iPad vs Android tablets

[gmeredith]

Yep, I watched a youtube tutorial on just that topic - it was a 3rd party vst plugin. Just Google vst plugin garage band and it will show quite a few how-to's

Cheers, Graham

[Stab Frenzy]

Not on the iPad it wasn't.

[pflosi]

I quickly scanned through this thread and I'm surprised no one mentioned:

The Akai Synthstation 49 for the iPad (see here)

and

The Alesis In Out Dock for the iPad (see here)

It seems to me that these two interfaces alone would speak for the iPad rather than for Androids...?

[gmeredith]

Not on the iPad it wasn't

So - are there different versions of Garageband - one for Mac, another for IPad, with the iPad one crippled??

[Ashe37]

Pretty much, VSTs for the ipad would require an entirely different binary, anyway

[gmeredith]

Bummer.

Are there ANY vst hosts out there for iPad? Cubasis apparently works, but preferably standalone hosts, rather than part of a whole DAW - eg any equivalent to Savihost or Minihost?

[Ashe37]

Cubasis for iOS doesn't host VSTs, It *comes with* some virtual instruments, but you can't just throw VSTs at it.

[Stab Frenzy]

It's not that the iPad version of GarageBand is crippled, it's a completely different program to osx GarageBand. Nothing on iPad supports vsts, they aren't supported by the OS.

[gmeredith]

Well that's a damn shame then
Are Android tablets and iPads still in such an infancy as this? I'm running all the stuff I want on a small Toshiba netbook 1.6G Atom. I was hoping to reap the stability and interface of an iPad as a replacement for it for live use...looks like there's still a long way to go.

[hyphen nation]

Well that's a damn shame then
Are Android tablets and iPads still in such an infancy as this? I'm running all the stuff I want on a small Toshiba netbook 1.6G Atom. I was hoping to reap the stability and interface of an iPad as a replacement for it for live use...looks like there's still a long way to go.

If you are looking for something like a netbook but at tablet size, and you are already invested in PC software, I would really look hard at the Surface pro.

[Jaytee]

Well that's a damn shame then
Are Android tablets and iPads still in such an infancy as this? I'm running all the stuff I want on a small Toshiba netbook 1.6G Atom. I was hoping to reap the stability and interface of an iPad as a replacement for it for live use...looks like there's still a long way to go.

I don't think that the fact that tablets don't act like computers in every way should be considered as evidence that they're not ready to be used as instruments. VSTs are designed for a windowed computing environment with a point and click interface. It doesn't make sense to expect them to run on a touchscreen tablet.

The cool thing about audio apps in iOS is that they can function as DAWs, as VSTs, as control surfaces, all, neither.... It's kind of like Rewire, but more flexible. They can all pass midi to each other and produce audio while running in the background.

I'll admit that there are many limitations. To a certain extent, they *are* still in their infancy. People have been making music on computers since for at least three decades using many of the same technologies still in use today, while touchscreen computing only has a few years behind it. All the same, computers are also a limited environment. There's a lot of things that can be done with a multi-touch tablet that can't be done with a netbook. They're different media, that's it.

[gmeredith]

I guess what I was wanting in the tablet/iPad environment was instant use (open the lid and it's on), low power consumption/long battery life, small size, stability, ruggedness etc, in a live band situation. ie all the things I don't have in my netbook environment. And to replace my hardware synths/modules. **sigh** "A man can dream..."

VSTs are designed for a windowed computing environment with a point and click interface

The fact that they aren't designed with touchscreen functionality isn't important in this instance because I would be using the softsynth's presets mostly, and played by a small keyboard controller via MIDI or USB like my Korg MicroKontrol. So that's not so much an issue - the issue of them actually not functioning inder iOS is the main problem here, from what people here are pointing out.

Surface Pro - I may have to consider that in the future, if it can do all of the above requirements.

I think we should open up this thread to be "iPad vs Android vs Surface tablets.

Thanks everyone for this discussion, it is really highlighting some important information

[Carey M]

I guess what I was wanting in the tablet/iPad environment was instant use (open the lid and it's on), low power consumption/long battery life, small size, stability, ruggedness etc, in a live band situation. ie all the things I don't have in my netbook environment. And to replace my hardware synths/modules. **sigh** "A man can dream..."

Well, that's exactly how I'm using my iPad, with iOS virtual instruments that can run in the background, each set to a different MIDI channel. I don't run too many instruments simultaneiusly though, three or four at max (Neo-Soul Rhodes is a memory/CPU hog).

[Jaytee]

I guess what I was wanting in the tablet/iPad environment was instant use (open the lid and it's on), low power consumption/long battery life, small size, stability, ruggedness etc, in a live band situation. ie all the things I don't have in my netbook environment. And to replace my hardware synths/modules. **sigh** "A man can dream..."

VSTs are designed for a windowed computing environment with a point and click interface

The fact that they aren't designed with touchscreen functionality isn't important in this instance because I would be using the softsynth's presets mostly, and played by a small keyboard controller via MIDI or USB like my Korg MicroKontrol. So that's not so much an issue - the issue of them actually not functioning inder iOS is the main problem here, from what people here are pointing out.

Why the fixation on VSTs though? There are a number of quite powerful synthesizers available for iOS, and most of them can function strictly as a sound source like you'd like but also have the advantage of leveraging the enormous potential of a multitouch screen. Surely you could find something that meets your needs, even if you have to spend a little time getting familiar with it.

[gmeredith]

Why the fixation on VSTs though?

1) Because I already have a stack of vst synths that I really like

2) because I'm making my own VST synts, such as this: