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.
iPad Air 2-128GB going for same price as mini 4-128GB?
Was eying the holiday discounts on iPad Pro 9.7's and 12.9's and noticed the iPad Air 2-128GB going for same price as mini 4-128GB? The only spec difference I can see is the Air 2 has an A8x and the mini 4 has an A8. Why would someone go for the smaller screen for the same specs and same money? Or, am I missing something?
Comments
Personally I would find the mini too small for many apps and a struggle with my worsening eyesight. Yeah so it's a tiny bit more portable, but give me a bigger screen anytime.
Only a sick company would charge more for smaller specs and screen, but I know why I would go for the mini. Its form factor feels just right between my hands.
Ok, if you're into gaming (I'm not) but if you are... is the mini a better choice? I would assume the A8x in the Air 2 has better graphics speed, but I don't know for sure.
the mini is simply perfect for patterning.
I really love the size of my mini 4. Its perfect for most apps. I am a big time portability guy now though, and sold all my big bulky pedals and midi keyboard to go Ipad and K board, so my love for my mini is mainly portability.
I have a question about the k-board, is it possible to assign midi notes to the keys?
If it is, i havent figured it out yet. Im not very technical and the extent of my past midi learning was just midi learn with Logic and my big board.
i don't get the portability as an advantage for the iPad mini. Its still a tablet so It's not like it fits in your pocket, It's not a phone, So you definitely need a bag or something to travel with it (as you would with the 9.7 iPad and bigger).
It's lighter but not that much lighter (2 grams I think) you can barely notice the difference in weight when it's in your hand and while it is in your bag the difference it's impossible to notice.
It's definitely smaller (2 inches) but all iPad models are equally as thin (that's what matter most) so unless you're planning to carry an iPad around in a extremely mini bag or in an overstuffed bag (where it could be damaged anyways, specially with relatively heavy equipment) it doesn't matter as much.
As portability goes it's better but only if you are a portability freak.
You can like the iPad mini but it's portability advantages are mostly imaginary. Carry an 9.7 iPad instead and the difference it's minimal (i spend 6 months with a mini 2 gen and then change to an iPad Air 2, Nothing changed in the way I behave carrying an iPad around)
The only way to truly go super portable, and really notice meaningful differences it's with a smartphone.
Well, my mini 4 fits nicely in a fanny pack with the K board and a set of earbuds. I doubt the 9.7 would fit. I desire a p. ipad Pro for sure, but loving my mini
Both my Air and Mini 2 are in Zagg keyboard cases so the Air+case is much bulkier than the Mini+case. The Mini+case makes a nice companion for my ChromeBook (with Linux) in my backpack, whereas the Air+case would be overkill.
The mini is my main non-development iPad. It's the perfect size do-everything machine for backpacking and travelling light. When weight and size is at a premium I'd never pack a 10" tablet. It's a fabulous little machine and the spec difference with the bigger brother is negligable in practice.
I prefer the mini. I use 2 of them live with an ICA4+, and both of them fit perfectly side by side on top of my 19" rack.
and... it's the perfect size for patterning.
no worries I'll fire off an email to km, I was just curious
@Gaia.Tree
I do address that in my text . The "extremely mini bag" (don't know if the term exists but I meant fanny packs basically) part of it, still think that in almost every use case 9.7-7.9 makes no significal difference.
Well...it could depend on the backpack size in combination with the type of case (don't know the specific models you're referring to) but I still can't see major gains in weight, space or even comfort.
Take them both without a case (or a very thin case like the Apple one) on a backpack in a portrait position and with the iPad mini you gain:
two centimeters on the side of the iPad and two centimeters above the iPad, discard the part you gain above the iPad (why would you place something above the iPad especially if it's heavy?)and you don't gain anything in thinness. So you get two centimeters on the side of the iPad were you can fit something else but it has to be equally as thin especially if the iPad it's in between other things.
I'm obviously giving this way to much thought but I just don't get it when portability it's mentioned as a MAJOR advantage of the iPad mini when it's really not that much, it's still a tablet. To go to the next step of portability the only way to gain significant advantages it's with a smartphone.
I can see the size being an advantage, if the backpack it's really small, but don't think anyone can tell the difference (2 grams) between 9.7 and 7.9 iPads on a backpack. I do agree about performance, in fact if we only talk about performance and portability when comparing iOS devices then an iPhone would be the best device.
Not for backpacking. The iPhone is twice as expensive (which is a risk, especially if you don't need the phone functionality anyway) and the 8" screensize is perfect compared to the smaller phone screen. Indeed, the weight is not much of an issue anymore. When I bought my Mini 4, the iPad 3 was still my main iPad which was a good deal heavier than the Mini
Owning both big and small ipads.
