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iOS music making: IS THE JUICE WORTH THE SQUEEZE?
I do find myself at times at this crossroads in a fit or tantrum as I run into issue with this or that.
Then by switching to strictly hardware and Ableton find making music much less ...... complicated? I don't know if that is the word.
Here is my take.
Core Midi and that whole thing with the IAA issues and IAMidi that came out of the early days had its issues.
LINK came around and was a great help.
Many people clamored for AU.
They got it.
The problem for me is this.
The introduction of AU and the current state of things is somethings getting a little complicated for what used to be smoother sailing.
AU is great. But the time and settings of connections is not exactly conducive to good quick changes especially for live set up.
I hope the AU and associated midi find a way to build on the few strengths of the old original iOS midi set up.
By which, I could midi learn on an app, and everytime I open the app, no matter where I open the app, that assignment is always there and ready to go.
This is present, not consistently. As for live use of iOS, unless you have a set few apps only used, it is not as surefire to easily swap things out.
And that brings me to my next hope for ios.
FILE MANAGEMENT. Oh hai SAMU
AU vs. Stand alone import open in send to Audioshare iCloud where is this why won't that............
You get me? no?
Ableton I can grab any file from anywhere and plop in the middle of track and plays.
I am not bitching.
Maybe I am.
But, I hope to see some refinery of the mechanisms by which apps interact, interface, and work together.
We see many advances as single apps or companies do things.
But maybe some developers can get together to help streamline things that sort of take time or efficiency away from ios.
The point of iOS for me was to be LESS COMPLICATED THAN my computer.
If it requires me to spend more time setting things up and routing things, that defeats the original purpose I fell in love with iOS music making.
Don't get me wrong, I love these apps. I spend much time and money on them. SO, I AM NOT GIVING UP or shitting on them.
I just want this to be as awesome as it can be for all of us.
Is the juice worth the squeeze? Yeah.
For now.
Comments
100 % get this...Some things that seem like they should be so simple often become very arduous.
Let me add one thing.
I think I also have another reason this seems to have crossed my mind.
I don't know if you have noticed.
But I am finding many plug ins are REALLY CHEAP these days.
Complicated and awesome plug ins for $3 $5 and they are awesome.
That and the fact that I am also enjoying companies that do iOS and MacBook stuff...is another reason.
DRC
REMIX LIVE
DHLANG
Alex M. StoneEchoes and all his apps are on MacBook.
So the crossover apps are also making this comparison for tangible.
Plus the availability of awesome hardware groove boxes and cheap synths is really amazing.
I've mostly moved back to ableton. With my ica4+ I just use the au or iaa apps as sound modules that I record in ableton. Most of the sequencing is ableton itself. My push 2 being my primary input these days. Way I see it is just record the audio to ableton. Effects etc are done later in post after the audio is "printed".
Want a bass line on iOS - no probs.
Want a killer beat on iOS - no probs.
Want some great sounds to play with them - no probs.
Want to put it all together simply? Forget it
That’s how I see using iOS at this time.
Worth it? Yeah because it’s easy and cheap to build up lots of great sound making gear with only a little out lay each month.
Could I do it easier with a Mac? Yeah I probably could if I had the initial funds to make a tight system of hardware and software. Could I do a Mac setup that lets me make music on the loo or by the bank Fishing as easy as an iPad? No way!
I don't feel too frustrated I think because I only want the iPad to be a sequencer and sound module.
Or maybe that is just another way of me answering your question that, advanced mixing, mastering, recording live audio, nah, that is all a lot easier on a lap/desktop so I have barely bothered.
However, the file management, yes, that is ridiculous and there is no technical reason it should be that way. We have to use a laptop app (iMazing) just to copy some things. Silly.
Ableton for real work.
iOS for jams, sketches and general time wasting. Fuck trying to sync it all, just use IAA.
Try Garageband if it's been a while. I was using the MIDI editor today and forgot how good it is. BM3 is a moody bitch, we're taking a break.
Are you actually playing the instruments live then? I am guessing you are- otherwise why not just squeeze the good juice out of all the apps individually- and make them into audio clips of beats, bass lines and sounds then heap them all into Launchpad, LP-5 and Remix Live- all linked together.
I couldn’t even be bothered with all that multi connection stuff in the first place.... 🙈.. does my head in.
Exactly! Just have a nice sesh with 1 app at a time.
From everything I see ios production is constantly changing for the better, and quite rapidly. I don't think it's long before we see a serious DAW (ableton or logic) come to the pro ipads. In searching this forum I see constant posts from only a couple years ago where people were juggling apps to make things work with their limited storage, now it's not uncommon to have over 256gb that you would have to work hard to try to fill.
File management has become exponentially better with the introduction of Files, it just depends on the developers implementing it (imo).
As for AU connections being cumbersome I don't really see it, I create templates for different workflows and it's just a matter of dropping AU's in that I feel like using. This cuts down on the prep work significantly.
My only major gripe with the current way of things is switching between apps and multitouch gestures are still way too finicky. If Apple plans to ditch the home button as leaks suggest this worries me twice as much.
I think it's easy to get caught up in the little things and not see how quickly this is becoming a very serious platform to create awesome sounding tracks.
I love iOS and I feel I will go mainly iOS at some point when the hardware and os catches up to desktop. That being said my recent foray into Ableton 10 was riddled with glitches and cpu spikes with a quad core i7 and 8gb ram, so my iOS “problems “ don’t seem too bad .
Reading this post and its nice to know im not alone, quite comforting 😆.
