Auria - Review from a beta tester

[Storms]

Hi folks,

I have been beta testing Auria for the last couple of months, and now that the NDA has been lifted and the final release version has been submitted to the app store I can finally tell you about how well this app really works. I don't work for WaveMachine Labs and have no affiliation with them, other than being selected as a beta tester, so this is just my unbiased opinion.

First, let me just say, this is the real deal. The app works as advertised, and it is pretty damn amazing that this is even possible on an iPad. I have a 3rd gen. iPad and tested with a Tascam US-800 interface using the CCK. It supports 8 inputs on this interface, 6 analog and 2 digital, and up to 44/48/96 khz. sample rates (all 16-bit though).

To give you an idea of what this software is capable of - it comes with a sample project that has 18 tracks of 44khz audio, 6 subgroups, channel strip FX running on 9 of the tracks and 5 of the subgroups. This only takes 49% of the CPU on my iPad 3rd gen. If I enable the 64-bit mixer setting it increases to 62% CPU. If I turn on the PSP MasterStrip on the master bus it goes up to 66%. This is clearly enabling desktop DAW functionality on a tablet, which is quite amazing. I'm not really sure how they did it.

Recording - I was able to successfully record 8 tracks of 96khz audio simultaneously. This is the limit of my USB interface, so I wasn't able to test recording any more than 8, but personally, I think this is pretty amazing.

Personally, I think it's the best DAW yet for iOS, however, in order for it to fully replace a desktop DAW like Ableton or Logic it would need MIDI support. I'm hoping a future version adds full MIDI support.

[J.C]

Can to see it in action. I hope they'll add full MIDI support (with virtual MIDI) soon too.

[hogo]

Midi would be great, but in many instances audio can be just as flexible. as a beta tester, can you tell us the extent of the editing features? Does it have a flex time or audio quantize type of function? Or maybe beat detection or something similar? Thanks.

[Storms]

Midi would be great, but in many instances audio can be just as flexible. as a beta tester, can you tell us the extent of the editing features? Does it have a flex time or audio quantize type of function? Or maybe beat detection or something similar? Thanks.

The editing features are pretty strong in the sense that it has channel automation, cutting/pasting/splitting audio clips, fading them, etc. However, it doesn't have any of the advanced audio warping capabilities of Ableton. It does have a retune plugin, however.

I would think of it more as an emulation of a traditional 48 channel mixing board. There is a beat grid but it's just based on project tempo. Any audio clip can be dragged around on the grid and processed but the processing options are your typical Gain/Normalize/DC Offset/Reverse/Silence/Crossfade processing.

Although it does have decent editing capabilities, I don't think it's designed for your typical EDM producer using VST synths and MIDI/audio loops. I think it's really designed for a rock band with real instruments to replace an 8-track recorder plus mixing board.

If that's your use case, or you want a kick-ass mobile recording studio for live musicians, I think it hits a sweet spot. If you're more of an EDM producer with a few analog synths, some VSTs and doing a lot of MIDI automation, it probably doesn't fit (yet).

Regardless, being able to mix/EQ/compress/retune 48 tracks with 64-bit precision on an iPad is pretty freaking amazing, and shows what the platform is technically capable of.

[audiojunkie]

Really interesting! It is the channel automation that I'm really interested in. I have Multitrack DAW, and it has a very high efficiency as well, and currently beats Auria in one area--it is able to do 24 bit audio. Multitrack DAW has the ability to run 24 stereo or 48 mono tracks. It's very easy to use. However, as I said, it doesn't have any form of channel automation. This is something I really want. At any rate, I'll be watching Auria to see how it stacks up against the other DAW apps.

[Storms]

I was mistaken - the only project choices when starting a new project are sampling frequency (24/48/96) and channels (8/16/24/48). Auria does support 48 mono tracks of 96khz. 24-bit audio. My assumption that not specifying bitrate meant 16-bit was the default was incorrect.

[audiojunkie]

No worries! I still appreciate the review!

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

By the way, has anything been mentioned about Audiobus for Auria? I know the developer of Multitrack DAW is already working on it for an upcoming update.

Thanks,

--Sean

[CurryPaste]

Thanks for the review. Any idea of how well it runs on iPad2?

[Storms]

Thanks for the review. Any idea of how well it runs on iPad2?

It should run pretty much identical on iPad 2 as it has the same dual-core processor as iPad 3. The only real difference is more memory (1GB vs. 512MB) on the iPad3, which might affect really large projects. Auria doesn't support Retina display (yet) and only uses standard resolution, so the graphics will look the same on iPad 2 or 3.

[Breeze]

Thanks for info, Storms. Two questions:

1. How is it handling your US-800? Do you still have to go through a PC/Mac to configure the I/O or can Auria manage that for you?

2. Can you reshuffle channel strips around on the main mixer?

Thanks!

[Storms]

Thanks for info, Storms. Two questions:

1. How is it handling your US-800? Do you still have to go through a PC/Mac to configure the I/O or can Auria manage that for you?

2. Can you reshuffle channel strips around on the main mixer?

Thanks!

It works great with the US-800. No need to connect it to a PC as Auria can set the sampling rate (44/48/96khz) on it's own! The only (minor) issue I've noticed is that there is no way to set the digital clock to external, so if you are using the SPDIF input you will have a small amount of jitter due to the inability of it to get a good sync on the word clock from the source. From what I understand, Apple doesn't expose the internal/external sync option the the Core audio API so this won't work perfectly for you.

I don't believe you can drag channel strips around on the main mixer, however, there is an input matrix under preferences which allows you to choose which input on your core audio interface maps to which channel in the mixer.

[Breeze]

The only (minor) issue I've noticed is that there is no way to set the digital clock to external, so if you are using the SPDIF input you will have a small amount of jitter due to the inability of it to get a good sync on the word clock from the source.

Thanks for the update, Storms. I assume that if you go through the process of previously connecting up the US-800 to its config editor, and feeding it a valid SPDIF clock and locking to it, as long as power is kept on you can use the digital input with Auria. That's how I got 8 clean inputs with MultiTrack DAW. I haven't tried the latest version yet hough to see if it still requires this awkward setup.

[hogo]

IT IS RELEASED!

[Storms]

The only (minor) issue I've noticed is that there is no way to set the digital clock to external, so if you are using the SPDIF input you will have a small amount of jitter due to the inability of it to get a good sync on the word clock from the source.

Thanks for the update, Storms. I assume that if you go through the process of previously connecting up the US-800 to its config editor, and feeding it a valid SPDIF clock and locking to it, as long as power is kept on you can use the digital input with Auria. That's how I got 8 clean inputs with MultiTrack DAW. I haven't tried the latest version yet hough to see if it still requires this awkward setup.

To be honest, I tried that, however, when you connect it back to the iPad, Auria reinitializes the sound card and it resets back to the default. Perhaps you would have better luck than me.