KVR Audio

quixotic · Post by **quixotic** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:26 am

I've got a really nice firewire audio/MIDI interface, but nothing for my iPad. I could just use the 1/8" from the iPad, but that just seems really stupid to DAC->ADC.

Ideally, I would have MIDI coming from the DAW to the iPad, and toslink/SPDIF from the iPad to the DAW. For SPDIF, These look good, http://www.ha-info.com/ngcoax.htm, but that's as far as I've gotten. Google'ing just seems to return useless crap, so I'm curious to know what has been working for other musicians...

Thanks in advance!

D.Josef · Post by **D.Josef** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:10 am

quixotic wrote:I've got a really nice firewire audio/MIDI interface, but nothing for my iPad. I could just use the 1/8" from the iPad, but that just seems really stupid to DAC->ADC.

I think the most popular setup currently is IK's iRig MIDI for MIDI input, and some jack adapter such as IK's (who else, haha) iRig Guitar rig for sound in and out. (The iPad has mono in, and stereo out on the headphone jack.)

I don't know of a good solution for digital audio, unfortunately. You can get digital out of the iPad via bluetooth, or via a USB sound interface through the camera connection kit. The latter is, unfortunately, a no-option with an iPhone.

I guess someone should do a kickstarter project for a proper do-it-all musician interface for the iThings. It would need to have MIDI in, out, through, line in and out both analog and digital.

tommy_d · Post by **tommy_d** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:52 am

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb12/a ... ce-ucx.htm
(you'll need an eSub to read the whole review)

It's not particularly cheap but it got a good write-up from Sam Inglis.

I've never used one of RME's USB or Firewire interfaces but I've been using their cards for a while and I can testify to their quality.

Grain Bastard · Post by **Grain Bastard** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:56 pm

I'm personally happy now using my iPad 1 as a controller (Lemur) and just using for example the Mackie emu and controlling Cubase mixer & transport etc and using automap for plugins via my master keyboard.

Audio io is achieved by using copy/paste etc or the jack output if I really need it fast but to be honest I don't use my ipad as a sound source a great deal, even though I have a good few synths which are quality (sunrizer, Moog etc).

I find the synths etc work best for me when jamming with them and I can save the files out to the DAW for use later.

To be honest, I found the jack output quality to be perfectly usable when I do hook up to a mixer etc - Have you tried it or is just the thought of another convertor worrying you??? Saying that though, last time I tried such a thing I did run the output thru an OTO Biscuit first!!!!!!

Sounded great

quixotic · Post by **quixotic** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:39 pm

Just got a usb-to-spdif box and a usb-to-midi cable on order from ebay for $26 total (already have a camera kit). Don't know if I can use them in tandem off a USB hub and have it work but I'm giving it a shot. They're both class compliant and the spdif chip is the same in other boxes already known to work. So fingers crossed...

I'm just assuming that the DAC on the iPad is of marginal quality. Could be wrong, but I do know that my audio interface is heaps better sounding than my MacBook's audio out. I'm hoping that once I can get SPDIF out I'll know if it's worth the trouble.

Thx for input!

JavaJ · Post by **JavaJ** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:40 am

Check out what they are doing at http://iconnectivity.com/

thebaggytrouseredone · Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:39 am

I use an Alesis IO Dock with my iPad 2. It has midi in and out, stereo audio L+R Input and Output and midi over USB. I just connect to my laptop via USB and connect the audio out to the input of my audio interface. Great sound, I also connect FX between the IO Dock and audio interface such as the Alesis ModFx bitrman, guitar FX or Korg Kaoss Pad Quad.

Storms · Post by **Storms** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:33 am

Just pick up a Tascam US-800 on eBay for around $99. It has class compliant MIDI and Audio. The Windows drivers are of questionable quality (memory leaks), but if you're using it with a Mac or iPad it's great. Highly portable, and has it's own power source, which is a plus for some reasons (don't need to worry about limited USB power from the iPad) and a minus for others (need to carry a power adapter with you if you're on the road).

