Mobile Music Making More Than A Trend – iOS Is Now Bigger Than Windows

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It looks like mobile music making – especially with iOS devices – is here to stay.

Sales of iOS devices, which have been increasing steadily for seven years straight, caught up with sales of Windows computers in June:

ios-now-bigger-than-windows

Based on this trend, iOS has overtaken Windows, in terms of devices sold, revenue generated and profits earned.

This is likely to have significant long-term impact on where Apple and other computer companies focus their resources, and also on the platforms that developers will devote their attention to.

Android audio programmingIt’s worth noting that Android passed Windows in unit sales several years before iOS. Because of the fragmented Android platform and market, though, it has not become nearly as profitable for Google, for companies building Android devices or for developers.

In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is estimated to be capturing over 90% of the profits in the mobile device industry.

Some side effects of this trend are:

  • Mobile device price vs performance is improving much faster than desktop price vs performance. For example, the iPhone 6 offers 10 times the performance of the iPhone 3Gs.The same sort of improvements can be seen in the best Android devices.
  • It’s becoming more and more common for apps to be released for iOS first, Android second and then possibly for Mac & Windows. It’s likely that this trend will only accelerate in the next few years.
  • The number of musicians using mobile devices as their primary DAW is likely to continue to grow. In the last five years, many musicians have gone from considering mobile devices toys, to using them as significant tools for things like patch creation, synthesis, MIDI control and more. Musicians are now beginning to use mobile devices as a  ‘mobile DAW’, for things like beat-making and capturing ideas. While the number of musicians using mobile devices as their primary DAW is small now, expect it to grow as mobile performance improves rapidly.

What do you think the rise of mobile devices – and especially iOS devices – means for musicians? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

via Bendedict Evans

67 thoughts on “Mobile Music Making More Than A Trend – iOS Is Now Bigger Than Windows

    1. I just wish Apple would make touchscreen MBPs already. Especially with an awesome native DAW (Logic) at their disposal, they could really have something awesome if they optimized Logic for touch screens. There are things that you’re still going to want to do with the keyboard and mouse, but I think that they could both be integrated into an elegant new workflow. Just simple things like moving around within your arrangement could be done much more swiftly with swipe and pinch gestures. Trimming audio would be another place where I think touch functions would be fantastic. Of course then there’s all of the onscreen controls of software instruments and plugins that you would no longer have to map to a controller, or even carry a controller around when you just want to grab your laptop and go. How about a built in Lemur type mode where you could build your own onscreen controls for controlling various devices. Mixdowns would be a lot more enjoyable (being able to use touch to move faders and pots) than using a mouse as well.

  1. Yes, I have a powerful liquid cooled overclocked PC and PC DAW, VST’s but I prefer making music on my iPad because of the affordability and portability. iPad soft synths are affordable. A good VST synth on PC is £100+

    My iPad is also now a powerful guitar amp sim and FX system.

    Only real limitation on IOS is the single lightning port meaning I can’t plug in multiple interfaces at the same time.

    I recently tried a few IOS DAWS, one was highly regarded but so clumsy and intuitive I got a refund and bought Cubasis. Cubase on IOS is amazing.

    1. Cubasis lacks some very basic features but it is easily the best DAW on iOS. Combined with Jamup and Final Touch and a good synth like Synthmaster or Nave, you are good to go. BTW I’d install Hackintosh on that machine of yours on a seperate drive. I am using 10.9.5 Mavericks for sometime and I love it. Hackintosh rocks.

    2. it’s not true that you can’t connect several peripherals into your iPad!

      I’ve got and Apogee One external soundcard AND an Korg Triton Extreme keyboard (as MIDI-controller) connected in the same time…

      I’m using an standard USB2-hub (powered) and an lightning to USB adaptercables between the hub and the iPad…

      No problem to connect several other USB gadget also!

  2. IOS devices includes phones and ipods and those sales statistics say nothing about if the PCs or IOS devices are being used for making music. Most of those devices are probably phones and of course there are more phones than PCs. Android devices outsell both of them but this is comparing apples to oranges.

    1. Are you saying that companies are going to, for some reason, stop chasing dollars and devote more of their resources to desktop computers?

      That makes no sense. If the trend continues, iPads will have a geekbench of 20,000 within 5 years, which blows away what most of us have on our desktops today.

