5 Reasons Why iOS Music Production Is The Future

jolico

Hardware = Instant abandonware

Software = Hope (for substantial updates for years)

Apex

@jolico said:
Hardware = Instant abandonware

Software = Hope (for substantial updates for years)

IDK, I’ve a got closet full of old computers (many high end, expensive macs), ipads, ipods, etc that are essentially paperweights. Meanwhile, I’ve hardware synths, samplers, sequencers that I’ve continually used in some cases from the early 90’s.

Everything, and I mean everything has a shelf life. Especially computer products.

Polyphonix

@drez said:
Here’s an example. It’s one of my favorite demo’s of a product. It’s for the Native Instruments Symphony Series.

(Finding link...standby)

Edit:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/cinematic/symphony-series-collection/

Listen to the 12 of 13 demo song The View From Here by Nathan Furst.

The articulations are much more realistic than what is possible to produce with the limited RAM of an iPad. Could Nathan Furst have written the above on Staff Pad? Absolutely! But the output of his creation could not be done on said iPad like it could be done on a desktop. It’s a 34G sample library...Just for the strings! And this is just a demo to show off the orchestral libraries. Combine this with the ability to, at the same time, run many channels of amazing softsynths, effects and audio tracks from external gear, etc. You just can’t squeeze all of that from an iPad.

The title of this thread is “5 Reasons Why iOS Music is The Future”. It is A future. And it’s a great future for this specific platform. What people CAN and DO squeeze out of an iPad or iPhone is really amazing and it’s only going to get better and better. And for certain genres of music, it’s perfectly acceptable and you wouldn’t know the difference between a desktop and an iPad.

But certainly not all genres, at least not for the type of music I mostly listen to and aspire to create.

And I’m not meaning to downplay the importance of iOS music making. I think creating music and the sound design aspects are so fun and high quality. I’ve heard it on the forum and am also pleased with the results I am getting in my own work. But I just can’t assemble ALL of what I desire to create and generate on an iPad, which includes all the sound libraries, tracks and plugins in a fully blown DAW that has a lot more editing capabilities.

I think your argument leaves out a very important point, namely cpu power and (in the music future) cloud computing. The times when huge sample libraries are needed are coming to an end. Listen to what is already possible with physical modeling, 30 MB per instrument as iOS app. The upcoming M1 processors are the beginning of a new era and what cannot be calculated internally in the device can be covered by dynamically rentable processor cores in the cloud in the future which is already reality in many industries today and only a question of time when it will become affordable and easily accessible for consumers, perhaps also for complex real-time music computing.

jolico

@Apex said:

@jolico said:
Hardware = Instant abandonware

Software = Hope (for substantial updates for years)

IDK, I’ve a got closet full of old computers (many high end, expensive macs), ipads, ipods, etc that are essentially paperweights. Meanwhile, I’ve hardware synths, samplers, sequencers that I’ve continually used in some cases from the early 90’s.

Everything, and I mean everything has a shelf life. Especially computer products.

Paperweights how? You should be able to get them repaired easily.
The old software you were running those days should also still be rock solid, although they were probably used mainly for controlling your hardware I’m guessing.

I was also into analog and VA synths etc those days, but now my phone sounds better than them.

I couldn’t believe how much SunrizerXS on a little iPod touch sounded better than my own JP-8000.

Talking about literal “shelf life”, I left the JP on the shelf and the cheap crappy capacitors started leaking, so now it has sound barely coming out of the headphone jack only.

Now, if my device fails, I just replace it.
All of my synths, samples, presets, AudioShare folder etc. magically appear on the new device which also fits in my pocket and is always with me whenever I need it.

It takes decent photos too.

Apex

@jolico said:

@Apex said:

@jolico said:
Hardware = Instant abandonware

Software = Hope (for substantial updates for years)

IDK, I’ve a got closet full of old computers (many high end, expensive macs), ipads, ipods, etc that are essentially paperweights. Meanwhile, I’ve hardware synths, samplers, sequencers that I’ve continually used in some cases from the early 90’s.

Everything, and I mean everything has a shelf life. Especially computer products.

Paperweights how? You should be able to get them repaired easily.
The old software you were running those days should also still be rock solid, although they were probably used mainly for controlling your hardware I’m guessing.

