iPad, Air Display and Ableton

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neuromodulator
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:05 am

iPad, Air Display and Ableton

Post by neuromodulator » Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:36 am

So Air Display is an iPad app that turns your iPad into a wireless secondary display, with limited (mouse-style) touchscreen functionality.

This is pretty incredible for Ableton and VST plugins. I've got my plugin windows all set to open on the second display, and I have hands-on control of my synths. Very, very cool.

The mouse control is accurate enough that if I aim for a solo/mute switch on a Battery cell, I hit it most of the time. Knobs seem to be easy.

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salatspinatra
Posts: 235
Joined: Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:17 pm
Location: NYC

Re: iPad, Air Display and Ableton

Post by salatspinatra » Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:23 pm

very cool. Good use for 2nd monitor,ther than say keeping audio hijack recording on it, or itunes open; what comes to mind for you?
few reservations:
1) with blue tooth enabled, local network created, whatever, will this thing hold enough juice for a lengthy set?
2) do you think it is ergonomically more sound than mapping them to banks of controllers, say with novation automap?
3) By mouse-style touchscreen functionality, do you mean single-point focus/action?

neuromodulator
Posts: 85
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:05 am

Re: iPad, Air Display and Ableton

Post by neuromodulator » Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:35 pm

1) I haven't checked battery life, but there's no reason you couldn't have it charging while in use.
2) That's a really complicated question. Of course things with tactile feedback are superior in certain ways. Putting your hands on a knob and twisting it is always going to feel more like playing an instrument. But I find hardware controllers become less useful the more multi-function I make them. The more "pages" of functions I want for them, the more I have to think, "What page am I looking at now? What page do I want to be on? How do I get there?". And that loss of immediacy sucks for performance, IMO. The strength of this alternative is the simplification of that issue. I know precisely what I'm looking at, and with some simple keyboard mapping to track selection, instrument selection is as easy as remembering "massive on track 7, reaktor on 8".
3)Yes, exactly. Left-click, right-click, that's it. Single-point.

regretfullySaid
Posts: 8913
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:50 pm

Re: iPad, Air Display and Ableton

Post by regretfullySaid » Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:24 pm

Have you tried editing in the Arrangement?
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