Have you gone from hardware stage keyboard to an iPad and controller setup for bread and butter piano/keyboard sounds? How did it go?

[Alkeys]

Hey keys brothers - I'd really like to hear about your experience from you players out there who have switched from a traditional hardware keyboard rig like a Nord Stage 3 or 4 or YC73/88 whatever etc...that you use in the bottom keyboard role to cover your bread and butter keyboard sounds and who have switched to a controller and an iPad rig to do their thing instead.  

 

Honest confession: For the last 20 years I've had a Motif Rack (original version) and a controller to cover my bread and butter sounds mainly Piano and Rhodes and Clav and I've been petrified of going to a laptop keyboard rig. I realize my hardware is old and tired sounding and in dire need of an upgrade.  I've wanted to stick with hardware but I'm also wondering if I need to really spend 5k and go for a Nord Stage 4 or similar, and if it would be possible to just get a nice controller and a top of the line iPad and a few great apps instead for a lot less coin and perhaps just as good results for Piano, Rhodes Clav? Do you think that's possible?

 

I normally play a 2 keyboard rig- an analog synth on the top like a Model D or sometimes a Sequential Prophet 6 or whatever for leads and sound effects but my bottom board I use for Piano, Rhodes, Clav and basically electro mechanical keyboard sounds with an occasional mellotron in there. On my bottom board, when I do a gig, I honestly use only use about 4 sounds. I think this comes from my olden days when I actually gigged with a Rhodes and Minimoog like Jan Hammer, so I'm not used to needing a lot of sounds nor do I want a ton of sounds.  I just want to be able to switch and access those couple sounds quickly which is why I thought of the iPad since it has touchscreen capability vs a Apple laptop.  I don't want to scroll through sounds when I'm on a gig and I want to get to those sounds quickly even though I might only use 3 or 4 sounds on a gig. That's why hardware has always appealed to me because I can program my favorite 3 or 4 sounds to some hot buttons so switching sounds is quick and easy. Can you do this with an iPad?

 

I'm hoping someone has had the same thoughts as me and could share their experience. Thanks keys brothers. I appreciate you sharing your experiences and any tips or neighborhood knowledge you've acquired from your experience. 

[CHarrell]

I'm actually in the process of making this exact transition! What I've been finding is iPads work pretty well and have a consistent operation that makes connecting dongles such as audio interfaces relatively quick and straightforward. 

 

Another boon is that there are a good number of relatively cheap apps that give you strong functionality for what you're looking for, and what's great is that they oftentimes offer free versions or demos that you can try out to determine if they work for you. I wish more interfaces in some of these were better optimized for touch, but at a rehearsal last weekend I was able to change parameters and instruments rather easily. I'm a very tactile person so I'm still nervous about missing out on knobs etc (I'm not a fan of mapping but I think I'll have to suck it up), but overall, it's been a good transition...plus it's lighter on the body and wallet! 

 

(Also, some of these apps provide similar if not superior quality to many hardware offerings).

[Baldwin Funster]

#1 thing. You gotta run an iPad app like AUMv3. Or something similar. Then to change sounds you just change midi channels. 

For me 

Ch1-3 is hammond.

Ch4 is string pads.

Ch5 is horn section. 

So as fast as you can change channels is how fast you can change sounds.

[Paul Woodward]

I had this set up with an iPad which I trialled for rehearsals. Worked great. I had a Studiologic SL88 and iPad running Module so only two sounds there but the SL can send the program changes to move through the set list and I could assign splits, layers, different channels etc. The ipad case actually snapped magnetically to the SL too and a single 3.5mm cable out to the powered monitor. Bear in mind you would need to buy the expansion to get full access to splits and layers in that app.

[Adam Burgess]

Been back and forth with hardware only and iPads/laptops more times than I care/dare to admit.

Pros and cons galore for each, but I had to get another Kronos 88 last year and sold on my Arturia Keylab 88 without any regret!

[Al Quinn]

I’ve been hardware to laptop to iPad and am now back to hardware. It’s been an interesting time consuming adventure. For live gigs I didn’t experience the greatness of the laptop or iPad rig that others talk about; note that I’m only talking about live gigs and not studio recording.
 

Nowadays I gig with a Yamaha YC73 and Hammond SK Pro 61 and love it!. I’ve done some gigs with just the YC73 and have been happy considering the compromises involved with a single keyboard rig. The simplicity, playability, and sound of my hardware rig is wonderful. We are living in great times for keyboard players!
 

