Best setup for recording on the iPad

mix0mat0sis

New member
Hi All,
I just got an iPad 3 in August and I was hoping that I can use this as a fairly cheap recording tool that I can take on the road with me and when jamming with friends. If you have an iPad and you record music on it, what's your setup look like? I'm hoping to spend no more than about $500 on mics and other equipment. Thanks!
 
I just use the Rode iXY and it's AMAZING. I just got mine in. I can't believe how amazing it is. I was using the Zoom h4n plugged into the iPad. This destroys that, as there is no noise floor. I also have the iRig HD for plugging in an electric guitar. Both devices record at 24 bits, 96k. I keep it down to 48k.

I can't imagine a better mic for the iPad than the iXY. I did an A B test with it recording my acoustic guitar, against some expensive mic's through my tube pre amp in my studio, and it was hard to tell the difference. I did not expect that for 200 dollars.
 
I'm trying to find a interface that will receive midi, control audio in and out and keep the iPad charged.. There are several that will do it..I bought the Behringer but sent it back cause of crackling in the audio when I turned it up..

Just tried the Iconnectivity midi 2+ but after fiddling with it for a few hours tonight if a phone call tomorrow morning doesn't get it working...it's going back..

I went through a lot of reviews on the Focusrite and after seeing a lot of negative comments I am not going to try it...

May just go with the Alesis iodock..decide tomorrow after I go through the hoops with tech support at iConnectivity...cool company and nicely built product, great reviews, but so far for me ...no bueno
 
I'm trying to find a interface that will receive midi, control audio in and out and keep the iPad charged.. There are several that will do it..I bought the Behringer but sent it back cause of crackling in the audio when I turned it up..

Just tried the Iconnectivity midi 2+ but after fiddling with it for a few hours tonight if a phone call tomorrow morning doesn't get it working...it's going back..

I went through a lot of reviews on the Focusrite and after seeing a lot of negative comments I am not going to try it...

May just go with the Alesis iodock..decide tomorrow after I go through the hoops with tech support at iConnectivity...cool company and nicely built product, great reviews, but so far for me ...no bueno

IK Multimedia has a lot of iPad and now Android interfaces they sell. Have you looked at them?
 
I'm trying to find a interface that will receive midi, control audio in and out and keep the iPad charged.. There are several that will do it..I bought the Behringer but sent it back cause of crackling in the audio when I turned it up..

Just tried the Iconnectivity midi 2+ but after fiddling with it for a few hours tonight if a phone call tomorrow morning doesn't get it working...it's going back..

I went through a lot of reviews on the Focusrite and after seeing a lot of negative comments I am not going to try it...

May just go with the Alesis iodock..decide tomorrow after I go through the hoops with tech support at iConnectivity...cool company and nicely built product, great reviews, but so far for me ...no bueno


Id be careful buying the idock...the ipads IOS changes far quicker than they keep up...they even stopped support on there 30pin back on IOS6...thats pretty shitty considering there were many 30pin units shipped with IOS7 and no warning from alesis.
 
Id be careful buying the idock...the ipads IOS changes far quicker than they keep up...they even stopped support on there 30pin back on IOS6...thats pretty shitty considering there were many 30pin units shipped with IOS7 and no warning from alesis.

I've always resisted APPLE and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started messing with them at all...They are generally over priced and all their proprietary bullshit bullshit..i.e 30 pin to lighning etc..bullshit money grabbing bullshit..

That all said..dammit! Their platform compensates developers better and makes it somewhat easy for developers to make and sell apps...further promoting bullshit bullshit...ugh

I was given a used duo core imac and started messing with it with Reaper and found it even though several years old to work damn well...then getting warmed up to the dark side, I bought used iPhone 3gs's for the wife and I and after we got through the itunes / icloud torture they worked damn nice.. just upgraded a few weeks back, bought two 32 gb iPhone 5's for $550 used and after going through the itunes / icloud torture of getting our contacts and such switched over they work way awesome..

Picked up a iPad 2 for the wife / granddaughter @ 6 months ago, then one for me to play with a month ago ..Have about $500 invested in both with cases ...at that price it is acceptable at the new prices ...fahgetaboutit.

In regards to interface for the iPad

After fighting through the Behringer is202 bs I opted for the iConnectivty midi2+ I do like this company as they are pretty clever ...that little $89 interface ( sans the damn 6 volt dc adapter ) is pretty slick and the software to route and work with so far is damn deep and cool. using the ipad as a sound module the midi2+ routes the audio back to my computer magically via midi..wtf!

