Wavemachine Labs Auria For iPad Review

WaveMachine Labs new 48-channel recording app has been blowing up the comments since we announced that it was available earlier today.

Here’s an early review, via Russ at airusersblog. He demonstrates the interface and demonstrate how it works with a project.

While a lot of readers have been skeptical about Auria’s $50 price tag, Russ calls Auria ‘fantastic’ and ‘an outstanding value for the money’.

If you’ve used Auria, let us know what you think of it!

35 thoughts on “Wavemachine Labs Auria For iPad Review

  1. It would of been nice to see a mono and a stereo track recorded and seen some files imported. ACP and all that.
    Can you split a stereo track into mono with this?

    1. Doesn’t a serious question like that kind of miss the point of this?

      If you have real digital recording to do and you need a portable solution, there are lots of options available with standalone devices from Zoom and Tascam and others. And there are lots of software options on laptops running DAWS.

      This is a kind of amusement or proof of concept for a touchscreen device and I don’t see that it matters what it can do or how it does it. If a monkey talks, does it really matter what the monkey says? The point would be the monkey is talking.

      This is just another demo that iOS can do complicated stuff and people can have fun with it. I don’t see the point in questioning this. Just enjoy it or move along.

      1. Coming from Cakewalk and Pro Tools on Mac OS9, three Zoom standalones (the MRS-1044 then the 1266 then the 1608), the Roland MV-8800 and now this, I have a serious response for the comment “I don’t see that it matters what it can do or how it does it”.

        In short, it very much matters. It introduces a whole new way to do what we’ve been doing on hardware and on DAWs – the touchscreen. I just remastered my complete album on Auria (not mixed, just mastered. I had mixed it on an MV-8800). I remastered it using the Fabfilter pro-Q plugin, and the ease of manipulating audio directly on the touchscreen with your hands compared to using a mouse is something you have to experience. I was skeptical, but the proof is in the pudding. I put a (very) quick and dirty video on youtube to show that this thing is the real deal.

        1. Really using the word master loosely. Hope u didn’t use the ipad speakers to pull it off. Man if I sent my track to a mastering engineer and he busted out this app I would ask for a refund.

          1. I only showed a small (but important) piece – the para eq – of what was involved in the mastering, and this app handled it wonderfully. Not sure where you got the idea of the iPad speaker, but of course not. I suggest including earbuds in the video given its prominence today, but not to the exclusion of real speakers! I worked with what I had: Mackie MR5 reference monitors (the ones you see in the video), two car stereos, about a dozen different home stereos, Shure SRH940 phones (and a couple of cheaper ones), and finally, earbuds on an iPad, iphone, and two iPods. (Can you tell I’m a D.I.Y. musician?) I have submitted mixes to ME’s in the past with mixed results (pun intended), and I did have to get a refund on one occasion when I wasn’t pleased with the results. But I never asked or cared what tools he used. I pay them for their ears, not their tools.

  2. A proof of concept? Huh… Seems like a short sighted view. This app after iOS hits will be epic! Channel all my favorite iPad synths into it and record them… All at once even! Sounds like more useful then just a “proof of concept” to me…

  3. I don’t know about ios6 …not believing text on slides…
    But where it will eventually be a killer app is when we have true multitasking and true audio routing from the os itself
    So Auria is just laying the groundwork and has the lead in this. Next would be to integrate with AudioBus and then better windowing/tasking similar to what’s done by JB app Quasar

    So we are all headed on the right direction …enjoy the ride 🙂

  4. I don’t know, I was thinking, “man this might be great for field recording” but now it seems like it would be good for so much more especially with OMF…

    1. The developer said that they’ve tested it recording up to 24 simultaneous tracks.

      If that’s not powerful enough for you, you should be using a redundant pair of dedicated recording workstations & audio interfaces, not a $50 iPad app.

    2. Why would you comment on something you so clearly do not understand?

      This app can record 18 channels on the PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL and the Focusrite Scarlett 18i6. It can do 8 channels on several others.

  5. iOS 6 is supposed to provide inter app audio routing, which will make this a fabulous tool for mobile music recording and production. So far Apple has been good about promised features so I have little doubt that inter app audio will be with us in iOS 6, lack of news from Audiobus seems to confirm this.
    All that said… It does surprise me how much people resist progress… It will not be long before tablets are our laptops and recording pro quality audio on them will be “everyday”… It WILL happen… To dismiss such ideas so quickly is to ignore thousands of years of evolutionary human technological advancement… And that is just silly 😉

    1. >to ignore thousands of years of evolutionary human technological advancement… And that is just silly

      Is “evolution” the same as “corporate maneuvering”?

      Really, I don’t know about Britain, but here in the US when I was young there were always dozens of clubs within a few miles where people could experience live music–professional bands and neighborhood bands–and live music was common.

      Now simple business economics–or is it evolution?–has made live music almost impossible to find. I talked a few days ago to a young guitar player and asked him if there were clubs he played at, neighborhood gigs, what? And he said he just played with friends at their houses.

