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Using iPad as complement to music laptop for recording
Hi all,
I'm producing an album using a music laptop on Windows 10. The laptop is noisy. I have an iPad that I want to use for recording vocals and acoustic guitar with my condenser mic. What I would like to do is get a rough mix of a song (without the vocals or guitar part that I want to record) into the iPad. Then while playing this track and listening to it with headphones, simultaneously record the vocals into the iPad.
I have a Roland Duo-Capture EX (UA-22) that is supposed to work with the iPad via a CCK. It can phantom power the condenser mic, so, I expect no problems there.
My question is about which iPad app(s) would allow me to do this in the most straightforward way. That is, while listening to the song, record a .WAV (hopefully at 24-bit, 44.1 KHz) that I can then export back into my laptop to add to the mix.
I have only briefly looked into the iPad as a music making device a couple years ago. At that time, I acquired some apps but haven't really used them. I'm not sure if they would be of use but I guess one or more of these could help:
Audiobus, AudioShare, Loopy HD.
I appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
Comments
Hello fellow Duo-Capturer. It sounds like Cubasis is best for these needs. It is straightforward, records 24-bit, 44.1khz etc etc, all your mentioned needs.
Multitrack DAW would be a less expensive option.
True, but everyone I recommended Multitrack DAW to says they should have just got Cubasis so I just jump to Cubasis recommendations now. The biggest thing for me with Multitrack DAW (back in the day at least) was migrating to and from PC was not as easy.
Here I was just going to give him a little taste of sugar and you want to go straight to the hard stuff.
It's true, I only use MTD on my phone on the rare occasion, but it's very capable if that's really all he wants to do. Maybe he has an old iPad?
it wasn't what ???
I'm doing this constantly with almost no effort - btw with the same intention as adilsaribay.
Tap Wi-Fi on Multitrack DAW's pre-project screen.
Enter the adress shown into your webbrowser on PC or Mac.
It will connect and list the projects available, save the bookmark for future use.
Open one of the projects and upload your file to it.
Activate the project, long hold on a track until the menu appears, choose Audio, tap on the middle tab, there's the file. Select it, confirm copy and paste it at a location of choice.
After recording it's even simpler:
Activate WiFi, open the bookmark previously created, open your project and choose between zipped project, track or raw data.
I've set my browser's download directory to a folder that usually gets all audio input stuff, which also is referenced within my (PC) DAW.
Audioshare works in a similiar way, both app's internal servers are very convenient.
Multitrack-DAW is just straight forward and does an excellent job with loop recordings in the sense that you repeat a part of the song and perform one take after the other.
You set 2 marks (punch-in and punch-out) at the location you want to record.
Then select a section on the timeline that starts a bit earlier (pre-roll) and ends a bit later (post-roll).
The 1st one is to get you into the groove, the 2nd to give some time to consider if another round applies or if the take was ok and you can stop it.
Unless stopped it will just start the whole thing again without any additional action required. Really simple.
cheers, Tom
Yah, the wifi option in Multitrack DAW was ok the couple times I used it. Slower than cable connection but I guess the OP is not looking to transfer tons. A lot of the time I don't have access to wifi though and just need to cable it.
Also... holy crap Cubasis is 70$ now?! Hmmm, worth it, but I must have hit a sale or it used to be a lot lower. Don't think I would have spent 70$ on an app way back when i first got it. Yah for the price Multitrack DAW sounds like it could be a good bet.
Thanks a lot guys. I would really not want to spend $70 for this. I'm not going to be producing in the iPad anytime soon so I don't need anything at the level of Cubasis. I really want to record single track vocal or acoustic guitar. I don't care about the transfer time as long as it's a faithful high quality transfer of the file that I can open in Windows (i.e., 24-bit, 44.1 KHz .WAV). I guess MTD fits this description better if it's cheaper. But if there are even more minimalistic options, let me know.
I have a faint memory that I was able to achieve a part of this with just Audioshare (I think it has a built in recorder). But maybe that solution did not include the playback of the accompaniment track (which I can do with my phone or mp3 player if necessary).
cheers!
