iOS Synths and DP

[mikehalloran]

?..
I still feel that music and audio production on an i-Pad or i-Phone is a gimmick. Something to
pass the time with on a long plane flight. The iOS platform is still too limited by the hardware.

You are certainly entitled to that opinion. These tools allow me to perform live again.

I don't need them with DP but use them occasionally. I've been trying to get access to certain iOS developers as it would take minor tweaks to make some of them much, much more useful. The improvements that would make it better for the handicapped would benefit every musician.

[BKK-OZ]

I would like to see all my fave VI's with iOS skins/controllers.

I don't need (at least I don't think I need) to have the VI's themselves ported to iOS, but being able to call up a touch version of a synth to touch contol a VI while DP is running would be a great thing. I keep expecting some smart developer to do this, to go through and skin a controller for the top 25 or so VI's.

I know about Touch Osc and V-Control Pro, but what I mean is something out of the box that works really well with all my VI plugs.

[Babz]

I still feel that music and audio production on an i-Pad or i-Phone is a gimmick. Something to
pass the time with on a long plane flight. The iOS platform is still too limited by the hardware.

That's been my opinion for a long time, but things have changed a lot, especially in the last year or so with bigger screens and more powerful iPads, and more innovative apps. Also, in the last year or so, we have started to see hardware and software interface and routing solutions, like the iConnectMIDI2/4+ which has been described as a gamechanger product. Many think that iOS is finally starting to emgerge as a viable professional platform. It will get even better when the iPad Pro comes along.

As others have mentioned, I like the way that the touch screen has sort of rebooted our whole approach to manipulating sound. Yes, innovative approaches have been limited to a minority of products, but some of the solutions are quite inspired. I have definitely created interesting musical ideas whilst lying on back swiping around on a screen, interesting enough that it is starting to get to the point where I want to do more with it. Mac OS and iOS are becoming more integrated.

I am also finding a lot of interesting iOS possibilities in the visual arts areas -- drawing, painting, design, video...

Babz

[Babz]

I'm surprised we don't have any iConnectMIDI users here. This video with Jordan Rudess shows some of the routing possibilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79ra1Nk2Qc

I like how just something like a different instrument tactile or interface environment can inspire different musical directions. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually show recording of audio and MIDI in this set up. Would love to see if there are any latency or other issues.

I am still thinking of getting one of these. I may have to be the pioneer and just plunge into the $90 adventure to see for myself. If I do, I will report back findings.

Babz

[mikehalloran]

I'm surprised we don't have any iConnectMIDI users here. This video with Jordan Rudess shows some of the routing possibilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79ra1Nk2Qc

Thanks for the link. I've not heard of this before.

[Babz]

Sonic Touch (a semi regular podcast) is a great way to keep up on all things musical and iOS. Here is the episode where the IConnectMIDI was first introduced and reviewed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AUYUx3KOHwg

Since then, the more full featured 4+ model is out, which is what Jordan is using in the previous video posted.

Babz

[Babz]

I should also mention, Korg, who have shown a commitment to the iOS platform that is head and shoulders above your typical app. Last year the Korg Gadget and Module apps created quite a buzz, and they currently have them on sale during NAMM for half price. I'm seriously tempted.

The IAPs are also half price, including a 2 GB mobile grand piano from Ivory.

http://appshopper.com/music/korg-gadget

http://appshopper.com/music/korg-module

Once again, I too remain skeptical that iOS can rise above the level of toy, but these products (which are more expensive than most, but also much more capable), have gotten my attention. Check out some of the YouTube videos on Gadget. Especially at half price, I may have to dive into one or two of these Korg deals.

Babz

[Shooshie]

I'm surprised we don't have any iConnectMIDI users here. This video with Jordan Rudess shows some of the routing possibilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79ra1Nk2Qc

I like how just something like a different instrument tactile or interface environment can inspire different musical directions. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually show recording of audio and MIDI in this set up. Would love to see if there are any latency or other issues.

I am still thinking of getting one of these. I may have to be the pioneer and just plunge into the $90 adventure to see for myself. If I do, I will report back findings.

Babz

So, the basic unit they are selling there is the iConnect, right? Not a bad device, but since we already have MIDI interfaces, why not update them to the 21st century?

If MOTU would add a few USB inputs to their MIDI Time Piece AV (ok, MIDI Express XT), they'd have a much more flexible, higher capacity device. Not that there is anything wrong with the iConnect, but it would be nice if MOTU got on board the iOS revolution and acknowledged its existence in their hardware. There was nothing like the routing you could achieve in the MTP-AV. Routing, muting, cabling, conversion... it was (and still is) a grand switching station for all comers. All they need is to add USB. Perhaps they'd be wise to add Thunderbolt while they are at it. Surely it would make things easier to plug thunderbolt directly into an iPad or iPhone. But all those USB hardware devices are just itching for a switching station/router to make them more useful, and the MIDI Express XT (with Clockworks) would be perfect for that.