      That’s going to be a huge shift and its not even really speculation.

  3. look! apple and oranges again 🙂

    comparing the lifecycle of mobile devices by apple and windows pc isn’t really helpful.
    apple’s disciples are known to fall for this years model, but who does swap out his audio
    workstation every year?

    “In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is estimated to be capturing over 90% of the profits in the mobile device industry.”
    good for Apple. Marketshare is still just 20%. and we’re talking iphones here, not ipads

    1. You didn’t read the article – it notes that iOS is bigger than windows now, not just in terms of units sold, but in terms of revenue, and profit. Companies in the Intel/windows world aren’t making any money, so it will be hard for them to invest in development.

      Even Microsoft announced something like a 6 or 7 billion dollar loss this quarter. Microsoft completely blew it when a Apple introduced iOS, dismissing it completely, instead of realizing that it was going to eat their lunch.

      Google didn’t make that mistake, with Android, but they’ve made different mistakes. Android is still a lowest common denominator solution, so audio and midi are still a mess.

      All I can say is, if you have an Android phone or tablet, don’t blame anybody but yourself for the fact that you can’t get any good audio or midi apps – people have complaining to Google about it for 7 years. And don’t expect that to change – all Google wants is to get your personal information and get your search request, so that they can sell more ads. Think audio and Midi are ever going to get fixed, with their priorities?

  4. I like the immediacy and controllability of softsynths on the ipad. However, I find working in iPad DAWs not very rewarding in terms of power, flexibility and screen real-setate. I like GB for iPad when I am working with just the built in cap[abilities, but I think Cubasis is much better in tying in outside resources via Audiobus or IAA.

  5. Well considering people don’t buy computers like they used too (remember computer shopper mag, or computer city, or comp usa or circuit city)
    Where tablets and phones sale keep going (although tablet sales are slowing)
    Then there are the programs which are the cheap and chessy or nice but cost more than the computer itself (look at any good one full optioned out)
    Allot people want to make music but not at the cost of a used car and the IOS market fits that market perfectly (it why i have an iPad), with a bunch of great sounding apps that you can get with out a loan.
    It would be nice to see Android get some more apps, but its the wide spread configuration that makes it hard

    By the ways you could also say the gaming market has the same thing, less are using computers to play games, because now the gaming systems are allot more powerful now

  6. The mobile market offers some incredible performance, great software, new user interfaces. You’d be a fool not to take advantage of that.

    But it’s not an either-or situation. With desktop DAWs, you get tons of I/O interfaces, disk storage, big monitors — that’s just not ever going to be what you’ll get with a phone or tablet. I’ve played with many of the mobile “DAWs,” and keep coming back to Logic. For a big project, I don’t think it’s possible to abandon the desktop entirely — having both desktop and mobile integrated, though, that’s where it’s at.

    1. Apple will release Logic for iOS – you know they’ve been coding it CPU-independent, like they did with OSX and their other apps so they could jump to Intel whenever they wanted to.

      1. I’m a coder, ios, win whatever. Logic isn’t just some simple angry birds to convert. Ios and osx are still very different. As win 10 will be to win 10 on mobile devices. It’s not as easy as they say it is. Osx has avsolutely no touch functionality. So at least in the user interface realm we have huuge steps to take. Performance, display space, perfoance power this all isn’t in symbiosis at all in portable devices. You have to wait another few years. Mobile is at the moment still too complex to be as easy as some vst’s and ableton together on a mac or pc. Looks simple, is fucking hard to make work smoothely.

        1. Macs are not going to go away anytime soon. Apparently they’re selling like hot cakes and Apple is the only company making real money selling computers anymore, too.

          But I do expect Apple to release an iPad Pro model with a much larger screen and designed for what we consider ‘desktop class’ apps – probably creative apps like Photoshop and music asking apps will be among the first ,but also apps for commercial use and enterprise use.

          That’s when I think we’ll get the major daw action going.

          And yes, moving Logic to iOS isn’t going to just be a matter of recompiling it, but it’s going to be easier to being desktop apps to iOS than it will be to tack on touch to OS X. Just look at the state of Microsoft Surface. It’s already getting outsold by Apple Watch, for some perspective on things. I have a Surface 1 and it’s kind of a jack of all trades and master of none.

