a laptop without buying an ipad, thus forcing you to be creative without any extra cost

Not true. Everybody ain't got the needed self-control to actually do it. I'm one of those people.

I've tried numerous times to keep my crappy laptop setup simple but I always fail miserably after a couple of months. I think I currently have something like 200 plugins installed. le sigh..

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:42 pm

I'll be honest... I can't make real music with my iPad.

But I can't make real music with anything else either.

I haven't tried to make an entire track on the iPad from start to finish and I don't think I will. It does come in handy for a number of applications which has made it a great studio tool but it won't replace my laptop for multi-track recording or anything like that any time soon.

leggie · Post by **leggie** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:02 pm

justin3am wrote:I'll be honest... I can't make real music with my iPad.
But I can't make real music with anything else either.

I suffer that too

On a serious note there is some annoyance with certain app developers not using Sonama or Beatmaker copy/paste board and restricting the iPad flexibility !

Having to plug the iPad into a computer to move probably re-sampled files around defeats the object of a mobile DAW does it not?

No names but a few developers need to get with the plot, you know who you are !

Without this restriction i feel sure i would spend a lot more time tweaking and sampling stuff on the iPad.

blueman · Post by **blueman** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:08 pm

bdjansen wrote:Do you guys feel that you can use your iPad to make good music? Or is it still just a toy or "sketch pad" pad at this point?

I just don't need to be that "mobile". For sketching ideas or recording live jam sessions...great! Grab a USB mic or something like the IKM iRig and go... Otherwise, I have no want or need to replace my at-home studio with acoustic treatment, proper monitoring and access to all of my plug-ins.

I fail to see the point in cramming my entire life into a mobile device just 'cos it's the way things are trending atm

Then again, maybe I am missing the point? Late adopter perhaps...

R

9headshydra · Post by **9headshydra** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:55 pm

ebow wrote:
9headshydra wrote: At this point the only limitation i meet in producing music on iPad is due to the lack of ram
something that can be helped out with a little resampling

Something like iPad 3 in 2012 will be a better solution concerning the ram issue

Seriously i push iPad v1 to its limit sometime, and it's mainly because of the lack of ram, not a big issue but it's still important to note this

but clearly making "serious" music on iOS is already possible

Be honest, can you make real music on your iPad?