I was also into analog and VA synths etc those days, but now my phone sounds better than them.

I couldn’t believe how much SunrizerXS on a little iPod touch sounded better than my own JP-8000.

Talking about literal “shelf life”, I left the JP on the shelf and the cheap crappy capacitors started leaking, so now it has sound barely coming out of the headphone jack only.

Now, if my device fails, I just replace it.
All of my synths, samples, presets, AudioShare folder etc. magically appear on the new device which also fits in my pocket and is always with me whenever I need it.

It takes decent photos too.

Apple is not supporting those computers and they are as you said “abandonware”. In fact Apple isn’t really supporting any device 10 years old (they dont even support an iPhone 4). Are they still useful? Sure, for some obscure purposes. I keep a G4 in the studio just for running SoundDiver and nothing else. They’re also essentially worthless in a monetary sense (as well as the $1000’s and $1000’s of dollars of software parked on them). Meanwhile I have 30 yo synths that are ridiculously expensive at this point. They’ve more than retained their value.
I’m doing a remix project for a label currently. I can’t use those old computers (and definitely not a 1st Gen iPad). I have to run a fairly modern, beefy computer with the latest and great versions of expensive DAWs just to open the projects to do my job. The hamster wheel of endless upgrades never stops, ever.

But to the topic at hand: iOS will become the “future” when it can start running actual full fledged DAWs and hi-ends plugin suites (yes, Fab Filter on ipad is incredible) and not a minute sooner. It’s close now (some really amazing stuff like Drambo), but as long as it caters to $9.99 apps the big players won’t put real development into iOS. Then there’s the whole I/O situation which is not insignificant. People with actual studios need to interface with these devices without a cobbled together chain of dongles (or shudder... bluetooth😣).

Telstar5

@NeonSilicon said:

@AudioGus said:
I think it will be relatively trivial in a few years time for hardware manufacturers to simply throw fully multitouch screens on their products, as good as any iPad. I imagine something with pads and dials like the size of a new Circuit with a screen the size of an ipad mini. The iPad to me is simply a sign of things to come in terms of having shown the potential for multitouch. However all of this will be basic interactivity for others to do just as well in no time... ie. the future.

Yep, exactly this. The future of music production is hardware with builtin custom OS's running specialized applications. It is so much easier now to build the hardware and develop the software for embedded systems that this is going to become the way forward for many applications.

Kinda like Roland Mv1 Versalab w Zenbeats

jolico

@Apex said:

@jolico said:

@Apex said:

@jolico said:
Hardware = Instant abandonware

Software = Hope (for substantial updates for years)

IDK, I’ve a got closet full of old computers (many high end, expensive macs), ipads, ipods, etc that are essentially paperweights. Meanwhile, I’ve hardware synths, samplers, sequencers that I’ve continually used in some cases from the early 90’s.

Everything, and I mean everything has a shelf life. Especially computer products.

Paperweights how? You should be able to get them repaired easily.
The old software you were running those days should also still be rock solid, although they were probably used mainly for controlling your hardware I’m guessing.

I was also into analog and VA synths etc those days, but now my phone sounds better than them.

I couldn’t believe how much SunrizerXS on a little iPod touch sounded better than my own JP-8000.

Talking about literal “shelf life”, I left the JP on the shelf and the cheap crappy capacitors started leaking, so now it has sound barely coming out of the headphone jack only.

Now, if my device fails, I just replace it.
All of my synths, samples, presets, AudioShare folder etc. magically appear on the new device which also fits in my pocket and is always with me whenever I need it.

It takes decent photos too.

Apple is not supporting those computers and they are as you said “abandonware”. In fact Apple isn’t really supporting any device 10 years old (they dont even support an iPhone 4). Are they still useful? Sure, for some obscure purposes. I keep a G4 in the studio just for running SoundDiver and nothing else. They’re also essentially worthless in a monetary sense (as well as the $1000’s and $1000’s of dollars of software parked on them). Meanwhile I have 30 yo synths that are ridiculously expensive at this point. They’ve more than retained their value.
I’m doing a remix project for a label currently. I can’t use those old computers (and definitely not a 1st Gen iPad). I have to run a fairly modern, beefy computer with the latest and great versions of expensive DAWs just to open the projects to do my job. The hamster wheel of endless upgrades never stops, ever.

