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Using iPads in Music-Making


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I know lots of people love this tool for making music today, but it's gone right past me. I've been using my desktop for so long that it's hard to imagine all of the software that is available only for iOS apps.

 

In particular, there is a Brazilian drum machine app that looks amazing, and I think it would be helpful for a bossa nova album I'm producing for a client. But it's iOS only. How do you guys integrate your iPad software with your DAWs, if you do?

 

I guess I could do all the programming on my iPad--ugh--and then just get the audio out of the iPad into my Mac somehow, but since there isn't usb I'm not sure how I'd even do that.

 

This is the app--there are demos of it on youtube, and they seem really cool to me. I have a limited knowledge of authentic Brazilian rhythms and I'd love to use some of these options as starter blocks for my arrangements.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brazilian-drum-machine/id988165210

Doug Robinson

www.dougrobinson.com

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but since there isn't usb I'm not sure how I'd even do that.

 

What? :confused:

 

Also:

 

  • Which DAW are you using on your desktop?
  • Which platform (Mac, PC, Linux?)

 

And finally:

 

[url=https://www.google.com/search?q=use+ipad+with+desktop+daw

Clonk[/url]

 

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So it seems that you have to do the following:

 

Get an interface between the iPad that can take lightning to send over USB? I can see how this would allow me to send audio to Logic, but I don't think that would allow me to do my programming in Logic, would it?

Doug Robinson

www.dougrobinson.com

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My iPad mini doesn't have USB, of course...So it seems that you have to do the following: Get an interface between the iPad that can take lightning to send over USB?

The lightning cable you have connects the iPad to the Mac via USB

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The lightning cable you have connects the iPad to the Mac via USB

 

And... if you open the Audio MIDI Setup app in your Mac's utilities folder, you can enable your iPad as an Input/Output device for both audio and MIDI. Just tested with Logic and a single cable to my iPad. I can play the iPad iOS app from logic via MIDI and record the audio from the iPad iOS app to another track in Logic.

 

It sounds like you already have what you need other than programming the iPad iOS app from the Mac user interface.

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"It sounds like you already have what you need other than programming the iPad iOS app from the Mac user interface."

 

I think you're right. On of the videos I watched suggested that I needed not just the cable but also a special audio interface, but you're saying the audio will travel on the lighting to usb cable? I don't have one here to test out.

 

And has anyone come up with a way to use an iPad app as a sound engine but get the user interface up on the Mac for programming?

Doug Robinson

www.dougrobinson.com

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the lighting to usb cable? I don't have one here to test out.

 

If you have the charger that came with the iPad, then yes you do.

 

And has anyone come up with a way to use an iPad app as a sound engine but get the user interface up on the Mac for programming?

 

Why would you want to ignore all the effort done by someone to program an iOS-specific app and take advantage of the multi-touch screen?

 

Do yourself a favour, spend more time with the app(s) in question on your iPad. Learn more about MIDI. Learn more about your DAW. Only then will you really be able to make this work well for you. Based on your line of questioning in this thread, you're still a bit of a way off from that goal.

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The lightning cable you have connects the iPad to the Mac via USB

 

And... if you open the Audio MIDI Setup app in your Mac's utilities folder, you can enable your iPad as an Input/Output device for both audio and MIDI. Just tested with Logic and a single cable to my iPad. I can play the iPad iOS app from logic via MIDI and record the audio from the iPad iOS app to another track in Logic.

 

It sounds like you already have what you need other than programming the iPad iOS app from the Mac user interface.

 

Can't emphasize this enough - Inter-Device Audio and MIDI is one of the great things about having an iPad and a Mac:

 

https://discchord.com/appnews/2017/11/16/inter-device-audio-midi-solves-everything

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IConnectivity is the pro way to integrate iPad into your DAW.

 

https://www.iconnectivity.com/

 

 

As others mentioned above, you don't need that sort of thing anymore to connect your iPhone or iPad to a Mac. Plug your iDevice into an available USB port on your Mac. Start Audio/MIDI setup and enable your iDevice at the bottom of the left gray column. Set up your channel strip (in this case, MainStage) as shown. Now, any softsynth will connect both MIDI and audio directly to the MainStage channel strip, without the need for any third-party hardware. This will also work with Logic Pro or any DAW. Added benefit is that because your iDevice is connected to your Mac by USB, it also charges it.

 

MS.jpg

 

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Sorry, I guess I left specifics off my situation:

 

iMac/Logic Pro. My iPad mini doesn't have USB, of course.

 

It actually does have USB. It has a Lightning connector on the iPad side with a USB plug on the other end of the cable. What I mentioned above is seen by macOS and iOS as MIDI and audio over USB via IDAM through that cable.

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It sounds like you already have what you need other than programming the iPad iOS app from the Mac user interface.

 

That is correct.

 

 

Why would you want to ignore all the effort done by someone to program an iOS specific app and take it vantage of the multi touchscreen?

 

Because its what I want. I dont use my iPad in music making normally, and if this software or something similar was available from my desktop, I wouldnt have started this thread. I like my tools to serve my purposes. I make enough compromises to adapt to technology as it is. I just saw an app that sounded good and I liked several specific features and sounds, and wanted to find out if there was a way to control it on my desktop. The touchscreen aspect was not even a small part of my consideration, and it still isnt.

Doug Robinson

www.dougrobinson.com

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I run iPad Pro and a USB Powered LCD into my Physis K4 then to the 1U PC.

I program and automate with MIDI Designer for my Strymons and the SE-02 and Blofeld get the iPad Pro for Editors, Sample Transfers and Wavetable Conversions.

 

Never really needed it, but it sure is much easier for everything.

I bought the Physis for 8 x Pedals/ Zones, never knew those those 4 Type B and 1 Type A would be so useful.

 

iPad has changed my life, Im using smart gadgets now for the first time in my life.

I still use a KyroCera XT waterproof flip top.

Can only text 32 letters so I never use that either.

 

But hell I got GPS now instead of studying maps, even got some gal with a sexy British accent telling me where to go and asking me if she can help.

Not really keen on Synths and stuff.

 

 

Magnus C350 + FMR RNP + Realistic Unisphere Mic
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I

I guess I could do all the programming on my iPad--ugh--and then just get the audio out of the iPad into my Mac somehow, but since there isn't usb I'm not sure how I'd even do that.

 

If you just want to get audio from iPad to Logic on your Mac, this might be all you need to do

 

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/play-audio-iphone-mac/

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