ugh ya see I have a keystep pro and the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind to plug it in USB… It just doesn’t register in my mind that the iPad can function like a computer that you plug USB things into.
My dongle will arrive today so I will start my journey. My credit card will not be happy with all the app purchases but I will try to restrain myself to only the apps I need.
Lots of AUv3 MIDI generators + MIDI processors on iOS/iPadOS for use with DC-coupled audio interfaces or MIDI>CV/Gate converters.
Modular-style/algorithmic/sequence your sequencers/modulate your modulators in an AU host like AUM or apeMatrix:
CoVariant MIDI>CV/Gate converter
Mozaic build-your-own MIDI sequencers + processors + Patch Storage
Drambo + Patch Storage
miRack/VCV Rack + Patch Storage
Rozeta MIDI sequencers + processors suite
Victor Porof MIDI sequencer + processors suite
Pagefall MIDI sequencers + processors
Arthur Kerns MIDI sequencers + processors
Cem Olcay MIDI sequencers + processors
Anthony Saunders MIDI recorder + processors
Laurent Colson MIDI sequencers + processors
Audeonic MIDI sequencers + processors
Aphelian
cykle de-coupled step sequencer
Riffer
Thesys
Octachron
Difficult for me to justify buying digital hardware synths + FX when Sugar Bytes, apeSoft, Amazing Noises, Ryouta Kira, IceWorks, Alexander Zolotov, Dmitrij Pavlov, Erik Sigth, KV331, VirSyn, Imaginando, iMusicAlbum, Spacecraft Granular, Synclavier, CMI Fairlight, Mutable Ins ports, Drambo + Patch Storage, miRack/VCV Rack + Patch Storage, Audulus, Zmors Modular, Eventide, Audio Damage, FabFilter, ToneBoosters, FAC, K-Devices, etc. exist.
AUv3 lists are here. Lots of free stuff too. And apps that can load PD Vanilla patches, etc.
Multi-channel audio+MIDI interfaces with DC-coupled I/O are fairly inexpensive these days, as are MIDI controllers.
Been using FAC Alteza as my favorite Shimmer reverb on IOS so far. Think it was under €10,-
FAC Alteza’s great, can do small and strange too.
FAC Envolver is a hidden gem. Envelope follower that generates MIDI.
Also Bram Bos Perforator.
Though for strange, the Amazing Noises and apeSoft’s M4L ports are mind-blowing.
Found a great USBC hub on Kickstarter a few months ago but it probably will never arrive. (I’ll never fund another Kickstarter project ever again, they take zero responsibility.) Bought another one at Amazon thinking it would do what was told in the specs and reviews but guess you can’t trust those either. Also most hubs have the cable attached which clearly isn’t something you want when you’re using the iPad.
BTW if anyone is looking for a nice small swiss MIDI hub. The RK006 from Retrokits might be very cool to take a look at. Haven’t got one myself yet but thinking about getting one. Works great on iOS as well.
From their website:
“What do you call a super portable MIDI interface which also is a standalone USB host, can drive gate signals, has per-port MIDI Filtering /Clock Processing and is about the size of an Altoids tin?? Some call it a ‘gamechanger’… we call it the RK-006!
The RK-006 is about 7x5x1cm in size (3x2x0.4″) and packs 10 MIDI outputs plus 2 MIDI Inputs. This alone offers formidable portable possibilities!”
I just swapped a 32gb 2018 iPad for one of the new air ones as the kids needed my old one for COVID homeschooling and making it through the pandemic without going nuts.
The new ones really have a lot more cpu, and the gen2 pencil is a lot nicer as well (if you use that).
Also going usb C makes it a lot easier to connect stuff
The new iPad Air seems like the best one to get right now if you don’t mind it missing Face ID.
Got the 2020 iPad Pro 11" (think I should’ve gone bigger) and haven’t bought the pencil yet. Find it a bit expensive for what it is, like everything else Apple sells. I really want that Magic Keyboard with trackpad but not for 330 freakin euros. 
Don’t have a hub for the iPad, and really don’t need one with the way I do it now. A hub is yet another thing to have to haul around and plug in etc. midi out from the Keystep to the Digitakt is much more efficient. Well, for me at least.
One thing I love about the iPad is its suitability as a “grab and go” live performance thing, when it’s a situation where I don’t want to drag along my Elektrons and other gear.
Some apps I use live include Grooverider and iMPC Pro 2. Sometimes I break out djay Pro if I need to do longer nights and not just a short set or two.
Grooverider in particular is a bit of a dance music beast, and has conditional triggers that will seem quite familiar to Elektron users.
If you have an iPhone, you can AirDrop AUM sessions to your iPad, and vice versa.
You can AirDrop samples and audio recordings from AudioShare too.
Very convenient while on the go.
…for getting access to random endless sampling resources and to catch it all on the fly and slice and resample the hell out of it…
tube au…THE app for any utube content directly into audio processing
it’s nothing but a utube player window that can talk auv3…
and koala sampler…
that’s 15 bux all in all for sampling the world…within a tip of ur finger…
Thanks for that FAC Envolver tip. It’s included in their bundle for €37,-
A tip for everyone. Lots of developers offer bundles, check them out before you buy a separate app as it could safe you a lot of money.
That Tube AU app is €10,-. Seems a bit expensive for what it is.
Aren’t there other apps in the Appstore that do the same thing?
…yup, it’s an obvious rip off, for that little xtra effort in coding…
but sadly, i could’nt find any alternative…given that price, i guess, there’s no such thing yet and they know it…
or it’s a license fee thing because of google property…
I’m so dumb. I actually have the last iPad Air but never thought of it as a music production hub. Bought just for casual uses for reading books etc
Only today I realised I can actually hook up my M2 interface directly to it without using a power supply and start recording or whatever
Might be a good time to start! Is there a good resource online focused on music production?
A major drawback for the iPad is the different Midi implementation according the apps. There’s no standard and as well some are efficient, others are almost unusable live.
Agonizer for instance is a great synth but with the OT it suffers from a bad Midi implementation and i’m getting huge drop/boosts in volumes and any other kind of values. The fact the OT don’t resend values doesn’t help.
Audiokit Synth has no clock sync (?!), Neo Soul Key 2 keeps forgetting Midi assignation and Heavy Brass is receiving from all channels although i specified a midi channel. The latter one has AFAIK no midi learn. Great synths but for a live use, no thank you.
Nice! I actually use a Logitech crayon as I also use my iPad to teach 6th graders. I don’t think it’s compatible with the new Airs, but I’ll need to check.
I’m sure there is a way to do MIDI feedback in AUM. I haven’t set it up as I just A.D.D. into something else when I start to map my controllers on iPad but I could’ve sworn that AUM can accommodate this. I have a MIDI Fighter I could test with if I have the patience today.
I could also be thinking that the AUM elements can give MIDI feedback and not necessarily the AUv3 devices being hosted on it.
Thanks to this thread, I am now going down the Drambo rabbit hole.
The pen for my old iPad had a lightning connector while the new one is magnetically attached and charges wirelessly… meaning that even though I am forgetful it will always be charged, pretty neat
To tell the truth I use it more to write and take notes in my work as a researcher and less as a miRack/Drambo pen these days 
(Btw it was you who made the octa Drambo patch on patchstorage, right? Thanks for that, very inspiring!)