KVR Audio

joegrant413 · Post by **joegrant413** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:48 am

I've been a Live Intro user for a few years now and have never pulled the trigger to go to standard version. Now I can do that upgrade for $250 or so, and get the upgrade to Live 9 as well..

But I continue to be impressed with iOS apps, esp. now that AudioBus is here.

My needs as a guitarist and bassist:
- Practice along with MP3s
- Learn rhythms (a MIDI grid works great)
- Have fun and play with various grooves, etc.

I also just bought a MIDI keyboard, because learning a keyboard is just one of those things to do. I've figured out how to run iPad apps on it.

Also, I'm somewhat techie, and can really enjoy messing (probably too long) with the latest toys, esp. software.

Anyway.... do you folks advise I skip out on the Live upgrade? There is nothing there I "have" to have. In general, though, I want tools to help me grow as a musician.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
-- Joe

AudiobusApp · Post by **AudiobusApp** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:15 am

Get an iPad.

Disclaimer: I'm pretty biased since I'm involved in making iOS music apps and stuff.

But still -- buy an iPad. iOS is going to be the place to be, especially now that you can actually record on the go without needing a PC/Mac at all.

shanecgriffo · Post by **shanecgriffo** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:01 am

I have both but i'd never drop ableton for serious studio faffing about..it's just too easy and versatile but then again i'd never hand in my ipad and music/photo apps.
Get Both!

Wormhelmet · Post by **Wormhelmet** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:12 am

shanecgriffo wrote:I have both but i'd never drop ableton for serious studio faffing about..it's just too easy and versatile but then again i'd never hand in my ipad and music/photo apps.
Get Both!

+1 here. You said it all. They are both essential for me now. My soundcloud now has two iMPC sequences, a full Beatmaker 2 song, a Nanostudio song, and an Ableton Live song. Had a blast making all that. When I want to sit down and throw together a track, it's Ableton. When I am sitting in the morning sipping coffee at the kitchen counter, it's the ipad 2 which goes to work with me too and more composing at lunch.

Great to have the options.

plastic · Post by **plastic** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:21 am

iPad is a great drum machine, backing tracks player, synths, etc.
But as soon as you try to get audio in, it will become very fiddly.
I wouldn't advice to use it for guitar effects, it's really annoying.
Still, the iPad is probably the best music gear purchase I ever made, because it is so versatile.

Wormhelmet · Post by **Wormhelmet** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:49 am

plastic wrote:iPad is a great drum machine, backing tracks player, synths, etc.
But as soon as you try to get audio in, it will become very fiddly.
I wouldn't advice to use it for guitar effects, it's really annoying.
Still, the iPad is probably the best music gear purchase I ever made, because it is so versatile.

I stopped using guitar rig because it has been replaced with AmpKit+ and Jamup Pro. I use an Apogee Jam interface, 12 ft monster studio pro cable and my ipad running those apps for all my guitar sounds. Guitar+ipad=flippin awesome sounds and ultra low latency. 30 year guitar player here. Audiobus with my guitar apps will be the game changer too. Great time to be a guitar player. No more lugging gear. Haha.

joegrant413 · Post by **joegrant413** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:26 pm

Thanks, folks. Keep the replies coming!
-- Joe

Aboyes · Post by **Aboyes** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:27 pm

I have ableton live and been dabbling with it for a few years on and off since quitting my band. I've been playing guitar for 10 odd years and wanted to keep recording music.

Anyway I think ableton is great it certainly got me interested in other genres of music, but I found that I spent hours upon hours at home in the bedroom staring at a blank screen.

Now though with the introduction of audiobus and loads of amazing apps I can now take my iPad to work and start of songs / ideas on my lunch break (something I've literally started this week) with the intention of bringing it altogether in ableton!

So I would say get an iPad for sure and if you can also keep using ableton!

joegrant413 · Post by **joegrant413** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:34 pm

Truth be told, I have a love/hate relationship with Ableton

It's really hard for me to judge whether or not I'd spend less future time on learning curve and configuration hassles continuing with Ableton, or putting more focus on iOS stuff. I ask for this punishment to some degree, since software and technology is my profession. (I'm a usability / user experience guy.)