      2. Apple might release Logic for iOS — but my iMac has a 27″ monitor, and I’ve got a second monitor right beside it of the same size, along with a bunch of USB things attached to the various ports. My phone is never going to have that, and neither will anything that could be called a tablet. I like pixels. I like lots and lot and lots of pixels. I like ports. Lots and lots of ports.

        Don’t get me wrong — I love the mobile platform (heck, I make apps in my spare time because I like it so much). There are things you can do with a multi-touch interface that are just amazingly cool, and it’s great to have such a powerful music-making tool that fits in a pocket.

        But I believe that I will always want both desktop and mobile, and much of the work I’ve been doing has been to try to splice them together more seamlessly. They have different strengths, and I don’t want to get boxed into one or the other.

  7. In the process of moving this month, I was taking inventory of things, and realized that my dekstop machine was four years old. I had bought a powerhouse of a machine to help speed up rendering HD video. If you expand the window by a few months, I’m on my third iOS device in the same time period.

    I’m not sure how relevant iOS sales are as a metric. iPads, iPhones, and iPods get stolen, lost, and smashed all the time, but I have a laptop from 2006 that runs Windows 10 without too much trouble – the biggest bottleneck is the old hard drive in it. I have a newer laptop, but the old one’s still very much usable.

    Sales of specific software might be a better indicator, like when Photoshop sales on Windows eclipsed sales on Mac ages ago. (I have no idea if OS X ever caught up) But stories like this strike me as tribalistic boosterism and marketing baloney.

  8. Oh please how can anyone get anything serious done on IOS it’s a technological and money trap I can’t believe it. I just was given an IPAD AIR 2 and can’t find the courage to install my already paid for Gadget and Nave because I am so afraid of this company. It’s like people get turned on by cheapo synths it’s like 2000 all over again wake up!! Every is proprietary no USB no external storage small screen single outgoing port! CRAP!

    1. Your personal terror and grudge regarding apple are of no interest. Arrogant too. You think your personal opinion of apple and ipad counts for more than all of the people who use IOS for music making? Jordan Rudess has enough money to own only the most expensive hardware synths and yet he recognises the usability and convenience of IOS as a serious music platform. You laughably complain about the ipad being a “money trap” when IOS music creation apps cost a fraction of PC or Mac software. Your snobbery has no place in music at all although I know you can find plenty of like-minded people who crap on endlessly about apple and how we should all be using dedicated music hardware.

      You were “given an ipad air 2” so apparently you are also rather spoiled and ungrateful. Give it to someone who will make use of it.

      1. It is hard to have respect for a company that allegedly slows down their older devices on purpose throu OS updates to force you to upgrade to the latest and greatest. I have an Ipad 3 that is now slower than a Pentium because I went with the latest IOS and there is nothing for me to do about it. What about being a slave to the apple hardware to get anything outside the freking appliance. it even detects non Apple CABLES!!! and will try to shut off the port this is appalling. Even the CCK is a joke how can they charge so much! Microsoft have let most home users use and grow up on Windows mostly on pirated versions and never did anything about it. MS attitude is much more respectable in this sense in my opinion. Lastly, the scam that is Apple store is compelling for developpers although remember that Apple will not hesitate to screw anyone if they can..I believe Taylor Swift was a recent example although I cannot reference but Itunes didn’t pay the artists in the beginning. I am not spoiled I just happen to work in the IT industry and try to make sound choices.Ms is not necessarily cleaner but better IMO. Finally, IOS is a gadget and might work at some tasks but cannot replace a PC. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the famous people were paid by Appl for promoting their product,

        1. You’ll be happy to know that Microsoft has announced plans to finally get audio and midi right, like Apple did a decade ago, with Windows 10.

          See their announcement – it’s actually good news for me as a Surface owner, but it’s also sort of déjà uv all of again.

          1. Yes for me audio has always been quite fast with the right tweaking (lean services, latest drivers etc). At least you get an USB port with your surface!!!

        2. I have zero interest in your extensive list of complaints about apple. My only interest is in using iPad for music making. So you can see my interest is very focused. I have no emotional attachment to apple at all. My phone of choice is android because I find IOS too locked down, however, the iPad is an amazing tool for music creation. So you can go on listing your personal resentments about apple all day long. Won’t stop me using my ipad for music creation. You will of course be selling your ipad or giving it to someone more worthy?

