I just launched a new YouTube channel where I specialize on discussing a highly customized and streamlined iPad Pro based music production setup with a deep integration of the Digitakt & Digitone and a unique iPhone based remote control concept in order to unlock a very unique and powerful workflow.
For anyone who might be curious about what an advanced iPad Pro based setup might look like or if youāre already familiar but are interested in new ideas, my channel might interest you.
I just released my second video which covers my setup in-depth with a very structured and detailed presentation.
Feel free to check it out here if youāre interested:
The video is intended as a reference or the ābackboneā if you will of the content that my channel will host, so itās very important to make sure that it goes in enough depth to ensure that people have a good chance of understanding how itās put together if the interest is there. Obviously that requires a substantial time investment considering the complexity of the subject. The idea behind structuring and labelling each section extensively is to give viewers the flexibility to jump to the segments that are most relevant for their particular interests or curiosity. All these sections are visible directly from within this forum directly by mousing over the videoās time bar.
Towards the beginning of the video, I dedicated a section specifically to give advice on entirely skipping Chapter 1 (which covers the list of hardware I use), for viewers curious about this setup but who arenāt in a position to justify going through the entire thing yet.
Skipping Chapter 1 by itself will shave off about 25 minutes As far as the rest of the video, an easy solution to overcome your time constraint is simply to split your watch time to cover a chapter at a time, as thereās a total of 4 Chapters detailed clearly in the video description directly via the timestamps Iāve provided on YouTube.
Other than that, itās just a matter of time until I put out content focusing simply on using the setup to make music. Maybe that would be a more approachable starting point for what you prefer. Even though such content could never be expected to be as efficient and thorough as the reference video I already made, it would definitely be more entertaining if thatās more what youāre after.
The content of this video is fundamentally educational in nature, and it definitely requires a certain level of motivation & determination (and even discipline really) to go through it, considering the dry nature of the subject.
Lastly if youāre already an Elektron machines user, a particularly interesting point to start looking at to peek your interest is the audio routing flexibility between Elektron machines and the iPad, which is covered at the beginning of Chapter 4 in section ā4.1 The Digitakt & Digitone Audio Routingā.
Ultimately I can tell you with absolute confidence that if youāre interested in making music with a highly immersive setup that seriously pushes technological boundaries (with all the benefits that come with it), this video contains highly valuable information thatās worth the watch. In my opinion the iPad has reached a critical point where it is inevitably destined to revolutionize how āDAW-lessā electronic music is made in particular, but understanding all the implications as to why that is is not something that can happen at a snap of a finger.
Iāve been considering getting a iPad to use with my Syntakt, so this is great and will definitely help me think about some possibilities for future recording setups. Looking forward to watching it soon!
Iām jealous lol The Syntakt is the 3rd main machine thatās also a very good candidate to pair with the iPad, but in full transparency if you want to really hit the ācritical massā where the iPad and elektron machines really augment each other optimally, IMO the major milestone would be the inclusion of the Digitakt 2 in your setup. The Syntakt already has 12 highly valuable internal parallel unique sound sources, so sacrificing any of these to sequence external stuff feels like it would be somewhat bittersweet to me, at least thatās the way I see it
A core part of the idea I developed with this whole iPad based concept was to essentially reconstruct a ābudgetā Syntakt by combining the Digitaktās MIDI tracks with drum synthesizers available as AUv3. Full transparency though, coming up with a concept that even remotely approaches the Syntakt is a very tall order, but itās feasible on a technical level. My main AUv3 candidates for that task so far have been Ruismaker FM, Ruismaker Noir, Rings FX and Sketch Audio Blip box (even though I havenāt gotten a chance to test this last one yet because I have a lot on my plate). I absolutely know there are many other amazing viable options out there that are going to be specifically compatible for p-locking, but finding them requires experimentation which takes time, and Iāve only jumped into the iPad Pro ārabbit holeā about 9 months ago, and Iāve been at this pretty much full time since.
