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

[AnotherScott]

12 hours ago, Aynsley Green said:

In a perfect world, but this happens all the time.
The number of gigs I've showed up to and the Backline 88 is some clapped-out 20 year-old Korg, the sustain pedal is broken,

I did say that a "travel kit" for someone using provided backline should include a dual-polarity sustain pedal. 🙂

 

12 hours ago, Aynsley Green said:

there's no time in the sound-check to quickly cook up the patches you need, and after the show the bandleader says 'hey where was the Synth on Song X tonight?', and then you look like an asshole.

a situation which is also addressed by having your sounds in your laptop, iPad, or iphone, preferably with a duplicative backup device as well.

 

 

 

[JoJoB3]

So many Apple drones. Ew. Garbage company. Garbage ecosys as well.

For others: You could build a decent power mini-PC today that will better handle demanding VSTi and solve hardware/accessory functionality, operability, and compatibility.
The latest Surface Pro models and it's dock are also a decent, portable, touchscreen with full PC OS option. 

Prefer PC/Windows. There's never an issue unresolved. Better specs, power, functionality.
Also haven't seen an issue yet with a hub and Android phone as well as long as you buy a decent hub.
Apple has users jumping through hoops, buying ridiculously priced accessories, and living with issues that need not be (and at a premium cost no less).
 

[Reezekeys]

9 hours ago, CHarrell said:

How in the world do you control all that on such a tiny screen though? 😂

 

With both my laptop and iPad/iPhone setups, I don't have to look at or touch the screen. Everything I need to control is mapped to the buttons, faders, knobs and pads of my A800 (or NanoKontrol). Normally my laptop is in back of me, on my bass amp with the screen off - I've even set it up hidden from view in back of the speaker cabinet a few times when I was reasonably certain a sound crewperson wouldn't knock into it (a valid concern if you've done the gigs I have!).

 

I mounted the phone like this mostly to make it "incognito" - but being new to my setup I did want to keep an eye on the level meter. One thing for sure - even off the bandstand with time to spare, you don't want to be editing a complicated AUM setup on a four-inch screen! I make sure everything is functioning before we leave on a road trip!

 

[edit - forgot to add that as much as possible I edit anything having to do with my "i-device" music rig on the iPad - not the phone. When done, Airdrop to the phone - bing, bam, boom, done. Courtesy my "garbage" Apple ecosystem 🙂 )

[Reezekeys]

10 hours ago, Al Quinn said:

That’s a neat setup Rob! If I only I were at peace with the A800 action I’d like have a similar rig ready to go. Clearly, you’re comfortable with the action because I’ve heard you make great music with it!

 

As you may remember I gave it a try but it didn’t work for me: I couldn’t control my touch properly on the inner portion of the keys.

 

Yea, you can't be using a keyboard you're not comfortable with. I'm on my second A800, before that I had the Edirol PCR-M80, which I'm pretty sure had the same keybed. I got the Edirol in 2006, so a little over 17 years playing the same keybed. I guess I learned to either live with the deficiencies, or just don't notice them! I tend not to play in that inner area much so maybe that helps.

 

I like the iPad for local gigs because I'm usually reading charts and need forScore for that. Having all my sounds and charts in one small package appeals to my desire to cut the schlepping down as much as possible. The iPhone rig is OK for AWB because there's no charts to read. I will never claim it sounds as good as my laptop - using it on the occasional AWB gig is more a "proof of concept" - I want to know that in a pinch, I can do the job with it. It's a great backup for the laptop and does save setup & teardown time on a crazy multi-band festival gig like we did last night. BTW, I consider "not as good as my laptop" as "praising with faint damning!" 🙂 

[Baldwin Funster]

40 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

 

Yea, you can't be using a keyboard you're not comfortable with. I'm on my second A800, before that I had the Edirol PCR-M80, which I'm pretty sure has the same keybed. I got the Edirol in 2006, so a little over 17 years playing the same keybed. I guess I learned to either live with the deficiencies, or just don't notice them! I tend not to play in that inner area much so maybe that helps.

