NAMM Preview: Auria Pro iPad DAW To Offer Full MIDI Capabilities

auria-pro-piano_roll

WaveMachine Labs has announced that it will be introducing Auria Pro for iPad – a new version of its 48-track DAW, with full MIDI capabilities – at the 2015 NAMM Show:

With over two years in the making, we’re really excited to finally give you a preview of the upcoming Auria Pro.

Full MIDI capabilities, real-time audio warping, powerful audio bussing, two built-in synths and much more, Auria Pro raises the bar in mobile recording once again.

Here are the details:

Here’s what’s new in Auria Pro:

  • Comprehensive MIDI capabilities including:
  • MIDI sequencing
  • Tempo and Time-signature tracks
  • Piano roll editor
  • Real-time MIDI parameters including quantize, velocity shift, velocity compression,
    length compression, random, delay, legato and transpose
  • Groove template quantizing with built-in DNA grooves (additional grooves available for purchase)
  • MIDI processing functions including Transpose, Fixed Length, Velocity Gain, Fixed
    Velocity, Delete Notes, Delete Controller, Restrict Polyphony, Optimize Controller Data,
  • Humanize, Delete Overlaps, Crescendo, Reverse, Pedal to Length, Velocity Rescale,
    Velocity Range, Velocity Curve and Compress/Limit
  • FabFilter Twin 2 Analog synth built in
  • WaveMachine Labs multi-format sampler built in
  • Powerful new audio routing with flexible busses
  • Real-time audio warping using Elastique Pro v3
  • Audio quantize feature
  • Transient slicing
  • Audio to MIDI conversion
  • Unlimited tracks
  • 6 AUX sends
  • Project templates
  • Updated graphics and overall performance improvements

Auria Pro will be available Spring 2015 and will be priced at $49.99. Existing Auria users will also be able to upgrade to Auria Pro for a reduced price. Pricing for the standard Auria version will be $24.99. If you’re an existing Auria user, all your purchased plugins will continue to work in Auria Pro.

48 thoughts on “NAMM Preview: Auria Pro iPad DAW To Offer Full MIDI Capabilities

  1. This is really naughty – they promised midi when launched original Auria – so I bought it, but now instead of offering full midi (OK I don’t mind if as in app purchase), they launch separate app. This is first time in my long time online social experience when I have to say – this is not fair, just because they really promised :/

    1. But let’s reserve judgement on this until they say what the discount is for existing users. Because if it is significant enough, it will be “as if” it was an IAP.

    2. Quit the online social world, friend – at first you won’t know what to do with yourself, then you’ll start being much happier, making more music and your dates will be real, not virtual:) Put down your iPad and check out real instruments. No down side. Cheers!

        1. Hehe – I know you didn’t ask me this, but I actually do that more and more… the Octatrack is a a box full of wonder and it’s slowly replacing my need to open up Ableton or even a computer. Paired with an iPad it is extraordinary.

          Really looking forward to using the new improved Auria in this setup!

    3. I am amazed that those some of you so called musicians are so cheap! Rim has done an amazing job of GIFTING us with a program that outshines any other in the IOS market place and complaining about the cost of this upgrade is one step form an insult to those of us that say grace that we even have such a program to work with! Shame on you guys, You spend $50 for throw-away items every week and those things don’t allow you anything but the privilege to get drunk, smoke your lungs out and not produce anything but idle talk. If you are a true musician, step up to the plate and take hold of this magnificent upgrade and work with it when it arrives as you have with the present Auria program. I can attest that I have had the most stupendous results recording with Auria, using only the Apogee Quartet, and two Sennheiser S-914 mics, straight line and with effects. This entire Auria program allows the novice to jump in and create like never before and the professional will do a Hail Mary when he see what can be achieved in the studio or on the road. THANKS RIM, I know nothing about you, but for what you have created in Auria, my hat is off to you. CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU for even attempting to but this monster together.
      The $50 complainers have no idea of the dedication and effort that goes into developing a recording program. Disregard those penny pinchers, they wouldn’t be happy if you gave them the program! And discounts?, People, you get what you pay for. Charge $100 + dollars, this new Pro version is worth every penny whatever the cost! I feel blessed just to have it available!
      Peter

  2. This was an incredibly smart move. Because no one, NO ONE was making a fully mature MIDI sequencer for iOS (especially wrt Time-Signature and Tempo tracks!!!) I hope they take their time and get it right for the first release. At $50, they SHOULD!

