Best iPad app for starting projects to be brought into Live?

[jbw]

...For me the draw of Auria over Cubasis is the Fabfilter plug ins...

Auria plug in effects are awesome. The effects in Cubasis are not. Downside is you have to pay extra for the plug ins in Auria, and they run about $10-30 a pop.

If you're thinking long term and have the money to spend, Auria is probably the way to go for a DAW. MIDI is on the way, and was supposed to be out this past May, but is still being worked on.

My current approach is to think of the iPad as a sample/clip maker for desktop DAWs. Full tracks can certainly be done on the iPad alone, I just don't much care for the workflow, all the app switching and so on. Whatever approach is used, I think the iPad is very much a solid music making tool.

[Citizen]

Fwiw, the tracks I start on my iPad I almost always finish on my iPad, including mastering. For that Auria works great, I think it's probably my favorite DAW period.

Whoa, massive call!

It looks slick - but just what makes it so great?! I almost can't imagine not using Live!

For me the draw of Auria over Cubasis is the Fabfilter plug ins, other people might not care about that.

I love my FabFilter plug-ins, too. If you own them on your desktop, do you have to buy them again for Auria? Can you not use FabFilter plug-ins in Cubasis?

Most of the tracks on my site tarekith.com from the last year were done almost solely on the iPad, no desktop software at all.

I think I recall your 'Fractured Time EP' was done on it, if I recall correctly?

Certainly CPU is something to keep in mind, I can manage about 12 tracks on my iPad Air in Auria before th ui gets sluggish. It'll do more tracks, but it's not fun at that point. The bigger issue on the iPad is actually memory, so you need to make sure you close all other apps and restart once in awhile to give the music apps as much as you can.

What sort of specs are you running on your iPad?


Thanks once again for your awesome insights Tarekith - your input is always appreciated.

[Tarekith]

I'm like Auria because it's such a simple and easy to use audio based daw. I don't use half the fancy functions in desk top daws, so having a powerful but easy to use version on the iPad works great for me. I like using my fingers for editing too, something nice about working that way.

My iPad Air is just the 32GB version.

Fabfilter plug ins are only for Auria, and there's no way to tie your account to any desktop versions unfortunately. Otherwise they are identical to the desktop versions, except MUCH cheaper.

Fractured Time and most of the songs from this last year were done of the iPad, I'm just getting back to Live for day to day stuff now.

[beats me]

@Tarekith.

What do you use for your drums and how do you handle managing different drum patterns and breakdowns/fills?

[Tarekith]

It's a mix between DM-1, Alchemy Mobile, and things like iElectribe.

Fill and transitions are no biggy for me, I just record or import the audio loops I make from those apps, and then manually slice and dive the audio to do all my fills. Same way I work in any desktop DAW, so no different for me. Actually it's this phase that I like Auria for so much, since all the typical tools I use for that process (reverse, fade in and out, etc) are simple to access.

[beats me]

It's a mix between DM-1, Alchemy Mobile, and things like iElectribe.

Fill and transitions are no biggy for me, I just record or import the audio loops I make from those apps, and then manually slice and dive the audio to do all my fills. Same way I work in any desktop DAW, so no different for me. Actually it's this phase that I like Auria for so much, since all the typical tools I use for that process (reverse, fade in and out, etc) are simple to access.

Hm, I haven’t gotten to that “commit to audio” point yet but it seems on the iPad you don’t really have much of a choice if you want to use a full featured DAW.

No Beatmaker 2? I have DM-1 but haven’t really dove into it in a while and don’t remember it’s audio file editing or effects features. I think I got it on some discount grab. If I have to commit to audio in the DAW than I want to be able to do some customizing on the front end.

[ttilberg]

I've been a huge fan of audio apps on my iPad. I have an iPad 3, and while it can't handle many synths at the same time, it is an awesome tool to mess with -- sometimes I use it to get an idea started and then route the audio into Live to continue.

All of the apps mentioned previously are all apps I totally love, and are really great places to start.


Also relevant, 15 minutes ago a kickstarter launched for Tuna Knobs, which kind of translate a tactile feel to your ipad -- which I cannot wait to get my hands on:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sa ... ts-a-contr

[Tarekith]

Hm, I haven’t gotten to that “commit to audio” point yet but it seems on the iPad you don’t really have much of a choice if you want to use a full featured DAW.

No Beatmaker 2? I have DM-1 but haven’t really dove into it in a while and don’t remember it’s audio file editing or effects features. I think I got it on some discount grab. If I have to commit to audio in the DAW than I want to be able to do some customizing on the front end.

I have BM2, I just find it very clunky to use. Looks nice, but navigation is a pain for me.

[beats me]

I watched some of the iMPC Pro tutorials the developer released while the app was still being programmed. It seems like there are some good options for sample editing but in some areas I think they took emulating the hardware to an extreme and aren’t taking advantage of what a touch screen offers. Like you can’t just tap on part of a long sample and have it start playing from there. You have to drag the start point around. Also the height of gimmicky they use a turntable emulation for sampling from a song. I don’t know how you could pinpoint exactly where you want to sample. That is when you would want to see the waveform and just touch where you want the sample to start.

[su]

My workflow is similar to tarekeith's. gadget, figure, and tnr-i to sketch ideas out. If I work with multitrack audio on the ipad at all I use multitrack daw, very barebones, audio only DAW. But often I just import audio directly from ipad apps into ableton. In addition DM-1 already mentioned, I'd recommend yellofier. Very fun and almost always yields usable results. I've also been having much fun mangling audio loops in sector lately. I've also made use of the unique keyboard interfaces on animoog and thumbjam for lead lines. They help compensate for my limited keyboard playing skills.

[Citizen]

This is all super helpful info guys. Really, thanks a lot!

The main reason that I am asking this, is because Im going on a 6 week holiday - backpacking - and wanted to make some beats whilst on the road.

I was contemplating getting a 2nd hand 13" Mac Book Pro, but I'm now thinking that the portability (and musical potential!) of the iPad looks to be the more practical too for the job.

Thoughts?

[Citizen]

Also, can you use MIDI devices with the iPad? such as this:

http://www.akaipro.com/product/lpk25

[Tarekith]

Yes and yes. Definitely check out the qunexus too.

[beats me]

Tarekith. Would love to see a video tutorial of you making a song completely on the iPad.

[Tarekith]

Never going to happen unfortunately. Every time I try and make a video of me making a track, it gets distracting and I can't actually write. Happy to share any of my finished Auria projects though.