 

I like the iPad for local gigs because I'm usually reading charts and need forScore for that. Having all my sounds and charts in one small package appeals to my desire to cut the schlepping down as much as possible. The iPhone rig is OK for AWB because there's no charts to read. I will never claim it sounds as good as my laptop - using it on the occasional AWB gig is more of a "proof of concept" - I want to know that in a pinch, I can do the job with it. It's a great backup for the laptop and does save setup & teardown time on a crazy multi-band festival gig like we did last night. BTW, I consider "not as good as my laptop" as "praising with faint damning!" 🙂 

Hmm I just bought an a800 from ebay and receiving tomorrow from Hiroshima it turns out. So many inappropriate comments, so little time. Now I read in this thread someone dislikes the action. Well it's got to be better than the arturia essential. I can't stand that action for organ anymore, although the arturia midi implementation is perfect for the way I run my iPad setup.

See how I steered that back onto the road?

[Reezekeys]

I guess I'm not that fussy when it comes to actions. The Roland XP50 I used in the 1990s was pretty spongy and I got used to it.

 

I find the A800 fine for a synth-type action. The keys aren't clacky, they don't have any lateral play, and there's enough spring for me to get as fast repetitions as I want. The twelve velocity curve settings help too. This is for sure one area where a giant "YMMV" sign applies. Let us know what you think (and what's the return shipping to Hiroshima?!).

[Baldwin Funster]

19 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I guess I'm not that fussy when it comes to actions. The Roland XP50 I used in the 1990s was pretty spongy and I got used to it.

 

I find the A800 fine for a synth-type action. The keys aren't clacky, they don't have any lateral play, and there's enough spring for me to get as fast repetitions as I want. The twelve velocity curve settings help too. This is for sure one area where a giant "YMMV" sign applies. Let us know what you think (and what's the return shipping to Hiroshima?!).

Here's the on topic part.

I got the A800 today and spent a very few minutes getting the iPad to see it. It seems that you have to select or rather deselect the right driver, then select the right 1 of 3 ports. It was port 2. Aum had a midi activity indicator that clued me in. I'll have to program the sliders before my next band event in about 2 days. 

 

Off topic part. Skip if keybed trivia makes you sad.

The keys of the A800 feel very good. Fast feel and high enough trigger. They are however short like the DS61. In fact I'd say they are the same as the DS61 except the DS61 keys return slightly slower. As mentioned by someone playing between the black keys is a workout if you play fast synthy legato leads up there. Overall the switch from the arturia Essential is a good one. The feel of the Essential is just so unsatisfying. It's like a full sized key version of the JDXi. 

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Baldwin Funster said:

I got the A800 today and spent a very few minutes getting the iPad to see it. It seems that you have to select or rather deselect the right driver, then select the right 1 of 3 ports. It was port 2.

 

Yes, you have to make sure "use advanced driver" is OFF and if it was on, you have to power-cycle the keyboard. I've installed the Roland driver on my laptop and tried it both ways and honestly can't tell any difference. They say it has "FPT technology to allow high-speed MIDI communication." I googled, there's zero to find on what that is or what it does. The "standard" driver is their term for class-compliant, as I'm sure you figured out.

 

If you use the A-Pro Editor program (which you should definitely have), you also have to make sure "midi merge" is OFF for 2-way communication.

 

The interactions betyween the two "midi i/f" modes and the "midi merge" function still confuse the crap out of me at times.

 

Hit me up if you have questions, I'm on my second A800, got my first one 11 years ago. It does have some quirks.

[Alkeys]

ReezeKeys  -  Thank you for sharing all this. A couple questions:

 

1) what apps you're running for your sounds on your phone/ipad.  Example- I use____ for B3 sounds, I use ______ for electromechanical keyboard sounds. I use ______ for all my synth sounds. Do you switch those sounds by just having different sounds in different apps set to different Midi channels? Wouldn't that mean you have to have all the apps open at the same time?

2) How do you get sound out of this rig? From the headphone jack?

3) and most importantly- what do you do if someone calls your phone during a gig? Isn't that a risk? Or is it not hooked up to any cell provider?

