Mobile music production

[Beagle 2]

I just got an iPad and I'm very impressed with what it can do in terms of making music. But some things are leaving me frustrated. I wondered if anybody else used iOS for making music on the go, and might be able to guide me on a couple of points?

I've splashed out on Cubasis, which is great for recording live, but the in-built virtual instruments are a bit wank. This didn't seem to be a problem, as audiobus supposedly links up most of the synths, drum machines and other audio apps out there with whatever DAW you're using. After having a play about with a few synths, I think I've still yet to get the hang of it. It seems to only work sometimes, but hopefully I can suss it out properly eventually. It does work very well with amplitube and my guitar though, which was worth the price of the thing alone.

The biggest question I have is about files. There only seems to be two methods of importing audio into Cubasis - from 'audiocopy' or from 'ipod'. I thought that surely you would have been able to browse your device and select any audio file, but I realise Apple are gigantic wanks about that sort of thing.

But.. so... how am I supposed to put samples into Cubasis? So far I've managed to import a bit of a song from Caustic by exporting as a wav, uploading it to google drive and then opening it from there with Cubasis, but that seems a long-winded way to do it, and what if I want to add a few different samples to a song? I've  also been messing about with iElectribe, which is fantastic fun. But audiocopy doesn't work for me on it, something about the latest iOS. So again, how am I supposed to get my drum loops into Cubasis? When I select 'export', where are they actually going? They're not in my music library, and I don't seem to be able to get at them from anywhere else.

Anyway, I expect this might sink. Feel free to recommend any of those other far out groovy beat making "apps" though.

[glitch]

Do you have the latest iOS? I think audiocopy/bus was something they integrated into it, and many of the latest versions of apps won't work properly without it.

[Beagle 2]

Yeah, I have.  I think that's what's made audiocopy borked with iElectribe. It's just this issue of importing audio files into Cubasis, I just can't believe that there's no option to import via a file browser. I can live record from iElectribe fine using audiobus, but I'd like to be able to pull loops in and out of projects as I'm working.

When I export a wav or any other audio file with iElectribe (or any other app) where is it actually going? Not that I want it in my itunes anyway, but it's not appearing there.

[The Region Legion]

Yeah, I have.  I think that's what's made audiocopy borked with iElectribe. It's just this issue of importing audio files into Cubasis, I just can't believe that there's no option to import via a file browser.

This is due to the iPad's closed file system - there's no file browser to use as an import. "Too complex", they said. Fucking Apple.

I reckon your only option in this regard will be the same as in Garageband for iPad - you upload whatever files you want to the iPad via iTunes's "application manager", or possibly just as music files into the Music app, which Cubasis could access as a directory (not used it, but the former is how they tell you to do it with Garageband).

[glitch]

Yeah I was about to suggest using the files view under Applications in iTunes.

Beatmaker 2 lets you FTP directly into the iPhone, not sure if any other apps offer this.

[Beagle 2]

Er, okay, how do I do that? Do you mean connecting the thing up to my computer and doing it from there? I kind of wanted to never connect it to my computer if possible as I detest iTunes so much.

[syntaxerror]

Check out Auxy, seems fun and is currently free.

[syntaxerror]

scrap that, theres fuck all too it.

[NoSleep]

Er, okay, how do I do that? Do you mean connecting the thing up to my computer and doing it from there? I kind of wanted to never connect it to my computer if possible as I detest iTunes so much.

Delete iTunes then. There's other media players for Macs so don't feel obliged to keep it. I haven't deleted iTunes myself but run a sufficiently antiquated version of it that doesn't do anything other than neatly file and (occasionally) play mp3s for me. Then I use Cog or Play to listen to music on my computer, although the creator of Play has a more up to date player now (which I'll probably start using when I upgrade to an Intel Mac next month): http://www.feisty-dog.com/decibel/

[glitch]

Er, okay, how do I do that? Do you mean connecting the thing up to my computer and doing it from there? I kind of wanted to never connect it to my computer if possible as I detest iTunes so much.

Yeah, you have to connect it, then look under the App tab and scroll down. There should be a box-out with apps that will allow you to upload/download files and then you take it from there.

I'd be surprised if third-party software does this.

[Beagle 2]

Okay, ta. Well I've found out that Caustic works with Audiocopy, so it's just iElectribe exports that I'm having a problem with now, but to be honest it's probably going to be more fun to record from that live and play over the top of it later.

Has anybody got Korg Gadget? It looks tasty as fuck, but I've already spent too much this month.

[olliebean]

It's a pain in the arse to do it with iTunes, frankly; apart from having to start up iTunes in the first place, that App tab takes ages to load if you've got any appreciable number of apps installed (or not installed but downloaded to iTunes), and the file box at the bottom doesn't always work ime (although I haven't used it in a while so maybe they've bugfixed it in more recent iTunes versions). Any app worth its salt that relies heavily on file import or export ought to support alternatives like Dropbox or direct wifi transfer (where the app sets up an ad hoc server that you can access via browser on your PC to transfer files), imo.

[lazyhour]

Can anyone recommend a sort of musical notepad app for iOS? Like a midi app with a few soft synth sounds that requires no additional audio samples to make music - and that can be exported to midi files. Does such a thing exist? It'd be a composer tool, really, wouldn't it?

[NoSleep]

It'd be a composer tool, really, wouldn't it?

[Beagle 2]

Can anyone recommend a sort of musical notepad app for iOS? Like a midi app with a few soft synth sounds that requires no additional audio samples to make music - and that can be exported to midi files. Does such a thing exist? It'd be a composer tool, really, wouldn't it?

I'd massively recommend Caustic 3. Easy to use and really versatile.

[lazyhour]

That looks brilliant - thanks!