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23 July 2010

Trying to find specific music "app" for iPad Hello,

I don't have an iPad. But I might get one, and so I am researching specific "apps" that I would want, if I get one. Here is the main type of thing I want:[More:]

A virtual recording device, multi-track, that contains midi instrument sounds, and a nice selection of them.

right now I use ableton on a PC. I don't need to reproduce ableton. It does much much more than I need, and often is quite unwieldy. For example, ableton is particularly strong for live "dj"'ing, which I do not do at all.

Here is what I do, and want I'd want an iPad "app" to do (notice I cannot yet say or type "app"; I guess that would have to change should I actually buy an iPad):

I want at least 4-track capability. I want three of those to be midi-capable, with built-in sounds. Ableton has hundreds (no, thousands) of instrument sounds that you just cut and paste into the midi tracks, and then you use either the computer keyboard (primitive method) or a midi controller to place the actual notes of the track.

I also want at least one, preferably two, audio tracks. In ableton I stick an alpha lexicon interface into the USB port of my PC and a regular mike into the interface and that is how I (and my singing partner) get our vocals onto our audio tracks.

Then I want a little mixing board-type thing, but it doesn't have to be very sophisticated. I use the absolute basics of ableton to construct little songs, and ignore about 95% of what ableton has to offer, and that is fine with me.

So -- that's the type of software application I am looking for, for iPad. I've done some searching around various websites, but I'm just wondering if anybody here knows any nice websites that might shorten my search through the hundreds of reviews of thousands of these software app...um, these APPS.

Thanks!


(whatup DMelanogaster, I more-insided you.)
posted by gaspode 23 July | 14:41
it didn't link, but thank you. I saw that I was supposed to do the More thing only afterward. Lord, I feel so ---- exposed.

posted by DMelanogaster 23 July | 14:57
Have you looked at BeatMaker?
posted by doctor_negative 23 July | 16:07
Apple make a very good app for exactly this called Garageband, but it's for Macs (it comes free with every one) rather than the iPad.

I'd suggest a MacBook is a much better investment. The iPad is very nice (I own one), but it's still fundamentally just an iPhone with a bigger screen, and the hardware and software just isn't that suitable for doing useful stuff. You're going to run into all sorts of limitations trying to make this happen.
posted by cillit bang 23 July | 16:34
Thanks, doctor_negative, this looks like what I'm looking for!

cillit bang: I already have a couple of (PC) laptops at home which I'm pretty happy with, and, as I said, I am all set musically with ableton for PC.

I want an iPad because I'm looking for a mobile device to throw in my purse. The iPad weighs a pound less than a netbook and I like the "form factor." Thanks for the advice though. And if you have any specific problems in mind when you say I will "run into all sorts of limitations" making music on the iPad and then importing into iTunes, I'd love to hear about them.

I'm not a professional musician. Just want to have some fun writing and singing my songs, as per here: (I posted this link to my MySpace page to MetaFilter at some point). This is the kind of simple arrangements I (we) do.

(myspace.com/yourparentsnyc)
posted by DMelanogaster 23 July | 17:04
I thought I read somewhere, maybe nytimes, about a really awesome music composition app for iphone. I guess that means it would be workable on the ipad too. It was 3 or 4 months ago that i read about it, but some trial googling hasn't turned it up. If i find it, i'll post back.
posted by DarkForest 23 July | 18:17
Actually, Beatmaker is more of a sequencer than I would like, and, in a review of it (very detailed), I am not seeing any audio-in function for singing.

Still looking...
posted by DMelanogaster 23 July | 18:40
I was going to say Garageband is hell good and doesn't have much of a learning curve - but I don't think it's adapted to iPad yet.
posted by gomichild 24 July | 23:41
I have now found something called Xewton Music Studio, which does not allow for audio recording yet, but they say by the end of the year it will. Garageband for iPad would of course be great.

posted by DMelanogaster 25 July | 08:46
omg exploding particle mesh bunny!! (Vimeo; plays music) || Milas' Day Dreams

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