Thanks alot everyone. Super helpful 
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ahhh the age of cool parentsā¦ do these kids even know how lucky they are
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No.
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If anyone is in doubt about Sector on the iPad, although quite old and only IAA this is a workout 
https://youtube.com/shorts/mtTsUEIUcG8?si=-GRASXplS5yfrhB-
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I have a visceral revulsion to the DAWs Iāve poked at (Logic, Ableton Live, MPC Beats). The dense skeumorphic mixer strips, the piano rolls, the whole visual look from the past century. I also donāt think keyboard and mouse are the right interface for making music on a computer. Iām not sure what is, but I know Iām not going to use those. (I donāt have a monitor or working mouse any more, havenāt for years. A 13" laptop with touchpad suffices for my needs, and I am a computer scientist by profession.)
There are a lot of iOS apps that have some of the same failings, but the touchscreen can help somewhat. Not always. The apps that truly make revolutionary use (or even satisfactory use) of the touchscreen are few and far between.
But I like AUM a lot. I wouldnāt call it revolutionary in terms of design, but it works well. The spacious UI, the intuitive feel. This got me to thinking, are there macOS music apps that have an AUM-like feel? This is more out of interest, as the pricing on macOS apps is a little high for my tastes (or perhaps the absurdly low pricing on iOS apps has spoiled me). I think AUM could work just fine on my laptop (maybe it even does, I havenāt checked to see, because I just donāt use my laptop for creating music, only for playing it back, and a touch of audio editing).
I wish it was true for Pianoteq, GeoShred (GeoSwam and Naada pack).
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Itās true that there are some expensive ones, and I see the prices creeping up in general with new releases. So maybe the good times cannot last.
I have one moderately expensive iOS app, and that is FabFilter Pro-R 2, because I could not find anything else that sounded as good while preserving the essential qualities of the source audio (important if I am using a few thousand euros worth of modular to generate it). I bought GeoShred on deep discount, but while the IAPs look interesting, they are indeed too rich for my taste.
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I wish there was a synth app like u-he diva or even u-he diva itself. I like to save midi cc as preset on DT II to sequence and sample iPad app. Very quick and fun workflow
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Best app purchase of the year by far has been One Shot by Klevgrand.
iOS has been waiting for a multi-sampled, round robin drum app, and itās finally here.
Feed it with velocity variation and you can have some pretty realistic sounding drums very quick. I have been blown away by the quality of the kits and sounds.
Highly recommended if you are looking for high-quality, easy to use acoustic drum sounds.
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I totally agree with this. Logic is impressive, and itās quick sampler is amazing, but itās still too rooted in the desktop way of menu hierarchies and convoluted buses.
Koala on the other hand is perfect on the touch screen, but limited when it comes to arrangement or just plain recording.
Maybe weāre all just spoiled. 30 years ago I could have made a whole career with just Koala.
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Iāve been very surprised with Pianoteq full version : 930ā¬ !
I bought Koala without thinking just afterā¦
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As a guy whoās been in software his whole career (and remembers signing his name on a paper form to release software as āgolden masterā to a CD pressing company), I am both thankful and baffled by the relatively low cost of a lot of this software. How are developers making any money? Is this nothing but a side hustle and a labor of love for most of them?
But I think itās great that with some software, it really is a no-risk proposition. If I see someone saying something good about a $4.99 iPad music app, Iāll just forgo the boutique coffee and get it half of the time. If I like it and it becomes part of my repertoire, great, and if not, I havenāt spent so much money that Iām disappointed.
As for Pianoteq, there was a lot of thinking before I got it, and my wife finally said āShut up and buy it.ā Iām glad I did. We have a so-so piano (my grandmotherās Estey) and a very good one (my inlawās family Steinway from 1882, rebuilt in 1985, which I cannot bring myself to call āmineā, even though Iām the only one that can play, and that poorly), so I didnāt need a software piano at all. But it is loads of fun to connect up a MIDI controller and noodle from the couch, or shift their knobs for things like age and see what comes out. And it beats trying to mic our piano, which would be nearly impossible between where it is and my skills in that area .I played the Steinway preset in Pianoteq closest to our piano for my wife, and she just about jumped out of her skin because the timbre so closely matches her family piano. Yes, itās expensive, but if youāre looking for a software piano, I donāt think anything beats It for the price.
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Unfortunately nothing as good as Diva, Hive, or Dune 3 on the iPad, but you can get Fabfilter Twin 3, Moog Mariana and Baby Audio BA-1 all of which are pretty decent.
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AUM is a plugin host. There are quite a few ones on MacOS which have more or less the same functionality. Not that minimalist but have a search. Even Apple has one called Mainstage.
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Hosting AU (free)
https://www.digitalbrain-instruments.com/vplayer4 (like 6$)
Element - Kushview (60$, the way more advanced that just a host)
Thereās some to get you started.
Apple used to make an app called AU lab. Iām still annoyed they killed it off.
MainStage is ok. Itās kinda sucks, but itās a nice way to get all the logic instruments / plugins for 40$
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I am interested in all Pianoteq instruments and possibilty to edit sounds. That cost much more !
Tried demo mode, Epiano, Hand pansā¦impressive without samples.
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Thanks! I have exactly these 3 ones always on in my DT II AUM session
Mariana for bass
BA-1 for chords
Twin 3 for leads
But it would be great to have u-he diva (and overbridge) on iPad to forget the computer definitely
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I wouldnāt be mad if some vendors would port their plugin hosts to the iPad. Looks like the next logical step and AUM could need more (live-friendly) competition.
Maybe this one?
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