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Meteor - The best "middle ground" DAW?
Looks like Meteor just got a nice update including an increase in track count (now up to 24 tracks), Audio engine optimisations and improvements to MIDI.
I still haven't purchased a major iOS DAW yet, but each time I look at the contenders (Beatmaker 2, Cubasis, Auria) I keep coming back to Meteor as the best compromise right now for my needs.
My intended workflow is layering a bunch of iOS synths/drums via Virtual MIDI and Audiobus, and maybe recording a track or 2 of guitar via the Apogee Jam. Auria is out right now (No MIDI yet), Cubasis is iffy (No CC automation yet), Beatmaker 2 is a possibility but seems more oriented towards its Sampler which is not really a focus for me (no need for sample chopping etc.) and interface doesn't seem that great.
Meteor seems like it should fit the bill, but doesn't appear to get much love around this community. The feeling I get is "decent program... but now back to Beatmaker/Cubasis for my actual work". I know there is the "I have them all and use everything depending on my mood" camp, but I'm not really that kind of person... too many tools gets me too distracted and I can never finish anything.
So, is anyone actually happy with Meteor as their main DAW? Or is it more "Wait until Cubasis adds more MIDI features and better effects" or "Wait until Auria gets MIDI and buy an iPad 5"?
Comments
I am. It's awesome. The only real problem i had was the small track count which is now somewhat fixed. I could still use more then the 24 in some cases but I'm happy with it.
If we are talking universal DAW then I'd go with BM2 for sure.
Thanks Ryan; I'm working mostly on my iPad 3, so universal isn't really a factor for me.
No problem. I also use iPad 3rd gen. I noticed the meteor devs are really trying to make their app better. There have been two great updates since it got audiobus and the first one they included a feature i had requested only days earlier. Really impressive.
Anyhow after i read your post again I guess I should mention that BM2 is way easier to use then meteor is. I know it doesn't look great at first but trust me, It has some really really great features. I know you say you don't need the sampler but it might just be that you don't realize yet what it can do. It's really amazing. :-) I still recommend meteor as a DAW because of how you can automate just about anything vol/pan/fx/etc.. but BM2 is awesome for other reasons. I really can't see anyone being disappointed with it. So i thought I better mention that. lol
I use Meteor since the begin with an iPad 2 and I think, before Auria is the best Audio quality App for making and mastering Music, have real good effect (in-app purc) with Side-Chain Compressor (and Auria don't have it) and the Virtual Analog Synth is really beautiful.
@Ryan
Could you elaborate a bit on Beatmaker 2 being "way easier to use"?
Unless you're exporting out to a desktop daw (Ryan, ur doing that right?), Auria can do 24 bit recordings. i love bm2 but im even consiering buying an ipad just for auria. Think of all the bands and artists you love, are they tracking to 16 bit?
I find the interface more intuitive in the track view. The way you can edit things and copy and paste and edit on the fly makes putting a full song together really easy.
I recommend that you get both. What one doesn't do well the other does. If you just get one for iPad and all you want is to record tracks, get meteor. It's more expensive but worth it. Then later on grab BM2 if only for the Keyboard Sampler, which given the right samples is one of the best instruments on ios. IMO. :-)
@gjcyrus No, I am not exporting to desktop daw. MT DAW and Meteor do 24bit audio and i believe bm2 does as well btu am not positive about that, i know you can export 24bit in bm2.
The info about 16/24bit is useful for those doing live recording or pulling from outside sources (like a desktop or laptop), but not so important for the OP (busker). He stated that he is using iOS synths for the most part and nearly all (all?) are 16/44.1. And I think Audiobus won't handle anything other than that. I'm not sure about any of the above mentioned, but many DAWs on iOS can't handle mixed bitrates (some tracks at 16 and others at 24) so having synths at 16 and vocals and/or guitar at 24 may be a no go.
I believe MrNezumi is right. If you're using Audiobus I'm pretty sure you're coming down to 16 regardless of the source. I would second Ryan's opinions about BM2 being great. I *do actually record on the go sometimes on my iPhone, and it's a universal app so that does make it even more attractive to me. But I find that I just know the interface better than almost any other app. I've owned it since the week it was released and I can move around pretty well in it. I think the interface can be a little daunting for first time users, but once you get in and play for a little while it gets a lot easier. I think the midi editor in it is better than the one in Cubasis. The ability to load samples shouldn't be overlooked even if you don't think you'd use the chop functionality. If I were only going to bite the bullet on one, I'd get BM2 personally. In the spirit of full disclosure I'll admit that I don't own Meteor, though. I do own Auria, MT DAW, BM2, AND Cubasis. They all have their strengths and weaknesses as you've clearly already read, but I think BM2 is my favorite out of those (for recording at least - Auria is always going to win for mastering because the sounds you can get out of it are superior imo to anything else on iPad).
http://discchord.com/blog/2013/3/13/meteor-multitrack-recorder-not-really-multitrack-recording.html
Now that's a show stopper for me.
