Ipad Air 16gb enough for music apps?

[analogholic]

Thought about getting an Ipad as an additon to my laptop etc.

mostly for sequencing, synth editing, looping and such.

Don´t want to spend a fortune really.

So as they have the 16gb version on sale in my neck of the woods, would its storage capacity be enough for that kind of stuff?

[Dave Bryce]

I have a 16GB iPad, and I have a bunch of synth stuff and other music software on it. No prob....

 

dB

[Joe Muscara]

If you're not like me and don't load it up with a lot of media (songs, movies, etc.) you can get away with a much smaller version than the 128 GB one that I have.

[DulceLabs.com]

The only issue I could see is if you use apps that use large sample libraries or, like Joe said, load it up with a lot media or other big files.

 

I have an iPad Mini with 16 gig. I have just about 40 synth apps and few other various music or utility apps - my iPad is nearly full, but it will still hold plenty more apps (unless they use a large sample library.)

 

But: If I did want to install an app that uses a lot of storage, or download a bunch movies this is not a problem:

The nice thing about an iPad is you can delete Apps you aren't currently using and then re-install them and a later date from the cloud. I know plenty of people that do that as a storage management method.

 

I really think 16 gigs will be plenty for you based on planned usage.

[t9cstudio]

Or use it for live multi tracking! Bought the 16g mini Air without thinking about that first. Shoulda got the 64g at least.

 

[Michael W]

I am on my third iPad, and sprung for 64 GB this time around. I travel on business and like to download some movies and TV shows from iTunes before I leave. HD video is absolutely gorgeous on the retina screen, and each feature film in HD can be 4-6 GB. I also have my entire library of music and music videos on my iPad, along with a rather large photo library.

 

But, as others have said, 16 GB is fine just for music apps.

 

[brenner13]

I am still on an iPad2 16GB and ran out of room within 8 months of downloading synths. I have done quite a bit of multi-tracking and store about seven or eight full length songs of my own but have no room for any iTunes stuff directly on the iPad. Also, I really would like to explore SampleTank, but would have to delete something big to make room for it like Alchemy or GarageBand plus iMPC. I'm havering too much fun with those right now and have a few projects in the works that necessitate those apps for now. When something new comes out, I have to view the short lost of synth apps I'm willing to give up to make room.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is 16GB provides room for lots of good things but if you are a synth-app addict like me and have the funds available, get at least 32GB.

[Six-string-man]

A lot depends on what you want to use. I have very little in the way of synths on my iPad, but here are a few app sizes. These are all before you start saving anything in the app, so the download sizes are "as new".

 

Sampletank: 1.1GB

Garageband: 767MB

Alchemy: 107 MB

Galileo: 45.7 MB

Magellan: 41.1 MB

 

 

Just for comparison, I have around 150 songs in my iTunes folder. These take up 1.6GB.

 

 

SSM

[brenner13]

Fully loaded with all add-on libraries, Alchemy gobbles up 2.1GB. But OH so worth it! A fantastic variety of sounds and excellent interface to manipulate and mutilate sound.

 

I currently have 7 songs in various states of completion in MultiTrack DAW, all recorded at 16 bit / 44.1 to conserve memory space. These still take up 1.5GB. Most are 3 or 4 tracks; one has 8.

 

I have deleted all games and genera iTunes music and many non-essential synths (still have over 30 of 'em), and have 1.5GB left for more recording.

 

My next iPad will be at least 32GB if not 64 so I won't have to allocate available space so stringently.

[RABid]

Given that you will be doing most of the recording on the laptop, I think 16GB is fine. I have a 16 GB mini and as long as I am careful it has no problem holding all of the music programs I want to play around with.

[Six-string-man]

 

Fully loaded with all add-on libraries, Alchemy gobbles up 2.1GB.

 

 

 

Ah, I haven't bought all the extras and add-on's, that's probably why mine is only a few MegaBytes!

 

 

 

SSM

[analogholic]

Thanks everyone for your great information!

 

 

Given that you will be doing most of the recording on the laptop, I think 16GB is fine. I have a 16 GB mini and as long as I am careful it has no problem holding all of the music programs I want to play around with.

 

Remembered today that we have an Ipad Air at work. Was surprised how heavy it was...even if it´s the slimmest version yet.

Then someone showed me their Ipad mini which seemed much lighter in relation to their size !?!?

 

How do you find the mini is working for music apps, sequencing etc? Is the screen big enough?

[GovernorSilver]

Fully loaded with all add-on libraries, Alchemy gobbles up 2.1GB. But OH so worth it! A fantastic variety of sounds and excellent interface to manipulate and mutilate sound.

 

I admit I passed on the "all sounds" bundle sale because I was afraid of how much space all the add-ons would take - and I just wanted the voices one, and Himalayan Vintage. Oh well.

 

Re: iPad Mini. There seem to be a lot of people using music apps on that, based on what i've seen on the Audiobus forum and the iPad Musician FB group.