I always go for the mini.
Unless i am sitting down for an extended session the mini gets far more use.
Whats right for me is gonna be wrong for others.
Go with a mixture of heart and brain.
Either way you are buying an ipad, which is always a good thing.
I use android phone, which annoys some people here......
But i would never be without ipad !!
There's a lot of strangeness in Apple pricing at the moment. The iPhone SE I bought was a couple of hundred quid cheaper than the next model up, despite having exactly the same internal spec and double the storage.
Personally I think they're in a bit of a muddle.
Mini ftw!
The Mini 4 is a little fiddly with ODYSSEi's sliders and I find myself using the Thick keyboard on iMS-20, whereas I can use the Regular keyboard on a full-size iPad. I don't perceive any disadvantages when using Moog, Olympia Noise Co, and Apple's music apps on a smaller screen. The A8 is perfectly capable of running most games; it heats up on demanding stuff like The Room Three but I've yet to find anything that was unplayable.
It's a simple matter of size preference; I find the Mini somewhat preferable for reading ebooks / browsing Facebook and I don't really find the Air preferable for the music apps I use, so given the choice and prices being equal, I would get another iPad Mini. YMMV.
IPad air 2 is the best value for your money. Air 2 has a tri (3) core CPU instead of dualcore.
I just picked up a mini 4 128 refurb in the BF sales for a decent price and am very pleased with it. It's thinner and lighter than my mini 2 64, and although not by much, it's a difference I can feel mini 4 comes in at 0.66lb / 299g vs. 0.73lb / 331g. and 0.24" / 6.1mm vs. 0.23 " / 7.5mm.
I've largely used minis in the past couple of years, though I do still have a couple of iPad 3s. The form factor works for me in terms of being able to more comfortably hold it, both in terms of weight and size - esp. while lying down.
and composing on the couch. I don't find an issue with small "fiddly" controls on it personally, although I appreciate some do and prefer larger iPads for that alone.
I like the fact that with the mini 4 I can really get serious with Auria Pro FX in tracking mode, not just for mixing (I did that before on a mini 1 and 2 even, but this is even nicer and I can do more easily).
I set up 10 MIDI tracks each using Lyra, and then added 4 FX to each of 3 channels (for a total of 12 FX), which included 2 instances of Saturn, 2 of ProMB (with 4x oversampling), 2 Timeless, 2 Volcano (not in HQ mode - that really kills things! :-) ) a Pro-C 2, a Pro-Q 2, Pro-L (with 4x oversampling) and Turnado, as well as 3 AUX channels, one running Convolution reverb on high CPU mode, another running PSP chorus and another running PSP stereo delay.
I then recorded 3 tracks of simultaneous MIDI and the CPU is still only at around 70%.
Buffer was set to 512 as well!
Cool!
I also set up this kind of chain:
which was making use of the 2GB memory in the mini 4 quite nicely
and also wasn't breaking a sweat on the CPU either.
Dang, you did all that with the mini 4? My mini 4 has only choked on Gestrument running 5 voices of Phonem at a high pulse rate, and also dropped me in the middle of a Loopersonic into audiobus into aum sesh. Im shocked you were able to grt that kind of flow going, guess i dont need to upgrade after all!
The Mini 4 is super fast. I did a track using 12 instances of Phasemaker and two instances of Ruismaker in Cubasis without needing to freeze anything.
Sweet! Guess im gonna buy that op-1 with my tax return after all
The mini 4 is a great machine! And it does fit into many pockets of jackets etc. Much more portable than the 10". I do prefer the Pro 12.9 for anything more CPU and memory intensive but I love the mini and hope Apple won't discontinue it as some rumours suggest.
For me size matters and 9,7" fits much better to my eyes and fingers.Blindfolded I would go for an Air 2.
For me size matters and 9,7" fits much better to my eyes and fingers.Blindfolded I would go for an Air 2.
I've been buying iPads since the first one came out in 2010. I have all the models. I bought the iPad Pro last year and even though it's powerful and has the pencil support which I like for doing my art and drawings there is something special that I like about the iPad mini. After owning the first iPad mini and the iPad mini 2 I was impressed by the compactness of this device.
I was excited when Apple finally released the iPad mini 4 with the same chip as the iPad Air 2 (though slightly slower A8 chip) and I finally bought an iPad mini 4 last month. It is a great little powerful device and I can stick it in my coat pocket and make some music on Gadget and iWavestation when I am out and about.
I am looking forward to what Apple will do with the iPad mini. Hopefully Apple will release the iPad mini Pro which will be awesome if it comes with A10 fusion or A10 chip and 4GB ram. If Apple does release it then I will definitely be buying it.