    No word on what the discount will be for existing users. I just hope that whatever discount they give to existing users is a lower price than whatever intro or rock-bottom holiday price they may throw out later in the year.

    They said on the forum that in addition to all your plugs transferring, that old projects would also open in the new version as well.

    I’m generally pessimistic about using “high-density” interfaces like this with an iOS touch screen. (The exception is Thor– as they pretty much nailed it.) And I am spoiled by using my DAW on a laptop- where the workflow is ideal. But even at $50, it is very difficult to complain, as high as that is for an iOS app, its pretty cheap for what this offers.

    I didn’t see any mention about how much this would choke on older iPads. I couldn’t do very much on an iPad 4 with Auria.

    1. I find Thor’s interface dense – and not user friendly (to me at least) and yet am quite at home in Auria. Guess it takes all sorts 🙂

      Further, Auria ran acceptably on an iPad *1* (still does – I still have an iPad 1 with it on) and could record multiple channels with a suitable interface.

      On an iPad mini *original* (iPad 2 levels), one can easily track over 10 channels simultaneously. I just did a little demo of that over in the iPad Musician FB group. I could add Pro-Q and Pro-C on 4 of those tracks as well and still was only hitting about 80%ish on the CPU. (iPad mini *original*).

      Freeze those tracks and the CPU drops to around 6%. Then I added Saturn, Volcano and Timeless on another track. Of course the CPU bumps up to around 80% again. Freeze *that* track however and it’s back down to around 6%. Rinse and repeat.

      Now, I purchased an iPad mini *Retina* to be able to do more with plugins without freezing just a little while back, so, sure, more power and memory will definitely allow one to do more, but Auria is still very usable on older devices if one is judicious with plug ins.

      Rim has indicated that the upcoming Auria Pro will probably have more or less the same requirements as the existing Auria, so I’m very hopeful of continuing to be able to use it as above on mini originals and 3’s – and do more – as now – on a mini Retina.

      But of course, it’d shine on an Air 2. 🙂

      1. Oh – and Tony Saunders has had a fully fledged MIDI sequencer for iOS in development for a while. That could still well complement Auria, and, if someone isn’t using Auria will function nicely as a standalone MIDI sequencer. 🙂

          1. I could only find a step sequencer by Anthony Saunders. That’s not what I meant.

            I did however hear about something called Multitrack Studio that looked quite robust and full-featured as an iOS MIDI sequencer. Comparable in price to Auria Pro– also looked comparable in features — though I think Auria Pro might have the edge. Having used neither, I can’t say.

  3. This update is pretty much everything I hoped for… and way way more. If this delivers everything it says it will – then wow!!!

    Have absolutely no problem at all with the upgrade price – whatever that may be it’s going to be less than $50 and that’s totally cool!

  4. Just like retronyms add 3 letters and make you pay again it’s a con . but they’ll be some silly buggers happy to pay again
    What if they go “Camel audio”. You’ll have 2 white elephants

    1. Unlike Retronyms products Auria actually works and I have absolutely no doubt that this midi implementation will be world class.

      I absolutely do not see this as paying again, but paying for additional functionality that the developer has spent the last 2 years getting right.

  5. I think this is proof that IOS music apps in general are reaching maturity.

    Auria is a sweet DAW and the addition of full-featured MIDI functionality makes it the best DAW for IOS. Kudos for a beautiful new interface that’s not so hard on the eyes. This product alone makes it hard not to think about upgrading my iPad3.

  6. Auria is great. Auria Pro will be way better from the looks of things. $50 is chicken feed, so with my discount it will be whatever is less than chicken feed. Noice!

  7. People are talking about and hoping for a discount for existing Auria users. How would that work? I’ve never seen anything on the App Store that allows for a discount on a different app. I’d like to see Apple implement upgrades and discounts along with a number of other improvements to the App Store.

    Whenever I get a modern iOS device, I’ll have to get this if only for Twin 2, which is one of my favorite synths. It’s underrated and versatile.

    1. On the Auria website forum, the dev said there would be a discount for existing owners. That’s where I heard it. I wouldn’t call that “hoping for”.