[RABid]

Thanks everyone for your great information!

 

 

Given that you will be doing most of the recording on the laptop, I think 16GB is fine. I have a 16 GB mini and as long as I am careful it has no problem holding all of the music programs I want to play around with.

 

Remembered today that we have an Ipad Air at work. Was surprised how heavy it was...even if it´s the slimmest version yet.

Then someone showed me their Ipad mini which seemed much lighter in relation to their size !?!?

 

How do you find the mini is working for music apps, sequencing etc? Is the screen big enough?

 

I actually hate sequencing on the iPad. Playing around with loops is fun but I hate to go too far with song construction because I know that I will eventually want to pull it into a real DAW. On the other hand, I love running Reason and Ableton Live on a MacBook Air. It is about as portable as you can get and still feel like you are using a mature DAW.

 

The iPad is good for

Fun factor

Sound source

Triggering samples

Synth editor (great for the Roland Integra 7)

Limited loop playing

Limited recording

 

Not so good for

Creating a complete song the way you would in a PC/Mac DAW

Editing sound files for your DAW

Recording tracks to transfer to you DAW

 

Note that all of my negatives involve doing things that eventually need to move to your computer. Sure there are programs and attachments to make the iPad work as a multi-track recorder, sound editor, etc... IMHO this is where it is pushed too far. Why buy a $200 attachment for the iPad to make it a recorder when you can buy a $200 recorder that does a great job, AND saves files to a memory card for easy transfer.

 

Asking an iPad to be a DAW or multi-track recorder is like asking a chihuahua to be a guard dog. It can bark, run in circles, and warn you that something is wrong, but you have to ask yourself, "Is that all I need from a guard dog?"

[GovernorSilver]

Remembered today that we have an Ipad Air at work. Was surprised how heavy it was...even if it´s the slimmest version yet.

Then someone showed me their Ipad mini which seemed much lighter in relation to their size !?!?

 

How do you find the mini is working for music apps, sequencing etc? Is the screen big enough?

 

The first time I held an iPad (1st-gen) I was surprised how at the weight as well. My iPad is 4th-generation. I think it was the first iPad model with the Lightning port. Anyway, it probably weighs about the same as the first iPad, but it's much, much lighter than my Macbook Pro. The power supply is also lighter. I bought it to use certain apps, and also as a travel alternative to the Macbook - worked out really well, imo.

 

As I said, there are a fair number of iPad Mini users on the groups I mentioned. I personally would rather get another full-sized iPad than a Mini, because I like the screen size for making music, especially on apps where you need to be able to zoom in on knob panels (eg. iMS-20, iVCS3).

[analogholic]

Remembered today that we have an Ipad Air at work. Was surprised how heavy it was...even if it´s the slimmest version yet.

Then someone showed me their Ipad mini which seemed much lighter in relation to their size !?!?

 

How do you find the mini is working for music apps, sequencing etc? Is the screen big enough?

 

The first time I held an iPad (1st-gen) I was surprised how at the weight as well. My iPad is 4th-generation. I think it was the first iPad model with the Lightning port. Anyway, it probably weighs about the same as the first iPad, but it's much, much lighter than my Macbook Pro. The power supply is also lighter. I bought it to use certain apps, and also as a travel alternative to the Macbook - worked out really well, imo.

 

As I said, there are a fair number of iPad Mini users on the groups I mentioned. I personally would rather get another full-sized iPad than a Mini, because I like the screen size for making music, especially on apps where you need to be able to zoom in on knob panels (eg. iMS-20, iVCS3).

 

Well, this is a bit embarrasing

I was told by a collegue that the one we had at work was an air. Well that one was the Ipad 4.

Went to the store and the air IS very light.

No need for the mini then

 

[analogholic]

Thanks Rabid!

 

Well, wanted to use it more as a portable "sketchpad" when it comes to sequencing.

Anything especially annoying when moving the files to a DAW, except for the fact that moving files to a DAW is annoying in itself?

[GovernorSilver]

I have heard Cubasis on iPad integrates very well with Cubase on main computer, but since I don't own Cubase I don't have any experience to report there.

 

I've been using my iPad for exploring synthesis and various ideas rather than trying to write full-length songs.

 

However, I did write one such song on the Looptical app, which is a workstation app designed for peeps who prefer the real-time method of sequencing - you hit record and you play, instead of dealing with a piano roll or step sequence entry. If you tend to write songs that are structured the traditional pop way (verse A, verse A, chorus, verse B, verse B, chorus, bridge, etc.) Looptical is excellent for that. The virtual guitar responds surprisingly well to pop strumming - maybe not so well for flamenco rakes or the like. I'm sure the quantize feature helps a lot. You can export your Looptical song as MIDI or audio tracks. I wrote this demo in Looptical, despite my dislike of onscreen piano keyboards. I'll probably export it at MIDI for loading into my Korg M3 at some point. Because of the MIDI export feature, I didn't bother with Looptical's sample loading features.