I continue fiddling around with my laptop and iPad at home because I’m a geek and like that kind of thing but I’m not inclined to use them on gigs anymore. 

[ABECK]

Years ago I tried to incorporate a version 2 iPad into my rig with an Alesis iO dock.  Ultimately, I ended up just using the iPad for setlists/charts, as there was a small latency that just made the feeling disconnected for me.  In addition, it meant extra audio, power and MIDI cables, which brought on complexity that wasn't worth it for me.

I now have an iPad 9 and the experience has vastly improved.  It integrates nicely with my K2700, as a single USB cable connects MIDI and Audio to the Kurzweil.  I have done a handful of gigs using VB3m as my main Hammond and it is wonderful.  Everything is mapped to controllers on the k2700 and I don't ever need to even look at the app on screen.  I also recently added the minimoog app from Moog and MKSensations extreme.  At this point, if I had too, I would feel comfortable using just an iPad and a controller.

 

6 hours ago, Baldwin Funster said:

#1 thing. You gotta run an iPad app like AUMv3. Or something similar. Then to change sounds you just change midi channels. 

 

This is where things really get fun.  I'm using Camelot Pro, but there are multiple apps that do similar things.  With an AUM host app, you could definitely setup favorites for easy patch selection.  I have setlists setup with program and routing changes for all kinds of configurations.  

[Stokely]

I'm with Al Quinn, though I never really got away from hardware completely.  I brought an ipad into my rig for one reason--better b3 organ.  It worked well for over a year, no real complaints, but just little things like forgetting to charge the ipad were an annoyance    And I did have the occasional glitch.  I don't think I'd ever be inclined to go all ipad or all computer--which is a bit weird, because at home I'm completely comfortable and enjoy being 100% "in the box" (other than midi controller).   But that's at home.  At gigs I like dedicated boxes that do their one thing.  I like having a power switch and audio outs and that's it...don't even connect anything with midi.  Hell these days I'm using a single keyboard (with a backup in the car for peace of mind).  Set up in 5-10 minutes and go grab a beer.

All that said, there's no reason it can't work.   I didn't need or use AUM or anything like that...just left B-3X running on the ipad set to respond to my chosen midi channel.  It worked when in the background as well, so I could use my lyrics app and mixer app.  I experimented with "free running" 3 apps at a time (B-3X, Model D and Zeeon) and that worked too, each was set to a different midi channel and I happened to be using a keyboard with transmit zones that could have a specified midi channel.   To do a 3-way split of those sounds, I'd have 3 zones transmitting on say channels 11, 12 and 13 (whatever I had picked).  If those apps running on the ipad were correctly set up to respond and could run in background, worked fine. 

I'd personally have a backup for anything you are doing, whether that is another ipad, or phone, or hardware keyboard to get you through a gig.  Ironically, I got to one gig a couple weeks ago and was missing part of my stand because I'd been adjusting something and forgot to put it back on...the stand is the one thing I have no backup for.  Well, other than a mic stand, without my stand I couldn't use that either because it attaches to it!   Had to play that gig on a stand the bass player happened to have in his van, way too short and a weird angle, but that was my penance for messing around with my rig and not having a backup!  He also had a mic stand thankfully.  I felt like a dolt.

[The Piano Man]

It would be great if there was an iPad made whereby you could plug in a power adaptor and have instant power on. I find that, if I have forgotten to charge my iPad, I could be waiting ages for it to turn on after plugged in. Seems to take forever to get to 1%. 
 

My second issue is latency. I really like Ravenscroft on iOS. The latency isn’t bad, and you can make adjustments in the settings… however, when doing faster passages on the stage piano, I notice the very very slight latency when compared to a hardware option.

 

One final question for any Korg Module users. In terms of the split/layer upgrade, how flexible is this. Can you, for example, have two sounds to the left of the split and two to the right or is if more basic than that? Guessing it doesn’t have multiple overlapping zones?

 

Thanks

[obxa]

I went bleeding edge and back to a hybrid rig:  90% hardware with Mainstage for auxiliary/complimentary sounds.     For anything mission critical, ends up being safer and actually easier to deal with.  The redundancy means if something goes down I can always make sound.     Have enough to deal with reading charts and running a show,   don't want to be wondering why my Ipad stopped responding to bluetooth. 

