going round in circles.......

[sazb30]

Another post from me... still going round in circles trying to decide what to do with my iPad and how best to use it musically, so thought I'd share!

I'm a little overwhelmed because there seems to be so many possibilities. But nothing seems quite the perfect fit I keep changing my mind about what I need and what I want to do with it...

First I thought an audio interface would be the best bet so that I could record the output of my digital piano and use a mic to record vocals.. Just to sketch simple song arrangements while sitting at my piano (which is the only place anything musically productive seems to happen these days!!)

Then I decided I could just use my favourite software piano in my daw so figured it would be sufficient just to use the iPad as mobile vocal sketchpad. So shifted my focus to a reasonable quality mic to plug straight in (for ease and convenience).. this led to questions about latency (Apogee mic) which put me off a bit, and cost (quite high for anything decent it seems!)

Now I'm having so much fun playing with music apps (Animoog and SAMPLR among others) that I'd love to get the output of my ipad straight into my DAW. The apps that I'm really digging are the ones that utilise the touch interface - stuff you just can't do in the DAW - and turn the ipad into an instrument.

Which leads me back to the audio interface.

I'm now leaning towards an Apogee One (which has a built-in mic)through the CCK and using a powered USB hub. This would enable me to get audio into the ipad (in mono - but that's ok) while sitting at my piano, use either the inbuilt mic or my own condenser mic for recording ideas, and send the output into my DAW when I'm in the studio (I assume I can just send the stereo output of the One into an input on my studio audio interface? - there's no reason why that wouldn't work, is there?)


So the purpose of this rambling post is to ask:


1) How are people inegrating the ipad into their studio set-up?
2) Am I the only one that feels a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities and not quite sure where to turn?!!

And, 3) Anyone know if I'd be able to power the Apogee One from a USB port on my PC?

Here's hoping you knowledgable mobile heads can help! Really curious to see how people are mixing mobile and studio tech...

P.S The iPad (which I've owned for only a fortnight) has been a bit of a revelation to me... what a great little device! I just need to find a way of using it productively instead of endlessly mulling over the possibilities!!

[shanecgriffo]

Well I use mine to get down ideas all the time.. I use a fairly simple recording app called 'fire' -it's good, you can slide/select along the waveform when listening back.. I just use the inbuilt mic and for the purpose of capturing ideas it's fine..

[Sorefingers]

Audio apps on the iPad can be like drinking from a firehose.

There are a lot of great apps that cover the same ground as one another, and it can be overwhelming to sort through them.

For recording, I like either Garageband or Music Studio. Music Studio seems to have more options in how you save your files and export them to work on more in a desktop DAW.

For goofing around with chord progressions, I like Polychord. There is a newer app called Chordian that is similar, but is a lot cheaper and on sale for .99 right now. Both can control other apps on your iPad and work through network midi to control a desktop virtual instrument.

There are a ton of good synths on the iPad, too many to list here really, but some of my favorites are Sunrizer, Alchemy, Animoog, and Magellan. All of them (I think) have the ability to export bits and pieces you have worked on.

As far as your interface, if you want something mobile the Apogee Jam is nice. I even use it with my mics by attaching a high-to-low impedance transformer to it, so this eliminates the need to use Apogee's mic. Most good iPad audio interfaces will use the dock, so you won't be able to connect anything else via the CCK while using them.

Like you, I've found that many of the apps on the iPad sound so good that I'm using them for regular production, not just sketches.

In this case, mobility isn't an issue, so if your regular interface has a usb connection, try the camera connection kit. You will most likely need a powered usb hub to run everything through. Mine is firewire, so no luck on the iPad. What I do is plug the CCK into my iPad, run a USB cable to a powered USB hub, connect the hub to a DAC I have with a usb input, run the analog output from the DAC to a tube amp, and the balanced outs from the tube amp to a set of stereo inputs on my interface. That's just my way of doing it, and there are dozens of others. There are also several iPad docks that offer s/pdif outs that you can then connect to the digital ins of an interface.

