Windows 8.1 Tablets for audio?

[mkdr]

huh ??

Use your words young padawan..

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

huh ??

Use your words young padawan..

my point was not your point

it doesn't matter what software can be run, but rather how said software works with it's input interface. while there is nothing wrong with connecting a mouse, and using it as a very small computer, i am not sure that extra portability is worth choosing over the power and connectivity of a small laptop

it's all about the touch interface, which needs the full co-operation of software developers to offer alternative options for interfacing with their desktop software. however, having watched this market (and being invested to the tune of too may apps), i don't think that it's going to be such a huge priority for most. the route that steinberg have taken with cubasis (and apple with garageband) i.e cut-down musical sketchpads whose projects can be uploaded to the full, desktop counterparts, seems to be a much more workable model

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

incidentally, i have tried working with various 'full' apps on a tablet in a remote fashion, using desktop sharing. the novelty of having to two-finger-pinch zoom, and all the other navigation, did wear off pretty quickly, but there were some stripped down reaktor ensembles that weren't too bad

[chk071]

Pretty sure we will see more and more apps supporting touch screen operation though, and more and more merge of mobile and desktop OS's. The problem with the audio app market being that it is a small market, and the dev's have few ressources, so they need to decide on what they spend their time, which most probably won't be on making their apps as touch friendly as possible, as the primary interest will be to serve the desktop users. But it will open more and more to touch operation, like Sonar or FL Studio already show. Just a matter of time when devs decide to jump on the wagon. Pretty sure the future efforts will be to provide a nice desktop and touch experience, like Windows 10 will do now.

[mkdr]

my point was not your point

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding.
But I think you are still missing the point of Mobility.
It doesn't have to be about the touchscreen. The dumb'd down poky software with no tactile interface isn't what everyone needs.


Imagine a situation where you'd wan't to hook up a small portable device after your midi keyboard and access a world of sound that has previously been unavailable/costed too much/isn't that portable.. And it only costs you 60€.. and it works with the exact same software your main desktop does. You can have any softsynth on it with any effects you like. Without the need to buy them twice. I'd say this is a keyboard players dream.

Testing out an external usb soundcard next..

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

my point was not your point

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding.
But I think you are still missing the point of Mobility.
It doesn't have to be about the touchscreen. The dumb'd down poky software with no tactile interface isn't what everyone needs..

i have a laptop which is mostly connected to a 23" screen, but is also extremely portable. i also own an ipad, and an android phone. i understand mobility perfectly well

as for dumbed down ?? nothing dumbed down about thor on a tablet, nor apps like nave and sunrizer (so un-dumb that they have since been transferred to the desktop with only a handful of tweaks between them)

the apps that serve as sketchpads to larger programs are also not "dumbed down", but are specifically designed to play to the strengths of tablets, while trying to avoid the pitfalls. even with your own aims of using a tablet as an external rompler/host need not have anything like a full daw; a simple 'audioshare'-like vst-host with recording function would fit the bill (garyg has the idea with a stripped down template). anyway, once you've connected your mouse and midi keyboard, things are not looking so portable. is there really that much difference between a 10.1 tablet and a 12" ultrabook ?? (one that doesn't favour the ultrabook ??)

if companies have been watching the ipad market very closely, they would likely have realised that once the novelty has worn off full daw production is not what most people are really after. tablet daw's are great for grabbing inspiration and throwing down ideas, but too fiddly for really getting your hands dirty (even with daw's specifically designed for tablets)

tablets work best when used as controllers, and instruments with novel performance interfaces.

try and record, edit and mix a full project using reaper on your tablet, and you'll realise it's like trying to push a square peg through a round hole. am i the only one who thinks daw manufacturers should just make a round peg ??

[fmr]

tablets work best when used as controllers, and instruments with novel performance interfaces.

try and record, edit and mix a full project using reaper on your tablet, and you'll realise it's like trying to push a square peg through a round hole. am i the only one who thinks daw manufacturers should just make a round peg ??

The fact that you have a vision and an opinion for a certain device, doesn't mean there are others who think different.

Once there was a company that defied us to "think different". Now, that very same company wants us all "dumbed down" working with our fingers on a crippled down OS. What if I don't want to work with my fingers? What if I want to use more than one app concurrently at the same time? And save files from one app and use them with another? I might prefer to use a pointer device (not necessarily a mouse). Or I may want to use a mouse and a keyboard. Why shouldn't I?

