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New to iOS, What’s your workflow like on iOS, what apps do you use?
Hello. I produce music on fl studio, presonus studio, and Cubase pro. I’m brand new to iOS and looking for the workflow/ what apps everybody uses.
I want to try making full productions on iOS. I like to produce trance and pop and Japanese rompler sounds.
Is there any Korg/Roland workstation vsts on here or rompler for general bells/horns and is there any trance vsts like access/novation/stylenth?
Is there anyway to try aria pro and other iOS apps first before buying? I’ve been playing with GarageBand only so far, I’m thinking of going Auria pro or Cubasis. I want a full fledged daw with most features and some trance synths with ultrasaw type sounds and rompler, what do u guys suggest? Do you use iOS only or hook hw into it lol
Comments
There isn't one workflow that everyone uses, it's fragmented according to taste and preferences, just like the desktop
You might want to look at Korg Gadget, it's pretty much perfect for making trance music. It's a walled garden though, but there is enough there that you might not need another app, especially for EDM type music.
Alternatively there is Cubasis or Auria. Cubasis supports MIDI AUv3 plugins such as Rozetta (a plugin that can create generative music if that's your thing). Auria has a more fully featured mixer with busses and subgroups, and is more powerful overall but with a steeper learning curve - either one of these DAWs is going to be fine, it's a matter of personal preference for the most part. Both of these DAWs can load AUv3 synth and effect plugins and both can do MIDI.
GarageBand itself is pretty awesome, and you have that already. It has plenty of great options for creating your type of music, including the Alchemy synth, and the EDM type Drummers.
My personal workflow is to write in GarageBand or Gadget, then export the audio to Auria for mixing. But plenty of people create in Cubasis from start to finish, or even just Gadget.
Just be warned that if you want to load a lot of live MIDI synths then iOS is much more limited than the desktop. Gadget is probably the only app that can do this reliably, in Auria or Cubasis you will quickly run into limits if you want to have a lot of live synths loaded as AUv3 plugins (generally you will need to freeze or bounce tracks).
Just to add that Auria and Cubasis both come with built-in synths as well. Cubasis has a synth called Micrologue which is really nice and has a light CPU footprint so you can load quite a few live instances. Auria has Twin 2, which is very powerful (it's identical to the desktop version) but also very CPU hungry.
Auria has a great sample player called Lyra which is very powerful and versatile, and Cubasis has Minisampler which can also act as a rompler. Both come with lots of presets and included instruments (pianos and synths etc).
Korg Gadget LE is free, so you can try it out if you want
There are also 2 free apps you should get immediately. There are tutorials to help you learn these apps. At no time will these apps ask you for a payment.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiokit-synth-one-synthesizer/id1371050497?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fm-player-classic-dx-synths/id1307785646?ls=1&mt=8
This DAW is free with only 3 tracks allowed. It costs $6 for unlimited tracks. Many more features in this DAW also require payment but $6 is the best I can find to have a DAW.
Maybe someone else will propose more Apps to get you started. Many free apps try to get you to upgrade.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audio-evolution-mobile-studio/id1094758623?mt=8
You can also start with this one for free:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/novation-launchpad/id584362474?mt=8
There's a list of more here:
https://techradar.com/news/best-free-ipad-apps/6
I use AUM and ApeMatrix to mess about making sounds which I then take snippets and load into the BM3 sampler.
I often mess about getting drum tracks going in Cubasis (a seperate track each drum) or just use Ruismaker and Rozeta to whip up something rough and ready in BM3.
I will then load up WaveMapper for a bass sound and throw together either the samples made earlier of more AU synth sounds. Sometimes these sounds will gel well, sometimes I deliberately make them awkward to each other.
Then I start something. It may be just an intro of weird synth sounds or just a bass line - just something to start it off. Then I add something else.
About 4 to six tracks in, I usually get bored and go and start something else.
I revisit back adding to, or rearranging projects until bored again.
After 50 to 100 or so of these part projects, I get bored with the whole approach and scrap all my projects and start again.
This I have just done. I never finish anything, but that is not the point, as it’s the journey I enjoy - the continually trying something new
Interestingly, nobody’s yet mentioned SunVox.
I think it's a matter of taste really. Many different workflows are valid. I personally like Auria Pro for mixing and mastering. Got used to it and bought all the fabfilter plugins I needed for the purpose. I tried Cubase 2.5 but not my cup of tea. AUM is good but doesn't seem as professional in terms of production. Maybe look at some videos on youtube to get a proper idea of their possibilities.
AUM is great, but it's a mixer only - no timeline or sequencing, so it's not what the OP is looking for as far as I can tell. Same goes for Apematrix.
If you want Novation synth sounds then look at groovebox by Ampify. They are a sister company of Novation and the app is free, you can buy additional samples for the drum machine and also unlock the synths for further editing.