        3. I use an iPad 2 for music apps and plenty of other stuff, and still carry an iPhone 4S.

          There goes your “argument!”

    2. Don’t agree. I’ve converted to iOS and Mac and am completely happy. No more crashes, blue screens formats and the like.
      External devices by enlarge are available over wifi.
      Most of my music and guitar apps work exceptionally well. Even better when connecting to irig eventually.
      Would not waste my time with any windows device.

    3. Your complaints, like most PC guys, is ideological, not practical.
      1)How is single USB port a problem when you can connect it to a hub or sound card?
      2)Single outgoing port? again soundcard
      3)external storage? um your computer, the cloud. They come with 128GB of internal memory.

      Everything is proprietary? Swift was just made open source. They is a free SDK for app development.
      Should people stop buying analog gear because its proprietary? So tired of these arguments. thankfully if things keep going the way they are, we won’t have to listen to them for much longer.

      1. Agree. It’s interesting that a percentage of people with an interest in music making seem more interested in setting limits and finding fault than creating anything. I’ve heard it from valve snobs who say all valve simulations are pathetic and the only way is valve and of course the hardware synth snobs who say anything that’s not a real analog synth is garbage. I would say this kind of mentality is less concerned with actual music creation and more concerned with rules and regulations (imposing their own). I do not give a crap what someone uses to make music. The only thing that matters is the end result… that something is created. I would even suggest the need for some people to dismiss or trash anything that doesn’t fit with their purist view is akin to religious belief whereby people are told they must believe in order to be saved. I mean come on! Someone is given an ipad air 2 and then has a list of resentments why he won’t use it because he despises apple. To what end? What is the ultimate objective here? To persuade all those people using iPad for music creation to stop? The only thing that matters is the end result not how you get there. My preference is for iOS music creation… I have dedicated guitar FX processing (£1300 worth of Roland guitar FX) and I have watched as the iPad apps grew more sophisticated and usable to the point where I’m now preferring BIAS Amp and BIAS FX to my dedicated hardware. It’s a personal choice. I don’t expect purists to stop using valve amps or dedicated FX, but on the other hand I don’t have to agree with their bitterness and resentment at my personal choice either.

        1. Well I apologize for the tone of my posts. I am not a purist I still run a 10 year old laptop that performs incredibly well for musicand synthesis and to which I can plug a soundcard, USB midi and external drive without hassles. The TCO (total cost of ownership) of my platform is way lower over any other alternative. Yes I was given an IPAD AIR 2 but this is a rare occurence I am aware. The long term horizon on PC is much better and less costly IMO without the limitations.. One cannot simply do as much with an Ipad than a PC/laptop although If you like making songs on a IPAD then all the better no one can argue with this. With all the choices available I think it is important that hobbyists and artists understand the economics behind their choices and the long term viability of their platform similar to the choice when going ITB vs OTB…HW vs softsynths. …IOS or PC…etc

          1. Sorry my tone got silly too. This whole thread for some reason turned into one giant fur-ball of differing opinions 🙂

            The PC is certainly well established and it’s great you’re getting that mileage out of a laptop. What OS do you have on it? I installed windows 8 on my wife’s old laptop and gave it an SSD. Made it much faster. I even used it for 3d rendering for a while when I was out of country.

  9. The only good thing about it is perhaps for controlling other gear but as a musical tool there is not enough realestate and flexibility.

    1. Not enough real-estate? In the wrong business mate. Musicians are using the ipad to create music and as an FX processor on stage so that kind of blows your perception of it right out of the pond.

      The world is changing… You are entitled however – not to see it.

  10. The power of the newest iOS devices is amazing, and will surely only get better as time progresses. However, computation power cannot make up for the small screen, sloppy-ness of touch interfaces, and lack of tactile control/feedback. The trend of people moving away from DAWs and back to hardware (mostly because people have computer user fatigue) should be a clue as to how enthusiastically music makers will or will not embrace the ability to do larger scale projects on iOS devices. I personally find using a mobile device/touch screen even less fulfilling than clicking around with a mouse.

