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Is iOS too unstable to make music?
I love making music on the iPad, but recently I’m considering switching to the Mac. The problem is the lack of stability. I find myself troubleshooting some kind of problem more than half the time I just want to create music.
Because my work is primarily guitar-based (with a lot of support from weird apps on the iPad) I really suffer when I hit glitches. It takes me right out of the zone.
Here are a few recent problems:
- Lost audio input into GarageBand (common).
- Blocs Wave audio stops working (also quite common).
- AUM crashes (rare, but catastrophic).
On top of this is the lack of basic necessities, like exporting stems from GarageBand, which forces one to waste time to work around them, plus Apple bugs like the recent crackling CPU overload on the new iPads Pro.
My iPad is very stable in general. It’s just music apps.
It’s all got me thinking about getting a Mac Mini, and one of those Luna Display dongles to use my iPad as a touch-screen display for the Mac. The obvious problem here is that my favorite apps won’t be available. I guess I could use GarageBand or Logic on the Mac, and pipe the audio from the iPad through my mixer. To be honest I haven’t really thought this through yet.
Any thoughts? Are any of you suffering similar problems? Any solutions?
Comments
I am pretty flexible with what I like to make and how so I just adapt my process/tastes to fit what I can do. If I hit on something unstable, usually it is reproducible and not completely random so I just learn to avoid that situation/app/process/what have you. So yah on iOS there are craters, scorched earth, no go zones etc for me, but so be it, overall I can still get my groove on etc.
Sounds to me like NS2 would be the answer for you. Stability, stem export , etc.
I think without audio tracks though it may be awkward. I personally can't get into the Slate audio/chop thing. At least with my guitar playing it would be a nightmare.
No, but I am 🤣
@mistercharlie it might be the “lots of weird apps” your using :-)
I will never go back to desktop - getting far more work completed on ipad - maybe use what works ipad pro 1st or 2nd generation I have that and my Air2 running smooth.
Also a good idea try not to link too many apps to interact etc .
Depends on what you're trying to do. There are more than enough apps to make music, but if you're looking for something specific you might run into problems. Best approach is to find reliable apps and developers, and work within those reliable parameters.
I like NS2 but the lack of audio tracks makes it impossible right now. Looking forward to updates.
Ha! They’re not that weird. Just weird-sounding.
This may be my problem. If I stick with GB only, I have fewer problems. Until it stops taking audio input.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my iPad, especially for music. It’s just that it can be frustrating when it doesn’t work right.
IMO - I want everything on my Mac eventually, so that I can have full access to any ideas I make well into the future.
(for film soundtracks, games, installations, & production work)
This is my day job - so everything is all about ideas, quick access to them, file systems with easy storage, and to know that if I open an idea I did 5 years ago - BANG - it opens exactly where I left it, with all plug-ins working.
I tried IOS but found WAY too many issues, incompatibilities, glitches, puny amounts of ram for larger projects, abandoned apps, midi timing issues with many apps - and IOS changes that keep compounding the above problems.
I use both of my iPads extensively in the creation process - and would never trade them.
I either work in one of two ways: Track directly into mac via IDAM (mostly) - or stay on IOS to get a certain idea to a point (early) where I then export stems / midi files etc and get them over to the Mac.
If you see that in the future you may need access to the ideas you create today, then I suggest using a Mac - get the hell away from IOS as soon as an idea is ready to push over.
If it is a hobby - do what works best for you.
But if in 10 years time a friend passes one of your tracks to a film director and they want to put it in a major film, they often want to be able to change the mix, turn vocals up/down/extend sections/edit etc.
If they cannot (because all you have is a stereo mix, and the App is gone/or IOS has changed and becomes unable to open) - you will need to completely re create the track, with the exact sounds/automation/filters/EQ's - or lose the gig.
It’s an all-consuming “hobby” right now, so I’m more interested in removing the glitches and frustrations. Most of what I do ends up in GarageBand, so that is hopefully fairly future proof, although I worry about AU effects.
A Mac with IDAM is an interesting idea. Especially if I use the iPad as the Mac’s wireless monitor. The Mac would effectively show up as an app on the iPad. Stick Logic or Live in there and you’d have quite a setup.
Any reason why you haven't tried Cubasis yet? It exports stems too. GB has issues and lately, Apple is not testing it enough before dishing out updates which is why I gave up on it.
+1
This is the reason why I use apps from vendors with a successful track record - even though their apps lack features as of now. One day, all DAW apps would do more or less the same on iOS as they do now on desktop.
It won’t replace a computer any time soon, but it is a super usable maschine by its own...with a lot of flaws
I’d never go back to Mac at this point. I’m already on my last two iPads as it is.
There are definitely some irritations with working on iOS (file system, exporting, stability with some apps, as you mention.) But I haven’t had any catastrophic data loss so far in the 1 1/2 years I’ve been producing on iPads.
There’s always a way around a problem in iOS, unlike on macOS. And the portability can’t be beat.
Agree with the sentiment to find a number of go-to apps by certain active developers and stick with those instead of trying to download everything under the sun. Fewer tools overall improve stability and give you the added benefit of becoming a master at what you have.
That NS2 looks pretty dope though...!
@AudioGus : I should have included the caveat “After June”.. But when audio becomes available that might be the answer for him
I think in contrast to laptops or desktops, Ive found issues are reproducable in iOS at least. I attribute that to an overall simpler system. So there are apps and even app combinations Ive sworn off, and then (knocks on wood), it has been stable.
