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As the author of a few iOS music apps, I'd really like this to be true but we're still a long way from essential. The iPad music market has certainly matured a

As the author of a few iOS music apps, I'd really like this to be true but we're still a long way from essential. The iPad music market has certainly matured a lot in the last year but none of the apps do anything you haven't been able to do on a consumer grade PC for the better part of a decade already. An article that refers to iOS Garageband as a "21st century DAW" could only be written by someone in total ignorance of how much more powerful the desktop alternatives still are.

taligent 14y ago
True. But what the iPad brings to the table is mobility. And given that creativity can come at any time you are far more likely to be near to your iPad then your desktop.
- Le_SDT 14y ago
  As a music producer myself I would NEVER use a tablet for making music. It would be a nightmare to do postproduction and anyway you can't connect any pro soundcard. But an app that could export some midi partitions that I would write would be pretty cool. So I can write melodies on the go and then produce when I'm back in the studio. Even better, an app made by a music software company (Steinberg, Ableton, etc) that would directly sync with your projects on your desktop with a cloud service or something would be amazing but also very complicated to operate as your desktop may have lots of customisation such as VSTs and others.
  - davedx 14y ago
    That's exactly it - I've had the same thought. If there was a tablet version of my DAW that sync'd with my desktop machine (or cloud, whichever), I'd probably buy it pretty quickly.
jsz0 14y ago
anything you haven't been able to do on a consumer grade PC for the better part of a decade already. Just at a much lower cost on the iPad. The PC software packages for soft synths are often hundreds of dollars. Dedicated hardware can set you back thousands. I've spend maybe $100 on iPad music software and have more to show for it.
- cageface 14y ago
  That's true but I don't know how long this can last. Developing a quality iPad music app takes just as much time as it does to develop a good VST and from what I can tell the sales volumes aren't high enough to compensate for prices that are about 1/10th of the VST market. I think you're going to see a lot more apps like Figure and a lot fewer serious instruments unless people get used to payer higher prices for apps.
  - Synaesthesia 14y ago
    The sales volumes are high enough. They're much higher! The Appstore and low prices, combined with the vast amount of people using iOS makes for a way bigger potential market than audio pro's using PC's
    - cageface 14y ago
      Sales of my own apps suggest otherwise. From what I can tell the market for non-toy music apps is no larger than it is on the desktop and may actually be smaller. I get far more searches for the VST port of my iPad synth than I do for the iPad app itself, for example.

taligent 14y ago

True. But what the iPad brings to the table is mobility. And given that creativity can come at any time you are far more likely to be near to your iPad then your desktop.

Le_SDT 14y ago
As a music producer myself I would NEVER use a tablet for making music. It would be a nightmare to do postproduction and anyway you can't connect any pro soundcard. But an app that could export some midi partitions that I would write would be pretty cool. So I can write melodies on the go and then produce when I'm back in the studio. Even better, an app made by a music software company (Steinberg, Ableton, etc) that would directly sync with your projects on your desktop with a cloud service or something would be amazing but also very complicated to operate as your desktop may have lots of customisation such as VSTs and others.
- davedx 14y ago
  That's exactly it - I've had the same thought. If there was a tablet version of my DAW that sync'd with my desktop machine (or cloud, whichever), I'd probably buy it pretty quickly.

jsz0 14y ago

anything you haven't been able to do on a consumer grade PC for the better part of a decade already. Just at a much lower cost on the iPad. The PC software packages for soft synths are often hundreds of dollars. Dedicated hardware can set you back thousands. I've spend maybe $100 on iPad music software and have more to show for it.

cageface 14y ago
That's true but I don't know how long this can last. Developing a quality iPad music app takes just as much time as it does to develop a good VST and from what I can tell the sales volumes aren't high enough to compensate for prices that are about 1/10th of the VST market. I think you're going to see a lot more apps like Figure and a lot fewer serious instruments unless people get used to payer higher prices for apps.
- Synaesthesia 14y ago
  The sales volumes are high enough. They're much higher! The Appstore and low prices, combined with the vast amount of people using iOS makes for a way bigger potential market than audio pro's using PC's
  - cageface 14y ago
    Sales of my own apps suggest otherwise. From what I can tell the market for non-toy music apps is no larger than it is on the desktop and may actually be smaller. I get far more searches for the VST port of my iPad synth than I do for the iPad app itself, for example.