 

Love Mainstage as a sound module.   But not for anything primary (piano, organ).   I'm convinced the finger connection is better with hardware.   Was early adopter of IK's B3x - still love it in the studio, but was never able to make it work live.  I  prefer drawbars, knobs. etc. Using a Nano-controller or similar is ok for basic control.

 

For rehearsals, love  Korg Module or similar on an ipad.  Used it on some trio gigs with hardware  piano to add some layers.  I keep the apps as another backup. 

 

This  coming from an older guy,  and my comfort level may be different from yours.  Ask any of the younger cats here, and you'll probably get a more positive experience. 

 

 

[Alkeys]

Thanks for the response guys.  Is latency a non-issue these days going from iPad to controller or is that still an issue?

So when using an iPad did you use a cable like this to connect to a mixer?  I'm trying to avoid buying an audio interface and go from iPad straight to a mixer. 

[Baldwin Funster]

Mostly non issue in ios. I've tried a couple of older synths that i reinstalled on a much newer iPad and there was some noticeable latency with the old app and new ios but b3x,vb3m, MiniOrchestra, tal-uno-lx and most of the others have had no latency issues.

[BenWaB3]

37 minutes ago, Alkeys said:

Thanks for the response guys.  Is latency a non-issue these days going from iPad to controller or is that still an issue?

So when using an iPad did you use a cable like this to connect to a mixer?  I'm trying to avoid buying an audio interface and go from iPad straight to a mixer. 

The only problem there is that you'll probably have to rely on bluetooth to transmit the data to your iPad. I was doing that for awhile and would get latency and glitches. Once I changed to a direct connection all those problems went away. I'm like a lot of previous responders here - mainly hardware but use the iPad for other sounds (and MIDI files on Cubasis in my situation). When I was using the XKPro I ran it through a dongle and used the pad for E.Pianos & clav. Presently I'm using a Korg Nautilus 73 & using the pad for B3X. The advantage of the Nautilus is that you just need a USB-B to USB-C cable and it not only transmits data to the iPad but also transmits sound from the pad back into the Nautilus.

[Sam Mullins]

I went from Nord Stage 3/Kronos to Yamaha CK88/Arturia Keylab 61 mkii/iPad/Camelot Pro + apps.  I had a lengthy post about it here:

 

My ipad rig post

 

Since then I've played several gigs and had only a couple minor issues.  It's worked out pretty well.  I sold my Stage 3 a couple months ago and just put my Kronos up for sale today.

 

However, over the next couple months, I will likely be replacing my iPad with Mac Mini/Mainstage (which I already own so no investment required).  This is primarily to get some better quality sounds in certain areas (mostly the non-keyboard ROMpler territory).   

[Ibarch]

46 minutes ago, Sam Mullins said:

is primarily to get some better quality sounds in certain areas (mostly the non-keyboard ROMpler territory).   

 

This is the thing that puzzles me on all these iPad threads. What about the sounds?

 

People spend huge amounts of time discussing the best pianos, the best Hammonds, the best Leslie, the best Rhodes etc. Then the same people say they are moving to an iPad. Which has none of the best sounds of anything. 

 

Why is the quality of sounds so often ignored in iPad discussions, what is the magic that iPad offers for which audio quality is irrelevant? 

[obxa]

4 hours ago, The Piano Man said:

Can you, for example, have two sounds to the left of the split and two to the right or is if more basic than that? Guessing it doesn’t have multiple overlapping zones?

No,  it's  duo-timbral.  2 sounds Layered or 2 Split.   Easy to set  split points with fader or midi. 

 

 

 

Wait for the next sale.

[Sam Mullins]

54 minutes ago, Ibarch said:

 

This is the thing that puzzles me on all these iPad threads. What about the sounds?

 

People spend huge amounts of time discussing the best pianos, the best Hammonds, the best Leslie, the best Rhodes etc. Then the same people say they are moving to an iPad. Which has none of the best sounds of anything. 

 

Why is the quality of sounds so often ignored in iPad discussions, what is the magic that iPad offers for which audio quality is irrelevant? 

I find the bread and butter keyboard sounds (piano,epiano, hammond, clav, etc) to all be quite good using apps like ivory, ravenscrofft,neo-soul, b-3x. Arguably better than same I had on Stage 3. And there are lots of capable modeled synths. It’s in other areas that i use frequently (guitar, bass guitar, acoustic bass, etc) that there seems to be a lack of quality offerings. 

[Baldwin Funster]

34 minutes ago, obxa said:

No,  it's  duo-timbral.  2 sounds Layered or 2 Split.   Easy to set  split points with fader or midi. 