The major caveat Iām facing with my setup in particular is that with the OG Digitakt (and the Digitone) Iām limited to controlling 8 CC parameters per MIDI track whereas the Digitakt 2 offers 16 controllable CC parameters per track and these CC controls can also be named, which represents a MAJOR improvement.
I was hoping the Digitakt and Digitone would be updated on that front, even if just with a naming system as opposed to expanding to 16 CC, but hearing peopleās opinions on the likelihood of these machines seeing another update online kinda discouraged me on that front. Please Elektron prove me wrong lol
Check out Drumcomputer. 8 tracks of synthesis/sampling for drums. That plus the DT MIDI is basically the Syntakt drum machines. Haha.
Iāve been using my iPad with the Elektron boxes for years. Unfortunately, I think the audio routing is pretty lame given that you canāt access each track individually (since itās not class compliant). Sure, in AUM you can route tons of audio in cool ways, but you still canāt necessarily route your DTās kick to one track and your snare to another.
You should look into the Faderfox controllers, too. I have the EC4 and UC4. The former controls my Syntakt/Digitone/Digitakt and the latter is setup to control my AUM mixer, panning, sends, mutes, etc. Theyāre well worth the cost.
Mad respect for putting all the effort in to this. Iām a teacher, and Iād love to have the patience to make a longform video explaining my various rigs and techniques, but I donāt like doing all the video editing and such. Haha. Iāll definitely flick through it a bit.
Great, will watch it over the weekendā¦ I have a DT, DN and iPadPro but never really used the iPad with the Elektrons beyond recording tracks into Logic to complete.
I also have Drumcomputer While it has a lot of potential for uniqueness and I obviously wouldnāt have bought it unless I liked how it sounded, in my experience it requires a substantial time investment to really become comfortable with its sound generators and to get to a point where I could clearly say that I can ābendā it efficiently towards the kinds of sounds that I envision and consistently hit sweet spots.
Drumcomputer is also inherently a much heavier application than something like Ruismaker Noir or Rings FX for example. Noir in particular is very stripped down, lightweight and extremely responsive. That makes it highly flexible which is very valuable in my experience when it comes to being able to scale the complexity of a project up/down efficiently.
I definitely will bring Drumcomputer in my projects at some point, but until you mentioned it just now Iāve only considered using it as its own system, independently from my elektron machines.
Iāve also been in consistent communications with Sugar Bytes directly to address some of the issues I had identified with Drumcomputer back in January, which Iām happy to say theyāve mainly resolved since. If you check the version update history on the app store, the activity that occurred around January and March is basically directly correlated to my feedback.
I also found that displaying Drumcomputerās UI in AUM put a significant load on my iPad so I kind of put it aside over these last few months because I have so much to investigate on multiple fronts that Iām basically in no rush for any specific investigation path. Now that youāve mentioned it though, my curiosity is peeked to give it another look and to see how it performs as itās been updated multiple times.
If it turns out that Drumcomputer is perfectly compatible with P-locking on my Digitakt, I definitely see myself potentially putting in some serious hours to āmake it my ownā because I had high hopes with it right from the beginning before even buying the iPad due to all the research I had done.
On a side note, I also have a very extensive collection of carefully selected applications, but Iām going to reveal it progressively through much more approachable videos as I add new content to my channel along the way.
I forgot to respond to the other things you mentionned!
I also am aware of the appeal of the Faderfox stuff , as well as the MIDI Fighter twister stuff.
I was originally very interested in the Faderfox stuff because of the ability to name CC parameters but I found that for my applications so far my needs are essentially covered because of the flexibility of the iPadās touchscreen.
I also completely understand your gripe with the routing of individual elektron machines tracks and even though I wish I was able to route everything separately for optimal flexibility, in practice it doesnāt cause a problem with my workflow and I can always outsource a particular sound directly to an AUv3 sound generator hosted on the iPad in AUM.