But to the topic at hand: iOS will become the “future” when it can start running actual full fledged DAWs and hi-ends plugin suites (yes, Fab Filter on ipad is incredible) and not a minute sooner. It’s close now (some really amazing stuff like Drambo), but as long as it caters to $9.99 apps the big players won’t put real development into iOS. Then there’s the whole I/O situation which is not insignificant. People with actual studios need to interface with these devices without a cobbled together chain of dongles (or shudder... bluetooth😣).

I know what you mean.

In a recording studio situation, there’s also the fact that studio clients want to see huge mixing desks and racks in the room to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.
That’s why I kept some obsolete, but impressive looking “props” on display since getting into digital recording in the late 90s.
But I feel like people are slowly starting to realize what can be done on their little handheld devices.

I’m sure that Ableton etc. can create perfectly working iOS versions of their software, but are sticking to only supporting big machines to look more impressive and charge much higher prices.

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:
Apologies for the confusion but iOS being the future of music production and the ipad being part of every musicians studio is virtually the same thing.

No it's not. Not even remotely.

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:

@Ailerom said:
I'll regret it but I have to ask. Since when were portability, accessibility, processing power and the current peripherals plug being used the most important parts of Music Production? Also, wouldn't it be pretty safe to say anyone that gets attached the port layout on an iDevice is setting themselves up for disappointment?

If these were not true then laptops would never have been invented or used in music production. Ports will be apart of the ipad pros for many years to come, iphones and regular ipads probably not.

So there was a time when people thought laptops were THE future of music? Do you seriously think you know what Apple is going to do next? If you do then that is very handy indeed. You should do some videos on that as looking on youtube reveals a plethora of viewers interested in the future development. of devices like the iPad. I'm not joking either. Seriously, do that videos as I think they'd be great, especially when the information you provide becomes fact.

@MobileMusicPro said:

@Ailerom said:

@ecou said:
Great argument for the portability and versatility of the iPad. Thanks 👍

I think anyone would be a fool to argue that an iPad is not versatile a portable.

Not sure how such an obvious statement helps the conversation at all.

It doesn't, but I didn't say it. I just responded to someone who did.

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:
Yah no one is "uncontrollably masticating" over the ipad, it's a short video with 5 easy points, relax a little and then ask yourself why you got so upset over this video.

Someone is right on the edge though. And who knows how a finished Youtube video is celebrated. Not judging.

It's not the video that upset me, it the "iOS Music Production Is The Future" statement that upset me. If I relax any more I'll fall into a coma. It's strange how little the written word portrays about a person.

Ailerom

@AudioGus said:

@MobileMusicPro said:

@Ailerom said:
In that video it goes from "iOS Music Production Is The Future" to "an important part" within the first minute. Does one really need a Kaos Pad in a world where iOS music production is the future.

Or are we just saying forget the desktop computer or laptop, throw those away and insert iPad here. You'll still want all the same connectivity you had including large monitors, external storage, typing keyboard, mouse, external instruments etc.

It will still require a massive overhaul of the file management system before that is a reality for me. Although I can see it being a possible way to set up a studio. Sort of modular. Remove iMac, insert super iPad, keep on rolling. But in that context it's no different to buying a new computer. Does anyone say this Mac Pro Tower is the future or do they just upgrade to a more powerful machine and keep working?

Actually, scratch all that, now he is saying "mobile music making is the future". What is he actually saying? "Mobile music making", "the future of music production" and "an important part of". These are all different things. I think I get it now. This guy is a crackpot right?

Apologies for the confusion but iOS being the future of music production and the ipad being part of every musicians studio is virtually the same thing, again, whether they're using it as a midi controller, sound module, full on workstation or something we can't even foresee yet, it still is the future. Of course everything isn't perfect yet, which is why I used the word "future".

Everything to do with music production tech (software, desktops, hardware, other brands of tablet) will be better in the future. No real need to claim anything ‘is the future’, but vague hyperbole does make for good thread bait.

Very true.

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:
There is no bating here, we're simply having a discussion as some folks think the ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians anytime soon, I make the argument here why that's not the case.