Shooshie

[Babz]

I'm still just getting up to speed on all the finer points of all this, but as I understand it, what is revolutionary about the iConnectMIDI is the Audio passThru feature. There are other devices that let you get MIDI into the iPad (but then you have to record the MIDI with an app on the iPad itself, like GarageBand or Cubasis), and there are ways to get audio out of the iPad, but this is the first device that lets you record both the MIDI and the audio in your DAW. It involves both the interface and some routing software.

What I don't get is why this is all such a difficult thing. Ultimately both the audio and the MIDI are traveling through the same 30-pin/Lightning connection. Why can't you do all of this with one simple Apple cable? Couldn't all of this just be built into iOS? It's some limitation imposed by Apple, I guess.

Meanwhile, in other news ... I went for it!!! I went for the Korg deal and picked up both Gadget and Module during the NAMM sale. Too soon for a full report, but so far these are by far the most musically useful iOS apps I've used yet.

Gadget is a whole environment that forces you to approach music in a different way. I'm still getting used to it. It's kinda addicting. The sounds are vast and high quality, and can produce serious results that are worth exporting into your DAW.

Module has excellent acoustic piano, Rhodes, Clav, B3 and more. I also went for the 2 GB Ivory piano expansion. Now I guess I need to get the iConnectMIDI so I can properly check it all out w/ DP and a full keyboard and all. But my early impressions of the 2 GB Ivory are that it may be the best sounding piano I now own. (I don't own desktop Ivory. "Desktop Ivory" -- feel weird just saying that.) And it loads instantly. 2GB Ivory piano that I can carry around on an iPad. Not bad for $15!

More anon.

Babz

[mikehalloran]

Excerpted from the blurb from http://www.iconnectivity.com/iConnectMIDI4plus

Setting a new benchmark in MIDI connectivity and iOS integration

Use your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch with your Mac/PC like a plugin, controller, and so much more! iConnectMIDI4+ completely redefines the concept of a MIDI & audio interface, integrating today's professional multiple-computer (iOS, Mac, PC) set-ups with iOS devices and MIDI hardware.


Not only does iConnectMIDI4+ support three computer devices simultaneously - Macs, PCs, and iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) - its Audio passThru™ technology routes audio between them digitally with zero signal degradation, simply appearing as an audio interface to the operating systems.

This combination of audio and MIDI connections has countless applications. A synth running on your iPad could behave as if it were a touch-controlled plug-in running inside your host DAW, or you could process a software instrument in your DAW through an effects processing app like an amp simulator on your iPhone. If you are feeling adventurous you can even use your Mac or PC as a slave to your iOS device. The iConnectMIDI4+ offers seamless integration in all directions.

Many MIDI devices include a USB port for input/output of MIDI. iConnectMIDI4+ accommodates for this by addition of a USB host port that allows musicians to integrate their USB MIDI devices seamlessly. iConnectMIDI4+'s MIDI host port supports up to 8 USB MIDI synths, controllers, etc. enabling all computing devices that are connected to iConnectMIDI4+ to send and receive MIDI from devices that are connected to its USB host port.


iConnectMIDI4+ also has an ethernet port. Users can connect iConnectMIDI4+ to wireless router, ethernet hub/router, or any ethernet enabled device via its dedicated ethernet port and is network discoverable, allowing for musicians to control any of the devices connected to iConnectMIDI4+ via network connection, adding further control and connectivity options.
…

Hmmm... I am liking the idea. Ethernet is cool.

Only one usb in, though. A lot of controllers like my Line6 no longer have DIN5 for MIDI anymore – only usb out and the iOS connector in the case of my Line6. I would hope that a usb hub would work––I can't imagine dragging my Fatar out of mothballs. Still, I can see the possibilities.





For $199? Hmmm... perhaps my MTP AV needs a new home – I've not used it since the upgrade in 2012.

[billf]

I still feel that music and audio production on an i-Pad or i-Phone is a gimmick. Something to pass the time with on a long plane flight. The iOS platform is still too limited by the hardware.

I view it a bit different. I see the iPad as the evolution of external MIDI synths that have long had built in sequencing capabilities. I view it as a tool to do field recording, and as a way to quickly capture ideas when they strike to be captured for later development in the studio on my main rig. I see it as a tool in the studio to compliment the recording process (virtual lyrics sheets, virtual touch faders, etc. for example). I see it as a potential alternative synth controller, although that part is not of as much use to me at the present time.

