Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
PC Daw
I've had to get a Surface Book for work reasons (to draw storyboards on and replace my ancient 2009 vintage Tablet PC), so of course I'm casting a curious eye over desktop-DAW land.
If it was possible to buy a Mac that you can draw on (iPad Pro wasn't an option because of the software I need to run) then I would have jumped on Logic, but on the Surface I'm not sure there is anything quite as compelling. I looked at Studio One, and it looks OK but I'm wondering if it's really worth investing time and money when I'm actually pretty happy with Auria on the iPad. The other worry of course is finding myself going down another expensive rabbit-hole buying plugins and Kontact libraries etc.
So the question is, is a PC DAW really going to be that much better? I work primarily with audio, not MIDI.
Comments
I see nobody's mentioned Sunvox yet.
I think Gadget is the new Sunvox to be honest.
I have just the website for you, @richardyot - http://surfaceproaudio.com
The bloke running the site has a long history in computer based music production. He said in one of the comments that he thinks FL Studio and Stagelight are the better touch screen experience.
Thanks, I have seen that site before. Overall it looks like the touch experience is still pretty poor, but I'm not really looking for the best touch UI (I have an iPad for that), but whether a desktop class DAW really is that much better as many people claim. I occasionally use Reaper for work and given the choice I would always rather use Auria on the iPad than Reaper on the desktop.
Well, it could be that nothing will scratch your particular itch but Auria. Most DAWs offer a free trial, so you can try 'em out. I've read Bitwig has a special profile for the Surface. You can also install Ableton Live Lite which comes free with Gadget/iKaossilator until you figure it out.
Stagelight is pretty cool mainly because it's designed for a small screen so I can run it and actually see what I'm doing on a little tablet pc I picked up cheap (Lynx 1010 leather for £25 off ebay)
Anyone tried the pc version of MTS on a tablet by the way?
Whats better depends on what supports your most preferred workflow the best.
There's supposed to be an iOS version on the way, too.
No, but I like the idea. Might be a good fit for Richard.
I was looking through the features of Studio One, and one feature (that I believe Logic also has) is the arrangement track, that allows you to shift the sections of your song around at will. That looks pretty cool.
Logic has lots of really nice instruments, and the drummers, which are a big draw, but it doesn't look like PC DAWs are quite as comprehensive.
I didn't know they were doing an iOS version. Could be one to watch out for
Ableton is know for its Session View, but the Arrangement view is quite good if you like a traditional DAW timeline.
I would suggest Ableton Live v9.7 Suite....... It manipulates WAV file much better than the rest of the DAWs. You Drag n Drop a sample in, & "Blam!"....... it automatically timestretch to the BPM that you are using. No faffing about.......... I also found(personal taste) that when you mixdown a project, it sounds better than the other, say, Cubase for example. It simpler to use. Drag n Drop a VST the same way as a WAV file. The only thing that annoying about Ableton, is that compared to FL Studio, is that Ableton doesn't Bridge a 32bit VST in a 64bit version DAW in Ableton, whereas FL studio does without problems. Not unless you use JBridge(quite cheap) to convert a 32bit VST into a 64bit DAW. VST folder.
I learnt to use Pro tools before Ableton Live and knew Cubase pretty well years ago. But of those nothing for me, comes close to the creative possibilities in Live with Max devices (follow actions, clip launching etc). Touch will mature slowly. I use Live on a 24 inch touchscreen and the session view is already actually quite touch friendly. But I'll still reach for the mouse more because it's quicker/better to do most things, but then I don't have a Surface yet. I'm running Live on a laptop with touchscreen monitor attached . There's a small script you need to make Live more touch friendly. I use touch for plugins/xy pads, sequencers etc. But it's not "officially" touchscreen compatible yet.
I generally play my ipads into Live multichannel through AUM and record it in or use connected hardware etc. Mostly audio, sometimes midi too. and with Link Live is the most ipad friendly pc daw currently.
I wish an ipad Daw exported to Live though. Auria can export to Pro tools as AAF which you would like.
yes MTS is a good option for the ipad to PC workflow and cheaper too.
Desktop DAWs are definitely much better than the best iOS DAWs, I wish it wasn't so but it's undeniable - not sure if it's the same with the Surface. I love Reason and Ableton but don't have much experience with all the other big names. Ableton has the better workflow in my opinion but I love playing with my virtual rack in Reason.
