Mobile music production (a rant)

My flypack uses an old white macbook and I can record 16 channels at a gig, well I used to when I didn’t mind schleping the gear out of the studio. Not a trade for me anymore though!

im in a band and we record our gigs all the time, mainly with a digital video recorder just to see how it sounds .i will import the audio into cubase and try balance the tones. on a couple of occasions weve also brought along one of those small audio digital stereo recorders along with the video recorder and recorded the sound from a different part of the room and because it was also digital meant i could line both audio recordings up in cubase and they would be in perfect sync,now i could mix one signal with the other which gave me a couple more mixing options . which then led me onto thinking if all the band members had a small digital recorder and put them next to their own piece of gear (guitar ,bass drums pa,whatever) while doing a gig.drums might need a couple .and then import all the different pieces of audio into cubase and line them all up, the results could be interesting, i havent tried it yet.... but id like to .cheap and easy multi track recording.

Loopmash on iphone 5 is amazing :smiley:

I’m guessing a Surface Pro 3 would work, expensive though (although probably not much more than an Iphone 6)…

Aloha,
Would not surprise me if they do this to us on purpose.
{‘-’}

Do you have anything intelligent to contribute to this topic?

You can definitely have your cake and eat it too, with a Windows hybrid. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Surface Pro 3. So many cheaper alternatives, many more coming soon with the new Core M CPU (Broadwell architecture), promising i3-level performance (or i5 from 3-4 years ago) with super-low consumption and no need for a fan. These devices will be as thin as an iPad but way way more powerful and capable (true tablet computers, unlike the iPad/Android tablets.) Most likely they will be offered at same price as an entry-level iPad Air.

BTW, even an 8" Dell Venue Pro can run standard DAW software. Unlike any iThing, Android, Chromebook etc.

To me the size difference between an iPad and a Laptop is not a big enough deal if you need to do serious remote recording.
I do have Cubasis, an iPad and a UR44 which work great.
But for more than heading to the beach to write some tunes I use a Sony i7 laptop and a 4 space rack with 16 mic pres (including A/D D/A), a headphone amp and an RME Digiface with the HDSPe card in the Sony.
With this rig I can track 16 sources at once (24 with one more 8 banger), multiple headphone mixes, edit, effect, rough mix . . all without breaking a sweat. It fits in 1 laptop bag and a 4 space rack.
All the project DATA goes on an external SSD (USB3) so back in the studio it’s just “plug in”.
If I don’t need the I/O I can size WAY down with just the UR44 and the Laptop. Still powerful.

As I said - to me at this point the slightly smaller size of an iPad is not worth the power trade off from a laptop.

Hugh

I enjoy making on the iPad Air. Cubasis is good enough. It is not Cubase but it doesn’t need to be for me.
What is great about the iOS music scene are the large number of very good sounding synths and effects available for pennies on the dollar cost of the desktop scene.

Yeah, but if you already have a DAW, synths and effects on your desktop/laptop, why buy an inferior platform with and inferior DAW and inferior plugs? Just to be faithful to Apple? It’s like buying a new phone with 2012 specs… :wink: Unbelievable what they can get away with…

Stopped updating Cubase at 5. Never bought the expensive synths. But on the iPad I can sit, lean, in my easy chair and enjoy my hobby. Far from an Apple fan boy, the iPad is my first device from that company. Kept up with NI Guitar rig for a couple of updates. The sims like ToneStack, Bias and Flying Haggis are far superior at literally a tenth the cost.

http://www.joeco.co.uk/main/BBR_introduction.html

:sunglasses:

Aloha Robin, and tanx for the link.

Looks killer!!!

Tho’ I have not heard/read the term ‘Lightpipe’ for quite awhile. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
Brings up old memories. :sunglasses:

{‘-’}

Most of those in this topic will be looking for balanced analog I/O i would reckon… Nice specs. Great for FOH folks who want to offer live recording on the side…

That’s a cool product but not for sale in the Netherlands apparently.
edit: yes it is, but only at a few select shops which don’t show pricing.

Looks verry nice. I also noticed that all Steinberg UR series audio interfaces also connect to iPad via camera connection kit to Cubasis, another cool product.

Could be the future. Several of those little cameras might be used for videas (typo of video but I like it) soon too.
Several makes of mixing desk that work with a remote tablet also record pretty damn well from what I see.
Buy a PA…?

It doesn’t necessarily line up perfectly though, 44.1Khz on one device isn’t the same as 44.1Khz on another :wink:

Does anything line up perfectly? I expect a few tweaks might be needed.

I don’t think you can beat this for a band:
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/Xr18.aspx/
18 inputs, 16 mic and 2 line and 8 outs with eqs comps, gates, 4 multi-FX and record 18 tracks via USB to your laptop for $699.