 

Thank you so much,

-Al

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Alkeys said:

1) what apps you're running for your sounds on your phone/ipad.  Example- I use____ for B3 sounds, I use ______ for electromechanical keyboard sounds. I use ______ for all my synth sounds.

 

All instrument plugins are hosted in AUM. I use VB3m for Hammond. Also, several instances of Korg Module - Scarbee Rhodes, factory clav & strings. Synthmaster 2 for synth stuff if I need it. KQ Dixie for an FM ep I layer with the Rhodes occasionally. My savior is VirSyn's AudioLayer - a really nice and full-featured sampler for iOS that imports Logic Sampler instruments. That does my acoustic piano, wurli, and guitar samples (for the AWB gig). I tried a few iOS acoustic pianos and much prefer mine.

 

1 hour ago, Alkeys said:

Do you switch those sounds by just having different sounds in different apps set to different Midi channels?

 

I'm not sure how you're thinking of the term "apps", but to make sure we're not misunderstanding: there are no different apps, just one as I mentioned - AUM. All instruments run as AUv3 plugins inside AUM. Apologies if you know this - I wasn't sure looking at your wording. Some instruments are on different midi channels, not all. My setup relies on an app called Midiflow which routes, rechannelizes, remaps midi messages, and does velocity curves (very helpful getting the pianos to feel good). Midiflow has presets you select with program change messages. AUM can change setups using PCs but that may involve reloading plugins, which can take a few seconds - Midiflow presets change instantly.

 

This is probably gonna get long, so apologies (it already is, I know!). Hey I'm a full-time musician with 3 - 5 gigs a month, so what else do I have to do? 🙂 

 

Anyway - I use only one AUM setup, with all instruments "online" and ready to go. I have no need to load different instruments during a gig. Everything is loaded up at the start and that's it for the whole gig. This could get far into the weeds so I'll just say that lots of my switching between instruments involves programming my controller's buttons to mute and unmute AUM channels as I need. Each instrument has its own AUM "channel" so that's an easy and convenient way to do it. The disadvantage is that when you mute a channel, if the instrument is still sounding it will just cut off. So I don't use this technique all the time. Instead I can switch Midiflow presets to re-route midi to different channels. It can get pretty complicated but after a bit of trial & error I have things where they work for me.

 

1 hour ago, Alkeys said:

2) How do you get sound out of this rig? From the headphone jack?

 

Yes. There's plenty of debate (maybe in this particular thread?) as to whether that's better/worse/more or less convenient than connecting an audio interface via the lightning or USB-C jack. My iPad has a headphone jack and sounds fine connecting directly to my powered speakers. I like the simplicity.

 

1 hour ago, Alkeys said:

3) and most importantly- what do you do if someone calls your phone during a gig? Isn't that a risk? Or is it not hooked up to any cell provider?

 

The iPhone I use for gigs is not my current phone and has no SIM card, so not hooked up to a provider. Regardless I still do the same dance with that and my iPad before every gig, as it only takes a few seconds: turn on airplane mode, enable "do not disturb" and silence the ringer! I haven't had any "interruptions" (so far!). Hope all this helps!

 

PS (edit here): I never mentioned the other linchpin of my setup: an app called Streambyter, a sort of "midi programming language" that I use to start & stop backing tracks & percussion loops. This post would be twice as long so I'll save that for another time! 🙂 

[Ibarch]

Hi @Reezekeys,

You clearly have an advanced setup that has been battle hardened. It sounds pretty complex. 

 

For someone wanting to put together a full iPad based rig, with say 6 - 10 instruments covering usual bases of pianos, organs and some synths and maybe use some backing tracks, are they going to have to find their way through AUM, Midiflow and learn some scripting or is there a simpler solution? 

 

It sounds quite the learning curve compared to the equivalent setup via a laptop with something like Mainstage or gig performer. I've some friends who are thinking about using an iPad and expecting me to help them work it out but this seems quite intimidating. Especially as I'm not very experienced in iOS land. 

