iPad Music Apps?

Dude, that app led me down a rabbit hole of sorts. I found out about the computer program Nodal and have been watching videos on that.

I HAVE been interested into trying generative music, so thanks for that!

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anyone here has both Nave and a Blofeld?
How do they compare?

I used to have a blofeld. I sold it because I felt it was redundant with my iPad apps. I sometimes regret selling it tho. While my iPad aynths are great sounding the blofeld was great as well.
I think, for me, the blofeld had more useful sounds whereas I use nave more for ambiances and things like that. Plus I preferred working on patches in the blofeld, the layout of nave is more confusing to me. I find animoog and Thor as a combo are better replacements for a blofeld. YMMV of course.

Downloaded Layr synth which im finding quite cool.

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Might be a good choice for Ryan, esp. since the Korg app price drops have been extended until end of May:
https://palmsounds.net/2017/05/01/all-of-korgs-app-sales-are-extended-to-the-end-of-may/

Gadget is normally $40 - down to $20. Not sure about the IAPs inside of Gadget.

Also, Ryan might be interested in Gadgetā€™s support for odd time signatures and polyrhythms

Iā€™ve got Gadget! Itā€™s really cool! Nothing I make with it feels like a ā€œrealā€ song to me, but itā€™s definitely a lot of fun! Will definitely try to send midi from it!

I havenā€™t been able to make songs with it, no idea why, but itā€™s a good source of great sampling materials

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Thatā€™s how I feel about most of iPad music. Itā€™s fun and itā€™s practice, but unti I actually internalize composition learnings then I havenā€™t connected with the sounds enough to consider any tracks from my iPad real. I DO like some of the stuff Iā€™ve made with gadget but it doesnā€™t feel like a real track

Edit: one thing I love the most about gadget is plugging in rhythms into the squares a nice change of pace from the one at a time method is drum machines. Definitely gonna have to team Pyramid and gadget up!!!

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Iā€™ve had gadget sitting there for awhile now, havenā€™t thought to use it as a box of synths to sequence from OT, think Iā€™ll try this todayā€¦ :okej:

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Iā€™ve been wirelessly sequencing the Rytm from patterning through an iconnect with a routerā€¦ Surprised how well it works and fun to kick back and be sequencing while laying down in another part of the cabinā€¦
Working on remote control of my whole hardware rig at onceā€¦ :happy:

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Itā€™s cool. And a good source of samples for the octatrack

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Those of us who havenā€™t made complete songs w/ Gadget are in the minority, based on what Iā€™ve seen in iPad Musician FB and Audiobus forums. Didnā€™t know that Ryan already has it, but it seemed like itā€™d be a good sketchpad app for him.

I was admittedly more productive w. mobile music-making devices (iPad, OP-1, Nintendo 3DS w/ Korg M01D) when I had a longer commute by train. My new job has a much shorter commute. If Iā€™d taken the trouble to learn audio mastering skills using iPad apps such as Auria Pro w/ PSP plugins, or other popular mastering app, Iā€™m sure Iā€™d have progressed in making mixes that would fool a lot of people - meaning, theyā€™d have no idea it was all done on an iPad.

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Yeah. Iā€™m starting to hear stories of really professional songs coming from iPads and iPhones. So, I just need to learn how to compose and produce the things and try to make it happen. Lastly, actually respect the power/ability these devices and apps have!

Maybe after I learn proper compositional skills I can put in the better effort and my iPad apps will actually feel more substantive!

Thanks!

Beatmaker 3 looks really good for ā€˜daw/standardā€™ kind of sample based stuff. Shame it doesnā€™t have any internal synth/drum machines like Gadget tho and you have to deal with inter-app connections for that stuff, which I always found flakey/annoying in the past but maybe itā€™s been ironed it out?

I started a project in Beatmaker 2 maybe a couple of years ago but got distracted by other stuff. It was the only DAW that ran on iPhone at the time. The UI is indeed a bit unusual and I had some difficulty learning some stuff, being used to Logic then Ableton Live (NOT a power user on either DAW by any means).

One idea that I had was to record incoming MIDI and audio at the same time in BM2, so that if I wanted a part played on a hardware synth like my Korg M3, I could just export the MIDI, instead of having to manually re-record the part by physically playing it all over again. BM2 can record MIDI CC as well as other MIDI stuff reliably.

On the audio side, it was easy enough to record Xynthesizr audio into BM2 using Audiobus. Never fooled with IAA - Audiobus has always worked well enough for my needs. Didnā€™t bother recording MIDI from Xynthesizr though, because I liked the sound enough to keep it as is. Once I got the hang of it, BM2ā€™s sample editor was simple enough to use, to edit the Xynthesizr recording into a sample that could be triggered repeatedly, as a loop.

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Finished song vs. mastered song: To me these are two different things.

When Iā€™ve got my song parts all recorded (eg. a bass line, chords, melody line), then mixed to where I want the levels of each track, that song is practically finished.

Mastering is the black art of polishing up a completed mix to make it sound ā€œmore professionalā€ - whatever that means. This includes mucking about w/ compression, EQ, etc. I donā€™t bother with it because I know a couple of individuals who are really good at it and would rather pay them to do it, if I ever got an albumā€™s worth of stuff put together that Iā€™d want to release on Bandcamp or whatever.

I have been most productive by just recording as much as I can, and not worrying too much about ā€œprofessional soundā€. J.S. Bachā€™s music sounds great regardless of what instrument(s) it gets played on - eg. Solo Violin Partita in E Major sounds great on mandolin - so thatā€™s the standard Iā€™m shooting for.- unless the piece is more of an avant-garde type. My experimental stuff tends to be composed/improvised specifically for whatever instrument or noise-making thing itā€™s recorded on.

Hey @Accent how did you use gadget with the Pyramid

Thanks!

I was just using the Pyramid to sequence different gadgets, like this.

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Brilliant! Iā€™ll definitely have to give that a go! I like the sounds in Gadget, but composing solely from the iPad removes some of the magic out of it! sequencing it from the Pyramid might be just the thing. Also, my Pyramid learning next step is is to send CCs today!

Ironically, Iā€™m looking for a method of creating midi inside my iPad to send to the Pyramid. At least for composing rhythmic sequences. Having that grid where you can layout the entire rhythmic patch is the most satisfying method for concise rhythms Iā€™ve found. You wouldnā€™t know any good apps that I could do that with, would ya? Something for multiple bars in odd times. (Gadget would have been PERFECT if not for the lack of midi out)

I have not, but Iā€™m only just starting to explore making sequences elsewhere and then moving them to the Pyramid (in fact, I really, really need them to drop that 2.0 update because I have a live project I need to be working on but need pattern mode to export linear tracks cut down to patterns).

Iā€™ve never messed with exporting from Gadget to Ableton Live, but I know itā€™s a feature of Gadget, and Iā€™d expect that it does export sequences as midi in that way (although I could be totally mistaken). If so, it would be a bit of a workaround, but it should workā€¦youā€™d probably still find it easiest to prep your midi patterns in a DAW anyhow, since the Pyramid is fairly specific about the naming conventions used for exported midi tracks.

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