iOS Sequencer Most Like DAW in 2024

[Franz Schiller]

Hey there gang!

Here in 2024, which iOS DAW is most like a regular DAW in term of long form linear MIDI sequencing? I.E. not pattern based or clip launching?

 

Importantly, I'd like the ability to have odd time signatures, and even change time signatures. I've googled this extensively and the results are often from five to ten years ago.

 

Cubasis? Logic? Auria Pro?

 

Thanks!

[J.F.N.]

I've spent a lot of time testing iOS as a platform for running a DAW and unfortunately my final conclusion is that the platform is too unstable for this. Maybe Logic works better (released just after I gave up), but I have tried basically every iOS DAW out there, and they all are buggy or have weird behaviours with hardware integration, plugins crashing, MIDI lagging, etc. I ended up getting a Microsoft Surface Pro and Studio One instead, rock solid and working like a charm!

[Franz Schiller]

25 minutes ago, J.F.N. said:

I've spent a lot of time testing iOS as a platform for running a DAW and unfortunately my final conclusion is that the platform is too unstable for this. Maybe Logic works better (released just after I gave up), but I have tried basically every iOS DAW out there, and they all are buggy or have weird behaviours with hardware integration, plugins crashing, MIDI lagging, etc. I ended up getting a Microsoft Surface Pro and Studio One instead, rock solid and working like a charm!

 

Thanks!

 

I'm really only trying to sequence my PC4-7 to work on ideas. Not for live performance. No audio. 

 

So let's disregard stability for a moment. Since you've tried every iOS DAW, do you know which ones allow time signature changes in a long form linear sequence?

[J.F.N.]

The most competent DAW in iOS I found in these regards, and in terms of sync options, is the N-Track, unfortunately I had problems with audio routing on it using interfaces with more than one stereo output pair, ie. making it NOT send out audio on all the output pairs/streams, and other things related to this.

 

In general N-Track is a very competent iOS DAW imho, compared to most of the others available (not tried Logic as mentioned..), you can even set it up to slave under midi clock or MTC, very rare even on computer based platforms! Reason I was looking for this was when using a hardware sequencer, having audio just following while the sequencer is the master and where I control everything.

 

 

 

[ElmerJFudd]

As mentioned, N-Track Studio is up to version 10.  ntrack.com/ios-multitrack-studio.php

 

Logic Pro for iPad https://www.apple.com/logic-pro-for-ipad/

 

FL Studio for iOS https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fl-studio-mobile/id432850619

 

Cubasis is up to version 3 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cubasis-3-daw-music-studio/id1207839273

 

 

 

[Franz Schiller]

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure Cubasis can do time signatures, though. That's a shame because I'm really interested in that one. I'll check out N-Track Studio.

[J.F.N.]

1 hour ago, Franz Schiller said:

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure Cubasis can do time signatures, though. That's a shame because I'm really interested in that one. I'll check out N-Track Studio.

 

If it does it's a fairly new addition, it definitely didn't do this before IIRC.

[Still VanDerGraaf]

Cubasis seems not to do tempo or time signature changes- making it utterly unsuitable in any pro sense. 

[J.F.N.]

9 hours ago, Still VanDerGraaf said:

Cubasis seems not to do tempo or time signature changes- making it utterly unsuitable in any pro sense. 

 

It seems like the big companies we already know and use are not really seeing any potential revenue on the iOS platform, and when they try, ime it is always mediocre at best.

 

Being a Studio One user, I tried the tracking apps from Presonus, which both do the job okay of tracking, and then you save and import that into Studio One on your computer. However, they do not even offer MIDI sync or any other way of making the tracker software run together with anything else, which is a huge mystery to me. I've sent them an email about it, if they just add MIDI/MTC, their tracking apps could be very useful, not as a full workflow software, but as an audio multitracker in any other environment.

[BenWaB3]

9 hours ago, Still VanDerGraaf said:

Cubasis seems not to do tempo or time signature changes- making it utterly unsuitable in any pro sense. 

 

Yes, this is my main gripe with them also. It has supposedly been requested by users but it seems like every review, when they come out with an update, mentions that they have ignored our wishes again.

[AnotherScott]

10 hours ago, Still VanDerGraaf said:

Cubasis seems not to do tempo or time signature changes- making it utterly unsuitable in any pro sense. 

 

Unfortunately, that limitation does not itself make it "utterly unsuitable in any pro sense" since most popular music these days contains no tempo or time signature changes. My guess is that the new Taylor Swift album could be done in Cubasis, at least based on that criteria.

 

1 hour ago, BenWaB3 said:

 

Yes, this is my main gripe with them also. It has supposedly been requested by users but it seems like every review, when they come out with an update, mentions that they have ignored our wishes again.

 

from https://forums.steinberg.net/t/multiple-tempo-time-signature/139008 , FWIW:

 

Quote

As of yet, Cubasis 3 does not offer tempo/singnature track options.