If you have a Novation Launchkey this integrates well with the app, or if you have a Launchpad they also do a Launchpad application you can use for loop triggering, they also have a 3rd app blocs wave, which is great for compiling loops for use in the launchpad app.
I use these apps a lot for live jamming and also I export loops from these and build static produced tracks using Cubasis.
The only thing with exporting gadget to cubasis I find is that usually drums will tend to be exported as one track, as they’ll all come from one gadget. This means it’s harder to eq as opposed to having all the separated drum elements. Especially when wanting to place vocals on top ?
If one is to believe the pronouncements of IK multimedia, then Sample Tank should have a AUV3 sometime this year but that’s neither here nor there . If it does happen though it’ll give iOS a good general bank of instruments I’ll be at a cost .That would go along way towards making iOS a feasible musical platform for more people
In the meantime there's always BeatHawk, which does more or less the same thing but is already AU compatible.
I use Pro-MB in Auria to shape merged drum tracks, it works a treat. Should be available as an AU in Cubasis when FabFilter release it, presumably in the not-too-distant future.
I will +1 all the Novation/Ampify stuff for sure.
For me the canvas is GarageBand on iOS, two reasons - 1) Does what I need it to do and it’s 100% cross platform between my phone and iPad and 2) When Apple releases an iOS update I’m not super concerned my music software is gonna stop working
Ah ok Cool. I’m not the greatest at using compressors past their most basic functions no matter how many tutorial videos I watch ha
Sounds like you’re describing Korg Gadget
Yeah just wanted to show there are other workflows used on iOS that don’t actually follow the all in one DAW approach. Many of us use multiple apps in our workflows whatever music we make. Not saying it’s better, just showing there are alternatives.
One guy I was chatting to recently sequences all his music live on multiple iOS devices and records it all through a mixer to an old multitrack tape recorder! That’s what I love about iOS, it fits in well with the ideal that there are no hard and fast rules!
My early days were spent making trance music on my android device in Caustic 3, a nice self-contained rack mount simulator. This app is also available for iOS. Korg Gadget is comparable to this, too, and sounds way better, although a mastery of the "basics" is better accomplished through Caustic 3, imo.
These days I really like the AUM/ModStep combo, although I'm anxious for a BeatMaker 3 update.
SunVox is free on desktop so you could download it there and look at the tutorial videos on YouTube and see if it’s something you’d like.
For bell sounds, check out the iceGear Mersenne synth. Doug Woods @thesoundtestroom has videos on YouTube for a number of apps which can give you a sense of what they sound like and how they function.
Sequencism is a free DAW with MIDI piano roll.
FWIW, when I create in Gadget, I use multiple drum machines so each instrument is on its own track. For example, I use one instance of London, a couple instances of Tokyo and 2 or 3 instances of Bilbao.
When you say "I want a full fledged daw with most features ", that will likely not happen for years on iOS and even then desktop will always be light years ahead pushing the bar. Some people bail on iOS upon learning this. Still interested?
This is crucial. Producing music on iOS is basically learning how to manage workflow interruptions, getting apps to play nicely with each other, and learning workarounds.
Will you see results right away? Not likely. Is it worth it? Absolutely. iOS producing is about internalizing concepts while getting your hands dirty.
Tru dat. In a sense iOS is the modular daw and it is up to us to figure out which components to use and when etc. For me this switches up even on a track by track basis. Just today I used Modstep into BM3 whereas the sister track was done with Cubasis/BM3/Spacecraft a couple weeks ago. The apps are ingredients.
Cubasis LE is free to try. When you upgrade, it still shows the free LE icon (like any other upgraded app from free version) but it is a full version.
GarageBand is EDM centric already, great and also free (with some limitations).
FL Studio Mobile If you want to use it by itself as it currently has some limitations.
Out of curiosity, what were you doing with ModStep going into BM3? I usually use ModStep as a sequencer with AUM.
Modstep has nice speed and pitch control of clips. So I was just using it midi out into BM3 which I eventually used to record the midi. I suspect that BM3 will eventually be getting x2 /2 and better transposing of midi. But yah for now I just wanted a bit of ease of high level note editing on the fly.
I feel like I can visualize scenes a lot better in Modstep. My biggest complaint of Beatmaker 3 is pattern management - I otherwise love the app but I always felt that the track helper, while a smart idea, just isn't very intuitive, and it's the first thing I think of when I refer to something as a "workflow interruption".
Of course, I dislike anything that isn't Reason's block mode, because I'm spoiled. lol
I typically don't do any pattern management in BM3. I stick to the 'Song' view slicing and merging like crazy, just going by what I see visually (editing patterns in 'Pattern' of course) and occasionally selecting the corresponding pattern in the 'pattern selector' in the top left and that is about it.
Yah if there were more 'bells and whistles' styled features for me to use in Scenes I would, but I never even click on it.