Thread: Can the ipad work as a recording workstation

Let me first say welcome. Glad to see you here. There is much to be gained for you here at Recording.org.

We used to use 75 MHz computers for recording stereo audio. With decent converters it was adequate (Digi Design Audio Media 3 card) and it worked. It worked and sounded actually quite good. With every progression, all of our devices have become more powerful and more capable. I don't see any reason why a Apple iPad shouldn't do better than our earliest computers of the early 1990s. So, is this actually a review or a question? None of us here really need to be educated by advertising hype. We already know all this stuff. Not that we don't appreciate your review. It's a great thing happening with these highly powerful handheld devices. And it will only continue to get better and these devices will only continue to get more powerful and more capable. After all, still a computer. So while it still allows you to upload your productions and download your entertainment, it still can't cut a CD or a DVD without yet another external device. And a lot of folks still rely upon CDs and DVDs. But we all know that these times, they are a changin'.

I don't plan to get one yet.
Mx. Remy Ann David

The ipad sounds like fun. I too am in no hurry to get one; every time I turn around, there's another version waiting to be released. I believe there's already another one waiting in the wings as I write this. (Isn't there always???)

Even so, it's a cool device, and I'm happy so many folks are getting tech-savvy with it. It's all good; good for the neighborhood, so to speak.

A few years back; a buddy of mine & I walked into an Apple store, and fired up Garage band on one of their laptops on display. For the sheer fun of it, we decided to "write" a tune in 5 minutes, hit play, and walk out of the store with it playing. It was great; we created a drum loop, banged out some guitar parts, added a kybd bed, and finally a riffing solo. Proof indeed that the thing could be used for casual or serious work. I have no problem with that.

I also used to use Cakewalk for all kinds of MIDI/WAV audio production, song writing, etc. I've since gotten away from it, but I expect I'll take the plunge again someday and get back on the beam for that kind of stuff. (So many choices now, so many sounds, MIDI devices, etc...it's numbing!)

FWIW, i'm still a PC guy (Droid phone, etc.) and prefer it that way, although I don't get into the whole MAC vs. PC thing. I own an iMac (mostly for transfers, etc.) as well as a whole network of PCs.

I think ipads & smartphones in general are wonderful, but to quote Gordon Mah Ung in this month's "MAXIMUM PC" magazine: "...I believe in the life-changing capability of a personal computer still exists. While other tech toys grab the headlines today, it's the personal computer that still has the ability to take you to magical places. You don't just consume with the personal computer, either, you can also create......"

But hey, whatever floats your boat. ;-)

Much of the tablets along with i Pad/iPhone have different types of external connections from most legacy PC's & Macs. And for that reason, interfacing with those devices will require that manufacturers create and make new external interfaces that will be able to advance the usage of those new devices into becoming full-blown digital audio & video workstations. However when companies like Apple create these new devices, it takes many different manufacturers time to create and implement usable external devices for use with those new products. And that's most definitely happening as we speak or type. With some programs such as Garage Band, you create music from within the program and the included samples. But it doesn't necessarily give you the capabilities of plugging in a phantom powered studio condenser microphone with an adequate analog to digital computer interface with the correct interface that can go into an iPhone. Just wait another year and plenty will be hitting the market. Although these handheld devices are really made for eyes under the age of 40. As we get older, a lot of us prefer, instead, larger and larger screens. In my control room, late last year, I have installed a 40 inch Samsung LCD. I love it because I can read it from virtually any distance away. But with an iPhone, I need my most powerful reading glasses and still have to keep it close right in my face. It doesn't matter that it is touch sensitive, I prefer utilizing a trackball anyhow. I don't even like the touch sensitive screens on the bank ATM's or even gas pumps LOL. Besides a large LCD screen is a marvel to behold and to look at. And it provides for that air professional where an iPhone looks like nothing but a toy. The younger generation are heavily ensconced in those iPhone toys. But when they hit 40 and beyond, what is it that they will be wanting to use? I can safely say, it won't be a toy. Kids like small are hot cars with 4 banger engines and adults like something a little more comfortable and smoother, quieter and more capable to carry their families to nice vacation destinations. And that's a little more difficult to do with a Smart Car. So everything has its place and no one-size-fits-all. My father was a private pilot and I was a student pilot. Flying in a small single-engine prop airplane like the Piper Cherokee 140/180/Arrow was a lot of bumpy fun. Though I really wouldn't want to fly to California from Washington DC that way. I'd much prefer flying coach class and on occasion business or first class in a 747 while leaving the flying to fully qualified and highly experienced professionals. Not that I haven't been in those cockpits, I have been and with my knowledge is a private/student pilot, I knew precisely what everything in those large professional cockpits that the pilots had to utilize to prevent from killing their passengers, actually were. And the same held true for the A-10 Warthog & F-22 simulators I had a chance to " fly ", for myself. With variations on a theme, I still knew I was looking at " artificial horizons, turn and bank indicators, magnetic and gyroscopic compasses, altimeters, tachometers ". Did I fly those simulators as well as a military pilot would? Hell no! Though I didn't do badly in either as was indicated to me by 6 military officer pilots. They actually asked me if I had already flown F-16's or 15's specially when I flew the F-22 " Glass Cockpit" of the F-22 of which I had never done before. So even with my only experience from a Piper Cherokee 140, 30 years earlier, I was still able to fly Boeings newer than new F-22. And that was even after one of the 6 multimillion dollar computers crashed. I was still able to maintain control of the F-22. And the officers actually asked me why I did not join the Air Force? Well, to actually be able to fly one of those multi-million-dollar beasts, you must first have at least a Masters Degree in a related field and I have no college, at all. So I did not qualify when I investigated the possibility of becoming a pilot for the US military. And I didn't want to fly helicopters, which was the only flying vehicle they did not require a college degree for. Go figure? They cost almost as much. But helicopters unlike fixed wing aircraft are a completely different concept in which to fly. So I'm getting a little off course here or rather off-topic.

I think I need to pull one notch of flaps before this landing ends badly? Because those take a little more flair to fly.
Mx. Remy Ann David

Wow! You can tell I failed English by my poor use of grammar. Paragraph? What's a paragraph? Isn't that only like a pair which is only two? I thought a pair was a fruit?

The English-language it's so easy to murder and not go to jail for the rest of your life.
Mx. Remy Ann David

well said, Remy, well said, as always. (Just wish you'd put a paragraph break in there once in a while! )

Thanks Joe,

I'll do the best.

I can do.

Maybe this will get better?

Maybe this won't?

See? It's not really any better yet.
Mx. Remy Ann David