Guaranath.
GuaranathGreetings all!
I am a new user in the DAW world and came across some positive reviews for Podium Free, so I downloaded my Podium Free and have been learning away and building up my library of free VSTs, etc.. So first off, thank you so much for the opportunity to try Podium with a pretty full feature set, especially for a new DAW user like myself. I can already tell that I won’t be satisfied with a single-core for long and will be looking to go full when financially feasible.
So doing a couple quick searches of the forums, I get the sense that there are not many ios users in the community. However, I wanted to throw a question out there just in case: I recently got an app for my iPad that is called TouchOSC, it is designed to be a MIDI controller for your desktop DAW (and obviously an OSC controller as well). You can edit and design your own templates to suit your needs or your DAW, so I was curious if anyone uses this app and has already designed a template for Podium? If not, I have read here that Podium uses the Mackie standard control setup – so theoretically I could design my own template assigning the Mackie standard designations?
On another note, in my search I was reading the Technology Preview post regarding the development of Mobium. Zynewave, you are absolutely right that there is no VST plugin support on ios currently. However, there is a developer working on an app called Audiobus which will allow transfer, and therefore recording, of audio data between apps. When this is released, the over 100 ios developers who have signed on to embed Audiobus will, in essence, become available as ‘VST plugin’ instruments. Effects plugins are another matter, which is part of the reason I have moved into exploring your desktop DAW, along with the other issues of ease of access in multi-tracking and processing power, etc.. I would be cautious about Android; I have heard there a some very serious audio latency issues… I have a friend with an android device who was showing me a simple piano app he had purchased, I would estimate a 500ms latency.. pretty awful…
I would also mention that I have had a great time using my iPad as a MIDI controller in Podium. There is an app called Soundprism that allows me to control up to five separate VST instruments, each with one finger (two bass instruments, three mid/high register, with the option of chorded setups for the mid/high instruments). In addition, it allows me to assign two MIDI channels to respond to the accelerometer by tilting my iPad on an x and y-axis.. These can be assigned to things like velocity, pan, filter sweep… Another app I have is called Geo synth which is set up along the lines of a Haken continuum with a sort of guitar-fretboard pitch designation. This is another great MIDI controller that allows me to play exceedingly fast runs and arpeggios. Anyways, I won’t keep blabbing on since I may be a ‘minority’ ios user.
Thank you again for the opportunity try the software out!
druidThe problem is that iOS cannot play VST plugin files at all. VST plugins require an x86 processor and are programmed for a specific OS. VST plugins need different versions if they support both Windows and OSX. So, iOS won’t be able to read VST plugins without extensive redirects, and in some cases, function replacements for features that ARM processors do not have but x86 do.
You might not have meant that specifically in your post? But just in case you did, I wanted to clear up that VST won’t work on iOS. VST developers can, of course, produce versions of their software that function in a different format, but then that format won’t be VST.
GuaranathYah, I did not mean to imply that you could use actual VSTs in ios. I meant that any native ios apps that adopt the Audiobus standard and embed will be able to be used in a VST-like fashion, in the sense that you will be able to record the audio of one app in another app. In addition, many apps (well, the good quality ones anyways) already include virtual Midi, sometimes with Midi clock functions. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that these apps will be able to act like plugins.
There are of course limitations; I doubt you would be able to get away with simultaneous audio from more that three or four apps. And the apps won’t superimpose like desktop plugins, so you will have to pull them up from the background (a two-gesture process).
Zynewave@Guaranath wrote:
Greetings all!
Greetings.
I recently got an app for my iPad that is called TouchOSC, it is designed to be a MIDI controller for your desktop DAW (and obviously an OSC controller as well). You can edit and design your own templates to suit your needs or your DAW, so I was curious if anyone uses this app and has already designed a template for Podium? If not, I have read here that Podium uses the Mackie standard control setup – so theoretically I could design my own template assigning the Mackie standard designations?
That should be possible. I have no experience with the TouchOSC app, but I think it’s likely that some user already has created an MCU emulation. Perhaps these can be downloaded somehow.
druidWhoops, so I did misinterpret. Thanks for clearing up, sorry about that! Sounds good. I’m looking forward to seeing where music creation goes on phones, though I doubt I will ever use such a thing. Still exciting!
GuaranathThank you Zynewave, I will give that a try!
druid – I had an iPhone for a while before getting an iPad; the bigger screen of the iPad is what really what got me into using it for music making. Well, that and finding out there were some good apps for composing microtonal music that looked playable and expressive. That said, there are definitely severe limitations at this point with processing power, ease of workflow and I don’t think real, well-produced music is anywhere close to being completely untethered from the desktop/laptop computers.
I am afraid I may come across as unpopular saying this, because I suspect the majority of you want Zynewave’s efforts focused on the traditional computer platform. But any developer that doesn’t at least seriously consider getting a product out for ios is a fool. Do you know Apple sold more iPads last year than any model of desktop or laptop computer? Now, I know that there is a novelty factor and those sales may even out with time, but that is a lot of new tablets in a lot of new hands. The software in ios is easy for anyone to load and use, all bought in one central store with payment out of one account. Software installation and implementation is very plug-and-play, so it is easy for anyone to try making music in a DAW (or whatever application). For the developer there is less piracy and a chance at vast exposure via the iTunes store, which can get new users to consider a developer’s PC/Mac software once they realize they need more processing power and broader tools.
At any rate, I see it as a great opportunity for developers. I mean, don’t you all want the developer to be able quit his day job […should he so desire], have the chance to focus in on just software development, possibly hire a staff and just direct things while sipping on [insert devs favorite beverage] and eating [insert unnecessary and overpriced food item]??