Regarding what you mentioned about the video editing thing. I basically feel the same way you do but I decided to overcome the fact that I would prefer making music rather than editing videos because Iām convinced itās possible to hit a āgrooveā where you can effectively end up doing one while also doing the other (as far as recording cool video content while making music I mean). I also see the whole exercise of presenting information to others as a process through which I effectively have the incentive to expand my expertise using the tools which I can then leverage for my own music making process.
Watched the whole thing. Although I donāt think this setup is for me, I did learn quite a bit about audio and MIDI routing using the iPad and it helped inform my future decisions. And I can see how several aspects of this would be useful for others. Thanks for the video!
Not that I donāt appreciate the long-form content, but I imagine if you made a shorter <10 minute music performance video of your workflow in action, it might grab the attention of more people who would benefit from what you put out there just a thought.
Thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it, and youāre a LLLLEGEND for having watched the whole thing haha Honestly I totally get your logic about the appeal of making a performance video to showcase the workflow because I had the same idea. I chose to postpone doing that for my next video partly because I had major concerns regarding the length of the video. I also didnāt want to half-ass a showcase and as of now I donāt know how long it would take me to put something of that nature together.
I want to ācookā something that really does justice to my custom concept and Iām not sure if I want to do voice commentating as I put the thing together either so Iāll have to experiment to see if I can get away with adding voice commentating in post, which as of now I donāt know how to do in Davinci Resolve (I mean specifically recording just audio on the spot in Davinci as the video is playing) so Iām going to have to research that as well. For now Iām thinking maybe of just playing the original recorded OBS video in VLC and re-recording my own PC screen in OBS so that I can pause and navigate the video and generate commentating audio bits from there, but Iām thinking that this approach would be an inefficient and inflexible way to go about it.
Anyhow! The compromise I chose for the video was to at least get a groove going for a little while at the beginning so that it wouldnāt be 100% dry lol, and even doing that was somewhat improvised at the last minute. Iām completely new to video content production and while Iām fairly familiar with the level of quality that is expected in order to become undeniable, I also recognize that I have to put a hard limit to how much I push myself throughout this learning process. Iām just starting so for now I chose to begin with an emphasis on articulating valuable information because that seemed more accessible to me as a starting point to develop my video editing skill.
Even though what I chose to present is not exactly sexy or a āseductionā operation, I chose to begin building my channelās content history by laying down the foundational stuff because once I start to pump out shorter videos that are more jam/fun oriented, I want to be able to easily point people to my in-depth guide to essentially get the technical stuff out of the way efficiently.
Iām also definitely open to the idea of eventually redoing an edit that would include a showcase further down the road as I gain experience
The video below represents my latest efforts to significantly improve the overall production quality of my videos while keeping the duration under 5 minutes.
I know the written commentating can be a bit challenging to follow, but Iām testing the waters to find out if that speed ends up working out.
Jam Session #3: iPad Pro Custom AUM Setup Workflow Showcase & Deep House Experimental Groove
Video description:
A deep house inspired experimental electronic music jam session featuring my custom iPad Pro based music production setup including the Elektron Digitakt & Digitone showcasing a unique workflow based on AUM.
Very nice content! Thank you so much! I personally like the combination of a Digitakt II with the iPad Pro incredibly well, because the real-time editing possibilities are immense! As far as drum synthesizers are concerned, I think the AUs mentioned here are just as great - but personally Iām still waiting for the port of Unfiltered Audioās Battalion (supposedly they are working on it)ā¦ because for me this plugin is one of the most flexible programmable on the market and a real cornucopia for individual sounds/samples.
OMG Iām waiting exactly for the same thing! I even tried to contact Unfiltered Audio a while ago to see if I could join Battalionās iOS beta (in case there was one) but no luck so far.
