#684

Yeeeah I know. Just trying two birds, one stone kind of thing.

Think I’ll get the FAC tonight. Just watched some videos and it looks great.

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#685

Alright, iOS folks—I need some help figuring out how best to accomplish the following performance criteria using an iPad. I know it’s possible, I just haven’t figured out the best way and/or apps to do it with.

It’s really a simple task:

  • Play long samples (i.e., field recordings anywhere from 2–10 minutes in length)
  • Each of those long samples is assigned to its own track so I can control a) volume, b) panning, and c) send effects. [c) is not entirely necessary.]
  • Be able to quickly and easily swap out the sample that is assigned to each track. So, say I have eight tracks. I still want the ability to play many, many more samples than eight.
  • Extremely important: The samples aren’t warped to a tempo upon loading them up.

Essentially, I’m trying to replicate what I’ve done with Ableton: Have eight tracks of audio, each loaded with a variety of field recordings as clips in the session view. That way I can switch the recording being output of each track and fade in/out those recordings with my faderfox.

Now my first approach was to use AUM and file players. Pretty simple, right? But that approach doesn’t allow for two things that I’d really like to have—or at least I have been too dimwitted to figure out if AUM does allow for them: 1) to see current state of the waveform, or how far into each recording I am; and 2) easily swapping out the recordings in each file player (without having to open it up and switch over to audioshare and load a new file, etc., etc.).

I may have explained all that poorly, or have missed a detail, but if you know of an app or workaround within an app that can accomplish something akin to what I’ve described above, please do let me know.

Can Beatmaker 3 perhaps do this? Or is there a way to load clips into Launchpad without the audio warping to tempo? Or perhaps I’m being to picky and the AUM approach is the way to go.

#686

I like your thinking here.

AUM issues:

1.) there is a light circle around the file waveform that shows progress

  1. How many files are you working with? Can you set up a bunch of channels with them already loaded?
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#687

I think I was able to make something like this work in Launchpad- I think I just told it that it matched the current BPM of the project and it didnt’ attempt to warp the samples at all, even though they definitely didn’t.
For instance, if the project was 120 BPM, i’d mark every sample as 120, even if it wasn’t.
You could probably fade things in and out this way too but i think it quantizes the triggering of the sample to the specified BPM… meaning you’d have to be careful re: timing. But if you’re fully fading the sample out then bringing the next one in you’re probably ok.

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#688

Ah, yes. That light circle—I guess I just found myself wishing I could tap on the file player and see the whole audio file. Not a big deal though.

And I’m probably working with about 30-40 files. I did set them all up on separate faders, but it got a little unwieldy switching pages on my controller.

And that’s all to say, the AUM solution will likely be the way that I go. I’m just seeing if I can’t get to that point of perfection.

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#689

Right on. Sounds like something to try out. Thanks!

#690

I was about to mention the bookmarks as a way to bring order but if youre using a controller then maybe not…

#691

So I’ve had an iPad for a few days now and I have to say, I’m really not enjoying the music making experience. I’m a recordist, not a live performer, so more used to a centralized DAW as my hub of action. Did others find that getting into iOS took a bit of time or perhaps some abandoned it altogether after giving it the ol’ college try?

#692

I think it really depends on what you’re using- for tracking stuff I fell in love with Korg Gadget, though it’s definitely more synth and drum machine based than audio based. I was a Reason nerd for years so Gadget was basically just that on a tablet.
What would be your ideal iOS experience? What do you currently use? The answers to these questions should help us guide you towards an iOS equivalent or at least something in the same vein!

#693

It’s ok. Not a centerpiece in my setup. I use it more to experiment and offload noodlings to work on elsewhere. Some of the apps remain outstanding. Granular is phenomenal with touchscreen.

However, I do really like it as an FX processor.

#694

Oh, wow! Bookmarks! I did not know of such a thing (admits to not reading the manual). Regardless of my controller situation, thanks for pointing that out. Could be super useful.

#695

What are you guys using to get audio in and out of your ipad?

#696

You can track the progress of the clip in AUM by observing the white line that travels around the outside of the node in clockwise fashion.

If you load all your clips into one folder per AUM channel, then it is very fast to load a new one in AUM–three quick taps and you’re done.

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#697

Can you please say more about this? I’m not aware of folders in AUM…

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#698

I use reaper for mixing and tracking and flstudio for drums and composition. Software as well as hardware synths.