      If the disappearance of live music from almost everybody’s life is “evolution” then I guess we need to face it and deal with it. If it is just scuzzy businessmen who prefer paying one dipwad to come in an press play on a tape machine rather than five skilled musicians, if it is just dubious economics, then we may want to fight against it.

      Seems to me it is an open question not easy to answer. I envy people who see it as clear cut one way or the other. But I don’t know.

        1. >what in the hell are you talking about?

          I’m sorry. I thought Tilden Thorne brought up the topic of comparing and possibly confusing evolution with simple corporate technology change. So I thought we could talk about that topic. But I was wrong. I’ve made similar mistakes before. I’m very sorry to be obscure and annoying. I’ll just shut up and leave everyone alone, I promise.

          1. Not to “shut you up,” but I live in Portland, where everyone is in a band and there are shows all around town every single night. Live music isn’t dead at all, but maybe your local scene isn’t trying.

      1. Hete here ,
        Seriously what on earth is the beef ???
        It’s a genuine move forward ! So basically you really can potentially record an album mix it and push it out there with low price tag and people are complaining
        Get a grip

  6. Wait… How did this go from discussing music technology to the dying of live music? Come to my town (Grass Calley/Nevada City, Ca) we have live music almost every night! But let us keep to topic…

  7. I still don’t understand why this is synth related. It can’t play vsts. It can’t send MIDI out. There is no synth that comes with it. So all it can do is record outside synths without syncing any of them. All for 50$. Sounds like a steal.

        1. I’m guilty of using it as a selling point too. I’m trying to off load a MPC500 and I say in my CL ad “it will run on six AA batteries… Be the envy of the guy jamming on his iPad in the seat next to you on your next flight to Houston”

    1. Im a professional musician and producer and I fly across the country making tracks on my iPad. There was a time that I had to put all of my productions on hold if I had to play out of town. I never figured out how to take my MP,tons of keyboards,modules and Fostex R8 on the plane and be able to finish tracks.

  8. This looks like a really nice and well made app, but just looking at the lag of the user interface, I think I’d get annoyed. I love using my iPad for sound creation, but it’s not quite at the point where I want to use it for editing and recording yet. The mouse is so much more precise than my dumb fingers. Just look at him struggling to draw that fade in. That would get old fast.

  9. Very cool and so light to carry… Expect DJs, Live acts, Remixers to use it on stage instead of their mac during the next seasons 🙂

  10. So I fell for the hype!!
    Layed down my 50.00+4.99 for video import and another 19.99 for drum agog .
    NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
    First of all it crashes regularly,hangs with audio playing even when you quit the app from bottom tray,only stops when you restart the app and project reloads.
    This happens in different instances ie.adjusting sliders in filters or trying to adjust curve points with audio playing.
    The video import only works if you add a video to iTunes and sync,no import from camera roll??
    For 4.99?? I have 99cent apps that can do that.
    No midi sync.
    No background audio.
    I’m sure this will be a good app some day but at this point I can not recommend spending this much money,if there had been a demo I would not have purchased at this time.
    I use many apps that are much more advanced then this one for much less money.
    I have done a side by side with other multitrack apps and have found Meteor (29.99) to give you everything you get with Auria plus much more. o.k. (only 12 tracks)
    With Auria you can not adjust volume,pan,sends,ect. Only curve type ,while track is playing .
    No hold to choose function as in other apps ie. pop up that lets you choose cut,copy,paste ect.
    You must go to the menu for everything. Not iPad intuitive…
    I suggest holding out for latter release…

  11. Scott,

    Instead of posting a bad review on the app store, and here, why haven’t you contacted us about the problems you’re having? We are very eager to help with any problems. It would have been great if you’d given us a chance first.

    Rim

    1. Rim,
      I am sorry that my review is disconcerting to you.
      It is a honest review non the less.
      I have taken the time to send a crash notice with many of the instances,
      However many of the times it has left my iPad locked into audio playing even after the program has been closed.
      As far as working with you to resolve problems,in a beta situation,of which I have been evolved in many.
      I would be more than happy too,but this is a paid app and these are not minor glitches.
      It is obvious that you read your reviews and you are aware of the problems,as others have experienced them.
      I understand the nature of troubleshooting and followed the guide lines as well as possible,to the extent of installing on multiple iPads,restarting,turning off various functions,i.e. (advanced gestures,location services,etc.) to no avail.
      Please note that I did give your app 3 stars even with the major problems and the frustration it has given me,and would have given it 4 stars and recommended its purchase even without the functions I feel are missing from an app at this price point,with the understanding that they will be added as the app progresses.
      Because of the nature of the app store purchase (No returns,you bought it you own it).
      And the fact that you do not offer a light or crippled version to (Try before you buy).
      At this point I cannot recommend the purchase of Auria at this time.
      I will continue to resolve and evaluate your app and adjust my reviews as things change.
      Good luck with an attractive and promising application.
      Scott Bailey
      Zia Productions
      [email protected]

  12. ….just do like ZZ TOP & turn everything to 10 ’til yer ears bleed & you fall out of your wheelchair or rockin’ chair or yer crutches collapse!!! HEE-HAW!!! rock’n’roll!!!

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