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Comments
I feel the same @symianbeatz. But I think also you have a TROVE of sounds in the ipad that you can send into your PC DAW. I’m personally counting on being able to play guitar into Ableton through the Nembrini amps on the ipad. (Please tell me that’s the case!)
Love Bitwig / Ableton / Logic / Cubase - spent way too much of my life using them for the past twenty years. Bitwig is really cool stuff, definitely probably my favorite desktop daw at this point - especially good with like a Dell XPS touchscreen laptop - really the good with touch controls.
But I gotta say, mabye I’m just burnt on being tied to a computer, the immediacy and freedom of being able to produce on iPhone / iPad mini is incredible. As a jazz instrumentalist first I really just want to record ideas fast. Don’t need midi to do too much leg lifting - recording is king at this point, everything needs to be a sample or a wav as soon as possible.
Koala is absolutely insane. The more I use it the more I’m amazed by the immediacy - midi map everything and becomes a crazy beast. you can even export the pads as drum racks with pitch adjustments / time stretching / sample start all in tact to Ableton if needed. Record ideas / import samples / Resample the output with fx / then bounce that to Cubasis and polish with Fabfilter / Unflitered Audio / Waves. Blows my mind I can do all this with such immediacy and freedom.
Ultimately it’s about immediacy and ergonomics- I can hold the iPhone in any position / walk around the city all day and capture ideas / it’s always ready to go. My wife is a crazy badass jazz pianist who knows Logic inside out - Koala is her favorite app now. She’s just recording herself playing over chopped up beats of drummers and sampling herself. Opening the laptop to try to record almost feels like a pain lol - ok mabye non that bad but I’m just sayin…
Also just using the iPad with all the sounds and synths and recording those into the desktop /
Laptop is a great way to go. So many good synths on iPad -‘so much cheaper too.
Just saying I don’t think it has to be either or - utilize the iPad just for sounds if that’s better and the more granular detailed production from a desktop app.
I guess I'm just lucky that I have all the major vst synths already on my desktop/laptop, the iPad synths can't really compete sonically with what I already own, add to that the limited nature of getting stuff over the finish line on an iPad and that's pretty much why I'm walking away.. best of luck to all you guys sticking with it though..
Hi @kdogg, I find some of your points contradictive but maybe I don't understand you correctly. You are in favor of Bitwig and for me, the big advantage of Bitwig is the modulation capabilities and the Grid. You wrote that you like to commit to audio early but I think you don't benefit much from these features of Bitwig in an audio-centered workflow. I would also be interested in why you prefer to polish a track in Cubase that you already have in Ableton.
TBH, since I bought a laptop and audio software for it some months ago I try to combine it with iPad but it doesn't work well for me so far. The biggest pain point is that I cannot just push the save button but have to pay attention to keep the desktop and the iPad part of the project in sync. For your amp use case, you may suffer from latency issues when using IDAM. I have an IConnect Audio 2+ but still latency is an issue. Maybe my buffers are too big. With Bitwig I'm enjoying all the modulation capabilities but wiring this up with an iPad synth is as painful as with a hardware synth.
I kind of gave up on using the iPad as an instrument or FX processor. Now my goal is rather using the iPad as a musical sketchbook and for sound design with synths using a touch UI. Scaler 2 is also perfectly usable for jamming on the iPad with touch UI and then using the progressions on the desktop.
@symianbeatz I also start to regret that I bought all these apps. Shame on Apple that you can't sell and transfer licenses. The only way out might be selling your whole Apple ID but I guess that's not feasible neither for you nor a potential buyer.
double post
Hey @krassmann , I guess I was gushing too much and made too many points lol. Oh I love Bitwig and use it to the fullest - the grid and modulation are fantastic, plug in sand boxing allows for so many cpu heavy plugins in session, tabbed projects, insanely good browser for presets - samples. I’ve done huge midi projects in it and the time stretching algos are amazing as well. I won’t list all the features but yeah it’s really forward thinking DAW.
I guess my point is that I’ve worked on the desktop DAW environment for a while now - big scoring projects in Cubase - beats and sound design in Ableton etc… and Logic to death. What I find most satisfying lately is just playing instruments and commiting it to audio and keeping things moving, recording my acoustic instruments / synths / audio out from the iPad synths and samplers. It’s easy to keep tweaking in the desktop but with Koala I just record into and create a huge library of my own samples.
Like the Moog Model D and Model 15 sound insanely good - just record the audio output of the iPad into the iPhone / or laptop or whatnot. Ableton link can sync pretty well most of the time. I’m guess don’t kill the magic by making it more complicated than it needs to be, so many cool apps on iOS - Samplr - Korg Gadget - Moog stuff - NanoStudio Obsidian - Zeeon, etc etc… Just play ideas and record the audio and keep it moving.