[drawback]

I found AUM to be similar in concept to MainStage, which is why I prefer it as a host. There are some pretty good tutorials online - enough to see what it does and how to get around the interface. If you like a more straightforward, building block approach, I’d suggest looking at some videos on Camelot Pro. Very different from AUM but with the same goal of building multi instrument sessions on iOS.

[Reezekeys]

2 hours ago, Ibarch said:

For someone wanting to put together a full iPad based rig, with say 6 - 10 instruments covering usual bases of pianos, organs and some synths and maybe use some backing tracks, are they going to have to find their way through AUM, Midiflow and learn some scripting or is there a simpler solution? 

 

I guess I did make it sound complex - that's a talent I seem to have!

 

You don't necessarily need Midiflow or Streambyter. However, I see no other way to get a "full" rig of 6 - 10 instruments without a hosting app like AUM, or its main competitor which I believe is Camelot. These are the "Mainstages" of the iOS world. There's a learning curve involved with any of these programs. I have Mainstage on my laptop but don't use it (I started with Bidule years ago).

 

The simplest way to have multiple instruments on an iPhone or iPad is to just run them as independent apps, each set to a different midi channel. You change channels on your controller when you want to use a different instrument. Unless your needs are very simple, imo this is a pretty clumsy way to manage multiple instruments. If you need different presets with splits, layers, different transpositions, etc., and need to be able to quickly switch between those presets, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and climb that learning curve!

 

Even using AUM by itself – without Streambyter or Midiflow - is going to take some time to learn because it's a powerful and full-featured app, however that power is what gives you the flexibility to program a setup that works the way you want. As I mentioned, you can have multiple AUM setups (I think they call them "sessions") and quickly switch between them with program changes - but I've never tried doing that. If that works for you, you can easily set up "sessions" with the exact combinations of instruments you need, split or layered, transposed where you want, etc. You might want to check out Camelot too - I think there are folks here that like it more than AUM. Good luck!

[hrestov]

Aum is for simple setups. you can only use a few auv3 for the entire gig. similar to a mixer that have one sound for channel. So you load sounds that diesnt need for the song you are playing. You can load a certain number of sounds that you use for the entire gig. Until your iPad go down for too much cpu/ram use. 
Camelot is like mainstage, you can load only the auv3 that you need for a specific song, and not load the auv3 that use in other songs. Seamless transition in the song. (However you can also load a auv3 for the entire gig like aim if you want). So you can have much more sounds for the gig, and the iPad is not overwhelmed. 
(And also can manage Sheets and backing tracks). 
However you can also use Camelot in a simple mode like Aum. 
My apps:

- vb3m for hammond

- poison 202 for synth 

- module for strings (la pro extension)

- bs16i (for brass)

- ob-xd for pads

- beathawk for bass and drum 

- clavinet model d6

- red animal for box continental

- Loopy pro for loop and sample

- vary effects

 

I use yamaha Cp73 for hardware, so I connect only the iPad to the keyboard. I use acoustic and Rhodes from Cp73, so I don’t need app for this sounds. however I like app just piano more than Pianoteq. In the rare case I need Rhodes I use the demo of Pianoteq with fill notes from other app. 

 

[Reezekeys]

 

6 hours ago, hrestov said:

Aum is for simple setups. you can only use a few auv3 for the entire gig. similar to a mixer that have one sound for channel. So you load sounds that diesnt need for the song you are playing. You can load a certain number of sounds that you use for the entire gig. Until your iPad go down for too much cpu/ram use. 

 

Sorry I don't agree with this. You have personal experience loading more than a "certain number" of sounds in AUM and seeing the iPad "go down"? (And whose setup are you calling "simple"?! 🙂 )

 

Sure there are some songs where I have AUv3s loaded that are not needed. However, it's easy to mute their channels (a button sending a CC# toggles mute/unmute on an AUM channel) and when the channel is muted, there is no or very little CPU usage. That's generally how I manage things. But this is besides the point - point being that on my iPad 9G, the lowest-specced iPad available new today, with the base configuration (64GB storage), the CPU meter on AUM is around 20% even with multiple instruments layers, big chords and my sustain pedal down – and other unused instruments in my setup.

