But will Google do the same? Evey time I hear from a developer talking about porting to the Android OS the big issue is latency. So will Google do anything about it and make Android friendlier to real time audio?
I'd love to see Android really compete with iOS in terms of music creation and content creation in general. Android has a number of really significant advantages over iOS in other areas, but this one seems to be becoming a show stopper, and that's a big shame if it doesn't change.
8 comments:
I don't really know anything about android, im just assuming here so please tell me if im wrong.
another show stopper i believe is that the android platform is just a platform, It runs on lots of different devices, making the idea of developing a MIDI adapter very unattractive because all of these different I/O ports (at least i think they do, apologies if I'm wrong about this)
Apple has the advantage because all their devices have the same 30-pin connector dock and the same OS. Making it an attractive platform for manufacturers to develop MIDI interfaces for...
Again, I don't really know anything about android, im just assuming here so please tell me if im wrong.
@swalker133
"all their devices have the same 30-pin connector dock and the same OS"
Didn't they started to use a new connector for the iphone4 and ipad?.
Now that the EU has decided every phone company would have to use a similar connector (micro USB), why is Apple the only ones pushing on their proprietary connector? Probably because everyone who wants to use it has to pay them royalties.
And concerning the OS, my ipod touch 2g will never see newer version of IOS because Apple decided to phase it out with IOS 4.3. I will have to buy another ipod touch if I want to keep up with new apps or updates (because updated app stops working on older OSes),.. the question is why would I buy another one? My current one is barely 2 years old and still works perfectly fine.
But its true, Apple does have a huge advantage right now in music apps.
While the iPhone 4/iPad have a reconfigured connector, it's still the same cable. So computer connections and accessories will still work across the range of devices. What won't work is things they took out, like line input (ala GuitarJack) in place of things like additional multimedia output.
Apple will probably continue to push their proprietary connector, selling it's additional features which they would say could not be done with a simple USB connection, like HDMI output.
It is a pity that they stop supporting older devices. I rue the day that my iPhone 3Gs no longer gets OS updates. It still rocks on 4.3.
I have been so frustrated with trying to produce music with iOS apps that I have to wonder if Apple really cares about musicians, other than hobbyists. Musicians are making music in spite of all the ridiculous limitations that they impose.
Examples: GB not able to import files. No plugin support, no file transfer between devices or within the same one.
All these issues could be resolved if Apple wanted them to be. The jailbreak devs have created some workarounds
(iFile, WiFi Sync), but I am still waiting for the elegant
solution that lets all these music apps work together and let musicians do what they do without such major hassles.
Where are the Protools, Reason, Reaper, apps ? Do they not want to go there?
I am trying to learn about the inner workings of the iOS, but would rather be rockin' out and making tunes
Have a read of this article I posted up at The Next Web yesterday - it pretty much answers your question...
http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/03/19/whats-the-hold-up-robot-music-making-on-android-or-rather-not/
Personally I think we've got a long wait and that fragmentation is a serious issue here...
I don't think Google give a monkey's, but device manufacturers probably will. Android is after all a platform and not a product like the iPhone.
Keep an eye on the new Xperia Play as a potential candidate for an audio panacea on Android. Sony have a lot of (well-funded) attention to detail in their gaming market, and if it's going to be a serious contender then the audio latency is going to have to be much closer to realtime (in a perfect world, they would port Rez...)
This sucks for people like me as developers targeting Android Market, but will make much more sense for our users. Customers who want to do audio stuff will choose a device they recognise as being good for audio, customers who want a cheap internet-capable handset won't have to pick up that extra cost.
Well, android 2.3 and 3.0 are already moving in this direction (lower latency). Also there are some devs with great stuff in the pipeline. Its just not going to happen overnight.
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