If you have an m1 or later machine, the funds on iOS are not completely wasted, since Ableton now supports AUv3. Not all iOS apps are there but at least it's a start.
Drambo on m1 is excellent and pairs well with anything with Link.
Oh yeah this is huge too - getting an M2 MB Air last month was a huge revelation. Sidecar is also awesome.
I was really disappointed about AUv3 in Ableton. The selection of apps is very small. Ableton has no AUv3 FX support. Most plugins suffer serious UI problems where using the mouse instead of touch is the least problem. Try navigating the preset browser in Zeeon for instance - impossible to use. Drambo works well, though.
@krassmann I think developers haven't made AUv3s partly because they were only supported by Logic, so the effort was wasted. I hope that now Ableton can host them things might get better.
But I am also disappointed in the lack of MIDI support, the poor UI (can't resize windows, so Drambo is utterly huge), and so on.
Just saw this thread. TBH I just splashed out for Arturia V Collection and I'm awaiting the arrival of an M2 MacBook Air to replace my Intel MBP. I've kind of given up on waiting for Logic or something like a real DAW to land on iPad. Now I can't decide whether I should stick with Logic or bite the bullet and go for Ableton. There are still software synths and sequencers on iPad that I love, so I'll have to figure out how to feed those to Logic.
@mjm1138 Ableton has a free trial so you can see if you like it. As for piping audio and midi from iPad to Mac, you can do it over a USB cable using iDAM.
Feeding iPad audio/midi to Logic/Ableton is best done over hardware. IDAM works over a usb cable but it’s got a fair bit of latency and it’s pretty temperamental.
As for Logic vs Ableton. I like both but prefer Ableton most of the time and Link is pretty bulletproof as a sync option.
I'm going to put a vote in for Logic, but Bitwig and Ableton will both get you to the same place. A positive aspect is the ability of the sampler to "sample" sounds. That is, to be able to directly record a sound from an input channel or from another track. The samplers in Ableton and Bitwig don't do this. You always seem to have to drop and drag a file in. It's not a massive thing, but I do like using the sampler as a recording device. Takes me back to the original hardware samplers I have used.
@mjm1138 I support what @mistercharlie said. Take some time, download demo versions and evaluate them. I did the same. We are living in a time where are many great DAWs to choose from. Upfront you should ask yourself if and how you want to use your iPad with your desktop setup.
If you want to use the iPad as a sound module, best get an iConnectivity audio interface (multiple bi-directional low latency virtual audio channels between iPad and desktop). IDAM is a pain. I personally planned to do this but actually I find it too complicated to always manage two computers for a project.
If you want to use the iPad as a sketchbook then Cubasis -> Cubase and Garage Band -> Logic is the natural choice. There are many apps that can export projects to Ableton Live, Korg Gadget for instance. Note that Bitwig has also Ableton Link and can also open Ableton projects - works great with Gadget and Launchpad projects, works bad with the Ableton Note app. There is a possible good usage of Drambo on an Apple Silicon Mac with Logic or Ableton. FL Studio also has an iPad app.
If you want to save money go for Logic, FL Studio or Reaper. I find Reaper really cool as it supports lots of modern stuff like Clap plugins.
If you do electronic music or Hip Hop go with Ableton or Bitwig. Both have a session mode and a timeline mode where you can easily record your session jam into timeline. Logic recently added a session mode but I don’t find it good. In these genres FL Studio is also strong but lacks too many “traditional” features.
I went with Bitwig because I love the modulation capabilities and the workflow. Especially the workflow of Bitwig is superior to all other DAWs. It has so many nice little tricks that just makes you more efficient. YouTuber Alckemy Neuro made a great personal comparison video between Ableton and Bitwig that just nails it and shows the strengths and weaknesses of both DAWs. Actually I bought Ableton, too. The DAWs with a rather traditional workflow like Logic, Cubase, Studio One, etc. are too old school for my taste.
Lots of good advice, thanks. I already own Logic since it’s so relatively cheap, and I have a Live Lite license since you can find those on the ground like pollen. As a hobbyist it’s hard to justify the cost of Live Suite but I do find the workflow/UI attractive. Maybe I’ll look for a used license. As for moving sound from iPad->Mac I can just start with exporting stems. Cheers!
I'll say this for Note -> Ableton vs. GarageBand -> Logic. Note is in many ways a more limited program than GB, but at least it's not claiming to be a DAW. GB has weird inconsistencies with the Logic workflow that make me a little crazy (want a pattern cell on your grid? too bad! Don't forget to manually add the instruments in your grid to the timeline, for some reason! We invented support for MIDI AUv3s! Want to use one in GB? FU buddy!).