 

I used this same setup with my old iPad Air 2 - an almost nine-year-old iPad. I did have to bump my buffer to 256 samples and the CPU % number was definitely higher, but never once did it "go down", and I also never heard any audio crackling or stuttering.

 

I have no doubt that Camelot Pro is a fine app and would work great for anyone wanting to get an iPad rig together. However, it looks like it's iPad-only. AUM runs on both iPads and iPhones. I have my AWB setup running perfectly fine at a 128 sample buffer, with - once again - ALL instruments loaded at the beginning of the gig, on my seven-year-old iPhone SE with 32GB storage (base config). I consider it a big plus to have this versatility.

[hrestov]

I can’t press mute in every song or in any part of the song. For this I said that Aum is for simple setup (few sounds per song, very few split). 

 

The system is completely different. In Camelot you can load only the auv3 that you need in that song. And you can do more scene for each song. (Like mainstage and other, that are vst host, Aum isn’t). 
 

example:

a song with an intro with split hammond in the lower and brass in the upper.  Than a verse with hammond and piano in layer. Than a rit with piano and hammond in layer and the brass in split. Than another similar verse and rit. And an ending in solo piano with no split. With aum is impossible, with Camelot is simple.  You load the auv3 for this song at the beginning (not too much in this case, a piano, a brass and hammond, maybe 2-3-4 seconds to load, it depend from the piano). Than you can create a scene for each part, each sound has differente keyboard range (in Aum is more difficoult).  And you can switch scene with seamless transition. 
(and in each scene there are attachment for sheet or other). 
(and you can use backing track and link your scenes to a specific point of the back line). 

I’m Italian and maybe for this I know well Camelot that is Italian. I see that maybe for this in US is not popular like here. However I have to say that Camelot is more complete and Aum belong to an “old style” of iPad use for music. There is not only Camelot, I think also that key stage is similar?

but I don’t have it. 
 

Now I’m getting up a new band in which I use Camelot in my iPad for my keyboard sounds (and also change patch of yamaha Cp73) and to launch backing track (with scene linked to its time line). Than an other iPad of the guitarist synchronyzed through wifi with mine that automatically change the patch of his simulator amp during the song, always synchronised with the backin track. 
And my iPad also control a Dmx mixer for lights to change lights in synchro with the part of the song. 

 

[kanefsky]

If you can automate the loading/unloading of VSTs between songs, can't you automate the muting/unmuting of VSTs?

 

I don't know anything about Aum or Camelot so I could be completely wrong, but just in general, given enough RAM I'd probably feel safer knowing that all the instruments I needed were loaded in advance and not depend on them loading/unloading between songs.  The current mid-to-high range iPads have 8GB or even 16GB RAM (or 4GB for the Mini) versus 3GB on most older models.

[HammondDave]

17 hours ago, Ibarch said:

Hi @Reezekeys,

You clearly have an advanced setup that has been battle hardened. It sounds pretty complex. 

 

For someone wanting to put together a full iPad based rig, with say 6 - 10 instruments covering usual bases of pianos, organs and some synths and maybe use some backing tracks, are they going to have to find their way through AUM, Midiflow and learn some scripting or is there a simpler solution? 

 

It sounds quite the learning curve compared to the equivalent setup via a laptop with something like Mainstage or gig performer. I've some friends who are thinking about using an iPad and expecting me to help them work it out but this seems quite intimidating. Especially as I'm not very experienced in iOS land. 

No. I have survived fine for years without using AUM and basing my rig control with Korg Module and its set list function along with my MODX and its set list function. I have AUM bit have found it unnecessary with the powerful USB MIDI control from the MODX. If something from the module is too loud or soft, I can access it from the MODX. Easy. And leaves my iPad screen clear for my charts.  

[HammondDave]

1 hour ago, hrestov said:

I can’t press mute in every song or in any part of the song. For this I said that Aum is for simple setup (few sounds per song, very few split). 