 

 

 

Wait for the next sale.

With AUM you can do unlimited zones, splits, with whatever octaves on whatever midi channels you want. At least until you run out of midi channels.

[Alkeys]

3 hours ago, BenWaB3 said:

The only problem there is that you'll probably have to rely on bluetooth to transmit the data to your iPad. I was doing that for awhile and would get latency and glitches. Once I changed to a direct connection all those problems went away. I'm like a lot of previous responders here - mainly hardware but use the iPad for other sounds (and MIDI files on Cubasis in my situation). When I was using the XKPro I ran it through a dongle and used the pad for E.Pianos & clav. Presently I'm using a Korg Nautilus 73 & using the pad for B3X. The advantage of the Nautilus is that you just need a USB-B to USB-C cable and it not only transmits data to the iPad but also transmits sound from the pad back into the Nautilus.

 

BenWaB3 - sorry I'm a novice when it comes to computers/iPads. Where would bluetooth come in? I mean once you have those apps on your iPad you don't need to be connected to the internet to run your rig do you? Lord I hope not that would rule out all rural gigs as I was just wanting to use the iPad as a standalone sound module.  How would you run a midi cable from an iPad to a controller keyboard? Do they make 5pin midi to Lightning cable for iPad?  I'm quickly seeing the connections available for an iPad are limited to 1 Lightning connection and 1 3.5 stereo headphone minjack,  It seems like that would drain a battery pretty quickly if you're using the lightning jack for MIDI and the headphone minijack for audio. 

 

So connection wise would I do this?:

Controller Keyboard--->midi cable --->iPad--->Audio out of iPad via thunderbolt to 1/4" cable--->Mixer--->Powered speakers.

or this:

Controller Keyboard--->midi cable--->iPad--->Audio out of iPad via thunderbolt to 1/4" cable--->Mixer--->Powered speakers.

Controller Keyboard--->midi cable--->iPad--->Audio out of iPad via thunderbolt--->Audio Interface--->Mixer--->Powered speakers.

 

Would love to see someone's suggested wiring diagram to get audio and midi out of an iPad.

 

Am I missing a piece? Basically I need Midi to connect to iPad- not sure quite what cable I would use for that. I also need audio out of iPad to my mixer. Don't know if I should use the headphone jack or if I should use Thunderbolt or whatever to go to a dedicated audio interface and then from the audio interface to my mixer with standard 1/4" cables.

 

[AnotherScott]

2 hours ago, Ibarch said:

People spend huge amounts of time discussing the best pianos, the best Hammonds, the best Leslie, the best Rhodes etc. Then the same people say they are moving to an iPad. Which has none of the best sounds of anything. 

The Ipad has better Hammond/Leslie and Rhodes sounds than most hardware boards. And to get the best sounds in hardware, you'd likely need to have a whole bunch of boards, since, for example, most of the boards with the best Hammond sounds are not the boards with the best Rhodes sounds, and then you still need to cover lots of other sounds as well. (Some people might make a case for Mojo for a best Hammond and best Rhodes, but even then, for other reasons, it may not be someone's board of choice... and it's not a slam-dunk that it would beat an iPad with, say, B-3X for organ, and Korg Module's Scarbee Rhodes, or the Pianoteq Rhodes, or NeoSoul, or whatever someone's Rhodes of choice might be).

 

[drawback]

Alkeys, it seems as though you need some basic how-to information, so I found this video and a couple of others that should answer at least your core questions before you go any further. 
 

 

 

[Ibarch]

22 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

The Ipad has better Hammond/Leslie and Rhodes sounds than most hardware boards. And to get the best sounds in hardware, you'd likely need to have a whole bunch of boards, since, for example, most of the boards with the best Hammond sounds are not the boards with the best Rhodes sounds, and then you still need to cover lots of other sounds as well. (Some people might make a case for Mojo for a best Hammond and best Rhodes, but even then, for other reasons, it may not be someone's board of choice... and it's not a slam-dunk that it would beat an iPad with, say, B-3X for organ, and Korg Module's Scarbee Rhodes, or the Pianoteq Rhodes, or NeoSoul, or whatever someone's Rhodes of choice might be).

 

 

The iPad may beat hardware boards (not always true in my opinion) but it can't compete with a laptop. 

 

There are many people considering other options in place of heavy, bulky hardware rigs but the discussions seem to lean heavily to iPads as opposed to laptops. In some cases as if this is the only alternative. Having the best and largest range of available instruments doesn't appear to be a significant concern. 

