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Current iOS -> desktop DAW method?
I've sort of lost the plot on this. How do we/you now get audio from iOS apps/daws into - and synchronized with - a DAW running on a desk/laptop?
Audio over USB seems like the obvious path, but the connection details are slightly baffling. Do we just use a standard audio interface and jump the gap in analog?
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Hi. If the computer is a Mac, I believe you can still use IDAM to directly connect the iOS device to the computer. This gives you one-way audio (to computer) and bidirectional MIDI. The connection to the iOS device must be direct to its USB-C or Lightning port, but the computer can use a USB hub if desired.
Alternatively there are audio interfaces with two USB host ports, that can connect to an iOS device and a computer, and route audio and MIDI between them.
@uncledave I've only ever seen one dual-device interface, by iconnectivity, that appears to be out of production. Can you recommend anothe?
You just use the Audio/MIDI Setup app on a Mac, and any connected ide ice should just get picked up for you to do the IDAM routing.
It will vary from DAW to DAW, but once you have the connected device set up it’s generally pretty intuitive.
Oh wow. The iConnectivity Audio 4c is discontinued already! 😐
@garden - the Lewitt Connect 6 has similar functionality, but without midi. There are others, mainly geared toward podcasters, starting to come out. I forget the brands and models though.
Mac or PC? That's an important question.
iDAM is useful for Mac, without having to deal with interfaces.
Important note: if using iDAM, you can't have an audio interface or USB midi device connected to the iOS device because the USB cable functions in a USB host role, so you have no opportunity to be able to connect other peripherals. All peripherals would need to be connected to the Mac.
Bluetooth midi will work to the iOS device though.
Also, midi devices connected to the Mac won't automatically be able to get midi to the iOS device. You can send midi from DAWs, etc, to the iOS device, but connected peripherals won't have the routing on their own. That can be worked around using a router app such as MidiPipe on the Mac.
It looks like iDAM and Studiomux might cover the essentials for iOS to Mac and Win. Any thoughts on Linux?
Studiomux sucks. When it does work (not often) there's latency to deal with. You're better off with export and import.
In fact, unless live input is absolutely required, it's a whole lot more efficient to simply export to audio files and transfer in one of the many available ways, 99% of the time.
With live input you have all the connection hassles. If you use two interfaces you have loss of quality in digital to analog to digital conversion. You get latency and end up having to take the time to offset audio anyway. It's just not worth it unless your workflow really requires it.
If you can deal with the high latency, Sonobus is a somewhat viable cross-platform option, including Linux.
I always give up on it due to latency and intermittent audio glitches. But it's way better than Studiomux and is free.
Yah I just have two Roland Duo Captures and cable em up. This or just export stems/AUM recordings to google drive. There used to be a native little audio out plug thingy on the ipad, that was great!
I wish you could use the Axe One by IKM on iOS for the reamp feature. It would still need two interfaces, but it would then have all the connections I need. Those being ability to pass MIDI back and forth, have inputs on both Mac and iOS, and run audio from iPad to Mac. But it appears the Axe One only works on desktop.
That thing is weird, too. It only works on one of my Mac USB ports. It doesn’t like the camera adapter - especially on the iPad. If I plug it into the camera adapter it won’t cut on. Even more strange, anything I plug into the adapter afterwards isn’t recognized. I have to unplug everything for any other interface to be detected afterwards.
Your Axe One may draw too much current for the iPad Camera Adapter. I believe it only allows 100 mA (at 5 Vdc), which is the minimum a USB-A port must supply. And once excess current draw has been attempted, the adapter becomes really fussy. If your camera adapter has a parallel power port, like the current Lightning adapters, connecting a power source can help a bit.
I think IDam looks really interesting and I will try it at some point when I can add another usb c port with a new hub.
Just in case the OP has any hardware to use as an audio interface another option is AbletonLink. I use an SP404mk2 as my audio interface for my Minilogue XD and iPad, with the mixed audio of both going through the SP and into my Mac’s audio interface.
I do record audio straight in at times, but for multiple tracks of audio, I record them in AUM and send them over wirelessly to my Mac as audio stems once I’ve got the tracks sounding right with the tracks on the Mac. Basically I’m running iPad tracks in sync with my Mac DAW via Ableton Link.
I’ve found Ableton Link to work really well. Also, AUM gives me plenty of options for having multiple fader tracks for each app so I can record dry audio stems while still having fx on sounds while making music. AUM is just so useful for trying something different and recording to send to my Mac.
Just some more thoughts to add to the other great ways that iPads compliment Macs
For the iPad use a powered hub and plug the Axe One into the hub and the hub into the camera adapter
Just to be clear: The USB connection to the iPad/iPhone has to be the HOST connection. The connection to the Mac has to be a GUEST connection. Any hub that you want to use can only be connected to the Mac via the hub's host port, then the cable coming from the iPad/iPhone has to go to one of the guest ports on the hub. You can't use a hub at all on the iPad/iPhone with iDAM.
I'm not sure what you mean. Ableton Link doesn't transport any audio. It only supplies timing sync, and only works over a network (wifi or ethernet).
So, it sounds like maybe what you're saying is Link works well to do the sync and start stop of iPad/iPhone DAWs so that you can play and monitor something from a DAW on the Mac, sync an iOS DAW to it with Link, record what you need in the iPad/iPhone, then export easily to the desktop? That's a good workflow. Even with iDAM you usually end up needing to nudge tracks a little bit due to latency. That's usually not an issue with exported stems.
Yeah I’m using the Apple USB-C adapter with the charging port along with Apple brick/cable for power.
This sounds promising.
Ok, the powered hub into the adapter worked!
I realize now this actually doesn’t solve the two way audio issue, but maybe it’s a step in the right direction? I guess if each the Mac and iPad had a reamp box you could hard wire the audio and MIDI both ways.
I’m also realizing I don’t know how much use I’ll really get from two way audio. There’s some good effects on my iPad, but it’s slowly feeling redundant fx wise.
I think the iPad is great as a touch instrument controller and MIDI sequencer.
Yes, I'm just syncing tracks on my ipad with my main DAW running on my Mac, then exporting stems over to the Mac. Usually recording in AUM on the iPad, but sometimes other hosts. Yes, the audio is going through to the Mac audio interface for monitoring, but I can also record some audio through directly if I want to. I sometimes make sounds with the iPad and Minilogue XD blended and recorded straight to my DAW. This I do seperatly from the other process of running two host together obviously.