Luv’in ios👍🏼
So....for the short answer without the bla bla bla: Yes.
) but costs me a fortune (but it feels still worth it since it simple makes me happy to play with these tools.
The long answer with a lot bla bla bla:
As being more critic as the "usual" maybe i still say it´s worth it.
Using a lot tools at the same time like 30 arps with 20 delays and reverbs play as one instrument isn´t the best thing on iOS but it depends really of what i want to do. Really multi-touch optimized apps are of course fantastic on iOS (f.e. Animoog) and i still have unique tools on iOS which simple not exist (or they are much more complicated to use for similar results) like Mitosynth.
For me i also prefer different tools with different workflows. Would i love Logic on iOS? Sure! Do i think it will be as fluid to use as on my mac? No!
There are awesome synths on iOS which i love to play around but i would prefer to have the same tools on mac for editing/preset creation since this just works better for me inside a DAW like Logic where i see peak levels, how it works with third party FX, can put an arp to live play on it and whatever in seconds without a danger that it will crash after some minutes.
So easy said in a perfect world i just could get the same tools on all my machines and platforms (which is already the case with some synths).
So iOS is the jamming everywhere fun but for deep sound design it is a bit annoying to use for me.
Of course that might change as well with new idevices and iOS updates.
Most important is that the fun is still bigger as the frustration, whatever you might use.
Just pick the best out of everything or if you already find your perfect workflow....change nothing but build on it.
About prices....we already had that here but i still would say it can be free, cheap and expensive on all platforms depending on what tools you want to use. I mean i don´t feel really that i ever would need to buy another synth on iOS and on mac but my G.A.S. is on sample libraries which mainly not exist on iOS (can be a good thing for your money
Oh, if i could start from zero i would just buy Logic for mac and maybe 10% of all the the rest third party tools i bought in the last years.
On iOS i think i would/will be quite happy with NS2 as my main and only DAW and some of my favorite synths like Zeeon, Model D, DRC and a few others.
At the moment it´s the best for me to record these tools into Logic for further processing. But i also use a lot iOS sound sources to mangle them into mac tools and vice versa.
F.e. it´s great to have a cpu friendly multi sampled Zeeon and Model D layer with baked it high end delay and reverb to use that inside Alchemy for further sound design.
Or f.e. i like to export sounds from my favorite synth (P900) when it comes to analog/vintage/saturated sounds or outstanding physical modeling tools like Sculpture, Chromaphone etc. into Mitosynth and make an organic soundscape with the great vector synthesis on steroids with it, export it back and use it as texture with further processing.
Sometimes it´s really great what you can get if you put a sound to many stages of sound design. It doesn´t matter where it started or ended....the result is important.
You could do all three together
Ultimately a combination of both is going to be the winner fo rme I think, apps like Cubasis, Gadget and FL Studio that let you start on the iPad and then move the project to the desktop version for finishing, or those with Ableton Export like Groovebox and Launchpad.
Also, a good point about hardware, it is getting cheaper and cheaper so is much more viable than it used to be, people started using VST's because the cost was significantly lower than the hardware, the hardware prices are coming down. People started using apps because the cost was significantly lower than VST's...will the same happen with VST's ? Are the prices coming down ?
LMAO, this just made my day
I also think the convergence between mac and iOS might be happen finally in some years so it is just all a matter of taste in which size and form (but that might be obsolete as well with future devices).
My biggest problem was i´m waiting for something to solve something while we have so much things already to pick up and use. Just use what works best right now and don´t think too much what could be in some years or not.
Whatever you use, learned and the knowledge you collected it will help you with whatever platform, os, tools or device you might work in the future.
At this point i see no replacement for anything but an add on to what i know and have right now.
This is a very good point, stop looking over the fence at tomorrows, otherwise you will end up missing all of the todays.
The markets are still different and while many iOS apps seems extreme cheap it also works the other way where you get tons of VST for free or with insane one dollar promo sales for synths which cost 100. Or you invest more to start but then get free big or cheap upgrade offers. It also depends on what you might already own to build on.
The main difference for me is the amount you can spend with one plug-in vs. one app. Even the most expensive iOS app won´t be much over 50 dollar while in the desktop world it can go into 4 figures....
But then you can demo and even resell VST´s (not in all cases of course).
So you are going to do fishing and music, or music and craping, or fishing and craping? but not all three?
Indeed....so buy it all is the only way
If IOS is more complicated to you than just using a desktop, use the desktop, they are both just tools.
I suppose we could get a loo built into the studio
Also don´t try that you have to adopt too much to the tools and device but try that the tools have to adopt to you.
I have maybe 10 different workflows about how i trigger midi, perform FX, edit or whatever depending on which tools i´m working with.
Damn, the wisdom train has pulled into the station today.
And a fishing pond just outside the window !
I’m pretty much settling down with GR-16... and waiting to see what Song Mode brings.. And it’s not a matter of either desktop or iOS with it.. one can work well with both..
Just spent 20 mn with Blocswave inside Audiobus with some cool effects in the chain for tweaking a loop, and spent another 30 mn trying to recording the output to Blocswave input. That was partially broken, even while using AUM in the chain. Was working perfectly before on iOS11 or before some apps updates so yes, even doing something that simple can kills the workflow.
I wouldn’t have considered going back to desktop a couple of years ago, but prices and deals have been really good recently so I’m now 50/50 iOS/desktop.
Desktop gives me better multitrack editing and recording, and better quality sound, plus easy file management - iOS gives me fun and inspiration.
I couldn’t do without AUM and my AU’s, they’re an integral part of what I do now.