  11. “small screen, sloppy-ness of touch interfaces, and lack of tactile control/feedback. ” <<< iPhones surely? I don't have any issues with the iPad size. A laptop sized iPad would be nice for some things but bulky and heavy. Actually the touch interface on IOS especially has given birth to some revolutionary new gesture control for music apps. It is its own thing and it certainly has some advantages over conventional music keys or strings but it depends what you want it for. I have a Novation MK25 as controller and music keys as well as a guitar interface for the iPad. Jordan Rudess is one musician who has really taken to touch-screen music making. A classically trained pianist he still manages to play with dexterity on a touch screen. I really admire people who can work with the least hardware. A new generation of self-publishing musicians taking full advantage of this new hardware.

  12. This is while Google will disappear you from the search rankings if your site doesn’t render properly on a “Mobile Device”. For adults, this means phones; and for kids it means iPads. Schools are finding out the hard way that if it (a site you need to use to do your homework from home) doesn’t run on an iPad, it doesn’t exist.

  13. Apple is still committed to the iPad concept, but they need to bring the larger-format iPad Pro to market to reverse the downward sales trend. Apple is working with IBM to incorporate productivity apps for iOS, but those apps will need screens large enough to reasonably use multi-windowed apps. They also better be listening to the complaints about the current iPad’s lack of I/O. Musicians and business users need at least one I/O port for plug-in power and another for interfacing with peripherals. If Apple lets Ive dictate any more of his “style over substance” design philosophy, then iPads will eventually sell as well as iPod Touches do today (poorly). The damn things are already too thin and slippery as they are.

    Just for reference, I have two iPads in my studio, one running soft synths, the other effects, and I love that they help take a load off my DAW and Macbook Pro CPU. That and great new synths and effects can be added for as little as $5, which is a far cry from the $100 minimum cover charge required for AU/VST plug-ins.

  14. iOS is 25+ years behind desktop class software, and all the hardware evolution, and proven compatibility and reliability.

    I, like many others with 20+ years experience making music with PC’s, was immediately amazed at the evolution of music apps for iOS. I got an iPad2 and have spent hundreds of dollars on music apps in all categories including DAWS, drum, effects, and utilities. To my total dissatisfaction, every step of the way there in nothing but limitations with music apps in iOS compared to Desktop class software. And the hardware and audio interfaces available (and compatible) for iOS is nothing short of a joke.

    I think iOS is a amazing platform for doing anything, literally. However, when I see people comparing iOS apps (and hardware) to Desktop class software (and hardware), I can only conclude that they have no real experience producing anything with the utmost flexibility and power, and using any of the most powerful hardware that Desktop computers are 100% compatible and proven reliable with.

    Look at the facts, and please don’t take this as a negative comment. I am confident that all the seasoned computer geeks out there will agree with me.

    1. “iOS is 25+ years behind desktop class software, and all the hardware evolution, and proven compatibility and reliability.” << Can you post a link to this statistic? Never read it before so curious where you got this from. 25 years plus is a big gap. I have a desktop PC and music hardware connected and I haven't seen any 25 year gap. I have some great VST's on PC but I can't say they do anything different to the great IOS synths I have. So you must be talking about hardware? Well we have 24/96 audio interfaces for ipad so that can't be it? Perhaps you mean the PC has more hardware available to it costing many thousands? Well quantity of hardware doesn't equate to a 25 year gap.

      So please post a link to your 25 year+ statistic. Otherwise I'd be inclined to think it was another one of those statistics people make up on the spot. You know, 70% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

      1. Its not a statistic, its a fact.

        PC operating systems and associated hardware, Microsoft and Apple, started around 1984.
        iOS came out in 2007 with iPhone, and only started getting good around three years ago as far as the apps and hardware (iPhone and iPad).

        You can not throw out the 30 years knowledge that the engineers who worked on the PC platform have, and all the innovation and standards that have been developed. You can’t just start a new technology like iOS and instantly have all the knowledge, experience, testing, innovation, standards, etc, etc; even if you are a seasoned engineer. Yes iOS is benefitting from all the PC technology that has been developed, and that’s why it is evolving so fast, along with the iPhone and iPads. But it is still and joke compared to Desktop class technology. That does not mean that iOS is not amazing.

        For the home recording musician like myself and others here, iOS can actually be all you might need. But you will not see a recording studio running off an iPad, or Wells Fargo replacing their banking servers with a stack of iPads anytime soon.