We are aware to have the request on our list for quite some time.
Unfortunately, the feature comes at very high cost development-wise.
At the moment, I’m unable to give you a estimate when we will see it in Cubasis.

 

[J.F.N.]

N-track it is...

 

[Still VanDerGraaf]

3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Unfortunately, that limitation does not itself make it "utterly unsuitable in any pro sense" since most popular music these days contains no tempo or time signature changes. My guess is that the new Taylor Swift album could be done in Cubasis, at least based on that criteria.

 

dd

from https://forums.steinberg.net/t/multiple-tempo-time-signature/139008 , FWIW:

 

 

I liked how you began your reply with "Unfortunately".🙂

You do have a point, but the decline of imagination in Western pop isn't enough of an excuse for Steinberg to have consistently omitted this feature. I do use Cubasis, but there at least a couple of demo arrangements I did while working for someone else that I couldn't have done on it due to these missing features.

 

Other tiny developers on iOS manage to give us incredible features. Steinberg CHOOSE not to give this (very basic) one- labouring under the misguided assumption that a very old-fashioned business model will make people upgrade to the "big" platfrom they sell.

 

I wasn't aware of N-Track Studio and will check it out.

 

[AnotherScott]

5 hours ago, Still VanDerGraaf said:

Other tiny developers on iOS manage to give us incredible features. Steinberg CHOOSE not to give this (very basic) one

According to the comment I posted, it's a difficult thing for them to add. There is a problem in any software or hardware development that sometimes decisions made early on ultimately determine how feasible it is to add some other particular functionality in the future, without basically redeveloping the whole thing from scratch. I suspect that when Cubasis was first implemented, they did not anticipate the resource-limited iPad becoming the kind of more advanced platform it would morph into, that it would start commonly being used for things that had previously only been done on "real" computers.

[Still VanDerGraaf]

You could well be correct on that- but I do find it a bit bizarre that the corporate might of Steinberg/Yamaha can't crack this after years of requests, while the "one man band" coders churn out iOS DAWs that are arguably superior in many respects.

 

The upside is thst iOS users have so much choice when it comes to recording platforms.

[J.F.N.]

Obviously they don't have their target audience in the iOS platform, and their market strategy has a larger scheme that already is a proven working system where they achieve expected ROI according to plan.

[Franz Schiller]

I thought I saw that Cubasis version 3 was rebuilt from the ground up? By they time they "rebuilt" it, there had numerous requests for time signature/tempo changes.

 

Therefore, if they did not rebuild it with that in mind, then they CHOSE to exclude the ability to have time sig/tempo changes.

 

So they lost a sale with this hombre.

[Synthaholic]

On 4/25/2024 at 11:49 AM, AnotherScott said:

Unfortunately, that limitation does not itself make it "utterly unsuitable in any pro sense" since most popular music these days contains no tempo or time signature changes. My guess is that the new Taylor Swift album could be done in Cubasis, at least based on that criteria.

For me it's more tempo retards at the end of ballads. Cubasis doesn't recognize MIDI tempo change commands. If there are any of them in a song that I want to record into Cubasis I cannot slave the sequencer to Cubasis with MIDI Clock. I must try to start both at the same time. Not ideal, but it gets the tempo changes into Cubasis.

[J.F.N.]

36 minutes ago, Synthaholic said:

For me it's more tempo retards at the end of ballads. Cubasis doesn't recognize MIDI tempo change commands. If there are any of them in a song that I want to record into Cubasis I cannot slave the sequencer to Cubasis with MIDI Clock. I must try to start both at the same time. Not ideal, but it gets the tempo changes into Cubasis.

 

N-Track..

 

From the user manual:

 

"n-Track Studio can be synced to other audio programs or to external devices using MIDI Clock or the MIDI Time Code (MTC) protocol. The program can act both as master or as slave, respectively generating or syncing to an incoming signal."

[Synthaholic]

While I appreciate N-Track's ability to do that, I just messed with it for a bit and it doesn't seem to do nearly as much as Cubasis does. The onboard effects are very nice. I liked what the compressor and bass amp did with some of my bass tracks. Another tool in the chest.

[J.F.N.]

15 minutes ago, Synthaholic said:

While I appreciate N-Track's ability to do that, I just messed with it for a bit and it doesn't seem to do nearly as much as Cubasis does. The onboard effects are very nice. I liked what the compressor and bass amp did with some of my bass tracks. Another tool in the chest.

 

It's a give and take, I have tried most of the iOS DAWs, if not all, one needs to pinpoint ones main needs, and choose based on that, there is no holy grail unfortunately (reservation for Logic that I have, as mentioned, not tested as it was released after I gave up and went with a Surface + Studio One instead).

 

N-Track was one of the most "complete" when it came to the more complex advanced things, like tempo, sync, etc. but was not that great in general workflow etc. (imho). I think it was the built in metronome that could not be routed to anything else than master out, or if it was just added to all outputs (used an interface with many outs), or something like that, which was pretty annoying and incomprehensible, among things.