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getting audio files onto iPad these days?
I'm getting ready to do some work with Borderlands Granular and a couple other sample apps and wondering what is the best way to copy audio files to my iPad. I've never used samples on my iPad before. I get the impression there are several ways to go about it.
Would be great to have a folder with samples I would like to access for any app if that's even possible.
Thanks for any pointers!
Greg
Comments
Might depend on where you're coming from. ICloud is seamless enough if you're coming from a Mac. Plenty of iPad apps save directly to iCloud too so it can be great for moving stuff back and forth.
I use Google drive for my main storage on Windows so I also transfer stuff that way. Not as seamless an experience, but works too.
Thank you. I'm in a iMac. So would create a folder on my iMac with the audio files and make sure it's on the cloud and use Files to access it on my iPad?
I usually use a Wi-Fi transfer app for moving a few files from my PC, and a USB/SD card adapter thing via lightning port when transferring a lot.
Thanks! Where on the iPad do you keep them? Is there a folder or location that is generally best?
I make a folder using the Files app. Anywhere in “on my iPad” area. Name it anything, Or I just copy the folder from the SD card as it is.
Thanks so much! Then I assume that folder will be accessible in most any app? using import or open?
AirDrop from Mac to iPad?
Or if your files are in AudioShare, that app has a "Wi Fi Drive" feature - tap on the blue icon at the bottom left of the app. Then you can use your Mac's web browser to get to the files and copy them across.
I'm often mounting the WebDAV servers of Drambo and Readdle Documents over WiFi in MacOS Finder ("Connect to server..").
Documents isn't too bad when used as a generic sample storage with audio preview function.
Indeed. Apple finally caved and adopted a somewhat normal approach to files and folders on mobile devices.
Exactly, quite simple really. Any changes you make are accessible by both devices, all the time. Plus online backup. Hard to beat IMO.
Airdrop all day!!! It’s black magic, and I’m here for it. 🪄
Edit: although, rereading your post, iCloud might be best for your specific purposes. Still love some Airdrop though
Multiple options.
Several of the cloud services available show up in the files app, like Dropbox, Google cloud, etc… just a case of moving them onto the service, logging into the service on iPad and using files app to move onto My iPad.
You have the desktop option, plugged into a Mac or PC
You have the external storage option, with a CCK or USB C adapter
Airdrop if going from iDevice to iDevice.
WebDAV or FTP/SFTP, although I’m not quite sure how to use those…
There’s also apps and websites out there, some free some paid, that help in the sharing/transfer/moving process. WeTransfer (web or app), Flying Carpet (app) ShareIt Pro (app) and many others.
Also… Before moving anything of decent size it definitely helps to compress whatever into a zip before moving.
SMB share of my NAS server.
when it comes to data exchange, SMB it's the most hassle-free network protocol of those supported by iOS / macOS
(trust me, i'm a senior system administrator, actually tried them all and know what i'm talking about).
also, NAS is a thing you have quite a few of devices (iPads, laptops, desktop computers, etc etc).
so i got used HP MicroServer gen8 for cheap and store all my stuff there.
so, you can create a file share on your Mac, mount it on your iPad (this is done from Files app) and copy your stuff with Files app.
those fancy cloud storages are probably a little bit simpler to use (because one doesn't need to know anything but login/pasword), but hey, do you really want to upload your stuff to some remote storage and then get it from there every time when you just want a copy on iPad?
Note that while it’s simple enough to manually import files from iCloud, some apps that instead draw their range of samples from a user-designated custom folder won’t play with cloud services.
Playbeat and Loopmix, for example, won’t let you point them to your drum sample and loop libraries as permanent sources if they’re on iCloud. I assume this is because their sample picker interfaces would have to account for whether a file is actually downloaded. (????)
Like others have said, iCloud works okay, sometimes extremely slow, but worth it because of integration everywhere and no additional setup or apps needed.
Remember when I got both Audiobus and Audiocopy after thinking they were essential, but for me the Files app does everything I need when not managing huge libraries, that's done on a macbook anyways. There Finder is good enough to let me manage lets say 10k pictures, using colors.
The "just works"-factor have made me always try to maximize my use of 1st party app potential. I really like GB on MacOS, but hate it on iOS. Pages is awesome, so is iMovie. They take you far enough to pay for the professional third-party (where's the second one BTW?) ones when more advanced stuff is needed.
Another vote for Airdrop, it's so stupid easy and fast these days.
iCloud is great. Just remember that you have zero control over what stays on your device. It’s fine when you’ve got decent internet all the time, but when you don’t and iOS decided you didn’t need that file locally, you’re out of luck.
Airdrop is the bomb, but of course there’s no sync so you have to keep track of what is where.
Personally I use Airdrop all the time between all my Apple devices. I don’t need to be connected to any servers or clouds or networks. The easiest way to transfer items in Apple world. It’s direct and immediate and I can save the file I transfer to any location I choose on the receiving device.
This has never happened to me. Just make a local duplicate and it will stay forever. I control 100% what is on my ipad except for how a few apps handle files in their internal folders.
There's some great answers already. But, if you want to transfer between files between iPad and any device that has a web browser you can check out Media Assistant by Duc Anh Nguyen on the app store. It's free for the base app, which includes a file transfer function, and a few other nice features, and I use it to copy files from my PC to my iPad and back all the time.
Really? I’m just curious about this now… when I move sample packs it seems to be way quicker and smoother to move, for example 5 zip files in a folder, then moving thousands of individual files and dozens of folders from those unzipped packs.
Is there a specific reason you are advising against this?
I don’t zip my videos since I only move a few occasionally.
I realized I forgot to mention this one and wanted to come back and throw it out there. Glad you did.
WiFi drive in AudioShare… unless you need to transmit folders/sub folders…
I just pulled hair recently trying google drive, iCloud, etc… I’m on PC so no airdrop.
Finally gave up and just used a usb stick and files app. Easy, and fast.
Did you try a Windows (SMB) file share? It should work. But of course not well for large folder structures ... because Apple. Still, you can set up a share on the PC, hook up to it, and then place that in your favorites. For small stuff it works once you obtain the advanced technical degree needed to figure out how to set it up.
It's good to make a ZIP archive if you're moving a large number of files. But it's not so much because of compression (which will indeed be useless or even make files slightly bigger with most audio and video formats), but because most network file transfer protocols have significant overhead for starting the transfer of a file. So reducing the number of transferred files is what makes a ZIP file faster, not the compression.
(the best way would actually be to use an archiver without compression, i.e. one that just "bundles" the files, like UNIX 'tar'.)