Oh I think there is at least a little baiting going on. Mostly of the "master" kind.

Can you give an example of some of the folks who think the "ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians"?

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:

@AudioGus said:

@MobileMusicPro said:

@AudioGus said:

@MobileMusicPro said:

@Ailerom said:
In that video it goes from "iOS Music Production Is The Future" to "an important part" within the first minute. Does one really need a Kaos Pad in a world where iOS music production is the future.

Or are we just saying forget the desktop computer or laptop, throw those away and insert iPad here. You'll still want all the same connectivity you had including large monitors, external storage, typing keyboard, mouse, external instruments etc.

It will still require a massive overhaul of the file management system before that is a reality for me. Although I can see it being a possible way to set up a studio. Sort of modular. Remove iMac, insert super iPad, keep on rolling. But in that context it's no different to buying a new computer. Does anyone say this Mac Pro Tower is the future or do they just upgrade to a more powerful machine and keep working?

Actually, scratch all that, now he is saying "mobile music making is the future". What is he actually saying? "Mobile music making", "the future of music production" and "an important part of". These are all different things. I think I get it now. This guy is a crackpot right?

Apologies for the confusion but iOS being the future of music production and the ipad being part of every musicians studio is virtually the same thing, again, whether they're using it as a midi controller, sound module, full on workstation or something we can't even foresee yet, it still is the future. Of course everything isn't perfect yet, which is why I used the word "future".

Everything to do with music production tech (software, desktops, hardware, other brands of tablet) will be better in the future. No real need to claim anything ‘is the future’, but vague hyperbole does make for good thread bait.

There is no bating here, we're simply having a discussion as some folks think the ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians anytime soon, I make the argument here why that's not the case.

I think you are preaching to the choir on that front here. It is the interpretation of the phrase ‘is the future’ that mostly seems at play here.

"I think you are preaching to the quire here" - Yes, that's why I posted it here instead of lawn mower weekly.

So you came to the lawn mower convention to try to convince the people who love lawn mowers that lawn mowers are awesome?

Ailerom

@hes said:
j> @Ailerom said:

@ecou said:
I am not trying to attack you with my comment but if the music does not move you to listen more than once it's the song writer fault and not the recording platform.

Yes, probably, mostly, Partly, I'm sure sometimes possibly not. I mean even the greatest song would fail to achieve their potential if recorded on some really crappy equipment, dictophone type jobby for example. I've heard shit songs recorded well and good songs recorded badly. I prefer the latter but if you listen to popular music I think most people disagree.

Certainly the quality of music production on iOS devices is good enough that, if I don't want to listen to a song more than once, I would tend to blame the musician's lack of talent more than some deficiency in iOS as a music production platform. IMO, the difference in production quality between iOS and desktop, to the extent it exists at all, isn't something the average listener would even notice.

Absolutely. Well at least for the genres that work well. If we were talking about a metal band I think the iPad would let the team down unless it was reduced to mainly just a recording medium.

MobileMusicPro

@Ailerom said:

@MobileMusicPro said:
There is no bating here, we're simply having a discussion as some folks think the ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians anytime soon, I make the argument here why that's not the case.

Oh I think there is at least a little baiting going on. Mostly of the "master" kind.

Can you give an example of some of the folks who think the "ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians"?

There's literally some examples in this very thread, also perhaps you've never been on music twitter?

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:
It's more than just being apart of everybody's studio which you would know if you could be bothered to spend 15 min to watch a video but we understand that you don't care enough about the subject to do so and so we wish you all the best.

Who is we? Are you saying you have a focus group database on this topic?

Ailerom

@MobileMusicPro said:

@Ailerom said:

@MobileMusicPro said:
There is no bating here, we're simply having a discussion as some folks think the ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians anytime soon, I make the argument here why that's not the case.

Oh I think there is at least a little baiting going on. Mostly of the "master" kind.

Can you give an example of some of the folks who think the "ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians"?

There's literally some examples in this very thread, also perhaps you've never been on music twitter?

I missed that, I hope you don't count me in that list.

NeuM

A lot of hairsplitting in this thread.

Let’s just let it be resolved that it’s possible TODAY to produce quality audio work on iOS and that it should continue to improve in the future.

