Loopy Pro: Create music, your way.
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Trying to find my way
I’m trying to find my groove with iPad music, I have a couple daws plenty of synths and loops and some drum machines but I struggle to find the best way to make music on my iPad but since I don’t have a midi controller I’m just struggling with it. I just can’t seem to find a good workflow creating music and could really use some suggestions please
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I have a few midi controllers but hardly ever have a need to use them. Mainly just for midi-ing up to parameters in miRack for easier jamming. I only work on screen with everything else for making tracks.
I used Gadget a lot in the past as it’s really easy to get something going, and although it’s considered as a bit of a closed box because it doesn’t accomodate AUv3, I had no trouble finding ways and workarounds to import loops and sounds I’d made with other apps into Gadget.
A workflow I’m currently exploring is to start something like a simple jam in AUM with 4-5 tracks, record the result and drop the audio file onto an audio track in Cubasis to act as a main part and guideline, and then continue to develop things further by over dubbing in Cubasis with other synths and bits and pieces. That’s working out very well for me at the moment.
Everyone’s different so there’s not one workflow that suits all. Have you checked this thread? https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/49575/what-s-your-current-workflow-top-apps
Will give you an idea on what everyone else is doing. For me I found my ‘flow’ by just playing around with apps and finding what worked for me. Usually I lay down a basic beat and just play around with synths until I find something I like then build upon it.
If I was to make a recommendation, it would be Korg Gadget for midi and Koala for samples as they are easy to use and I often create something every time I open them.
Midi controller is nice but not required, I have a few different controllers but never even use them, I mostly prefer on screen. In fact I don’t even use my iPad anymore I just use my phone, but that’s just my personal preference as it’s so portable to whip out and jam when ever.
You can search this forum for ‘workflow’ etc and read what others are doing, but ultimately you need to just play around and find your own setup for you.
You could also try starting with a loop from somewhere like https://www.looperman.com/ and build from that and watch YouTube videos on iOS music production.
What kind of music do you like to make?
Some are “workflow specific” on iPad.
But the majority benefit from a less is more approach. Take one DAW and learn it inside and out. Take a few synths or apps that take explicit advantage of the iPad as a platform and learn them inside and out. Knowing how to use the tools very well always helps with creating. And boundaries generally create more “freedom” in the sense of creativity.
You say struggle to make music, but do you really mean producing completed songs?
External midi keyboard is essential to me. I simply can’t make music without it. On screen keyboard is a workflow killer pain in the ass…
If I were you I would try a real keyboard, even a cheap one with mini keys.
Yes
This question is so wide open - it is really hard to know how to help you other than to point you to YouTube to find videos.
It might help if you made a video demonstrating what your current process is and show us where you get stuck. Based on the queries that you have posted over the last year or two, I would recommend that you find a teacher/tutor/mentor to give you lessons either live or in realtime.
You have indicated here and in other posts that you are looking for the "best way" or the best apps. There is no best way. There is no best app. You could make a professional quality release with any number of available apps -- including the free GarageBand. No discussion in a forum is going to unlock the key to making tracks.
If you aren't able to get started by watching tutorials and exploring on your own then I think you need a teacher. Many people are able to teach themselves -- but there is no shame in needing a teacher. While many here are entirely self-taught, I'd dare say that quite a few here have some sort of lessons or classes in their past that helped get them started.
It takes time -- many many many many hours.
I struggled in the past trying to find software/hardware combo . My suggestion for iOS is focus on one complete app ( Caustic3 , Korg Gadget, ZenBeats, Garageband, or Groovebox, Groove rider GR-16) , ignore at first AU effects/synths and don't try to finish a song , just enjoy the time creating music
As for the controller , it depends if you want pads, encoders , or just keys (and size)
I'll start by saying I'm not qualified to give advice to anyone. However, I'll pass along some things that freed my creativity and increased the fun I now have greatly.
I've learned that I work best if I mostly separate out phases of production: idea generation, sound design, arranging, and mixing/mastering. Those aren't hard lines but I do try to think as little as possible about the other phases when I'm focusing on any one of them.