What about sticking the laptop in the other room, running your mic to it, and using a remote app, like Touch OSC, to start and stop the recording? Works well for drummers recording themself, that way you don't have to run back an forth.
That way there's no transfer nonsense, or alignment issues.
Hmmm... Interesting. Don't know about Touch OSC. I will look into it and see if it works with Tracktion 7 (my DAW in Windows 10). However, I still like the idea of carrying only the iPad into remote locations where I would do the recording (I'm not sure at this point whether I will record in my acoustically untreated home). Thank you for the idea, though.
to be honest I would gladly pay $70 for Multitrack-DAW, just BECAUSE it's so simple and reliable
Best recording app I ever had, it's so relaxing without all those GUI bells n'whistles.
You could get along with Audioshare if you pan 1 Mic hard left and the other one hard right and record a stereo track.
But that would be followed by splicing the track into 2 mono files. Extra action.
And it still wouldn't give you the punch in/out loop feature, which is invaluable.
cheers, Tom
Hmmm, well if you do want SUPER simple then yes you could play back and record separately in Audioshare. You would not be able to easily hear back the recorded track in sync with the backing track but I get the sense that probably doesn't matter to you at this point.
Yah maybe just start there. If you do continue/expand in the ios music thing then Audioshare is always useful if/wherever you go with it.
+1 for MTD. Wifi transfer is easy.
Yes, Audioshare could do it but MTD is inexpensive and allows you to avoid all of the syncing headaches later. With MTD, drop your full mix in (exported from 0:00:00 in Tracktion) and record the vocal take from the beginning of the project in MTD (even if it comes in later). Then when you put the vocal track back into Tracktion all you have to do is put it at the very start of the project. Being able to do that instead of trying to sync up stuff recorded in Audioshare is worth the price (to me).
Hokusai might do what you're after for free. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hokusai-audio-editor/id432079746?mt=8 I can't remember which features are in the IAPs.
You may want to look at Auria (not Auria Pro). This original version is geared just for audio recording, no midi, and really has a top of the line channel strip. Listed at $25 US right now.
Cubasis is still $49.99 in the US app store.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cubasis-music-production-system/id583976519?mt=8
If you happen to have one of the eligible pieces of hardware (there are lots of brands listed) then Cubasis LE is free:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/mobile_apps/cubasis_le/compatible_hardware.html
that's all stuff you don't need for tracking when the destination is another DAW on the laptop - in that case you want to capture the dry signals only.
Auria lacks a direct data communication facility like Audioshare and MTD provide.
cheers, Tom
Sounds like AUM would be perfect for your needs.
you never tracked guitar and vocals to a playback track, did you ?
that is 3 files active simultaneously and you want them aligned (visible) one below the other
you don't necessarily always start at the beginning of the playback, but work on one or the other section, like a specific verse or the refrain...
cheers, Tom
Ahh, aparently there was a bump in Canadian prices lately...
So there you go... One clear obvious answer c/o the audiobus forum.
MTD seems to fit the bill the best. I might first try Hokusai because it's free. AUM seems cool but maybe more than I need (and more expensive than MTD). I will get a CCK and try and report back. It might take a while. Thanks to all.
While Hokusai is good for editing audio, it's a pain for multitrack because you can't slide audio in the timeline. You can only adjust the amount of silence before each track to move them around. Weird. Their companion app Ferrite has slide, but no punch in/out— a crucial feature for good multi-tracking, imo. MTD wins again.
Thanks aaronpc, MTD it is
I dont know as much about DAWs for PC as I do when it comes to Mac, but if your DAW can import and export AAF projects then you definitely want to go with Auria or Auria Pro. While MultiTrack Daw is simpler and Cubasis is great, getting your projects to and from either would be a lot more work, and Auria has better dropbox integration. Even if your DAW doesnt support AAF format, getting stems to and from Auria is faster too, as Cubasis only lets you send one file to dropbox at a time.
If you have cubase on your computer, you can export the whole project pretty easily to it from cubasis.