[CHarrell]

37 minutes ago, Ibarch said:

In some cases as if this is the only alternative. Having the best and largest range of available instruments doesn't appear to be a significant concern. 

 

At least for me the number one thing I prefer with tablets such an iPad over laptops is portability and simplicity. I don't use my tablet for any other purpose but music, so I turn it on and in seconds it boots up and I'm ready to pull up my apps...maybe this would be different if I had a dedicated music laptop (I use Windows by the way), but my laptop takes much more time to boot up and get situated with VSTs, etc.

 

With my laptop also being my main music station--where I do my serious work--and it just being plain larger and bulkier than an iPad, I get nervous about something happening to it and leaving me screwed.  Furthermore, when you're talking about a computer that can run all of those sophisticated libraries that can be 10s of GB, that means you'll probably need some strong horsepower to do so, AKA a nice (and more expensive) computer...I don't feel very secure lugging and slinging that around all over the place. 

 

Also, many laptop applications are not optimized for touch operation (I even e-mailed one of the Cantabile heads and he told me that touch is not reliable on laptops), meaning you'd probably have to use a mouse or your computer's trackpad...AKA even more stuff or the unpleasant experience of using a laptop trackpad. 

 

One final element to all that is, when we're talking about playing live, there are some really good-sound iOS apps out there...would the performance really be enhanced if you had a great 2GB iOS Rhodes vs a potentially really great 4GB Rhodes on a laptop?

[AnotherScott]

2 hours ago, Ibarch said:

 

The iPad may beat hardware boards (not always true in my opinion)

 

I guess few things are always true. 😉  So yes, if you only need one sound, you may well beat an iPad sound with a board's built-in sound, especially if portability isn't an issue and/or budget is not an issue. But the more demands you put on that hardware board (or combination of boards)--e.g. the more sounds you need, the more important portability and/or budget are--the more likely it is that integrating an iPad for at least some sounds may provide a better sounding solution for some of those sounds.

 

2 hours ago, Ibarch said:

but it can't compete with a laptop. 

 

For sound quality, that's true. But there are other trade-offs there. Ergonomic placement (and operation, if needed), time/complication in initial setup (at least with most Windows systems), possibly cost (a perfectly usable iPad with all needed peripheral items starts at under $400... and less if someone already owns the iPad for other purposes... and yes, you may already own a laptop, but to maximize stability, people are more likely to want a dedicated laptop). Also, with the possibility of a rugged cover and one-point disconnect, it is easier to keep an iPad safe from damage or theft. Of course, a laptop has advantages of its own. (Or a Windows tablet, which is kind of halfway between an iPad and a Windows laptop.) But there are reasonable reasons for someone to prefer either approach over the other.

 

2 hours ago, Ibarch said:

There are many people considering other options in place of heavy, bulky hardware rigs but the discussions seem to lean heavily to iPads as opposed to laptops. In some cases as if this is the only alternative. Having the best and largest range of available instruments doesn't appear to be a significant concern. 

 

True. For studio use, "the best and largest range of available instruments" is likely to be a persuasive benefit, but probably less so for the typical gigging musician, who, for example, may be fine with 2 or 3 nice "all purpose" string patches, compared to someone replicating an orchestral score who wants tons of string variations at their fingertips for all the conceivable articulations and ensemble sizes. Or as Charrell basically said, where the leap in quality from a board's built-in Rhodes to what you get in the iPad is substantial, while the subtle difference of what you'd get from an even better VST Rhodes may be hard to discern in a live situation.

[Al Quinn]

I’ve yet to hear an iPad or Laptop rig that sounded better to me than hardware in a live setting. I’ve used Ravenscroft, Ivory, Pianoteq, and Keyscape APs on a MacBook Pro on gigs but like the sound and playability of the YC73 APs better. I’ve played B-3X on an iPad but like the sound of the SK Pro better. I could go on. Can anyone share gig video of iPad or Laptop rigs with bread and butter sounds that they like better than great hardware keyboards?

[Alkeys]

Thank you for the video etc. Audio and MIDI both have to come out of the iPad but also how does one keep the battery from running out on the iPad? Do you guys make sure it’s charged before the gig or do you keep it plugged in when playing and how do you do that with so few ports available on the iPad? It seems tricky because the iPad has so few ports like a Lightning and a headphone jack and that is it. 