 

The system is completely different. In Camelot you can load only the auv3 that you need in that song. And you can do more scene for each song. (Like mainstage and other, that are vst host, Aum isn’t). 
 

example:

a song with an intro with split hammond in the lower and brass in the upper.  Than a verse with hammond and piano in layer. Than a rit with piano and hammond in layer and the brass in split. Than another similar verse and rit. And an ending in solo piano with no split. With aum is impossible, with Camelot is simple.  You load the auv3 for this song at the beginning (not too much in this case, a piano, a brass and hammond, maybe 2-3-4 seconds to load, it depend from the piano). Than you can create a scene for each part, each sound has differente keyboard range (in Aum is more difficoult).  And you can switch scene with seamless transition. 
(and in each scene there are attachment for sheet or other). 
(and you can use backing track and link your scenes to a specific point of the back line). 

I’m Italian and maybe for this I know well Camelot that is Italian. I see that maybe for this in US is not popular like here. However I have to say that Camelot is more complete and Aum belong to an “old style” of iPad use for music. There is not only Camelot, I think also that key stage is similar?

but I don’t have it. 
 

Now I’m getting up a new band in which I use Camelot in my iPad for my keyboard sounds (and also change patch of yamaha Cp73) and to launch backing track (with scene linked to its time line). Than an other iPad of the guitarist synchronyzed through wifi with mine that automatically change the patch of his simulator amp during the song, always synchronised with the backin track. 
And my iPad also control a Dmx mixer for lights to change lights in synchro with the part of the song. 

 

You can perform most all of this with the MODX scenes function. Or if in a pinch, just have multiple performances within a song. 

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, hrestov said:

I can’t press mute in every song or in any part of the song. For this I said that Aum is for simple setup (few sounds per song, very few split). 

 

That's great that Camelot works so well for you.

 

I don't consider my setup "simple" because my AUM session has 27 channels with 70 "nodes" (total # of instruments, midi plugins, efx, etc.) Nine are AUv3 instances, ten are backing tracks, then there are some Streambyter midi processing channels, a few busses with EQs, reverb, chorus, and one channel with the "Midi Tape Recorder" plugin that I use to sometimes record my playing. This is the "midi matrix" showing the connections of midi sources to destinations:

 

 

I might say that my needs are simpler – I don't do cover bands, EDM, tributes, etc. More older styles with fewer complicated splits and layers. Always acoustic piano or rhodes, sometimes organ, or layering some strings, a split so I have LH bass - very easy to turn on & off from my controller. No loading and unloading plugins during a set. That makes me nervous, but I'll acknowledge it might be an unfounded worry.

 

My AWB setup in AUM is a little different than my "local gigs" setup. Here I have real presets with different instruments that I sometimes need to switch in the middle of songs. Never more than two presets in one song, and this only in a few of our songs. It's quite possible Camelot could do by itself what I now use the extra app Midiflow to help me with. However there are a few features of Midiflow I value a lot - mostly the velocity remapping. I also use some midi transforms in Midiflow to remap messages for Streambyter scripts that start & stop percussion loops. I don't know if Camelot Pro would be able to duplicate how I work this stuff (way too long to get into in this already long post!). Even if it did, I couldn't use it - I want to have a working setup on my old iPhone, and Camelot doesn't work on phones.

 

I dont mean to make this a pissing contest between these two apps - just want to clarify some things. I like to hear how these different i-apps handle the more complex tasks of running a multi-instrument setup. We all have different requirements depending on the gig, and all know is that my current setup can handle anything I need to do.

[HammondDave]

3 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

 

That's great that Camelot works so well for you.

 

I don't consider my setup "simple" because my AUM session has 27 channels with 70 "nodes" (total # of instruments, midi plugins, efx, etc.) Nine are AUv3 instances, ten are backing tracks, then there are some Streambyter midi processing channels, a few busses with EQs, reverb, chorus, and one channel with the "Midi Tape Recorder" plugin that I use to sometimes record my playing. This is the "midi matrix" showing the connections of midi sources to destinations:

 

 

I might say that my needs are simpler – I don't do cover bands, EDM, tributes, etc. More older styles with fewer complicated splits and layers. Always acoustic piano or rhodes, sometimes organ, or layering some strings, a split so I have LH bass - very easy to turn on & off from my controller. No loading and unloading plugins during a set. That makes me nervous, but I'll acknowledge it might be an unfounded worry.

