Best setup to work on music on the train

[NickMo]

Hi. I currently make music of various types on a PC at home, using Cubase. But I have a commute on the train of over 2 hours a day, one hour of which is in a fairly empty carriage, so there is an opportunity to fill my boring journey by having fun doing music. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the choice of different tablets, laptops, soundcards etc - can anyone advise what it would be best to get?

I've already had fun playing with Beatmaker 2 on a borrowed iPad, which is great, but it is quite limited. I'm not really sure what else can be achieved on an iPad... is it more of a toy than a serious production tool?

I'm wondering whether it would be worth getting a compact laptop and loading Cubase on it so I could mix tracks in my headphones, cut up audio, edit audio or midi recordings I had made at home, etc. Obviously there is only so much music you can do whilst travelling on a train without looking like a complete mentalist, but I reckon I could achieve quite a lot. The only thing is, it appears that no laptop comes with a decent built in soundcard, and although I have an external USB soundcard, it is a bit too bulky to fit on the train table along with the computer.

Also there is the issue of how long a battery will last.

Has anyone on this forum figured out a solution? Any recommended computers/tablets/software? Or Am I just wasting my time with the 'music on the go' idea should I just wait until I get home?

Any advice appreciated.

[mrufino1]

iPad and auria. 10 hour (or so) battery, and auria is amazing. It's now my main musicmaking platform. Plenty of synths, drum machines. All in one studios (caustic is very cool and is $10, people are living Korg gadget as well, currently about $29), effects, you name it.

[NickMo]

Thanks mrufino. Auria looks pretty good. And I can download caustic free for PC to test it out. I'm a bit confused about how you can integrate these different apps... do you have to make a file in one app and then export it as AIFF, then bring it into Auria to make part of an overall project? My other concern is memory - I can get hold of an iPad 2 but it's only got 16GB of memory, so unless I buy an iPad Air, will I run out of space pretty quickly?

iRig looks pretty good as a very portable interface too.

[Spiritos]

You say you work with Cubase, then Cubasis (iPad) seems a no-brainer.
Easily one of the best flexible and mobile DAWs around.

So you can work on a project in the train then continue at home by seemless importing it to your PC.

[UltraJv]

For Windows users, there are Tablets at same cost as ipad like Asus T100 that are being used for DAW. These run Full Windows 8 and will run almost any DAW/plug you've got. ipad isn't the only option :

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 6&t=405737

[NickMo]

Thanks for all the advice, people. Lots of food for thought. I like the sound of being able to run windows - that way I can use all the same plugins etc.

There are definitely options... too many options, so it's hard to know which route to take.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

You say you work with Cubase, then Cubasis (iPad) seems a no-brainer.
Easily one of the best flexible and mobile DAWs around.

So you can work on a project in the train then continue at home by seemless importing it to your PC.

I have to agree with this. Cubase is my main DAW and I feel that Cubasis is the natural counterpart. The MIDI support is fantastic and I feel it is a very clean and familiar interface so I have a natural bias and find it easier to use out of the box.