I don’t need iOS to be everything. In fact I’m fine with it forcing me to break out of my habits. But running everything through aum is not really helping me complete compositions. It’s fun in the moment but the recording function doesn’t seem to be setup for me to mix each stem separately on my desktop. Maybe I’m using it wrong.

#699

I guess this is what I’d like to be able to do. Again, I’m only a few days in so this is probably possible, I just haven’t figured it out yet.

  1. Mobile sketch pad with interesting instrument options. This means I’ll be able to write basic multi-instrumental tracks for additional mixing and dubbing on my laptop DAW. The key here is multiinstrument.

  2. As an additional instrument in my main setup. Ideally able to sync to my main daw tempo, receive midi notes etc.

  3. As an outboard effects processor. Sending audio to iOS for manipulation and looping back into the laptop DAW.

Can all of this be accomplished by simply connecting the iPad to the MacBook or is there more going on here, sentencing me to endless dongle swapping?

#700

Very cool. I’ll give it a go.

#701

For whatever it’s worth, I use my iPad as all of those things but my main use for it is as a tool that provides an entirely different experience to that which I can get from a DAW.

If you want to use it to make tracks in a linear fashion, an iOS DAW like Auria may be what you’re looking for. It ships with 2 Fabfilters synths (One and Twin 2) which can be loaded up with presets from the Fabfilters site to provide a load of sounds straight off the bat. Also there is Lyra which loads Soundfont SFZ and Logic EXS instrument files. It’s a very powerful audio-based solution… but it’s far from cheap. I grabbed it as part of the Black Friday sales for half price otherwise I wouldn’t have made the leap.

I have an older iPad which literally serves as a sound module for my PC. I connect it to Ableton via MIDI using an Alesis ioDock and it runs a variety of synths - particularly the Arturia series (iMini and iSEM mainly).

I use older iPhones as standalone effects boxes via a variety of audio interfaces from a first generation iRig on an iPhone 4s to a Focusrite iTrack Pocket on an iPhone 6. Some apps work standalone, but I tend to route them through AUM to apply a longer signal chain.

All that said, my main use for my iPad is none of these things. I use my iPad as an instrument in and of itself.

Via Patterning 2 I have discovered a method of creating the most interesting and unique syncopated rhythms, both for drums and for other sounds. The ability to access random functions on a almost every aspect of the track is a constant source of inspiration for me.

Via Samplr, Tardigrain, Quanta and Borderlands (and Spacecraft when I get around to it) I’ve been able to explore granular synthesis and absolutely love what it provides. It opens up vast new vistas of sound in ways that I can’t envisage being able to achieve outside of the iPad format.

Using tools like Chordion and Circle of Fifths I’ve been able to experiment with chord sequences in the most simplistic way I’ve found (especially useful to me as a non-musician).

With MIDI functionality, I’ve found tools like Mozaic and Fugue Machine utterly indispensable, allowing me to process melodic information in a refreshing and inspiring way.

Finally, through Koala I’ve got a Boss/Roland SP series sampler on my iPad (and iPhone) which I use all the time for collecting sounds and chopping/sequencing/processing them on the fly. I tend to use a Zoom U-24 mainly for this but there are loads of options out there.

Hope that stuff helps in some way. I’m more than happy to elaborate further on any of that and could easily put together a video to demonstrate any of it.

12 Likes
#702
  1. Yup! I would use Korg Gadget for this specifically, since there’s a ton of drum machines, synths, samples, etc. that either come in the base package or are relatively inexpensive enough that you can build an arsenal. It also lets you record audio in a limited fashion and sequence external midi devices (whether hardware or software). You can write sketches, dump out audio files to dropbox pretty easily and mix them in a laptop DAW.
    2.Yes. A lot of apps can take either midi over Bluetooth to sync or use Ableton Link to sync. You can also use something like Studiomux (https://zerodebug.com/studiomux) to connect your iPad via USB and send audio and midi back and forth between them.
    3.Yes- though you’ll likely need extra hardware for this. I have an iRig that I can just connect a 1/4 in cable to and send processed audio back out of- you could always use a nicer interface for this too though.

I hope this helps!

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#703

They’re actually AudioShare folders. AUM can access that file structure. My AUM is set up so tap one opens the file player, tap two opens the currently selected AudioShare folder, tap three selects the clip I want to play. I don’t even know how I set this up. I think AUM talks to Audioshare automatically.

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