Yesterday I wrote about using MultiTrack with a Blue Mikey. Well I've been expanding this workflow and I thought it might be interesting to you.
As I said before I've been recording using MultiTrack DAW from the Blue Mikey with good results. But want to really want to do is to be able to add some effects to the vocal tracks and I can't use MultiTrack for that.
For effects amd mixing I'm going to use StudioTrack on my iPad but getting individual tracks into StudioTrack is not easy.
The way I've been doing this so far is to drop tracks from MultiTrack into my desktop then upload them to Reforge. From there I can use Reforge to edit each vocal track before I use Audiocopy to paste it into StudioTrack. This is great because I can take out any background noise in quiet sections of the vocals as StudioTrack has no mix automation to accomplish this.
So far this is working well for my vocal recording and I'm quite happy with the results.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who is using anything similar.
Sounds like a relatively efficient series of workarounds. I have to say though, I am alone in thinking how ridiculous this is all getting? Apple's imposed limitations on their devices are starting to feel pretty cumbersome.
ReplyDeleteWe have devices that interface over a USB connection that barring a few recent exceptions don't transfer data over the USB. They need by iOS5 to get a basic file system in place, not just putting shortcuts in folders. There are are no technological limitations to allowing apps to share sample data etc.
Hats off to Sonoma and Intua and Amidio who have devised various methods to circumvent these limitations, but it's just silly they even have to.
I've noticed music apps being featured more prominently on the iPad store pages compared to iPhone/Touch, leading me to believe as niche a market as we are, we represent a significant portion of iPad early adopters. Let's hope Apple sees the value of easier data transfers and a proper file system soon. Maybe then the handling of data will be as smooth and transparent as the devices are in all other aspects.
In the meantime we'll make due with the clever workarounds, so I thank you for posting your current methods.
Heres a TIP.
ReplyDeleteJailbreak both iPad and iPhone and install iFile from Cydia.
That one APP will turn either device into a Real Mobile Production Studio you won't believe.
If you're making music and don't have iFile installed, youre missing out on some serious file management.
Move files to any app without ACP.
Another TIP:
Copy a MP3 to Reforge's inbox, and Reforge will automatically convert it to WAV.
One More TIP:
Store files on a USB drive and use iFile to transfer them to Any app.
My iPad and iPhone are Stand Alone Units now.
YOU working to hard and shouldn't have to use your PC/MAC for simple tasks the iPad could handle. Jailbreak that sucka!
The Day I can't JB and use iFile is the day I stop using iPhone/iPad and move on.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePLEASE jailbreak. As the previous poster said, iFile is AMAZING. You'll find that you can into the Documents folder of one application, copy a full length wav file, and paste it into the Documents folder of another app. Go into that app and bam, there's the wav. I'm doing this with Nanostudio now. I am NOT using Nanosync or any program of the sort. This way, it doesn't matter if the app doesn't have any paste implementation and it doesn't matter of you don't have wifi.
ReplyDeleteYou could get around using your computer altogether by using the AudioX feature of AudioView and Reforge.
ReplyDeleteSo when you are done with your file in Multitrack, copy it over to AudioView (on your iPhone) and have it transfer via AudioX (on wifi) to Reforge on your iPad. No more desktop needed!
More info on AudioX here:
http://www.ibeatmaker.com/?p=92
I've got to say that this is the one aspect of mobile music on Apple devices that fails miserably. Being able to move an audio file generated by a program like NanoStudio into an audio app like 4 track is so incredibly cumbersome. Even if you did move an audio track into one of the multitrack apps, they have few effects to mastering tools to finish it up.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Apple didn't design their devices to be portable music stations but they could certainly make it easier to move files around.
As a result, it is incredibly difficult to be able to save audio from one program, open it in another, add a vocal track and a bit of reverb and then save the finished track to another audio file.
Pierre
Took down audioforge only last night. Just so I could compare it's iPod library import speed + navigability with that which is in MultiTrack DAW. Am well impressed with the ease of use and relative snappiness of the Sonoma copy and paste functionality - makes my compiling of segued playlists/mixtapes (within MT DAW) so much less of a drag. But yes, the sooner Apple de-cripple the on device inter app file sharing then the sooner less of us will consider JBing our iThings. Is there a jailbreak out for iOS 4 devices already ? Would hate to lose the fast app switching, running in background cuddliness like.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Anonymous for the Jailbreak tips, I keep forgetting the US government sided with us the end users and not Apple recently. Legal jailbreak, yeah I'm silly for not doing it last week.
ReplyDeleteTo Tibor, thanks for the reminder on your apps functionality, I have all your apps but just haven't had time to explore the features.
Thanks to all it's looks much easier to navigate. Good information here. I really enjoy reading them every day. I've learned a lot from them.
ReplyDeletetrance
Yup, JB and iFile is the way to go. I've been using that method since before the days of pasteboards, etc, and its great!
ReplyDeleteBuildingTS
idevices are useless if they are not jailbroken. Its sad but its necessary if you want to work with those thing.
ReplyDeletecan anyone comment on the time stretch in reforge ?
ReplyDeleteis it easy to take a loop that is say 125 and stretch it to 120 or 130 with no poor artifacts ?
could anyone post an example ?
cheers