BTW, for those of you in the market for a new Mac: I followed a link from "AppleInsider" to Adorama to purchase a MBA since they had a better price than anyone else, and I regret it. Adorama has been alternating between uncommunicative and misleading about when I might expect my Mac to ship, and has gone completely silent now that I've asked to cancel the order and get a refund. If I'd ponied up a bit more money I would have had the laptop (literally) weeks ago, now I'm really not sure when or even if I'm getting it, other than vague hand-wavy statements about "early February" (though my card has already been charged and the clock is already running on the AppleCare coverage for it).
So, Adorama is not it for buying a new Mac. Buyer beware.
I hear you! I went from ITB DAW to hardware to iOS, and now I'm back to mostly hardware with recording in my DAW and my iPad as a mixer and for fun stuff. As cool as the apps are on the iPad, it's a huge pain to try and do so much on it, and the touch screen is only so interesting.
They used to be a direct competitor in NYC to B&H, but then B&H just drank their milkshake. I'd definitely go to B&H first. And if you're ever in Manhattan, you should check out their store, which crazypants and awesome.
I've heard that! And yes, I'm trying to cancel the Adorama order so I can go to B&H, but getting severe runaround, to the point that I'm considering disputing the CC charge.
I had a great session with LPX last night, using my iPad with Logic Remote to control things. Not 100% sold on Logic remote, but in general I really enjoyed being able to do what I wanted in the DAW without running into software constraints (just knowledge constraints LOL).
New desktop arrived today now begins the arduous task of installing all my stuff and optimization for audio etc. It's nice having shiny new stuff but man do I hate the install cycle.. 1st world probs eh? nm though the laptop is still fully functional in the interim, put my iPad up for sale on eBay but it's pretty saturated on ther right now..
I’ve been Bitwig curious for a few years but this guy loses his argument with himself. I couldn’t live with everything that’s still missing, especially Max 4 Live.
I have sort of settled on Drambo and Ableton now. Drambo is just so handy, and can use all the AUv3s on my iPad, and its sequencer is way ahead of anything in Ableton. I put loopy pro inside drambo to capture loops.
But I am still using Ableton for gathering and arranging. It’s a bit like when I had an Octatrack. It was great for coming up with ideas, and for screwing with sound, but terrible for actually putting songs together. I’m kind of treating Drambo-on-iPad as a piece of hardware, and I like it.
Max, right. That's kind of the thing about Live for me. It seems like a lot of the more interesting stuff in that ecosystem is in the form of Max patches and you need to either get the full Suite, or pay for Standard + Max which is not that much cheaper than Suite. I understand it's still relatively affordable compared to what DAWs cost like 10 years ago, but I still don't feel like I have the skill or ambition to justify it. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but you need Max if you want to have a step sequencer in Live, right?
I think I'm gonna see how happy I can get with Logic before I invest in anything else. Especially since I just bought a bunch of Arturia instruments, it feels like I've got months of playing to do before I've plumbed the depths of what I have, and seen what I can do with the AUv3's that are now available for Apple silicon Macs. I'd pay good money to have everything from @brambos on my Mac, especially Rozeta Suite, but I guess I'd better not hold my breath for that.
After years of being iPad-only, I finally bought a DAW: Went with Logic Pro X. I really just wanted a real DAW with which to mix/master stems that I've exported from AUM (using Drambo as my primary midi sequencer for tracks). I've also struggled a little with taking input from my outboard synths and want to incorporate some live guitar/bass in my music soon. I have a Zoom U-44 card which I use to play/record some outboard gear as well. I could have used Reaper, and did for a little while, but the allure of the software instruments that come with Logic made it worth the extra $100 and so far I'm not regretting it. I'm a total hobbyist doing it for personal satisfaction, so I'm not looking to drop thousands on Spitfire, but may look into Kontakt + libraries eventually - if I take to doing more cinematic score stuff.
This thread has a lot of good workflow ideas, and it's been inspiring to read, so I thought I'd add mine. I'm pretty happy with this setup so far. Next thing to figure out is how to record directly from the iPad, if possible (or desired), and also to incorporate some other software I've purchased like FL Studio and Renoise, probably with ReWire.
I think that’s why he is using both. Max for Live is cool but the learning curve is steep. I didn’t manage to do anything by myself so far, while it was easy for me to get started with Bitwig’s Grid because of my experience with Drambo. There are really cool M4L devices, though. Well, both environments have their pros and cons.
I went to a few Max classes, which helped a lot, it is complex and getting feedback from an expert, if you can, is better than trying to learn from YouTube. I’m still scraping the surface, always will be, but you don’t need to know anything to download interesting free (and paid) patches. My current dilemma is upgrade to Live 11 or get Bitwig? I think it’s going to be 11 and continue to watch Bitwig’s development from the sidelines. Both are amazing at the end of the day.