Best tablet for a musician?

[rap masta rj]

So now that the market of tablets has grown alot, i've decided to take a look at getting one.

The tablet won't be just for musical needs, but mostly. I realize that the iPad has alot of apps that you can use as a midi controller and whatnot, but i'm primarily concerned about music-making on the go, whether it be in DAW format or writing notation.

I do have an iPhone, and i have this one app that is a mini DAW but composing anything in it is a pain in the ass; i also have iMaschine which im not particularly fond of either.

I understand that the new Microsoft tablet has different ports like USB unlike the iPad, so i feel that may be useful for ext hard drives and what not, but what makes me reluctant to buy it is that its their first tablet and they dont have as large of an app base as Apple does, and Apple is several generations ahead with their iPad.

If anyone has the new Microsoft tablet i'd love to hear what you think about it, and whether there is anything on it that would suit my needs.

Thanks in advance

[Tarekith]

I don;t even think there are any music apps for the MS Surface yet, are there? iPad, definitely, way more apps and quite a few amazing ones.

[Upright]

iPad without a doubt....so much good stuff on there.

[yur2die4]

Second on the iPad. Not only does it have people constantly developing amazing things, it has very high priority for touch screen latency. You could consider iOS to be light years ahead of anything else for that one factor alone.

But I am curios about future tablets that might potentially have full-fledged win8 (not a mobile, limited version)

A difference also between the pad and the pod/phone is that the pad lets you connect some devices via USB through a camera connector kit. Not all things work, but a pretty decent number of keyboards and even audio interfaces.

I can't speak 100% from experience however as I only have an iPhone. I've been lusting after the most powerful of the iPads. Mmmmmmmmmm

[Upright]

Second on the iPad. Not only does it have people constantly developing amazing things, it has very high priority for touch screen latency. You could consider iOS to be light years ahead of anything else for that one factor alone.

But I am curios about future tablets that might potentially have full-fledged win8 (not a mobile, limited version)

A difference also between the pad and the pod/phone is that the pad lets you connect some devices via USB through a camera connector kit. Not all things work, but a pretty decent number of keyboards and even audio interfaces.

I can't speak 100% from experience however as I only have an iPhone. I've been lusting after the most powerful of the iPads. Mmmmmmmmmm

I have both the camera kit and Alesis I/O dock for my iPad and I can say all the apps I've tried work with the camera kit....the serious, "pro" apps anyway. Most developers doing "Pro" apps are including core Midi and everything Core Midi should work with the camera kit, at least that's what I'm finding but I can't say 100%. However the Alesis I/O dock works with every app I have and it's the preferred way to use the iPad in a Pro Audio environment IMO.

[yur2die4]

I must also note that after living in iPhone land, every time I get my hands on an iPad as a demo at a store or whatever, all that extra screen real estate just makes me want to take the iPad to bed (insert Tristan und Isolde intro here).

[sebrov]

I don;t even think there are any music apps for the MS Surface yet, are there? iPad, definitely, way more apps and quite a few amazing ones.

so far there is only one djing app and that's really the lot for the windows rt tablets so far for music apps apart from all the piano apps. Good product though just needs some good audio apps. Like touchosc or lemur. At the moment the iPad is the only choice for audio work. Check this out http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/11/g ... exclusive/

[simmerdown]

i know there lots of add-on synths, apps, etc. for ipad...but what is best used as the main 'daw' to bring it all together on ipad?

mostly used as a midi controller to just send to Live on a laptop or desk?

[login]

Maybe wait for one of the tablets with intel core processor, there might be some already out by Asus, acer, dell.

[reeloy]

....sorry, but there's no space to decide...

there's only one solution if you wanna have a tablet for musical needs......


and since i have an ipad i started to record a lot more again....
there are so many crazy and really good music apps for ios out there.....
and you can't compare an iphone with an ipad....

geo synth, sample wizz, animoog.....you name it........there are instruments for the ipad that are really unique...
that's no small alternative.....that's a real big deal....
you won't find any vst or au plug in that you can play that expressive like you do with an animoog.....it's a complete new level of expression...

and if you wait 'til there are such things for android or even windows, you'll be an old man when you start with it....

and if you call an alesis io dock your own, all these thousands of amazing "soundtoys" out there in the app store become serious instruments....
get a new synth or drum computer for not more than 20 bucks?....in a minute?
new inspiration for usually only 2 bucks....?
hell yeah.....

and there is no real daw for tablets yet.....but garageband is a good and serious deal if you wanna nail down musical ideas on the fly elsewhere.....and take it from there once you're back in the studio....

there is really no other answer for your question......there is no best tablet for music...there is only one tablet for music....

[Tarekith]

i know there lots of add-on synths, apps, etc. for ipad...but what is best used as the main 'daw' to bring it all together on ipad?

mostly used as a midi controller to just send to Live on a laptop or desk?

I think right now you're looking at Beatmaker, NanoStudio, or Auria depending on how you like to work. Beatmaker is the most MPC like in that it's almost all sample based, though NS has something close. Nano's big appeal is that it's got a drum machine and a pretty programmable synth, as well as a nice arranger page. Auria seems to be the big pricey one, but it's basically a full on DAW with optional plug ins from some of the bigger manufacturers. IT was half price on Friday only, but I still couldn't pull the trigger on that one.

[Upright]

IT was half price on Friday only, but I still couldn't pull the trigger on that one.

I'm with you on that...the fact that it's a full feature DAW is nice but I personally don't plan on doing a full mix down from my iPad...that's what my real DAW is for. In a situation where you might want to do a sketch mix or rough mix and you'll be on a plane or long bus ride, I can see having it....but for me I prefer my room and desktop DAW. Not only that but seems that the micro-transactions would really start to add up in Auria. A compressor here, a limiter there...and the new VST's will just keep coming....which means more micro-transactions. Maybe useful for someone always mobile, not me though.

[rap masta rj]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Looks like I may slowly put aside money for one since its not a necessity for me right now and probably get the next generation of iPad

[simmerdown]

those three daws look...ok, but i would have a hard time looking at those gui for very long and feeling like it was serious, not just a timekiller on the plane (that i never go on)

lemur looks frikkn beautiful, but i gather it is only a midi controller, not actually a daw, bunko

[Evengy]

On a Surface with x86 i5 CPU you can install anything you want without "Tablet" limitations.