      1. I don’t frequent the Auria forums, and no one had mentioned that the devs themselves had mentioned a discount. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll be interested to see how it’s implemented.

    2. “Existing Auria users will also be able to upgrade to Auria Pro for a reduced price. ”

      Seems clear and definitive. Not sure how they will implement this, though….

    3. I have seen it. They simply place an in-app purchase link in the original app for the discounted price. Or they offer the original and the new in a bundle and the “complete my bundle price” is the discounted price.

  8. Yeah, unless something significant has changed at Apple there will not be a discount of any kind for existing customers. The best you can hope for is to log into the new app with an existing user account handled by the app creator where they can feed you some free continent.

    1. Thanks for the nice comments, guys – it’s been a fun two years. The discount will happen as a result of you purchasing the upgrade to Pro when it becomes available. In other words, when Auria Pro is released, you’ll see an option to upgrade your existing Auria version to Pro, and that upgrade price will be less than the full price.

      Rim

      1. Thanks for commenting, Rim. That sounds like a good way to handle it. I’ll put Auria on my wishlist for when I get a device that has something better than an A4 inside. 🙂

  9. Do we need a powered USB hub at this point to inferface with external MIDI instruments ?
    Is it possible to use generic Camera Connection Kits or will Apple keep them from working?
    Running IOS 8.0.1.. Thanks

    1. It totally depends on the MIDI device you are hooking up. Some devices hookup with no external power, some do not… some require the Apple Connector Kit (most in fact), some do not. You can also get external audio/midi interfaces for the iPad so you can hookup nearly any kind of MIDI controller.

      1. Powered USB/Midi hubs already exist. battery and cable powered. There are also units you can hook up wirelessly to the iPad but they connect and power up to 4 of your USB controllers. The future is already here.

  10. I don’t like apple as a company but I know most of you do, so don’t get upset, not so soon after Charlie Hebdo , just wanted to say a decent midi sequencer? Wow no timing issues, I hope its as good as the old Atari cubase, It is about time we saw more midi sequencers, minus all the bloat ware and flaccid synths .
    So much great hardware now we need a clear simple sequencer, step sequences are like giving a kazoo to a saxophanist.

    1. you need a powered hub if the midi interface is usb powered
      for example i have a powered usb hub with an alesis io4 and a midi keyboard
      also a little trick with the mimix i can route audio (from samplr in my case) through the 3-4 outputs (i pan it hard left to get it out of 3 which frees up 4 for other apps) and i can then feed it into external gear and back into the ipad to record

      1. i should mention the alesis has its own power supply and the keyboard is powered from the hub and both devices midi are available
        i have ipad mini with retina updated to ios 8.1.2

          1. In my experience, some MIDI devices that don’t draw much power can be connected, but others won’t work. A powered hub CAN help you connect a device that would draw too much power, but it might be helpful to confirm compatibility before you make any big purchases.

            I have a Korg Mikro Key (the smaller one) that works with the CCK on an iPad4 without a hub. But the larger MikroKey does not.

  11. I’m really hoping this version will allow quantizing to ANY tuplet (x in the space of y– e.g. 5 8th notes in the space of 6, etc.).

    Also hope it allows for transposing to snap to custom scales/transpose-maps.

  12. Never really enjoyed using Auria, although maybe its because of my 3rd generation iPad. It’s just REALLY hard for me to be effective and efficient on the small screen. I love the iPad for messing around and quick ideas, but I just find it cumbersome compared to using a full DAW on a big screen (or even the retina display on my MacBook Pro). I am, however a huge fan of running softsynths on the iPad, it feels very intuitive and immediate. Just a matter of taste I guess. However, for regular Auria users I can see that this is a pretty big deal.

  13. I’m curious to try it out, it’s very hard to nail the feel and workflow for a piano-roll sequencer on a touch-only device. I’ve tried a lot of them, and Gadget is the best I’ve tried so far.

  14. Would be nice to use the midi to trigger a synth app and to feed the audio back to record, everything in sync.
    There are some great sounding synth apps ,that could use some great sequence control

  15. Hi,
    Does it have its own sounds? Is it compatible with iPad 1?

    I want to use it to play with a keyboard controller.

    Thank you.

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