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What did you wish you were told before embarking on using iOS for music making?
Hey everyone,
I'm working on a conference talk called "Mobile Music Making on iOS".
I'm still determining the exact contents, but was thinking of showing different setups on iPad and iPhone for various scenarios like recording, producing, performing, ... Including the use of hosts, DAWs, connecting to computer, using standalone, with a portable Bluetooth keyboard, audio interface, using MPE, ...
I'm curious to know which typical scenarios you discovered that would have been really great to have had documented for you beforehand.
Thanks for any ideas you can share!
Take care,
Geert
Comments
Do not go all Sonic Youth and try to jam screwdrivers beneath the strings on Guitarism and Steel Guitar!
A very expensive learning experience...
ROTFL!!!!!
That Apple don’t fucking care
That SunVox is all you need..?
The most useful thing for us would have been foreknowledge of what possibilities there were for apps working together. AudioBus, AUM and what, in detail, the main DAW’shave to offer individually. Also, how much of a difference add-on apps such as Fab Filters could make.
That might be a bit harsh actually, but yes you're right that people should be aware that they're using a massive platform where music making is only a small little dot amongst many other more important efforts.
Go to the Audiobus forum.
Fabfilter's plugins are definitely an amazingly well kept secret! What are your favorite combinations and scenarios of apps working together?
That Korg Gadget is the most beautiful, intuitive solution to iOS musicmaking in every respect — but that every song you create ends up an EDM monster.
Totally! I put Gadget in the hands of my daughter and she can't let it go since! Korg did such an amazing, well focused job on it!
I think the biggest thing I would have told my younger iOS self is to not get too reliant on any one app. Updates to iOS and the way audio is handled by it over the years has meant some favorite apps get abandoned or no longer work.
Also I think it would be useful to point out how reliant the iOS music commmunity is on 3rd party tools for basic DAW functionality. Utility apps like Audioshare or Audiobus are almost required a lot of times to get your audio into or out of the iOS device.
Very important points! It's interesting though that this is quite similar to using a desktop or laptop for music making, and why some people never went that way. I think that with iOS, you can more easily decide to freeze an iPad in time and just use what works for you. Gotta be disciplined to resist the temptation to upgrade to the latest and greatest though ;-)
That it requires a lot of patience when it comes to finding the apps and tools that work for the personal needs and one has to be prepared for a lot of trial-n-error in the process.
It helps a lot to start with a empty mind and not trying to replicate a desktop way to do things as it will be a frustrating experience in so, so many areas...
(File Management is one, here I've chosen AudioShare and Readdle Documents and SanDisk iExpand as 'flash storage' all those have good Files.app integration to boot)
Had I know what I know today I'd say it's better to get a few apps and learn them well and also work around their quirks as there are no such thing as 'do it all, perfect for everyone' apps.
(I've settled with Cubasis, Gadget & BM3 with plenty of AUv3's and 'companion apps').
The initial app prices may be low but the sheer quantity of app purchases can quickly pile up!
As for controllers I do prefer to use the iPad as a stand-alone device with a pair of head-phones and use the onscreen controllers. When controller urge strikes I just pair the Korg nanoKEY studio to my iPad or MacBook Air.
Audio/Midi-Interfaces can also cause a lot of frustration until one finds a setup that works and it depends on the need of the user. Here a 'needs inventory' can be helpful and reduce the amount of trial-n-error.
(I've settled with a Steinberg UR-242 and well, I still have the stuff from trial-n-error period).
This is a big topic and requires patience...
Alchemy..........
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The method, or workflow of individuals and bands is highly variable, of course. Discovering what works for you is half the fun, and often a very necessary part of the journey. For example, BM3 is clearly ‘the bees knees’ for lots of people, but others just can’t get on with it. So what I’m trying to get to is that knowing others favourite combos of apps is not nearly as useful as the knowledge that apps work together. By design.
FWIW, Repulse the Monkey use a wide variety of apps to create content, which is then sequenced in AuriaPro, enhanced with whatever effects are required, most often from third party developers, and mastered using Fab Filters. This, however, represents quite an expensive investment in total - by IOS standards - and only came about after much deliberation and research. Again, becoming aware of what possibilities exist, is extremely useful.
To buy proper CCK instead of fuffing about with cheap third party ones.
I think for me it would be that the iPad is schizophrenic.....
Typically with desktop, or a studio, people get used to a single workflow using a single setup...
Try and do this on an iPad and you will be missing out.....you need to embrace the fact that your iPad will be all of the following and more.... try and do it all at the same time though and you will go mad with frustration.
I would like to have not been so keen to grab every app going and to focus on a few apps. I’ve gotten to a point now where I want my setup to be as minimal as possible. Hardware and software stripped to the bare essentials. I, like @Samu prefer not to use a midi controller; just my iPad and some good headphones. I truly believe the portability of that “set-up” is the essence of making music with iOS, and what sets it apart from desktop.
I think, if I were to go back and give advice to my earlier self, I would have warned myself the following:
That just because apps are affordable and you can imagine uses for all of them, you’re still better off learning each one inside and out before purchasing the next.
It’s the same for everything, but comparable iOS solutions tend to cost about 10% of what they charge for desktop apps and <1% of hardware so it’s especially easy to collect instruments that you never learn.
Edit: and I suppose that, by extension, this refers to the actual depth of each instrument. Because of the low prices, it’s easy to regard these apps as toys. Some of them are, but the stigma far outweighs the reality. Years down the road and I’m still learning new stuff about Animoog and Patterning; Model D and Odyssei have set new standards for virtual analogue IMO; and Bram Bos’s sequencers have introduced tremendous musical intuition into “generated jams.” Even though it’s a niche market, iOS music developers are creating things that either can’t or didn’t exist in other mediums.
I really like the point about not trying the reproduce the desktop environment, I think it's an important one to make.
I do see a parallel between iOS app galore and desktop AU/VST galore, you can go down a plugin rabbit very quickly, certainly if you're subject to jump on "sales that you should not miss".
It's interesting how I do tend to forget about the Steinberg interfaces, they are indeed very capable and every time I used them I was really pleased!
Yah, I would tell myself something similar to this as well. To be patient and it will take five or six years (until iPad 2017, Cubasis2 and BM3 to get to the 80/20 ios/desktop ratio) and by that point you will be 100% sick of sitting at a desk to make music anyway. That, and if Harvey Weinstein invites you to his chalet... don't go.
Hah! Been there done that!
So am I correct in paraphrasing by "the iPad can have many different identities, but it excels at doing one specific one at a given time"? I like that observation!
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Yes. The App Store, in ge real but especially for music apps, is like a sweet shop.
The vast majority of us here have dozens of excellent apps w hardly use, or have forgotten we bought. Once we hit upon a combo that works for us, the incentive to try another way or step outside of the familiar diminishes.
Good point, the mobility of iOS, and that you can really make and produce music anywhere is much more powerful than people might realize!
Thanks so much for this list, so true and very helpful!
I guess you're a Gadget fan!
Yes, exactly that