        1. “Its not a statistic, its a fact.

          PC operating systems and associated hardware, Microsoft and Apple, started around 1984.
          iOS came out in 2007 with iPhone, and only started getting good around three years ago as far as the apps and hardware (iPhone and iPad).

          You can not throw out the 30 years knowledge that the engineers who worked on the PC platform have, and all the innovation and standards that have been developed. You can’t just start a new technology like iOS and instantly have all the knowledge, experience, testing, innovation, standards, etc, etc; even if you are a seasoned engineer. Yes iOS is benefitting from all the PC technology that has been developed, and that’s why it is evolving so fast, along with the iPhone and iPads. But it is still and joke compared to Desktop class technology. That does not mean that iOS is not amazing.

          For the home recording musician like myself and others here, iOS can actually be all you might need. But you will not see a recording studio running off an iPad, or Wells Fargo replacing their banking servers with a stack of iPads anytime soon.” <<< Oh dear. You're not a programmer are you. I used to be a coder (assembly language) and your "fact" is bordering on insanity but I realise it's just lack of understanding of the subject. Your argument is that a platform needs to be around for nn years before it can reach a certain level of sophistication. So because the iPad is new it needs to wait another 20 years before it can reach the current level of PC hardware/software. In other words you imagine iPad coders begin with no knowledge of coding and have to invent entirely from scratch! It's absolutely laughable that this is where your 25+ year statistic arose.

          Firstly… You have coders from KORG, Casio, Moog, Yamaha, Novation and many other hardware synth companies producing software on iPad. Do you seriously believe the iPad apps from these developers are 25 years behind their PC counterparts?

          It DOES NOT work like that. The Xbox and Playstation haven't been around anywhere near as long as PC so by your argument games on those platforms would be 20 years+ behind PC!!

          Also no one was suggesting using an iPad in a recording studio. If you have a recording studio you don’t need an iPad for that purpose. The idea is to use the iPad for new types of touch control or portable music creation.

          🙂

          1. You are clueless about my background, and have a lot of nerve with some of your comments. You twisted everything I said.

            I clearly stated that iOS is benefitting from all the existing technology, and that it is evolving fast. I clearly stated that iOS is amazing.

            Enough said because what I really want to say to you is not good for this forum.

            1. You also said IOS is a joke compared to PC desktop because of 30 years headstart which I’m afraid is also nonsensical. I don’t know your background but if you were a programmer there would be even less reason to make some of the statements you made.

              I’ve built PC’s since the early 90’s and I have music hardware connected and while the PC has a broad range of music hardware and software available ranging in price from inexpensive to very expensive – that doesn’t render the iPad “a joke”. Yes you agree IOS is good but it isn’t something that has to be compared to a desktop PC anymore than I would compare an iPad to a real Moog Voyager or some other pro audio hardware.

              I have no idea how you jump from home music-making on IOS to Wells Fargo and using an iPad to run a pro audio studio. I don’t believe anyone suggested anything of the kind. I certainly wouldn’t. All I’m saying is that IOS is now a valid means to create music especially for use at home or away from home. The fact that some musicians are using it on stage shows how well it has progressed as a music tool.

        2. Hey how is it going. I think you have a point in general, it’s just the 25 year claim that’s a problem.

          That brings us back to 1990.

          In 1994, four years more modern and advanced than 1990, I was running a PPC machine that could do voice synthesis, voice recognition, and emulate a simple wave table soundcard in software, without filters of course. It was still cool to do polyphony in software, and it was significantly more capable than Intel architectures at the time. However, it absolutely was not able to run a full blown polyphonic synthesizer with filters. I know because I programmed VST effects plugins for it on that very machine when VST was first introduced in 1996 and the machine was already 5 years old, and my plugins were far more capable at the time than anything anyone else had done. And they could not do anything comparable to GarageBand on the iPad 2, for sure.

          If you had said ten years ago, 2005, rather than 25 years ago, you might have been able to make a case, and not get your otherwise valid points sidetracked. However, the claim of 25 years ago is clearly incorrect and that is why people are contesting your claims.