Yeah you can only record one track at a time with meteor. For me it doesn't matter.. I never do more then one track at a time anyhow. Infact I barely ever record directly into it. It's my final mastering mixdown solution. Auria would be better I'm guessing but it is way more expensive and hard on the cpu.. If i ever get an iPad5 or 6 or whatever I'll probably get it. As @boone51 said BM2 is just easier to quickly record into. For the price (no IAP's), the keyboard sampler and it being universal it is probably the best daw for ios. It's the only one I have that I can create my own realistic virtual instruments in. :-)
If that limitation ever affects me I'll use one of the other DAWs, until then... Meh.
Being limited to single track recording is not an issue for me, considering I have only one audio interface (Apogee Jam) which is limited to a single channel anyway.
However I'm starting to get the feeling I should just grab Beatmaker 2, try it out for a while and if it doesn't meet my needs move on to one of the more expensive DAWs. I suppose I could use BM2 as a drum generator at the very least if it didn't work out for me as a DAW.
I realize that the reality of the current iOS audio scene is that there is no perfect DAW, I'm just really trying to avoid "I start the composition in this app, then move to this one for arranging and finally export to this for mastering". This kind of workflow really saps my motivation.
For me, music creation should be a free and fluid process, and interruptions and technical details tend to kill that feeling. I pretty much make music for my enjoyment, and if I'm not enjoying it, I just won't do it.
@busker said:
" I pretty much make music for my enjoyment, and if I'm not enjoying it, I just won't do it."
True dat!
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so,does it mean i can't record 3 audiobus sources at once as well?I'm not interested in meteor (happy with cubasis,auria,BM2 and MDAW)just asking...although i would not like to miss this feature,i record like ths all the time in cubasis...
Crabman, you just blew my mind. 3 stereo audiobus inputs record simultaneously to three separate Cubasis stereo tracks?!
For me the DAW that I keep going back to for song writing and development is still GarageBand. Although it's limited compared to others, it makes it very easy to put a band arrangement together and overall sounds very good. But really I'm only mucking about till I have Auria with MIDI on an iPad 6.
@Htmx:yes,thats what i'm talking about
And it works flawless and is easy to setup.
@busker, I also use an apogee jam to record, but I actually record two tracks at once quite often with it. I like to preserve my dry copy at the same time as recording my wet tones just in case I want to revisit it sometime in the future.
@boone51, Wet and dry tracks are definitely a valid use case, but as I would be using something like Jamup in the Audiobus effects slot (rather than using the effects in the DAW), I assumed that I couldn't bypass the effect to get a simultaneous dry out. Is this possible?
@Crabman, What iDevice are you using? And can you give me an example of 3 input apps you might record together without suffering from crackles / dropout?
Yes, it's possible (in MTDaw and Auria anyway - haven't checked out BM2 yet but I'd be very surprised if it wasn't in there too). Basically you just do the traditional recording method for your dry input (within the app, no AB). Then just use AB to record to a different wet track like you normally would.
Ah, thanks for clarifying that. I had an assumption that Audiobus "took over" the inputs when enabled, but what you are saying makes perfect sense.
No problem. Glad I could help.
@Simon That response was me, actually. I never assumed from the description that Meteor could simultaneously record more than one track. It's digital, it's multitrack, it's a recorder, it's a DAW. All those things are true. I don't think he's lying, plus I don't care about recording multiple tracks at once. My point is that neither do most of the reviewers, but that the review mechanism is a good place to highlight stuff like this, so that potential purchasers can make informed decisions and devs can do likewise about future developments. Swearing at a dev from an internet soapbox is not the best way to promote change, IMO.
@Busker: i have an iPad 4 and use various input combinations of Animoog,Magellan/Magellan Jr,Sunrizer/Sunrizer XS,Wavemapper,Nlog,DM1,Beatmaker (the Drumsampler as an input).
Latency in Audiobus is set to 512 but not because the pad is too weak,i have to do it because cubasis is playing"too late"after i recorded the files and its set to 256.Everything sits tight on 512 though.I dont have to trim the clips.But Beatmakers midi timing was quite shaky,have to test it a little more because everything was on in the background like WLAN,Browser,i guess even skype...
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i have meteor auria and bm2....i love meteor and i use it more than the others...but auria seems to be my choice for mastering it sounds really good...bm2 is also nice but i really cant find to many synth sounds i like....i use alot of lush pads...i guess thats why theres audiobus....its awsome
oh forgot to mention i also have garageband.....its awsome
@Crabman Yeah, i figured you might be using an iPad 4. I have a feeling that type of setup would strain my 3 too much. I'll probably be picking up the iPad 5, whenever that gets released.