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IPad, Staffpad, Logic Pro - Moving Off The Desktop DAW

ssnowe

ssnowe

Up, up and away ...
Logic Pro iPad came out with some substantial updates today, one being midi export and another being Mastering Assistant (as well as a bunch of other stuff).

With midi export you can easily take your midi tracks and export the midi into Staffpad. After you do whatever in Staffpad you can then export the stems and then load them back into Logic. Mastering Assistant can be used to quickly master your song and create a really nice finished product.

Throw in Dorico on the iPad, tools like AUM, Geoshred, Drambo, SWAM modeled instruments, etc. as well as a well as a boatload of really creative ipad based composing tools and the need to jump back to a pc based DAW really starts to go away.

For me personally its truly a transition point that I have been waiting on for a long time. I don’t want to be tethered to a desk anymore and now I can bring my ipad anywhere I go and compose and produce in high quality from start to finish. Staffpad kind of sort of made this possible but had limitations. With the power of the new ipad Pros combined with the tools mentioned above as well as many others my desktop DAW has become of extremely limited use to me.
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I have been thinking along the same lines. The difficulty is still all the libraries not being accessible, especially the more bespoke ones.

My thoughts are to do quite a bit in the iPad then use a DAW. However I use Windows on desktop so can’t take advantage of moving the Logic Project from iOS to MacOS, but would have to export STEMS and any MIDI.
 
The lack of the bespoke desktop libraries is definitely a challenge. However, Staffpad offers many really good libraries. That, and after some experimentation I have been experiencing good success with physical modeling instruments on the ipad.

Throw in the really nice instruments that come with Logic as well as its great mixing environment and you get a great combination.

Its not like my desktop DAW is going away any time soon so I still have access to those great tools, but I surprised myself when I dug in and figured out what my ipad could do.

But at this point, especially with all of the holiday sales coming up I am starting to question if I really need another string (or whatever, fill in the blank) desktop library.

I think what really surprised me is I can do a large percentage of what I do on an expensive pc as I can with a relatively inexpensive ipad. Throw in the fact that I can attach my thunderbolt docks and devices to my ipad as well as a monitor (trying to avoid doing this as it now becomes a pc) and I can do pretty much anything.

That, and with my iphone I can drop projects back and forth at will. While logic isn’t on the iphone many of the great ios based tools are. This lets me work from anywhere.

The big thing for me is that I couldn’t really do this well a short time ago. Now I can.
 
I have been considering trying it again. I tried the iPad DAW thing about 10 years ago i guess. it was okay. but very cumbersome. moving stuff in and about using audioshare and things like that was a major PITA.
 
What I personally find appealing is that I can create a production level piece of music using an electronic piece of glass that is no thicker than a spiral bound notebook and I can do it anywhere. I have spent a lifetime working behind a desk and I just don’t want to sit behind a desk making music anymore.

The music tools have caught up to the underlying hardware and technology. For so long ipad sound quality was similar to 80’s video game theme tracks. Staffpad provided a hugh jump forward but struggled from a production standpoint. In my mind Logic Pro has pushed production quality to the next level as I no longer need to jump over to my desktop DAW to finish things out.

Combine in the incredibly creative ipad based sound design apps that can be integrated with Logic and the toolset becomes really compelling. As I mentioned earlier I do miss ipad based access to my desktop DAW instrument libraries but I am successfully navigating my way through and around this challenge.

One thing that I think would make a big impact is one of the library companies bringing storage optimized libraries to the ipad (potentially something like Muse Sounds only downloading what you need now). Staffpad sort of did this already with high quality sounds but the instruments are currently locked for exclusive use by Staffpad.

I think the thing that has really driven this home for me is that I have nearly eight terabytes of desktop based DAW instrument libraries and I found myself using the nearly forty gigabytes of Staffpad libraries instead simply because I liked their sounds better and they are relatively easy to use.
 
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I have been weighing up ipad pro vs surface pro and surface is winning atm. The surface pen v2 has a similar latency and feel as the apple pen. Surface being on the full win 11 os is a lot more convienient, battery is supposedly 15hrs (even if it ends up being 8hrs thats fine) and you can upgrade the ssd.
 
I started out with Staffpad when it first came out on the Surface and progressed through several Surface models. I currently have a Surface Pro 6 that I have owned since it was first released and it still runs and charges pretty much like new to this day.

The reason is I like the ipad (and the Mac for that matter) is there seems to be a really creative group of developers that invest a lot of their time, effort and resources in developing some great tools and applications for this platform.

That and the programs that run on the ipad are designed to run “light”, meaning they don’t have huge footprints or demand large amounts of resources to run.