 

My AWB setup in AUM is a little different than my "local gigs" setup. Here I have real presets with different instruments that I sometimes need to switch in the middle of songs. Never more than two presets in one song, and this only in a few of our songs. It's quite possible Camelot could do by itself what I now use the extra app Midiflow to help me with. However there are a few features of Midiflow I value a lot - mostly the velocity remapping. I also use some midi transforms in Midiflow to remap messages for Streambyter scripts that start & stop percussion loops. I don't know if Camelot Pro would be able to duplicate how I work this stuff (way too long to get into in this already long post!). Even if it did, I couldn't use it - I want to have a working setup on my old iPhone, and Camelot doesn't work on phones.

 

I dont mean to make this a pissing contest between these two apps - just want to clarify some things. I like to hear how these different i-apps handle the more complex tasks of running a multi-instrument setup. We all have different requirements depending on the gig, and all know is that my current setup can handle anything I need to do.

I think the OP’s question was that he was looking for a SIMPLE way to move into iPad performance rigs. I get AUM. I tried it and would use it if my memory was still strong after all these years. But I need charts to remember parts, and my screen real estate on my iPad Pro is dedicated to that, and not muting and unmuting instruments.That is why I use Module and its excellent instrument library, coupled with my MODX and other iPad apps controlled by it. 

[Reezekeys]

14 minutes ago, kanefsky said:

I don't know anything about Aum or Camelot so I could be completely wrong, but just in general, given enough RAM I'd probably feel safer knowing that all the instruments I needed were loaded in advance and not depend on them loading/unloading between songs.  The current mid-to-high range iPads have 8GB or even 16GB RAM (or 4GB for the Mini) versus 3GB on most older models.

 

I just checked and my iPad 9G has 3GB of ram - and this is not an old model. It's the lowest-spec'd iPad that's still sold new.

 

All I know is that I run several instances of Virsyn's AudioLayer sampler with hundreds of samples totalling over 1GB, with zero issues. I can even layer these AudioLayer instruments with other AUv3s I have like Korg Module strings or rhodes - again, no issues. iPad devs of these apps must be streaming direct from the iPad storage. Maybe someday I'll hit the wall with ram usage, but in my case that day is not here yet. And as I mentioned, all these guys are loaded before the gig starts.

[kanefsky]

4 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

I just checked and my iPad 9G has 3GB of ram - and this is not an old model. It's the lowest-spec'd iPad that's still sold new.

 

It's an old model that's still being sold (but perhaps no longer manufactured).  The 10th gen iPad came out a year ago.

[Reezekeys]

3 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

I get AUM. I tried it and would use it if my memory was still strong after all these years. But I need charts to remember parts, and my screen real estate on my iPad Pro is dedicated to that, and not muting and unmuting instruments.

 

I use forScore with AUM but as I mentioned I assign buttons on my controller to mute & unmute AUM channels, as well as faders & pads to control other AUM channels' functions. Meaning, I don't need to dedicate any screen real estate to AUM. My screen is dedicated entirely to forScore.

[Reezekeys]

3 minutes ago, kanefsky said:

It's an old model that's still being sold (but perhaps no longer manufactured).  The 10th gen iPad came out a year ago.

 

I know. Apple does that with their phones too. I weighed the pros & cons this past December and for myself the scale tipped in favor of the 9G. They can be found for $270 whereas the 10G is $450 – that's a big diff for what I read was a fairly minor performance bump. And as I've previously stated ad nauseum, I like having the headphone jack. I know I'm suffering with the lightning port and CCK which the 10G has left behind, but that's life.

[HammondDave]

8 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

 

I use forScore with AUM but as I mentioned I assign buttons on my controller to mute & unmute AUM channels, as well as faders & pads to control other AUM channels' functions. Meaning, I don't need to dedicate any screen real estate to AUM. My screen is dedicated entirely to forScore.

Yeah, my MODX does the same when I choose the song’s performance. We run a strict set list so when I choose the next song there is a MIDI command that goes to the iPad and it controls which aps and presets in those aps are used. If the song has multiple setups, scenes within the performance will change the instrumentation.  