Why should someone's vision be imposed on everybody else?

The matter here is about choices, options, different ways of doing things and visions of the ways to accomplish those same things.

THINK DIFFERENT

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Why should someone's vision be imposed on everybody else?

The matter here is about choices, options, different ways of doing things and visions of the ways to accomplish those same things.

THINK DIFFERENT

yep !! using software designed for desktop on a tiny screen. that's definitely thinking differently there's nothing "different" about shoe-horning an interface designed for something else, into a sub-standard unit. the novel touch interfaces are the result of people thinking differently

it's not about me imposing my vision, but having kept my ear to the ground, as well as with my own experience, it seems that most have ended up getting frustrated when trying to re-create a full daw experience within a tablet. i'd ask you if you'd ever tried to record, edit and mix a full project with reaper, on a tablet, but you're so busy fighting for the rights of the creatively oppressed against teh evilz apple, that i doubt you've had the time

[mkdr]

Dear el-bo,

One usb cord from a 7" tablet to a 49 key keyboard. This is mobility to me.

And you are still missing the point. FULL DAW ON A TABLET. MORE CHOISES.
You'r opinion is heard and understood. It is valid. There is ways to use mobile stuff like you describe.
That however is not what i'm after.. and perhaps anyone else who desires a FULL DAW ON A TABLET.


Anyhow enough about that. You were totally offtopic. The topic was Win 8.1 tablets and audio.
I've run some more tests and it seems that even though this thing has lots of power it's wasting much of it on throttling (still the worst bottleneck for all Intel processors). This can be observed by taxing the cpu more. This also makes the Diva multicore implementation very flaky (whereas on a proper desktop AMD cpu it's rock solid). It might also be the reason why Asio isn't as efficient on this as Wasapi is. I can easily run Wasapi with 3ms latency, but Asio needs atleast 10ms (M-Audio Usb).

Synths like Synth1 and JP6K however run on this like a dream. Also Alchemy plays out nicely but has some weird graphics bugs and odd lag that isn't hardware related. It's not loading anything off the "disks" or doing any processing. It just sits there idling. If anyone knows what could be causing it please speak up! But like i said it plays back nicely without dropouts. Added a Valhalla Room after it.. Beautiful

I'll install Kontakt next and try some BIG multi-Gig orchestral instruments, and perhaps the Korg Legacy pack.

I'll make a full track with this too as you suggest. One that runs realtime

[mkdr]

The fact that you have a vision and an opinion for a certain device, doesn't mean there are others who think different.

Once there was a company that defied us to "think different". Now, that very same company wants us all "dumbed down" working with our fingers on a crippled down OS. What if I don't want to work with my fingers? What if I want to use more than one app concurrently at the same time? And save files from one app and use them with another? I might prefer to use a pointer device (not necessarily a mouse). Or I may want to use a mouse and a keyboard. Why shouldn't I?

Why should someone's vision be imposed on everybody else?

The matter here is about choices, options, different ways of doing things and visions of the ways to accomplish those same things.

THINK DIFFERENT

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I'll make a full track with this too as you suggest. One that runs realtime

i'm guessing you don't really get what i mean by "full" track, but that's not really the only thing i think you're misunderstanding

as long as you're having fun

[hlmst]

My 60€ chinese win 8.1 Bay trail tablet seems to have decent performance and passable sounding headphone output but since intels audio driver is locked at 48khz and the cpu throttling all over the place makes it crackle sporadically even with some more demanding zebra2 patches.

If there was a way to run audio at 44.1 and force the cpu to run @ full frequency it would be perfect.

[mkdr]

My 60€ chinese win 8.1 Bay trail tablet seems to have decent performance and passable sounding headphone output but since intels audio driver is locked at 48khz and the cpu throttling all over the place makes it crackle sporadically even with some more demanding zebra2 patches.

If there was a way to run audio at 44.1 and force the cpu to run @ full frequency it would be perfect.

Enter bios and disable speedstep.

[krraqk]

Very intersting topic, any more tests you can share?
Throttling is a problem, most probably it's related to the tablet design, maybe other tablets don't have this problem.