          1. Now if you want to talk android and music making being 10 years behind then perhaps you have a case! What was the name of that top android synth app? Anyway… that app was eventually ported to IOS and given a mediocre review. Caustic 3… Yes, it didn’t fair well on the IOS although for android users it was considered one of the best. No matter how low you set the latency there was always that 1 second delay on key presses. I know that’s down to Android rather than Caustic. But my point is that Android for music making really is years behind IOS and other platforms.

  15. Did anyone think of all the trash we produce with those “achievements”? Or the pain and suffering we are responsible for in those (third world) countries who have to sell their raw materials underprice? Or the working situations in the countries were these gadgets are produced?

    A few years before we used to use devices much longer – because there was no “religion” around technical devices. But nowadays people love their (very “individual”) machines more than the important things in life…they wait for days in front of stores (like the poor people who have to do for food) just to get the newest of the new…

    I enjoy the possibilites nowadays too, it is great! But please folks, think also of the other side of the picture…

    1. Admin: Personal attack deleted. Also – using multiple user IDs to spam the site will result in comments being treated as spam.

    2. “Did anyone think of all the trash we produce with those “achievements”? Or the pain and suffering we are responsible for in those (third world) countries who have to sell their raw materials underprice? Or the working situations in the countries were these gadgets are produced? I enjoy the possibilities nowadays too, it is great! But please folks, think also of the other side of the picture…” – Yes and what does thinking of the other side of the picture achieve? Is it like a minute’s silence for slave workers? How will they benefit from us thinking about them? You know that laptop or desktop you own? Well it contains parts made by Foxconn… the same company where employees were working around the clock and killing themselves. It’s not just apple but far east production in general. Foxconn make a whole range of parts for companies like Asus, Gigabyte, Apple etc.

      Sparing a thought for slave labour does nothing for slave labour. If you’re sufficiently motivated though you can start protests, make websites and videos to highlight your cause.

      🙂

  16. Well, this is what i think of it…yes, it will not replace you DAW on a powerful computer, thats for sure, but there are apps that can do things that are either very hard or even impossible to do on a traditional DAW environment (samplr for example), there are also great sounding synths for iOS, for example Animoog, seriously it doesn’t sound like your typical 2000’s vst plugin. And when you need some faders to control lets say your uber mega sounding vst, you can control it with lemur or touchosc (there are even full templates for some VST plugins).

  17. We’re witnessing the democratization of music and now elitists are angry because they know there’s nada they can do about it. Just like it has already with photography.
    iOs has opened the door to music creation to anyone and everyone, even the underprivileged.

    It’s only a war if you call it a war 😉

    1. “Democratization” sure. It’s not for everyone if the entry fee is still $400+
      It’s a cassette 4-track for 2015. The walls of Abbey Road ain’t crumbling in fear of an iPad that’s for sure.

      Take a look at guitars in the 80’s. They were greatly lowered in price for beginners and it didn’t create a “golden age” if anything the “democraticizing” opened the door for more arrogant rich people to pretend they’re Hendrix.

      Photography that’s arguable depending on the field plenty use film and a pro camera you can work with is still $500+ and I think most people will tell you skill and taste has dropped off big time.

      Look at real- real- poor people and their ingenuity in music. If you can afford any computer or phone you’re astep ahead. I heard 2 records this week, one a dance record made with Abelton and iPads, the other a dance record made with a broken zoom 4 track, a Kora, a singer, and a piece of metal. One was the same old whom whom crap and the other made over 100 people dance.

      Now if you want “democratization” in audio I’ll wait for a stable system that will run issue free on a 10 + year old system

  18. The touch interface gives rise to new interfaces and I for one find that powerful. For quite some time whenever someone handed me a laptop to do something on I instinctively tried to swipe the screen because I’m so used to touch on iPad. Animoog is great, I also love Arturia iMini, hundreds of vintage analog presets, I also love the interface on Thumbjam, very expressive with touch and tilt control.

  19. Yeah I still have an all-powerful Windows computer in my studio and it gets used when I need it, but 99% of my computer time is spent on an iPad. Every time I fire up the Windows computer it needs this update and that download and more virus protection etc… I hate the thing. The iPad doesn’t give me nearly as much grief. I hope to get rid of Windows once and for all eventually.