Thanks for the kind words I really appreciate it! Iām jealous of your Digitakt II lol because of the ability to customize the names of mapped CC parameters for the MIDI tracks. I did post on the Digitakt feature request to hopefully have that added, both for the Digitone and Digitakt, but now that Iāve seen leaks of the latest product that Elektron appears to be working on and the timing of the year, my hopes on that front are kind of dwindlingā¦
Even though I donāt own it Iām also closely monitoring the Prism AUv3 sequencer as a lot of its functionality intersects with elektron gear (as clearly the dev is a DT/DN user himself) but Iām definitely not sure about the usability of the UI, and Iām also considering Cong Burnās Strokes as it uses Mutable Instruments Plaits code for its sound generators and is also likely to be in a polished state by now.
From the same dev Iām also considering Stacks, but because it was released not long ago I want to give it at least a few months to give it a chance to reach a polished state.
Nice! Well, you really seem to be very interested and, above all, committed, awesome! I already had Cong Burn on my radar but hadnāt tried it yet. I also find Audio Damageās Axiom interesting, but in general itās more to do with Euclidean sequencers, which seem to have been in vogue for some time now. Well, the same could be said of so many other topics - FM, wavetable, wavefolding etc. Itās interesting that everything in our world seems to be cyclical. But thatās probably due to human perception of things and is a rather philosophical topicā¦ Anyway, Iām really looking forward to the release of Battalion on iOS and can hardly wait - the possibilities of this drum synthesizer are gigantic and the quality of its sound engines completely convinces me!
Talking about Audio Damage, I know that Quanta has been well respected as a granular synth on iOS but I had been refraining from getting it because of the existence of Quanta 2 on PC/MAC. I spotted a de-facto teaser on YT the other day showcasing the dev using Quanta 2 on iPad! So thatās another big one coming up clearly before the end of the year.
As far as euclidean sequencers go, even though I am very much in favour of using generative MIDI sequencers to help grooves become more dynamic with controlled variability, I havenāt really felt the appeal to explore the euclidean sequencing stuff so far. I know Cong Burnās Strokes offers that capability but thatās not why I was interested in it originally.
Every time a self contained music making āsystemā comes up on iOS, it carries the opportunity to bypass shortcomings that can be experienced when using AUM due to major things like low MIDI resolution for CC parameters when different AUv3s communicate with each other, and the partial incompatibility of using external MIDI LFOs in the context of polyphonic instruments (aside from the resolution issue).
I have this dream where AUM 2 eventually comes out with internal āAbleton-likeā piano roll sequencing, complex automation read/write and built-in high resolution LFO/envelope modulators! In the meantime Iām just hunting for cleaver means of approaching similar outcomes where compatibility is possible. I could go on for ages with that kind of topic lol so I better stop here haha!
EDIT: QUANTA 2 just got released on iOS on October 3rd 2024! but the launch appears to have been extremely rocky based on the app store comments so be careful if youāre interested in it!
As far as the rest of the video, an easy solution to overcome your time constraint is simply to split your watch time to cover a chapter at a time, as thereās a total of 4 Chapters detailed clearly in the video description directly via the timestamps Iāve provided on YouTube.
The Syntakt is the 3rd main machine thatās also a very good candidate to pair with the iPad, but in full transparency if you want to really hit the ācritical massā where the iPad and elektron machines really augment each other optimally, IMO the major milestone would be the inclusion of the Digitakt 2 in your setup. The Syntakt already has 12 highly valuable internal parallel unique sound sources, so sacrificing any of these to sequence external stuff feels like it would be somewhat bittersweet to me, at least thatās the way I see it 
just a thought.
I personally like the combination of a Digitakt II with the iPad Pro incredibly well, because the real-time editing possibilities are immense! As far as drum synthesizers are concerned, I think the AUs mentioned here are just as great - but personally Iām still waiting for the port of Unfiltered Audioās Battalion (supposedly they are working on it)ā¦ because for me this plugin is one of the most flexible programmable on the market and a real cornucopia for individual sounds/samples.
Anyway, Iām really looking forward to the release of Battalion on iOS and can hardly wait - the possibilities of this drum synthesizer are gigantic and the quality of its sound engines completely convinces me!