What is your "best-of-two-worlds" set up?

[IncarnateX]

Recently I bought my first piece of hardware in 7 years, a Roland JD-Xi, which is a very lovely synth, I must say. My dream was to make a perfect best-of-two-world (hardware & software) set up with the JD and my iPad Air 2 and Cubasis . I had learned that the JD had usb midi and audio. Unfortunately this dream was soon broken, partly because the usb audio requires drivers only available for PC and partly due to the fact that any midi sync with the iPad air (eg. running Cubasis and JD’s sequencer in sync) is just as cumbersome as when I use PC; it is possible but needs workarounds like delaying the softsynth tracks in Cubasis manually to compensate for latency. Only thing that works out-of-the-box is running my hardware synths with iPad Air and Cubasis as sequencer only, but this has no interest to me. Nor has anything related to syncing my PC with the JD.

So I ended up with two two-worlds-set ups instead:
1) iPad air with a Oxygen 49 controller
2) My JD-Xi with my EMU MP7 as main station and the iPad as recorder only (Auria).

However, all this testing made we wonder where we are today with regard to integration of hardware and software. What are your best-of-two-worlds-set-ups? What kind of audio and midi syncing works for you. Do you use DAWs and softsynths only with controllers? Your PC/MAC/iPad as recorder and/or sequencers and/or editors for your hardware only? Or anything else in between? If you have the time, you are very welcome to write a little about your own personal best-of-two-worlds set up, including problems and workarounds, if any.

Thanks in advance

[fmr]

I may be completely lost here, but what kind of problems do you refer when you say: "... running Cubasis and JD’s sequencer in sync) is just as cumbersome as when I use PC"?

I have (and always had, since the late eighties, and also after digital audio started) a setup with several hardware synths connected through MIDI to a computer, and nothing is or ever was cumbersome. I have a multiport MIDI interface (eg, MOTU MIDI Express XT) to take care of the MIDI, and an audio interface to take care of the áudio. The sequencer (Cubase, for exemple) takes care of everything, and everything runs smoothly (and no matter if it is Mac or Windows).

Of course, this is with a computer

[IncarnateX]

I may be completely lost here, but what kind of problems do you refer when you say: "... running Cubasis and JD’s sequencer in sync) is just as cumbersome as when I use PC"?

I have no problems using PC or iPad as midi sequencer only like you describe here. It is when I try to make my softsynths run in sync with my hardware. The usual problem is that the hardsware synths are a tiny bit delayed compared to the softsynths and thus I have to delay the softsynths tracks manually to make them sync with the hardware.

[Acid Mitch]

If your sequencing and recording on the same computer there is no getting around the latency.
You have to either delay or send early to compensate.
Usually once things are set up delays will always be the same size,so long as you don't change buffer sizes and/or add plugs that cause latency after you've worked out the delays. It's easy to make template projects with the delays already set up.
It helps to disable any automatic PDC.

If you need reliable sync, USAMO by Expert Sleepers is good, as is Sync Gen Pro by Inner Clock.

I do all my sequencing with hardware. I have USAMO send MIDI clock to my sequencers and my default DAW template has a bus with a delay on it. My softsynths and DAW tracks get sent to the delayed bus and everything stays in time.

[IncarnateX]

Very nice answer with both some advice and personal set up info. More answers like that plz

[IncarnateX]

No one else who like to share their experiences?

[foosnark]

I have a Meeblip Anode and am using an NI Komplete Audio 6 for both audio and MIDI interface. At least with the sort of sounds I've been getting from the Anode, there's honestly not enough latency in the system to worry about.

I also have no qualms with running a (softsynth) audio channel out, through a stompbox, and back in and treating it as parallell. I'm sure there's got to be at least a little latency but it's never been a noticeable issue. But then, I suppose any of the external effects I use are likely to murder transients anyway.