To get seemingly relative performance on a Surface you would most likely need an Intel I7 with 32gb of memory to get the same level of fluidity in performance. You could get by with less but after a while you start to notice lags and stutters that eventually get to be a bit frustrating.

Another reason is I really like the Apple M series of chips in that they truly provide incredible power along with all day battery life. No matter what Microsoft promises regarding Surface devices and their battery life they have never come close to reality and Intel chips seem to excel at quickly turning battery life and energy into heat.
 
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ssnowe said:
I started out with Staffpad when it first came out on the Surface and progressed through several Surface models. I currently have a Surface Pro 6 that I have owned since it was first released and it still runs and charges pretty much like new to this day.

The reason is I like the ipad (and the Mac for that matter) is there seems to be a really creative group of developers that invest a lot of their time, effort and resources in developing some great tools and applications for this platform.

Another reason is I really like the Apple M series of chips in that they truly provide incredible power along with all day battery life. No matter what Microsoft promises regarding Surface devices and their battery life they have never come close to reality and Intel chips seem to excel at quickly turning battery life and energy into heat.
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Fair enough. Ive never had a surface and my purchase will be some time after the surface pro 10 and the m3 ipad pro come out next year. I do have an ipda air v1 that I tried to do what you describe but as has been mentioned, transfer of data, no real storage space or real programs just slimmed down apps is what discouraged me.

Maybe the software I want to run on the surface (ie nuendo, live, reaper, vsti, cantabile, clip studio paint will run on the snap dragon pro x by then. Any thoughts on windows arm?
 
bcslaam said:
I have been weighing up ipad pro vs surface pro and surface is winning atm. The surface pen v2 has a similar latency and feel as the apple pen. Surface being on the full win 11 os is a lot more convienient, battery is supposedly 15hrs (even if it ends up being 8hrs thats fine) and you can upgrade the ssd.
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Yeah, there are quite a few people I have met online who run a full DAW rig on a maxed out and souped up surface. Makes sense I guess.You have access to your full desktop DAW and plugins.
 
I will be more interested in a Surface Pro when windows can fully (meaning 3rd party apps) take advance of Arm processors and their reduced heat levels. My understanding is that at the moment, most Surface Pro's will throttle the processor due to heat.
 
I love my iPad Pro, but if the issue is only portability and being able to work anywhere, then a 14 inch M3 MacBook isn’t much bigger, and about as powerful as the current Mac Studio. You would have everything you need, no compromises needed.

Except of course you’d lose StaffPad, where the touch interface kind of is the whole point. There are aspect of the touch interface in logic that makes sense too, and I’m eagerly trying it out, but most of the time I still think mouse and keyboard is a far more efficient way of working. On the iPad, you’re moving your hand about a lot, often your hand is blocking your view of what you’re trying to do etc…. They got it right the first time, when they invented the mouse.
 
I currently have my ipad with me throughout the day jotting down ideas all day long. I like that I can share most of what I do between my ipad and iphone. Wiith a Macbook just not as immediately accessible.

If I was looking at a Surface I probably wouldn’t get a Surface but a similar competing product. Ever since Microsoft closed their stores getting support is not the greatest (look at the Suface Reddit forum for details).
 
nitrateaudio said:
Yeah, there are quite a few people I have met online who run a full DAW rig on a maxed out and souped up surface. Makes sense I guess.You have access to your full desktop DAW and plugins.
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thats what i have. love it. everything in one place into a surface dock to my interface, external drive & big monitor.
 
On the iPad front, came across a site that tracks sale prices on ios based music apps:

appsliced.co

Latest iOS App Price Drops > All Apps > Music

View all app prices for the Latest iOS App Price Drops > All Apps > Music category at App Sliced.
appsliced.co appsliced.co

Th Ravenscroft 275 Piano has a good reputation and is half price right now.
 
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ssnowe said:
What I personally find appealing is that I can create a production level piece of music using an electronic piece of glass that is no thicker than a spiral bound notebook and I can do it anywhere. I have spent a lifetime working behind a desk and I just don’t want to sit behind a desk making music anymore.

The music tools have caught up to the underlying hardware and technology. For so long ipad sound quality was similar to 80’s video game theme tracks. Staffpad provided a hugh jump forward but struggled from a production standpoint. In my mind Logic Pro has pushed production quality to the next level as I no longer need to jump over to my desktop DAW to finish things out.

Combine in the incredibly creative ipad based sound design apps that can be integrated with Logic and the toolset becomes really compelling. As I mentioned earlier I do miss ipad based access to my desktop DAW instrument libraries but I am successfully navigating my way through and around this challenge.

One thing that I think would make a big impact is one of the library companies bringing storage optimized libraries to the ipad (potentially something like Muse Sounds only downloading what you need now). Staffpad sort of did this already with high quality sounds but the instruments are currently locked for exclusive use by Staffpad.