  20. I come down on the real-estate side. DAWs have to cram a lot into a rather small space. Even if an iPad came up to the basic power of an iMac, it would seem a bit self-defeating to the company to make a 24″+ model. I started with analog mixers and the design is what it is for good reason: human hands and ears work a certain way. No matter how clever you get with variations, things will pull back towards a certain kind of center due to natural ergonomics. I’d at least need that 24″ to work with Logic as I’ve come to know it. Making a thing compact can be clever, but it doesn’t automatically improve the use of it.
    (I make exceptions for defining killer apps like Nave, which really show off an iPad’s worth.)

    There’s also the fact that IF I took an iPad anywhere, it’d be in an SKB case! They cost loosely a fourth to a third of what a serious desktop does. Portability is very novel, but also a great way for any computer to be damaged or lost. How many times have you dropped your phone on a hard surface and inhaled sharply, wondering if it was a deader? No way am I willing to risk that with my entire music studio. I take it too seriously to risk for the sake of trendiness or convenience.

    I use a Mac because of its stability and integration with Logic, so I’m in no way anti-Apple. I just look sideways at the idea that I need an Apple watch to tell me to look at my iPhone, which will send me to my iPad for some illusory drivel. I get all the drivel I need from a desktop, thanks. It feels a bit odd to root for a large corporation, even in its goofy aspects, but the more that Apple Zombies chow down on the lesser pop iterations, the sooner they’ll find my personal sweet spot for a touch screen. Meanwhile, shut up and take my money.

    1. “How many times have you dropped your phone on a hard surface and inhaled sharply, wondering if it was a deader? ” <<< Never 🙂 I have heard so many horror stories from people who have though. A friend of mine's step-daughter dropped her iphone 6 and cracked the screen. I have full protective cover for my phone and iPad. I have dropped my iPad air 2 once in the bathroom but it was saved by the leather-style book cover. My previous iPad I had for 3 years (also in book cover) and didn't drop it at all.

      I know some people refuse to use cases because it "spoils the look" but I prefer to have undamaged mobile hardware. There is also the resale value. When I sold my iPad 4 recently it was in pristine condition because it has never been used without full book cover case!

  21. I never liked apple, using their OS is like trying to shave with a bowling pin. none of their stuff runs any of my synths in my studio properly, MIDI implimentation/sysex commands just gives me a spinning rainbow beachball thing on a mac.

    I like cubase, used it since it was ‘cubit’ on the atari ST – even then it supported sysex which is more than i can say for ableton!

    But if anyone really wants the best of the best – google ‘ubuntu studio’ – linux, for musicans. i use qtractor and MusE. runs all my synths no problem. Runs nice and fast on an older carillon ac1 with an ssd drive. And its all completely free/open source.

  22. I’m not surprised that Joe Sheep is buying Apple’s over-hyped, overpriced junk in the high street; but I really don’t understand why anyone wanting to make music would choose an IOS device of all things. Small screen, horrible interface and lacking in power. You’re all mad.

    As for the fully matured Apple’s (Mac Pro’s) if you’ve got the money then I don’t blame you; greater system stability, Midi on the OS layer, aggregate devices and driverless integration with core audio – all of that, is perhaps worth the significant price hike over the PC counterpart.

    That said, the shift in the market has clearly woken Microsoft, as Windows 10 sounds like a huge improvement regarding professional audio. Of course that still wont help if you decide to custom build your PC and then get plagued by horrendous, unsolvable ground loop for a year (yes I hate my life).

    On the other hand I eventually gave up, bought a second hand (2009) Mac Pro, only to have Yosemite destroy core audio for me. In conclusion – all computers suck!

    1. Well it doesn’t have to be a “serious competitor”… It’s just an additional platform. You have artists who want to be able to make music anytime anywhere without lugging a desktop PC or laptop around with them. I don’t really see it as a competition and iPad will never overtake the PC or Mac for music creation but then that’s not what it’s designed for. Just simply an additional tool. Portability and affordability of apps.

  23. I have to apologise for losing sight of the fact that people here were responding to the article. I got a bee in my bonnet and was overly defensive of IOS and the iPad. I completely lost sight of the fact you were all responding to the article and that article implies that mobile music making could be more popular than windows. As many of you have said… That’s not very likely as much as I personally love using my iPad for music creation/recording… IOS doesn’t represent any real threat to windows (or mac).

    I still regard the iPad as a very capable tool for portable music creation but as others have said… it’s not going to be replacing PCs in recording studios.

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