[TJ Cornish]

I posted recently in another thread that I tried and fired MainStage/Omnisphere/Keyscape at least 3 times.

 

CAN it work? Absolutely. Is it easier than hardware? NO. People make music successfully with both internal sounds and apps; what works for you depends on how much investment you want to make in software - both $$ and especially time. Hardware is in my experience more dependable with far fewer components to fail. Software can be cheaper, if you don’t count the cost of the audio interface and computer/iPad. I am an IT guy by day; I work with enough broken computers 8-5+, I don’t need that in my music.

[Baldwin Funster]

3 hours ago, Alkeys said:

Thank you for the video etc. Audio and MIDI both have to come out of the iPad but also how does one keep the battery from running out on the iPad? Do you guys make sure it’s charged before the gig or do you keep it plugged in when playing and how do you do that with so few ports available on the iPad? It seems tricky because the iPad has so few ports like a Lightning and a headphone jack and that is it. 

You get an adapter called a camera kit that has lightning on one end and USB-A and a charger port on the other. From there people have various solutions you can find by searching "ipad" here on this forum.

I use a powered hub.

 

Re: Hardware preference, I have and would use hardware instead of an ipad except for one thing. 

B3x.

Roland organs suck compared to a quality clonewheel. B3x and VB3m

get me acceptable organ sounds and other apps get me the sounds that are mandatory for my gigs.

 

I've not ruled out using a hardware board supplemented with an iPad but right now the ipad/controller is working and I'm kind of digging it.

 

Edit. I forgot to say that my iPad can go for almost 10 hours on a charge so I can do an engagement and have more than 60% of battery left. Charging up before a gig , just like charging the smartphone is something you just don't forget to do. Some people charge during a gig with the charge port on the camera kit. My ipad must be defective because it stops charging through the camera kit after a couple of hours regardless of the battery level and since I have enough battery power to do 2 gigs on one charge I just stay on battery power.

[CHarrell]

5 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

I’ve yet to hear an iPad or Laptop rig that sounded better to me than hardware in a live setting. I’ve used Ravenscroft, Ivory, Pianoteq, and Keyscape APs on a MacBook Pro on gigs but like the sound and playability of the YC73 APs better. I’ve played B-3X on an iPad but like the sound of the SK Pro better. I could go on. Can anyone share gig video of iPad or Laptop rigs with bread and butter sounds that they like better than great hardware keyboards?

 

There's definitely something to be said for sounds optimized for live use.

[AnotherScott]

10 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

I’ve yet to hear an iPad or Laptop rig that sounded better to me than hardware in a live setting. I’ve used Ravenscroft, Ivory, Pianoteq, and Keyscape APs on a MacBook Pro on gigs but like the sound and playability of the YC73 APs better. I’ve played B-3X on an iPad but like the sound of the SK Pro better. I could go on. 

I'm also of the mind that I'd probably want to continue to get some of my sounds from hardware, regardless. But in that context of the possibility of such a hybrid approach, and bringing this back to my previous comment about limitations that arise from portability and/or budget, yes--especially allowing for the subjectivity of personal taste and what works well in a band situation and how hardware sounds may naturally play from their own keys and the ergonomic benefits of some boards--you might well like the piano in a given board better than using an iPad piano, the organ in a given board better than using an iPad organ, as in your example.

 

So okay, let's say you start with a rig of YC73 (or CP73) plus an SK Pro. Now, if you happen to need them, where do you get, say, strings, horns, mellotron, moog, and wurli sounds that are better than what you get in an iPad (none of those being great strengths of either of the two boards you're starting with)? Maybe some songs call for some custom samples, too. Are you going to add a third board like maybe a Nautilus or PC4 (which are great boards, but won't give you the piano/organ of your YC73/SK Pro combo)? Is it worth the trade-off in cost and portability to add that third board rather than an iPad? Sure, you can say you'll settle for the sounds you already have in the other two boards... but at that point, for those sounds, you're almost certainly trading off "an iPad or Laptop source that sounds better" for sticking with hardware alone. So again, I think there is pretty much always a benefit to adding the iPad (or laptop), unless you need very few sounds (or really only care about quality for those few) and/or you are not especially concerned with portability and/or budget. Whether that benefit is worth the effort is another subjective decision. But I think you would end up with the better sounding rig, in total.

 

(And again, I understand I've shifted the conversation here from an either/or scenario to a hybrid scenario. So this is not so much a direct reaction to your post as it is using that post as a jumping off point for a different slant.)