The Future Awaits - a DAW That Fits in Your Pocket!

[havran]

Maybe not the pocket of your jeans but easily into a coat pocket.

Kootu desu-ka?! </Sota>

[kmonkey]

This is a really interesting topic. Monitoring.

[elassi]

Hey Bones, can the game controller things work in any meaning as a remote controller for the DAW? Since I have the Bome midi translator it shouldn't be a problem but I'm curious if they work without further tools.

[wayford]

Reason would be a perfect fit for something of this size and with a touch screen. Especially because you can make the UI bigger and then it is pretty easy to use everything in the rack.

Also, first person in the wild to see with a Lightpad Block! A very cool little device.

[kmonkey]

This article just came out recently and I immediately recalled BONES:

https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/m ... ttery-life

[Michael L]

Is this actually an improvement over an iPad with keyboard, a 13” MacBook Air, a Push or Akai Force standalone? Is a gaming console the killer hardware that will help “mobile music production take off”? Maybe it's adequate if you download midi, add plugins, mix and perform, but not for composition?

[Uncle E]

Maybe Bones’ is the perfect use case scenario: someone who will be plugging into a full studio and also wants to have something ultra portable and durable for live performance.

[Michael L]

Maybe Bones’ is the perfect use case scenario: someone who will be plugging into a full studio and also wants to have something ultra portable and durable for live performance.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.
I hear S1 is good for touchscreen.

[BONES]

Hey Bones, can the game controller things work in any meaning as a remote controller for the DAW? Since I have the Bome midi translator it shouldn't be a problem but I'm curious if they work without further tools.

If you mean the two controller "wings", then yes. The Legion Go comes with a puck-like disc that the right controller can sit in, where it can function as a vertical mouse with lots of controls -

I assume you could map those to hotkey functions on any software but it's a bit awkward so I didn't really pursue it. For my needs, it's easier to use a normal mouse. Well, I say normal but it's one of these -

This article just came out recently and I immediately recalled BONES:
https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/m ... ttery-life

Kind of a cool concept but without a display, it seems a bit pointless.

[BONES]

Is this actually an improvement over an iPad with keyboard

It runs all my desktop software, so it is a vast improvement over any iPad.

... a 13” MacBook Air

It is one-quarter the size of an MB Air and cost me about half as much, making it much better.

... a Push

Isn't that just a controller? It can't actually do anything on its own, so the Legion Go is a vast improvement over this.

... or Akai Force standalone?

Can I check my email on an Akai Force? Can I create the artwork for our next album/single on an Akai Force? Can I endlessly bash my head against a brick wall, trying to educate the largely clueless inhabitants of KVR on an Akai Force? Will an Akai Force read Studio One project files? The answer to all these questions is, of course, "no", which makes the Legion GO infinitely superior in every possible way to an Akai Force.

Is a gaming console the killer hardware that will help “mobile music production take off”?

It's not a gaming console, it is a full-fledged Windows 11 PC, with x64 processor and GPU, which allows it to run all the same software as any desktop PC. What it really is is the 8" Windows tablet I've been waiting for since 2016 or so, when I realised that the Win8 tablets I had just weren't powerful enough to be useful. PC vendors all seemed to lose interest in Windows tablets when Win10 came out, for good and valid reasons. However Windows 11 is as good for touch as iOS or Android but no-one seems to have realised it, so the Windows tablet space has remained a desolate wasteland, until this and the Asus RoG Ally came along.

Maybe it's adequate if you download midi, add plugins, mix and perform, but not for composition?

Why not? In benchmarks it beats Apple's M1 Ultra and performs on par with their M2 powered systems. Are those unsuited to composition? On the PC side, it is roughly on the level of a 12th gen Core i7 or a current gen Core i5, which are perfectly adequate for every facet of music production. You should also understand that music production is not the most system-intensive thing I use my computer for. I'm a motion graphics designer, I do multi-layer 2D and 3D video graphics on it, too, and it works a treat for that. Renders are much slower than on the 10 grand workstations we have at the office but it is every bit as responsive when I'm working, which is what matters. It's running the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and Blender 3D at least as well as any laptop I have ever worked on, Mac or PC.

I'm also interested to understand why you see composition as the most demanding on your computer? For me it's the opposite, as I start with nothing and just add stuff as the need arises. I find that it's always the finished song that uses the most system resources.

[Michael L]

It seems the interface on the Legion GO would be difficult for entering midi or tweaking automation curves, but fine for drag drop & knobs.
I realise you can add a monitor keyboard & mouse but that defeats the idea of portability which is to do everything anywhere.
I am mostly curious about the ‘thought experiment’ of using the GO gaming controls for music. Touchscreen + knobs buttons & joystick has possibilities.
iPad is very flexible but glass has poorer haptics than a console.

[BONES]

I don't need that kind of portability. I need something I can take to gigs and set up on stage that doesn't dominate and make it look so much like it's "computer music", if you know what I mean. Even on stage I use it with a mouse, though, because it's less fiddly so I can get the next song going quickly. But I don't really look at in isolation, it's just one component that contributes to making our entire set-up as portable as possible. Since I got hold of a keyboard stand that fits in my suitcase, we could undertake a world tour and never have to pay excess baggage charges. Now, with this, if we want to fly to Brisbane or Melbourne for a gig, we won't even need check-in baggage, which will save us $50 each on a return trip.

The only time I really use it bare is when I'm sitting on the couch, watching the idiot-box and idly looking shit up online. It works for me because I am far more likely to grab it than I ever was with my old machines, even the Surface-like ones, and I prefer it to dragging my phone out of my pocket.

That said, with scaling at 200%, Studio one is quite usable, either with a mouse or touch. The main drawback is the limited screen-space you get with it scaled up so much. In rehearsal I can read lyrics and see the notes in the piano roll easily enough to learn all the parts I need to play, so it's adequate. And I'm sure if I wanted to work on music while I was away from home, I'd manage it OK. But that's not something I really do, so it's not much of a consideration. But it will be great when I'm away for the weekend, which I do often, just to keep you miserable sods in line and stay up to date with stuff.

[Michael L]

That is very thoughtful of you.
I am sure someone in kvr would miss you on weekends.

[Michael L]

This bonafide singer strikes a good balance between live performance and "computer music" with one portable device:

[BONES]

What kind of wanker has his interface facing the audience? "Oh, look at me, see how f**king clever I am!" We kind of go the other way, we want people to experience the music. We do the expected things but we try not to show off. There are no solos in any of our songs or any shit like that.

I tell you what, though, that's a very polished sound for a live thing, really impressive. But the device is still only good for one thing, you couldn't have used one to find that video and provide a link to it here at KVR. I don't want extra devices that require me to duplicate the work I've already done elsewhere. I learned that lesson a couple of years ago, when I thought it would be great to have a laptop for the studio and a 2-in-1 to use on stage. It was a nightmare having to set everything up twice, then trying to keep it all up to date all the time.