[cassdad]

14 minutes ago, HammondDave said:

I think the OP’s question was that he was looking for a SIMPLE way to move into iPad performance rigs. I get AUM. I tried it and would use it if my memory was still strong after all these years. But I need charts to remember parts, and my screen real estate on my iPad Pro is dedicated to that, and not muting and unmuting instruments.That is why I use Module and its excellent instrument library, coupled with my MODX and other iPad apps controlled by it. 

Thank you, Hammond Dave, for finally raising this point!  I need to use my iPad for reading my music!  As I’ve been reading the numerous posts in this thread, I’ve been thinking to myself “How can all these musicians be using the iPad for such complex set-ups and still use it to read music (using only 1 iPad)?!”. I tried using my iPad for just Hammond B-3X, but need to adjust controls for the Hammond sound while I’m trying to read the music - ugh, I can’t do it.  Yes, I saw Reezekeys excellent explanation that he does so by assigning functions to knobs / buttons on his controller - thus I assume he never has to actually view the sound module apps he’s using, and he can still look at music.  I, frankly don’t know how to do that, and not sure that my keyboard even has that capability.  Although, I’m sure I could add another “MIDI” app which could convert sends to whatever I want them to be.  But 1) I’m already using many controls on my keyboard, real-time, to just control its built-in sounds (which I like), and 2) it just sounds way to complex to satisfy the flexibility I need for live performances.  YMMV.

[CHarrell]

FYI, at least on Windows and I presume Mac, there's a free demo of Camelot you can try out to see if that could fit your needs for both instrument setups and score reading. 

[Reezekeys]

42 minutes ago, cassdad said:

I saw Reezekeys excellent explanation that he does so by assigning functions to knobs / buttons on his controller - thus I assume he never has to actually view the sound module apps he’s using, and he can still look at music.  I, frankly don’t know how to do that, and not sure that my keyboard even has that capability.

 

The capability is in AUM (and I assume Camelot Pro) and is dead simple to do. It's called "midi learn." Yes, your keyboard must have some controls on it. If there are any buttons to push, you should look in the manual to see if they can send midi control changes. If they do, you're all set. For example, to turn an instrument on & off in AUM, you tap on the "Channel Controls" for that channel, select "Mute", tap "Learn", then just press the button on your controller - presto, done. AUM links that control to the function. You can do this with many of the controls of AUM - but you do need to have these physical controls present on your keyboard and they must be capable of sending midi when manipulated.

I understand you're already using controls on your keyboard to work the internal sounds. That's a problem, if you can't dedicate a few of them to the iPad. I would recommend something like a Korg NanoKontrol, but from your posts it's obvious you want to keep things simple. It's not always easy to do that, depending on the tools you have. In my case, I use a dedicated midi controller (Roland A800 Pro) which has no sounds at all, just a bunch of buttons, sliders, pads, and knobs, all freely assignable to whatever I want in AUM. It sounds like you may want to just forget using your iPad for anything but reading charts.

[kanefsky]

33 minutes ago, Reezekeys said:

I know. Apple does that with their phones too. I weighed the pros & cons this past December and for myself the scale tipped in favor of the 9G. They can be found for $270 whereas the 10G is $450 – that's a big diff for what I read was a fairly minor performance bump. And as I've previously stated ad nauseum, I like having the headphone jack. I know I'm suffering with the lightning port and CCK which the 10G has left behind, but that's life.

 

The reason you can get it so cheap is because it's an old model, like I said .  The price has gone down since it was released, which is frequently what happens when an old model is replaced by a new one but they haven't sold out of the old one yet.  Or in this era of inflation, sometimes the old model stays the same price but they use the new model as a way to raise prices.

 

I never said anything about whether it was a good value or not, although I personally would try to scrounge up the money to avoid buying an iPad with Lightning vs USB-C (not to mention the extra RAM, better performance, bigger screen, better camera, faster Wi-Fi, support for Magic Keyboard, etc.).  But like you said, that's been discussed ad nauseum.