I usually just go in circles

phooka

I have been using iOS as a musical tool since the iPod touch 4th gen came out. Started out using Nanostudio, and it allowed me to create tracks so fluidly on such a small screen. Lovvvved it. I quickly saw the potential and started invested in other sound tools. To this day I have spent over 1000 dollars in the App Store, I'd say 90% of which is synth/DAW/music related stuff. Always hoping for a solution to the ultimate problem of Unity. Nothing Really Connects Well. Audiobus is cool for recording stuff but ultimately I want to play live and so have great midi functionality. I want to be able to modify the the parameters of a synthesizer track each time I perform a song. Many DAW's on iOS try to address this with their own built in synths and effects, but ultimately I need to use an external synthesizer app as if it were WITHIN the DAW.

Inter-App Audio came and sort of jack-knifed the whole train sideways in my opinion. The fact that I can't just go to a synth and play it while Cubasis records all the notes and Automation is just sad. As much as I want to love the platform for music production, It just doesn't cut it for me yet. Maybe its the fact that I made the sorry mistake of saving for a year to buy the craptastic iPad 3 that is holding me back. I can hardly run a drum machine side by side a synthesizer without the audio glitching out. Tis a bummer but I push on going in circles of buying Apps and Trying to hook Stuff up and feeling defeated and I know there is some really good software to use right now but it's all missing that real unity that we have in a PC/OSX DAW.

I guess I should just go back to Nanostudio and be happy. haha. Real Shame Nanostudio stopped being developed though. It has a lot of potential!

I love you people/robots here and make a hourly ritual of checking up on these forums. I'm not trying to be a hater here, I just have been feeling a bit defeated.

/endrant

mrufino1

I'm sorry you're frustrated. Sounds like you should just use nanostudio and make music! Why not? It sounds great and the music is in your head anyway. I agree, nanostudio stays out of the way when getting ideas from my head to the iPad. He is developing nanostudio2 if that's any comfort, I have a feeling it will be a winner. Heck, it's already a winner

StormJH1

I feel your frustration. But the truth is that while I love music and playing music, I've really never been a very "creative" person with music. I'm just as happy playing a cover of something, or taking apart a well known piece of music and putting it back together with guitars or iOS music. So I also have the problem of failing to produce too much of a finished product with the music apps, but that's hardly the fault of the software, since I've always been like that.

That doesn't meant that the time (and money) spent wasn't worthwhile. If it helps, try to look at music APPS and playing with new music software as one hobby, and music creation/theory as its own separate hobby. People assume they go hand-in-hand, but actually, the former can be quite antithetical to the latter. I enjoy reading about and experimenting with music apps. At times, it's almost the same sort of enjoyment I got out of playing video games. I don't think there's any shame in admitting that you like playing aimlessly with music apps versus spending 100% of your time using said apps to record directly into a DAW.

But I hear you 100% about almost being better off writing "simple" stuff in one program. AudioBus is great, and IAA/MIDI enhancements will take iOS music a long way. But the amount of work I get done quickly in Caustic or Gadget versus trying to do things through AB into a DAW tells me that simple workflow is best for me. If you had a truly great idea and the need for "professional" quality production, it's not like you couldn't use Nanostudio or another app as a sketchpad, and re-do the song with better quality synths and drum beats later.