I agree with you that it isn't a replacement for a full studio rig (at least for me). But it really is useful.

[Shooshie]

Well, we've all been wishing that MIDI could somehow go away. We seem hopelessly locked into this 35 year old interface and system of hexadecimal protocols with lo-res stepping based on the awkward chips and tech of 1980, when 128 patches or banks of patches seemed like an enormous luxury. (and 128 steps of velocity seemed... well... like 128 steps of velocity)

If I'm reading this correctly, this could co-exist beside MIDI ports until MIDI hardware finally becomes irrelevant (when people quite buying and/or repairing MIDI boxes). So, we could be looking at a whole new connector system, handling audio and MIDI together, and iPads and iPhones could become the defacto new MIDI rack gear, along with all the new lightweight keyboards, odd controllers, and such.

Is that your take on this? (I'd like that very much!)

It could start out with some kind of unit like MOTU's Traveler, which has MIDI and Audio interfaces, but with added thunderbolt ports. Eventually, we'd see what look like thunderbolt hubs, handling all our gear, which could probably be daisy chained if the hardware allowed for a T-bolt Pass Through port. Or just two ports per device. iPads and iPhones aren't going to have more than one port, so there could be a pass-through adapter for them. The bottom line would be that our iPads would be the new synths and samplers and who-knows-what, with remote DAWs for recording on location, then connect to the main computer, and automatically slave to its DAW (via a paired link which you set up once and forget), adding its tracks to the others, adding its channels to the mixing board, and acting as a stem of sorts.

Not to mention acting as a number of "MIDI" instruments. Gradually, "MIDI" would refer to any kind of digital instruments or hardware controlled by musical apps, not to the MIDI protocols of 1980.

Am I projecting this where everyone else sees this going?

So what are we waiting for? I want this by Thursday, y'hear? No, make that yesterday!

Shooshie

[Babz]

OK, so here's an update…

After a couple of days with Korg Gadget, I've already used it in a scoring project! I was submitting to Sonic State's "Write The Theme Song" contest, and had already done two versions the traditional way, with DP and Mac OS. I picked up Gadget during NAMM week and had been fiddling around with it, and ended up using it to create a third version of the score.

It's only 17 seconds long, but some people have told me that they like this third version best. (I'm still kinda partial to version 1, but it's a close call.) If you've got a minute, you can check out all three 17-sec versions (and still have 9 seconds to spare!) here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNy-Jp ... F6Attvfy8w

What's incredible is that I basically composed/created the entire V3 whilst lying in bed, using just my index finger and a touch screen! Korg Gadget is just sick!!! I had to take the tracks into DP for finishing, of course, and I had a little help from Maschine, but basically V3 was done using the Korg Gadget app on an iPad!

What's more, the composition itself is something I would not have come upon were it not for the tool. This app and its quirky touch environment can help stir your creative process into new pathways.  When you're brainstorming, stuck, trying to come up with ideas, I'm all for anything that expands or unblocks the process! Plus, being able to lie down for a while gives my back a break!

Tool or toy? I can still see both sides of the argument, but the iOS platform has passed some important milestones lately, and this project has convinced me that it's time to start taking iOS more seriously.

[bayswater]

Gradually, "MIDI" would refer to any kind of digital instruments or hardware controlled by musical apps, not to the MIDI protocols of 1980.

Am I projecting this where everyone else sees this going?

Maybe MIDI needs to evolve, but I'd be quite disappointed if we lost the reliable standardization we have with the current version, and ended up with a load of mutually incompatible proprietary MIDI "standards".

[stubbsonic]

iOS software & hardware

PROS:
1. Often intuitive/logical GUI's
2. Huge selection of fun, inexpensive apps
3. improving inter-app connections (via AudioBus)
4. 3rd party gadgets for connection-while-charging are improving

CONS;
1. Your hands block the display as you work.
2. CPU power limits are easily reached and exceeded.
3. Very few apps with rhythmic flexibility
3. Lack of connectivity options
4. File management can be limited without 3rd party
5. I have to tap the screen multiple times before it responds.

iOS seems best for running as an external synth and fx host. It is also good for setting up custom MIDI controls. It is sadly pretty weak for sequencing.

So far the most full featured MIDI sequencer (just for generating compositional ideas) is an app called MultiTrack Studio. Which allows changes in Time Signature and Tempo. It is decent for piano roll editing, but has some problematic limitations with quantizing and with the snap grid that are a little weak.

As Babz said, there are apps that can really give you a fun spark of inspiration. But I've not seen anything that holds a candle to my laptop. For me, my iPad is about 40% entertaining, 40% interesting, and 20% disappointing.