The arguments are getting ridiculous.

AudioGus

@NeuM said:
A lot of hairsplitting in this thread.

Let’s just let it be resolved that it’s possible TODAY to produce quality audio work on iOS and that it should continue to improve in the future.

The arguments are getting ridiculous.

Awww... but I wanna semantic bitch/argue that the base model is actually a superior 'mobile' music device than an M1 because it has a built in headphone jack and you can use it while walking and that the M1 is really more 'portable' like a laptop.

-'Audiogus'

NeuM

@AudioGus said:

@NeuM said:
A lot of hairsplitting in this thread.

Let’s just let it be resolved that it’s possible TODAY to produce quality audio work on iOS and that it should continue to improve in the future.

The arguments are getting ridiculous.

Awww... but I wanna semantic bitch/argue that the base model is actually a superior 'mobile' music device than an M1 because it has a built in headphone jack and you can use it while walking and that the M1 is really more 'portable' like a laptop.

-'Audiogus'

😂

sevenape

Are things still improving?

MobileMusicPro

@sevenape said:
Are things still improving?

Indeed they are

sevenape

@MobileMusicPro said:

@sevenape said:
Are things still improving?

Indeed they are

Good, good!

Are there any game changers on the horizon!?

echoopera

I don’t think that iOS is the future of music production as much as Accessibility to amazing instruments and tools is the future.

Because of the advancements of technology and software and the ease of creating amazing hardware it is now easier than ever to play music however you feel comfortable.

I think what iOS helped to usher in to the market was the notion of Pro level tools being made accessible to the regular consumer.

I would argue that the iPad made tools like Procreate, Cubasis, Drambo, LumaFusion, Nomad 3D accessible to regular users whereas just a decade ago apps like these were inconceivable and impractical.

Because of this breaking down of walls we see amazing apps on all sorts of platforms: Nintendo Switch, Occulus, Android and all of these amazing pieces of hardware coming out with amazing software: Polyend Tracker, Maschine+, MPC, Waldorf as mentioned above…and so many more (Just think about the integration story with the OP-Z and a screen—that’s a trend to follow and build from).

iOS and Creative Apps showed the world what is possible in a handheld device. The world is listening, watching and learning at an accelerated pace. The next decade will see some amazing pieces of kit arrive on our desktops and i truly believe it will be a hybrid and modular model which allows Producers and Artists to work seamlessly in their preferred workflow.

That’s been my observation since jumping on this train in 2015.

MobileMusicPro

@sevenape said:

@MobileMusicPro said:

@sevenape said:
Are things still improving?

Indeed they are

Good, good!

Are there any game changers on the horizon!?

The iPad itself IS the game changer

sevenape

@MobileMusicPro said:

@sevenape said:

@MobileMusicPro said:

@sevenape said:
Are things still improving?

Indeed they are

Good, good!

Are there any game changers on the horizon!?

The iPad itself IS the game changer

Yesss!

ambrosiajam

Seeing how far it has come in the past 5 years, it is insane to think of where it will be in the next 5 years

Also let’s not forget it’s an AMAZING tool for live music and performance.

You can run full-production-worthy signal chains and effect lines on instruments and change up the effects on the fly while performing. Sure all that is possible with a laptop, but not the touchscreen stuff.
no audience wants to see a guitarist, or any musician really, with a laptop in front of them. But an iPad can sit right on a music stand or alongside your synths and it discreetly fits right in. This is a bigger deal than people realize…

michael_m

This whole premise is a bit like “Guitar music is on its way out” or “Synthesizers will put musicians out of work”. Who the hell knows? It’s always been better to wait and see as many predictions about music have turned out to be horribly wrong.

Telstar5

What @ambrosiajam said

dendy

I'm now for more than year using exclusively HW only .. but in case i return anytime in future into classic DAW workflow, i'm pretty sure iPad is only choice for me. Will NEVER EVER return to desktop :-)

ut i think unfortunalelly progress slowed down a significantly in recent 2-3 years.. 2010-2018was much more groundbreaking than 2019-2022 ... many apps died in recent 2-3 years, many promising new things are lost in dust.. feel overall huge slowdown in progress .. let's see if it changes in next 2-3 years..