It’s certainly cheaper on IOS
Yah I spent a lot of time with Cubasis. (or maybe you were replying to the OP?)
Oh yah, I am finding it impossible to not get my hopes up waaaay too high for NS2 audio tracks.
Someone on the forum was teasing about a multitrack audio editing app in the works that would likely make me pee myself... was that you @brice ?
Yep, it was a reply to the OP
Both is best for me. Looking forward to getting a new Mac mini soon but I will continue to use my iPad and iPhones etc for what they do best which is as sound modules or midi controllers. All DAWs on iOS are sorely lacking in one big thing (for me) which is time signatures and tempo changes. I know a few of them can supposedly do this but I’m not motivated to spend time or money to find out
If all you want to do is “produce” EDM then iOS might be ok.
Great for 'experimental' or 'avant garde' too cough
Computer DAW's are totally superior for music production- specifically editing and mixing. But, I think that is only important if you are a professional, where the product is more important than enjoying the process. They aren't necessarily superior for music creation, or as an environment for creativity. I think one of the reasons musicians don't feel like using them, is if they have a job where they are on the computer all day... when you come home you probably don't feel like getting back on it.
For an iOS'er contemplating jumping ship to a mac, a couple things I would ask them: Do you need the depth of production of a modern DAW? A lot of musicians don't. Do you have a year to learn a DAW in depth? Not everyone has the patience to get to a point of payoff with fluency. Do you feel creative, at a desk, working on the computer?
One little thing to add, about using the ipad as a touch screen monitor for the mac, it isn't that great. The interfaces and controls just aren't designed for touch, and the screen is really small. When I've set it up, with duet, after a few minutes I've ended up just using the mouse to click things on the ipad screen, because it is easier. Better to get a giant monitor and enjoy the space to keep a bunch of windows open at once. The DAW remote apps work pretty good, too, as an alternative, especially Logic Remote.
One of the cooler uses of duet, was to get a plugin sized to the screen, and move the knobs. That was ok, but I realized, in mixing, you are opening a plugin, tweaking something, closing it, opening a different one, tweaking, closing... it wasn't that helpful having a dedicated screen for like, one plugin.
If you can afford it, get a Mac imo. For years now, the iPad has been a promising, but „experimental“ and therefore unstable platform. It’s getting better (AUv3), but only slowly. Desktop software is light years ahead, and I guess it’ll stay that way for a while.
(Still though, you should try a different sequencer.)
If you use the right tools, it's not unstable at all.
I think your finished production versus creation is a very important point. And I reread the original post and think I may have been too much assuming a similar usage case as my own.
I only use an iPad for creation and relatively lightweight live drum, bass, synth duties. Mixing an effects are done externally.
Even the iPad pros have a fraction of the power of my desktop. A full typical song would melt one....e.g. 2 or 5 effect plugins per track, extremely multilayered sample engines (e.g. BFD has hundreds of velocity/rr layers per drum articulation), some of my Kontakt instruments have a hundred), 3 or 4 permutations of a reverb for mix placement on 3 or 4 buses, etc. etc.
Not having track templates, tempo maps, copyable automation envlopes, amp sims with dynamic speaker emulation, spectral editing....hot keys and even macros for the above.
Mainly yes if you want tools which exist on both platforms. But otherwise if you already would own a mac and a DAW or are fine with the free GarageBand you would be good to go without spending another dollar for decades. There is almost for everything you can get for iOS tons of free stuff and in some cases even much better (especially orchestral things) than „expensive“ payed apps.
But if you like the iOS/multi-touch-screen workflow there is only iOS. If you don‘t need 100 instances of Fabfilters in any DAW and buy them per bundle on a sale, yes, iOS might get you cheaper here.
But it‘s only true if you bound yourself to specific apps.
Otherwise iOS is more expensive (not talking about the hardware here) to get a wide and good variety of tools.
Righty right - in fact cannot even remember that IOS was 'unstable' at any point in time.
(which in my case started with the iPad One, and that's still on duty for certain tasks)
But I never tried to fake the common desktop approach.
I was sold to IOS within a few hours by Multitrack-DAW (best virtual tape machine ever), Animoog, SamplR and iElectribe plus Audiobus.
Enough to jam for hours and hours, collect new ideas, overdub and re-arrange stuff.
Today with Auria Pro there's additional top fx processing with studio grade mastering.
I dislike a couple of things like endless menus, an overcrowded channel strip looking more like channel pancake, and pinch/swipe editing without a zero line in zoom, etc.
But it's nevertheless a capable arranging tool.
I would just use it without complaint, if there weren't SawStudio and Pro Tools 5 TDM on 2 of my other machines.
Both are real oldies without fancy gui, but with lots of productivity features instead.
But both DAWs are way off from contemporary 'instant success' expectations, let alone an intuitive, self explanatory mode of operation.
You HAVE to learn them.
Which took me about a month or two for PT5 (as an already experienced DAW user) and that thing looked ugly as hell in the beginning.
I'm convinced that a similiar approach will work equally well with respective IOS counterparts - if you take the time to explore the app(s) in detail.
BM3's workflow is a mystery for me atm, but I found a couple of things I liked in sample processing applied to short sequences - instead of building full tracks.
This will probably grow to some more use and maybe expand to full tracks one day.
The main 'problem' with IOS is that there's always a next big thing right around the corner... or 'real soon..,' which tempts to do the app hop once again.
I've created several songs in Gadget without a single problem (as long as I remember to save them!). Easy.
Skipped the thread, but my answer is sometimes. It can be enormously frustrating when you have a great idea ready to go and the software won't cooperate.