iPad in live situation

enc

im well aware the iPad is/has been used in lots of bands live set up ... Even Kraftwerk use them ...I was looking at Heaven 17's support band set up on Saturday. They were using an iPad for their complete backing track .. Bass, some keys, all drums and percussion.
Thing is , once they were a couple of songs in And the sound man got it together it sounded awesome through the PA. bass cut through nicely, drums well placed etc ! I'm wondering if this was all from the iPads stereo output or if the iPad was controlling something else ... I couldn't see anything obvious to suggest the latter !

jooga1972

When I have to use backing tracks during live performances I always turn to StageTraxx. It's reliable, solid, gets updates on a regular basis, easy to handle, has MIDI and remote control features (don't use them myself...), sounds as great (or poor..) as the quality of the backing track permits. I've used StageTraxx for over a year now, don't even take the Macbook to gigs anymore.

Will

I think the headphone output is underrated but is be surprised if they didn't use a higher quality one on tour. Did you see this live or was their a video?

[Deleted User]

I had problems when trying to use my iPad in a band situation, volume jumps, then sound disappearing. Nightmare. I'd recommend rigorous testing and bullet-proof setups before going anywhere near an external PA

supadom

One doesn't need much to send a pro quality sound to the desk. There's plenty of compact audio interfaces that will do a better job then the built in jobbie. I wonder why you have those problems @monzo, I've always had a good level sound from my jack output but personally wouldn't use one on stage as they tend to be very noisy/buzzy I presume from all of the other equipment normally present on stage.

enc

@syrupcore said:
I think the headphone output is underrated but is be surprised if they didn't use a higher quality one on tour. Did you see this live or was their a video?

It was live. I've emailed the band for more info.

enc

Here's the band Beautiful Mechanica

[Deleted User]

@supadom said:
I wonder why you have those problems @monzo, I've always had a good level sound from my jack output but personally wouldn't use one on stage as they tend to be very noisy/buzzy I presume from all of the other equipment normally present on stage.

I think it's switching from one app to another and hitting different volume levels. Hence my comment about testing and setting everything up before plugging it into an amp, rather than my cavalier plug-it-in and go approach.

enc

Ok, I had a reply from the band ....I wonder if Ralph Hutter would be so forthcoming ... I think not lol!!!

Hello Ian,

Thanks for your email and kind words regarding our show.

Yes - the backing track was played via a iPad but the songs themselves were not composed on iPad.

The backing tracks are played via an App called GigList - it's a cool App that is basically a means of controlling a Play List via a clean interface.

The backing tracks are produced in Logic - from the studio recordings with the parts we play live (vox/piano/gtrs) removed - so it's drums/bass + synth pads on the backing track.

I then mix the backing track into mono and via iTunes, import the tracks into GigList and the iPad. Finally the iPad is connected to a radial stage bug DI box that is specially for use with computers and iPads.

It's the 21st century version of Cocteau Twins and their use of backing tracks on a Tascam reel to reel.

Kind regards,

Graham
beautiful mechanica

jooga1972

@monzo said:
I had problems when trying to use my iPad in a band situation, volume jumps, then sound disappearing. Nightmare. I'd recommend rigorous testing and bullet-proof setups before going anywhere near an external PA

I've never had any issues with the headphone output, volume or otherwise. It's been solid since day one. I either hook up the iPad directly to the mixer or have an EHX 2Ube stereo tube pre in the chain.

Thomas

Sooo... would the output on, say, an Apogee One be that much better than the iPad's built-in out jack in a live PA situation?

jooga1972

@Thomas said:
Sooo... would the output on, say, an Apogee One be that much better than the iPad's built-in out jack in a live PA situation?

As far as I can tell the built-in jack sounds perfect, no issues, glitches.... I'd say it may be easier to hook up your iPad to a PA system if there's an audio interface involved (i.e. you can use 6.3 jacks, you don't need adapters, etc.... if this is an issue at all..) I use the iPad's direct out all the time, be it recordings or live performances and am happy with what I hear. Of course problems may and will occur over time as the device is getting older but to my ears the direct out sounds excellent by default.

Thomas

@jooga1972 said:

@Thomas said:
Sooo... would the output on, say, an Apogee One be that much better than the iPad's built-in out jack in a live PA situation?

As far as I can tell the built-in jack sounds perfect, no issues, glitches.... I'd say it may be easier to hook up your iPad to a PA system if there's an audio interface involved (i.e. you can use 6.3 jacks, you don't need adapters, etc.... if this is an issue at all..) I use the iPad's direct out all the time, be it recordings or live performances and am happy with what I hear. Of course problems may and will occur over time as the device is getting older but to my ears the direct out sounds excellent by default.

thanks for the feedback. I'm all about keeping it simple!

MarkR

I've been using iPads in a live situation for a few years now. Headphone output is just fine, though a little low in volume when going straight into an amp. I use a Rolls MiniMix for both iPads and my Roland Handsonic and send to the amp from there.

And fwiw, keyboardist Eddie Jobson (prog-rock band UK) used a MacBook for all his sounds on their last tour. He said he used the headphone out because it was "one less cable and one less thing to go wrong".

Musikman4Christ

I use my iPad as a live sound module for keyboards and send out my signal tot the main board via my Berhinger UCA222. The sound is so much better for only less than $30 on Amazon.
Also, I use Mimix as its light on CPU and load up my fav synths Z3TA, Moog, iM1, Sunrizer and have all this tightly housed in audiobus.
When I want strings or pads just change my patches in Zeta and leave the iM1 playing swirling bell pads in the background. Pretty amazing stuff. I place my iPad over the screen area of the Yamaha Motif and bypass it completely. Pure iPad sounds!

enc

This got me thinking how we'd do it in the "old days" we couldn't afford a reel to reel machine so we'd use cassettes usually with drums panned hard left and anything else panned hard right. We'd have a bit of control over the mix and scope to add fx To drums only or whatever. Later it'd be mini disc !! remember those ? With each track on a separate disc you could change the running order or drop/add songs no hassle ... Better sound quality too

AlterEgo_UK

Can't seem to find GigList on the appstore?

enc

Try... Gig List. ;-)

rad3d

@AlterEgo_UK said:
Can't seem to find GigList on the appstore?

I don't see GigList in the store either, for iPad or iPhone. I assume he's referring to GigTrack. You could also do something like this with Setlist Maker/Band Helper.