Cheers,
-- Joe

onebee · Post by **onebee** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:01 am

I've been using ableton as my guitar rig for about a year. I have a device setup with amp and cab as well as saturator and overdrive in front and a few different delays at the end.

I have a looper on a return channel that I will record loops with guitar, synth bass, etc....

Latency is ok. I can't play everything I could through a real amp, but for the project I use it in I'm not restricted by this tiny limitation.

I play alongside production with a live drummer, so I'm mostly playing lead / single note melodies, etc

If I could make the ipad work alongside ableton as a guitar rig and multi instrument looper and have at my disposal a vaster array of tones and effects I'd be pleased, but I really need a tempo synced delay for that to work and a stable way to send midi clock from ableton to the ipad.

I'm excited to see what the future holds for ios, I still have some hardware to purchase before I can get into testing ( camera kit and guitar interface) so we will see...

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:54 am

iOS will continue to get better, and Audiobus is a huge step in the right direction. But for the time being, I can't help but think of my iPad as a toy. When I want to get serious about making proper songs, I turn to my DAW, studio monitors, folder full of VSTs, wall of eurorack modules, and room full of instruments. I just jumped on the Ableton Live bandwagon myself, being mainly a Sonar user for quite a few years now. I see Live as a great way to get ideas down and rough out arrangements. I still plan on moving to Sonar to actually finish songs.

Wormhelmet · Post by **Wormhelmet** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:31 am

I would find that tedious to work in two DAW's that have such different spots for everything. I find building songs in Ableton from start to finish to be easy, but then I have been using Ableton since version 3. The advantage I think I have in using Ableton is the ability to do Electronic styles completely live and record the entire output of a performance in nicely separated tracks which can be changed later if need be or just master them and output to finished stereo track. Right now my ipad works well to create electronic styles, but also works well to use as sound modules into the input of an Ableton track. The ipad as a guitar rig is cool, but used only in the workflow of using an amp with direct out recording. Unlike using Guitar Rig or similar in an Ableton track as a vst where you just are recording dry signal into the track while monitoring what sound you like live while playing, then having the ability to change sounds easily later after the guitar track is recorded.

Hoping this changes in the future with multitrack ios apps having amp sim plugins.

mbncp · Post by **mbncp** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:30 am

Wormhelmet wrote:
Hoping this changes in the future with multitrack ios apps having amp sim plugins.

I havn't tried with the other ios daws but last night, pluging my ti to cubasis I was surprised that i could monitor the fx in realtime while recording only the raw source. I exported to dropbox and could get the raw wav in my laptop in no time. Didn't try yet but the project can be loaded as is in cubase 6.5+, but dropping the audio in live is fairly easy too.

Anyway, for using soft synth I still prefer my laptop with a bunch of great plugs, easy midi recording, but the ipad is cool too, especially if you need some mobility. And to quickly record bass/guitar or hw synth it's really handy.

iPlogger · Post by **iPlogger** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:38 pm

Wormhelmet wrote:Hoping this changes in the future with multitrack ios apps having amp sim plugins.

I had been wondering if Auria works this way when using the in-app JamUp purchase.

SFAudio2011 · Post by **SFAudio2011** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:03 pm

plastic wrote:iPad is a great drum machine, backing tracks player, synths, etc.
But as soon as you try to get audio in, it will become very fiddly.
I wouldn't advice to use it for guitar effects, it's really annoying.
Still, the iPad is probably the best music gear purchase I ever made, because it is so versatile.

The iPad works just fine as a guitar effects unit. I've never had any problems at all hooking my guitars up. While some interfaces are better than others, I've never had any problems with super cheap ones (Ampkit Link which broke after 30 mins and got replaced with an iRig Stomp which I still use).

Even the apps I use for Guitar are super stable and have never caused any problems. I use Jamup Pro XT (completely upgraded) and Ampkit+

I keep hearing that people find the iPad barely usable for these kind of things, but again, never had any problems whatsoever.

As for iPad replacing a desktop...Never in a million years, but seeing it for what it is, you can't beat it.

Back in the 80's and 90's I would've killed to have even half the options we have on today's iPad in mobile form.

Ableton Live standard vs. iOS apps