If you just want to use some of the cool interfaces on the iPad as controllers, then many of them, like Polychord and Chordian, will work over wifi midi. I do this all the time to use my iPad to control instruments in Kontakt and other desktop instruments on my Macbook and it.works great. I think ThumbJam works like this also.

My advice is to pick a few apps you like and focus on them for a little while. Check the reviews on the App store, and definitely be on the lookout for some app discounts during Thanksgiving next week.

[sazb30]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Great post sorefingers lots to think about there! Like you I have a FireWire interface so would have to use a method similar to yours to get the audio in. Is the tube amp stage just to add some colour or does the signal actually need to be amplified before going into the interface?

[iPlogger]

First off, no, you are not the only one overwhelmed. There is a lot out there and a lot to learn. The biggest problem is there is currently nothing out there that just "does it all" so it becomes hard to decide the trade offs from one app and another. There are really great apps out there, but they excel in certain areas, and then don't offer some other feature you might want.

Another option for you is to get something like SampleTank or iGrand Piano if you have a MIDI controller. You can record the pianos directly in the apps (which sound really good) and then export the audio into another app. Then overdub your vocals on top. Again, may not be exactly what you want if you want to record piano and vocals simultaneously.

I mostly use the iPad in my setup for sequencing and writing. I, too, have not yet figured out what I am going to do for recording my hardware synths and vocals/guitar/etc. into the iPad, but I am keeping my eyes on a MIDI/Audio interface from Roland.

[sazb30]

Hey iPlogger thanks for commenting.. is the interface you're looking at the duo capture ex? Looks nice... It's got midi too.. Not out here in the UK yet but coming very soon...

[Sorefingers]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Great post sorefingers lots to think about there! Like you I have a FireWire interface so would have to use a method similar to yours to get the audio in. Is the tube amp stage just to add some colour or does the signal actually need to be amplified before going into the interface?

I went through the tube amp just because I had it sitting around and it has balanced xlr outs. I could go straight out from the DAC via the RCA stereo outs.

I wish a firewire to iPad dock interface existed, but no luck it seems. The interface I use, a Focusrite Saffire 24 DSP, does work in standalone mode with the ac adapter plugged in to the wall, so I could use without my Mac by going into the ins and outs sort of like a mixer. Yours may do this as well.

There are a lot of nice headphone DAC/amp combos that are small and could work as a portable solution. Supposedly the DACs in the IOS devices are better than most people give them credit for, but I had my DAC ( which I originally bought to use with my tube headphone amp) and figured I'd give it a whirl before buying a dedicated unit for my iPad.

Focusrite makes this:

http://us.focusrite.com/ipad-audio-inte ... track-solo

It has a dedicated 30 pin I-device cable, but for some reason it has a proprietary connection port on the interface, and the cable is only 6 inches or so. They recommend getting a dock extension cable, but that's another $30 for a decent one. I don't know why they didn't just go with a standard 30 pin to usb cable, unless it's for bandwidth issues.

I'd love something like the Alesis IO dock, but the reviews are so negative I've stayed away.

You could always get an inexpensive usb interface with digital out to hook up to you iPad and go into your main firewire interface's digital in if it has one.

Thank goodness Apple didn't cripple the usb out on the camera connection kit, and there are a lot of devices that work with it. I'm able to use my usb DAC and three usb midi keyboard controllers with my iPad at the same time through my CCK and a powere usb hub.

Good luck in your search.

[iPlogger]

Hey iPlogger thanks for commenting.. is the interface you're looking at the duo capture ex? Looks nice... It's got midi too.. Not out here in the UK yet but coming very soon...

Yes. That's the one. Has both audio and MIDI. That way I can hopefully use the iPad for MIDI sequencing and record my hardware synths onto the iPad at the same time.

It sounds like Sorefingers may have MIDI and USB audio working at the same time using a USB hub. This is something I may need to look into as well.