I usually start with generating ideas. I'll start with whatever pops into my head. A beat, bass-line, chord progression, melody, or guitar riff. Then I hunt up any other sound that inspires me to go with it and poke around until I have another part worth capturing. I do my best to stay focused on ideas, and not get sucked into sound design. Rinse and repeat until I'm out of ideas. I forget entirely about arrangement. I'm just building a pile of bits and pieces that work well together, to arrange later.
Then I'll take one of those bits and think of something that would follow it well, like a chorus after a verse, or a bridge. Just one part though, not the whole pile. Then I start working up the other parts, referencing their counterparts for continuity. But again, not thinking a lot about sound design, arrangement, or mixing.
After I completely run out of steam I start to assemble the bits and pieces into an arrangement. Grid based apps like Drambo, Loopy Pro, and Zenbeats help me a lot, but what I'm really after is arrangement on a timeline. If I don't get there then I never finish a song. (Which is OK. A ton of stuff I had fun jamming out never gets that far. But I succeeded in having fun.)
Only after all that is it time for tweaking sounds, mixing, and finalizing things.
That's totally the wrong flow for others. I'm only saying what has freed me up from creative paralysis.
My instrumental EDM/Trance workflow...
Start with an 8-bar loop.
Now you have enough to start building a track from. Arrangement comes next.
(As you can see, I'm pretty piss-poor at explaining arranging, lol.)
Then comes the mixdown. Basically, use a highpass filter on each mixer track that isn't the sub bass or kickdrum without cutting out too much low end. (You don't want these mixer tracks to end up sounding thin.) Then, lower every mixer track all the way down except for the kick. Put a limiter on the master buss and lower the threshold until the kick starts triggering the limiter. Then pull the threshold up 1 or 2 dBs. This is the "sweet spot". Then start raising the volume of each mixer track one at a time, starting with the mid bass, then the lead, then the background instruments such as chords and pads and whatnot. Finally raise the sub bass up until it sounds right. Remove the limiter from the master buss.
Then for mastering, you can do it on your own or send the unmastered mix to a mastering engineer. (I usually do my own mastering) This is basically how I built this track...
...in Gadget 2.
If you're interested in reading about my live Ambient workflow, let me know.
There are a lot of great suggestions in these replies. I enjoy hearing and learning from other peoples workflows and trying ways I haven’t thought of yet.
I have a suggestion for you but I hesitate to give it because doing what I suggest will not give satisfactory results as far a quality of song goes. But for the specific problem you are having, I believe you have to completely give up on judging the quality of outcome - at least for a small amount of time.
You clarified that you are struggling to produce a completed song, so I suggest you complete 3 songs. That may sound overly simple and it’s supposed to. Relieve yourself of any need for quality of outcome. Have your only goal to be make three simple songs, start one, finish it and repeat until you have 3 finished ‘songs’.
These songs will not be good, they will not be something you are proud of beyond the basic goal met of bringing them into existence. Judging them on their quality will not make you feel good, and may have the opposite effect of making you feel like you are bad at making music.
If you put any focus on the quality of these three completed songs, you will be missing the point of this exercise, which is to decide on a basic song structure in a genre, pick out and create the individual elements, put them together, and come to an end point called ‘complete’ or ‘done’.
Do not spend much time at all on any individual element or any decision. Use your phones timer if necessary - 5 minutes to chart the song structure.
Intro - verse/body - buildup - drop/break - verse - outro/end
5 minutes each to choose or create 5 parts -
At this point you should be no more than 30 minutes in deciding the key/scale/genre/song structure/loops and sounds to be used. Don’t change anything, don’t go back to tweak anything, don’t judge yourself of the choices you’ve made.
Now arrange the basic song - no more than 20 minutes, strive for 10 minutes.
Finally, play the song, allow a small tweak or two - no more than 10 minutes. You only have 1 hour total from start to final output. Expect it to be poor quality in all aspects.
Repeat for song #2 & #3. Complete three songs. Bad songs. Then forget about them and do three more. Get to 12, call it the Bad Album, then erase them and think about the practical lessons you’ve learned about the mechanics of writing/producing the songs, not the creative or artistic merits.
This is not about art or creativity at this point, this is about mechanics. If you choose to try this method, I believe it will help greatly with the blockage you are experiencing. You just need to set aside expectation of outcome in regards to quality.