I think the thing that has really driven this home for me is that I have nearly eight terabytes of desktop based DAW instrument libraries and I found myself using the nearly forty gigabytes of Staffpad libraries instead simply because I liked their sounds better and they are relatively easy to use.
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I feel exactly the same. I am so sick of working at a desk. After so many years I'm finding it much harder to be inspired staring at a wall at my desk.

This year will probably be when I begin iPad music making, at least to get ideas going to finish at the desk.
 
Right there with you, I want to go more the guitar player approach with composing where I can wander freely and put down some music whenever the inspiration strikes.
 
Starting to figure out pipelines right now. Currently working with Mozaic (programmable midi environment) to take midi keyboard input, automatically add some expression mapping, send it as input to Logic running Swam instrument instances and record the midi.

Then I will take that, send the midi to Staffpad, render out some high quality stems, bring the stems back into Logic and fatten out the sounds with the Swam instruments.

Then, using the new Logic Mastering tool drop my finished piece to iCloud. What more could you ask for (I know, a lot, but hey, this thing is really coming together).

Finding a huge number of scripts and ideas at a site called PatchStorage (https://patchstorage.com/). It seems like whatever ios based app you might have somebody has written a large number of patches for it, and downloads are totally free with no login required.

The number of well thought out creative apps on this platform is impressive.

That and looking forward to Procreate Dreams coming at the end of the month, is an incredible animation tool that appears to be extremely powerful, all for the cost of $19.99 (seriously, go take a look, this thing is stunning).
 
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I also use Ableton Note on my phone. i use it to sketch ideas any time and the open them up in Live. Here i can add in things ive written in Staffpad, importing the stems if staffpad can play all the articulations i need, or import the midi if i need to have another library play something staffpad can't.
 
ssnowe said:
Starting to figure out pipelines right now. Currently working with Mozaic (programmable midi environment) to take midi keyboard input, automatically add some expression mapping, send it as input to Logic running Swam instrument instances and record the midi.

Then I will take that, send the midi to Staffpad, render out some high quality stems, bring the stems back into Logic and fatten out the sounds with the Swam instruments.

Then, using the new Logic Mastering tool drop my finished piece to iCloud. What more could you ask for (I know, a lot, but hey, this thing is really coming together).

Finding a huge number of scripts and ideas at a site called PatchStorage (https://patchstorage.com/). It seems like whatever ios based app you might have somebody has written a large number of patches for it, and downloads are totally free with no login required.

The number of well thought out creative apps on this platform is impressive.

That and looking forward to Procreate Dreams coming at the end of the month, is an incredible animation tool that appears to be extremely powerful, all for the cost of $19.99 (seriously, go take a look, this thing is stunning).
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Thanks for your post! Checking these other sites out. Amazing times....
 
thesteelydane said:
I love my iPad Pro, but if the issue is only portability and being able to work anywhere, then a 14 inch M3 MacBook isn’t much bigger, and about as powerful as the current Mac Studio. You would have everything you need, no compromises needed.

Except of course you’d lose StaffPad, where the touch interface kind of is the whole point. There are aspect of the touch interface in logic that makes sense too, and I’m eagerly trying it out, but most of the time I still think mouse and keyboard is a far more efficient way of working. On the iPad, you’re moving your hand about a lot, often your hand is blocking your view of what you’re trying to do etc…. They got it right the first time, when they invented the mouse.
Click to expand...
I recently spent a few months traveling with my ipad pro and my mac in storage. The ipad didn't cut it for me for numerous reasons as a complete replacement for mac. Its quite good for for many many things, staffpad of course being the one obvious clear thing it does better then mac. great for email, etc..mostly pretty good, but then I like to write some blog articles with scrivener and I found out scrivener on iOS is a paired down version compared to mac. LogicPro Ipad, is pretty cool, but meh...missing some stuff and I'm spoiled from working at home on a bigger screen and midi controllers hooked up with speakers, etc.....

well bottom line..I will continue to use my Ipad for staffpad and sketching around the piano and for remote control in the studio, but honestly..I will stick with mac for most serious stuff, and might even end up getting an mbp for travel too, because I don't like being limited, and I always feel limited just a bit with iOS. I literally was wishing I had setup my mac at home with remote desktop mode so that I could access it from my ipad and use it remotely while traveling abroad rather then make due with the ipad.

don't get me wrong, I do dig the ipad, and with magic keypad keyboard, its practically like a laptop honestly. nice form factor on the airplane. but when it comes to the power tasks that I am into, it just can't compete with a loaded up mac. Other than staffpad.

I am looking forward to eventually trying out the new staffpad feature where I can place the ipad on my piano and play the parts in, that will be cool. The ipad will still get used.
 
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