I'd say get either Reaper: it's powerful and inexpensive - or Cubase Elements 8: not as complete as Reaper, but you can open Cubasis projects there and thus have Surface and iPad working side by side.
I thought the iPad Pro was meant to be the Holy Grail of the professional designers, and had all the required software available. Or it's what Apple advertises, with its pencil, Adobe Draw and Sketch, etc. which software do you use to Draw on the PC?
I have Reaper, but it doesn't really excite me much.
I need the full version of Photoshop, and also a proper 3D package, neither of which are available on the iPad. The Surface also has the equivalents of the best iOS apps in Paintstrom Studio and Sketchbook Pro (which is actually a lot better on PC than on iOS).
Understood. What a pity, given how powerful the hardware is. On topic, then I think Cubase Elements is the DAW for you - if you have Cubasis, it's nice to be able to continue your projects in a serious platform, since you absolutely have to work with Windows. Check out Melodyne 4 as well: it's on sale, I think. (EDIT: not on sale, but they have a very basic version for $99).
@richardyot http://www.bitwig.com/en/home.html ? I think @Littlewoodg has talked positively about using it with the surface....or I could be completely wrong and it;s someone else.
That's interesting. It has only just occurred to me that that Surface device could run linux and upon brief research googling it turns out that it's quite a popular thing to do.
Googling isn't research? Don't tell my boss.
SONAR is another option for Surface
My two cents, Bitwig is the shizzle on Surface Pro...no touch DAW touches it, on any platform, and even setting aside touch, it's 1st tier powerful and very easy to dig into: a 1.3 iteration that gives that famous 9.7 a run for its money. Whenever I spend some quality time in it I seriously wonder what I'm doing with an iPad...
I also use MTS on Surface for cross platform stuff that I'm starting in Windows XP, and if you like it on iPad you'll be very happy on Surface...it's incredibly feature rich and has that multitrack editing feature that the iOS version lacks...its scaleable for touch so in a way it's more appealing on Surface than iPad. Bigger buttons etc.
I have Live on Surface, and Stagelight. Live is Live (1st tier of course) but loves a keyboard and mouse or trackpad, and with that, even though it's scaleable I'd rather have the bigger screen of a full sized laptop or desktop.
Stagelight just doesn't have the depth - aside from access to vst, IOS DAWs are far richer feature wise. It's a bargain, and fits its price point
The "which Daw" thing doesn't have a right answer, Okay. Sunvox. (The beta is sorted for Surface, and its f#cking hilariously cool with all the touch real estate).
On Surface it's a narrower choice, I've tried Elements, Live, Bitwig, MTS, and Usine Hollyhock.
If you're interested in touch, definitely get the (free) Sunvox, and demo whatever other stuff that tickles your fancy
Usine Hollyhock is also a very iPad piece of software (in the sense that it was designed ground up for touch, and is more like Rotor or zMors modular than Auria or Cubasis) ...very special and interesting, a modular world unto itself like Sunvox that also hosts vst
Lol!
But I prefer Bitwig than Live by far. Perhaps because I simply cannot like Live's Session View, that seems to be its main focus and selling point: I keep finding it too DJ-ish, FruityLoop-ish (in a bad way, old Fruity's way).
@theconnactic Not that I believe Ableton is the best, but did you give Arrangement View a chance?
Yes, a lot of chances. It just reinforced my previous impressions, in fact. I find it so against what I take for musicianship and general songwriting/production (it gives me that persistent "person on a DJ booth raising his hand to the crowd while triggering a loop with the other hand" feel) that, when Garageband iOS added something similar, I started fearing that soon Logic would change focus in favour of this workflow (hope they think twice: they already have Mainstage for live musicians, so they can add it there for DJs to pretend they are musicians as well...)
It sounds like you are describing Session View, but maybe Ableton just isn't your cup of tea.
My advice is Cockos Reaper. Nothing comes close. It's a steep learning curve, but once you get into it you will never want another DAW. I have tried em all.
There are options for tablet type controls too, if you dig into the forums.
I like Samplitude Studio more than Reaper, but Reaper is a good one for sure.