D.Josef · Post by **D.Josef** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 11:24 am

quixotic wrote:I'm just assuming that the DAC on the iPad is of marginal quality. Could be wrong, but I do know that my audio interface is heaps better sounding than my MacBook's audio out. I'm hoping that once I can get SPDIF out I'll know if it's worth the trouble.

You are assuming wrong, the DAC is in fact pretty good. It's the speaker that is way below the quality needed for musical use, and the regular Apple headphones are pretty weak too.
Connect a pair of good studio headphones to your iPad with an adapter, and you'll be amazed.

budd1405 · Post by **budd1405** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:03 pm

Grain Bastard wrote:I'm personally happy now using my iPad 1 as a controller (Lemur)

I have been considering this and it's good to hear it works with the ipad 1. One question though when I have played with these controllers on the phone they connect via wi-fi which is cool in my home, but what about live, how do you connect then? (assuming there is no wifi)

mod4 · Post by **mod4** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:50 am

Daw possible with us-800 but have to config on pc mac then unplug while still on , plug into ipad usb. Below is link to tested us-800 i did.

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=337449

Heres a list of namm gear to google ios core compliant stuff.

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340321

Also wifi adhoc trick i used to connect itouch to ipad without wifi hub, so you could use it for live sets. For some reason if you use adhoc the ipad and itouch stay connected together, tested with corenetwork and its great.

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340500

Also test my 01v96vcm and full midi worked usb cck link below.

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340312

Also just got an alesis q25 keyboard , full size keys usb cck and no extra power needed. £54. Ebay.

iDesignSound · Post by **iDesignSound** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:27 am

I use the audio/midi interface that's built-in to my Novation X-Station. Works great! (they go for about £100 on eBay)

While the various audio interfaces and midi interfaces for iOS are great the problem is that the iPad only has one docking port. You really need either one of the docks or an audio/Midi interface. What I've also found, which is pretty cool, is this also negates the need to audiocopy/paste as you can record live straight from one app into another. So for example you can control Sunrizer from BeatMaker via virtualMidi, and then record Sunrizers audio straight back into BeatMaker

dixie237 · Post by **dixie237** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 7:47 am

D.Josef wrote:I think the most popular setup currently is IK's iRig MIDI for MIDI input, and some jack adapter such as IK's (who else, haha) iRig Guitar rig for sound in and out. (The iPad has mono in, and stereo out on the headphone jack.

Am I correct in saying that you can use the iRig MIDI to connect iPad, with Midi lead straight into my midi interface, then have that show up in my DAW?

The IK website says " iRig MIDI connects Midi keyboards, drum machines,drum pads,pedal boards and more to an IOS device"

No mention of hooking up to a regular midi interface hooked up to a DAW..

...AM I missing something?

D

SuperFly76 · Post by **SuperFly76** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:59 am

tommy_d wrote:http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb12/a ... ce-ucx.htm
(you'll need an eSub to read the whole review)

It's not particularly cheap but it got a good write-up from Sam Inglis.

I've never used one of RME's USB or Firewire interfaces but I've been using their cards for a while and I can testify to their quality.

I have the USB camera connection kit. For kicks I decided to try hooking up my old, long discontinued, M-Audio Duo - 2 in 2 out USB mic pre interface, and it works with the ipad! I remember thinking it was class compliant. The ASIO drivers were terrible on windows, but I have been using it as my main audio card on my non-audio computer. Amazingly, I've been using it with windows 7 (64 bit even!) for a long time. Glad that I can also use this with the iPad. The M-Audio Duo is a real solid piece of kit with decent sounding pres. Now I can just take it out with the ipad and have a killer little portable recording kit. Too bad it doesn't have midi.

maleaco · Post by **maleaco** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:06 am

What kind of audio interface did you end up deciding to get and where did you get it from?

Best way to incorporate an iPad into a DAW?