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What are your favorite iPad music apps? And why?


Notes_Norton

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I hope this is the right forum to post this question, if not, please forgive me.

 

My first Mac was a (Motorola) Classic ][ running System 6 and my last Mac was a pre-Intel (Power PC) OSX - so I've been out of apple-land for a long time. I let the software I use choose the platform, and since I write aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, Windows is better (the StyleMaker app for PC has more features than the StyleMaker app for Mac).

 

So now it's time to get a tablet - my first one. I chose an iPad Air (64) because everything I read tells me there are tons more music apps on the iPad than on an Android tablet. It's supposed to arrive soon.

 

So I was wondering what are some of your favorite iPad music apps? And why you like them?

 

Other than a magazine subscription or two, I haven't the slightest idea what the iPad can do so I'm hoping people participate and give me an overview of iPad-world.

 

Thanks.

Notes

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Other than a magazine subscription or two, I haven't the slightest idea what the iPad can do so I'm hoping people participate and give me an overview of iPad-world.

 

 

I'm with you on this one. Know nothing about it.

 

I was in Guitar Center yesterday looking at studio monitors. Before I left I saw what I thought was the new Line 6 guitar amp so I picked up a guitar and thought I'd try it out. I sat there trying to figure out how it worked until a guy came over and said where is your iPhone? I said I don't have an iPhone. He said you have to have an iPhone or an iPad to work this thing. You play your apps through it.

 

I know IK Multimedia has an Amplitube app and I love Amplitube but it seems it might be a little awkward trying to adjust parameters while playing live.

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I purchased an iPad Air (16) a couple of months ago and quickly realized that I should have got one with more memory. I think the 64 Gb is a good choice.

 

Auria is my choice for a DAW although it does not do MIDI other than sync. I use mSequencer for MIDI and it syncs up with Auria quite nicely. IK Mulltimedia has some nice software synths and I use iGrand Piano and iLectric Piano - both are large programs but they sound very good and have great dynamic response. For mastering, I found that Final Touch works quite well and is easy to use.

 

Animoog, Magellan, Sunrizer and iProfit are my current favourite synths and Galileo is a fantastic Hammond Organ emulator that lets me play guitar through its Leslie speaker emulation. I also recommend Geo Synth as an alternative to the conventional piano keyboard - it takes advantage of the touch screen interface of the iPad and can be used to trigger other synths.

 

For guitar I prefer BIAS and Jam Up Pro to Amplitube (although I really like Amplitube on my MacBook). To get my guitar into the iPad I use iRig HD and, using Apple's Camera Connection Kit (basically just a USB adaptor) with a powered USB hub to connect an AudioBox 1818VSL to the iPad as an Audio/MIDI interface. I would recommend checking out the AudioBox iOne or iTwo which connect directly to the lightening port on the iPad and I'm quite interested in the Focusrite iTrack Dock.

 

I'm using DrumJam, DrumsLive and iTabla Pro for percussion. They work for me but there are many other choices out there.

 

AudioBus is like a software patch bay and most audio apps are compatible. It allows you to run multiple synths and emulators at the same time and patch them into effects and DAWs etc..

 

 

 

Here is a cover song I recorded on a Yamaha AW4416 a few years ago with a friend. When I put Auria on my iPad I took the 16 raw audio tracks from the recording, loaded them into my iPad and mixed the song, complete with plugin compressors, EQ and effects on Auria and mastered the track with Final Touch.

 

The shaker and tambourine were from our original recording but the kick and snare are from DrumsLive and were played in real time on the iPad and recorded to two tracks in Auria prior to mixing.

 

https://app.box.com/s/f6jibhahaakswrnhh79pmbqmymhqi9u4

 

 

 

 

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Let's see... what are some of the music related apps on my iPad?

 

AmpliTube

GarageBand

iMPC

iPolysix

Audiobus

Tabletop

iStrobosoft

Z3TA+

Genelec Speaker Angle

AC-7 Core HD (DAW control surface)

iSEM

Korg Module

iProphet

Music Tool

Guitar Toolkit

iMini

 

If I didn't like them, they wouldn't be on there. :) I have an older first-gen iPad Mini with a limited 16GB memory... which explains why I really haven't done a lot of hard core recording with it via something like Auria - I am a dinosaur and stick to using a laptop for serious remote recording tasks, although I know there are folks out there with newer, faster iPads with more memory who love recording with the iPad.

 

As far as iPad vs Android tablets, I'm sticking with an iPad - at least for the time being. Androids have (or at least had) some issues (uch as high latency) that make them more challenging to use for audio and MIDI production, which is probably why you don't see nearly as many music apps for them.

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Thank you all, now it's research time to see which of these toys (tools to the IRS) I want.

 

I'll probably continue to use my laptop for my DAW, I've got so much hooked up to it it would be a back step to start again.

 

I wonder if I can get MIDI Into the iPad and use it as a soft synth

 

Thanks again,

Notes

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OnSong is my all-time favorite. I have over 3' date='000 chord/lyrics charts in there. No more 3-ring binders or fake books for me.[/quote']

 

 

 

So far that's all I've used on my iPad Air. But it almost makes the pad purchase worth it.

 

it does exactly what it's supposed to. Good interface.

 

 

 

ive been meaning to get GarageBand, but I'm really lazy about recording stuff.

 

 

 

 

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I wonder if I can get MIDI Into the iPad and use it as a soft synth

 

Yes you can.

 

You can get the Apple Camera Connection Kit which is a USB interface. I use a M-Audio Axiom keyboard and a Yamaha CP5 with a USB hub via the Kit and it works fine.

 

There are also some keyboards with the Lightning interface (IK Multimedia has one) that can plug directly in. IK Multimedia, among many others, also has audio/MIDI interfaces that plug directly in.

 

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products...w.php?C=mobile

 

http://www.presonus.com/products/AudioBox-i-Series

 

 

 

 

 

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The iPad arrived, it looks well built, and the display is nice - of course I expect this from Apple.

 

It's not difficult to get around in, it's like my 'droid phone with slightly different motions to do the same things.

 

I ran across this http://www.shiverware.com/musixpro/ and it looks like fun. Anyone try it? Is it worth 10 bucks?

 

Thanks

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Can't wait until it arrives.

 

BTW, it comes with a lightning to USB cable, will that work to hook up a MIDI keyboard? I guess I'll find out. If I need to buy the camera kit, I checked them out and they don't cost that much.

 

Thanks again,

Bob

 

 

The Lightning to USB cable that comes with the iPad goes in the other direction (you can connect it to your computer with the computer acting as the host) so it will not work with a MIDI keyboard.

 

You need the Camera Connection Kit which goes in the opposite direction so your iPad can act as the host for the MIDI keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

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I've got a number of musician apps on my iPad (Garageband, Strobosoft tuner, Korg tuner, Amplitube, Propellerhead Rebirth & Thor, Cassini and several other synths/amp sims along with other odds and ends) but I really haven't ever warmed up to using the iPad for music much. Initially I had the iRig for guitar input, plugs into the earphone jack; you DON'T want that one. I switched over to a Line 6 Sonic Port which I've actually used, along with the Line 6 amp sim, at a gig and was quite happy with the results.

 

For midi there is the IK Multimedia iRig Midi which works quite well for getting midi from a keyboard into the iPad synth apps and vice/versa.

 

Keyboards is my main gig of late but I'm considering using the amp sims live again for some guitar playing I do also. What I've mostly used the iPad for at gigs is the X32 program that allows me to adjust my own monitor mix (we use in-ears) from the sound companies digital mixer.

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