I used it last night for practice with the band ( just using the iPad audio out to my amp) and it worked flawlessly ..well sort of...my Hammond app Galileo hung on a note in one song.. BTW the midi2+ charges the ipad as it is interfacing with the midi keyboard with the optional wall wart that I already had in my arsenal of 50+ extra wall warts

As a keyboardist having played with a lot of synths and keyboard toys over the years these apps for $10 to $50 are flipping bad ass...having fun but there are definitely limitations due to the apple way of doing things their money making way...
 
I've always resisted APPLE and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started messing with them at all...They are generally over priced and all their proprietary bullshit bullshit..i.e 30 pin to lighning etc..bullshit money grabbing bullshit..

That all said..dammit! Their platform compensates developers better and makes it somewhat easy for developers to make and sell apps...further promoting bullshit bullshit...ugh

I was given a used duo core imac and started messing with it with Reaper and found it even though several years old to work damn well...then getting warmed up to the dark side, I bought used iPhone 3gs's for the wife and I and after we got through the itunes / icloud torture they worked damn nice.. just upgraded a few weeks back, bought two 32 gb iPhone 5's for $550 used and after going through the itunes / icloud torture of getting our contacts and such switched over they work way awesome..

Picked up a iPad 2 for the wife / granddaughter @ 6 months ago, then one for me to play with a month ago ..Have about $500 invested in both with cases ...at that price it is acceptable at the new prices ...fahgetaboutit.

In regards to interface for the iPad

After fighting through the Behringer is202 bs I opted for the iConnectivty midi2+ I do like this company as they are pretty clever ...that little $89 interface ( sans the damn 6 volt dc adapter ) is pretty slick and the software to route and work with so far is damn deep and cool. using the ipad as a sound module the midi2+ routes the audio back to my computer magically via midi..wtf!

I used it last night for practice with the band ( just using the iPad audio out to my amp) and it worked flawlessly ..well sort of...my Hammond app Galileo hung on a note in one song.. BTW the midi2+ charges the ipad as it is interfacing with the midi keyboard with the optional wall wart that I already had in my arsenal of 50+ extra wall warts

As a keyboardist having played with a lot of synths and keyboard toys over the years these apps for $10 to $50 are flipping bad ass...having fun but there are definitely limitations due to the apple way of doing things their money making way...

Yeah I feel the ipad has its uses in the studio...I love Touchable 2 and use it regularly...as for synths etc...shit I have arturias collection and komplete ultimate and they rarely get opened on my rig, let alone ipad synth apps. I know they seem cheap but I have plenty of apps in the $50 range...I reckon my ipads come to around $1k each with all the installed apps, in fact easily. As I said on another thread they just feel like gimmick, at the end of the day a tablet running a full version of windows just crushes these for serious usability

Im not anti apple, I have two imacs, iphones, macbook air, but none of them are for music...their windows counterparts just beat them for value and usability everytime imho
 
The IK stuff works pretty well, but doesn't charge the iPad as you're using it, which I find to be a bummer.

seriously......same with line 6.... these companies making interfaces for the ipad that don't allow you the option to charge it while using it are missing an important very inexpensive "added value" feature.

I'm really impressed with the iConnectivity company and their gear..They don't include the wall wart but spent the $5 to add a jack to the unit for one
 
Yeah I feel the ipad has its uses in the studio...I love Touchable 2 and use it regularly...as for synths etc...shit I have arturias collection and komplete ultimate and they rarely get opened on my rig.

Yep I get ya...I own a MOX8 and rarely get past the first piano...I own Kontakt 4, Collosus but rarely open them...it is an ocean of sounds and it feels like you're in a tiny little life raft in the middle of nowhere going through them. For playing with the classic rock band I was hauling the MOX8 and a Nord Electro 2 just for the hammond emulation ..I sold the nord thinking I was going to buy the electro 4 but then got distracted by the new shiny objects..the VB3...then Galileo and off I went into interface hell... I'm going to give this a go with the iPad as a module and see how it works out ..I may end up just getting the elctro 4 for gigs and using the ipad for when I travel for work on those 15 hour flights to Asia to write tunes, experiment and practice riffs
I have two imacs, iphones, macbook air, but none of them are for music...their windows counterparts just beat them for value and usability everytime imho

I agree on value ......on usability I guess it is what you are doing...when you're talking iMac to a windows "all in one" I have both and I can't see any big difference except my all in one has touch screen...I ended up using the old iMac for my recording and the all in one for work...never use the touch screen. Then again I'm in baby steps mode for recording, most often just a track at a time via my Line 6 UX8 ( I love my POD Farm for vocals) into the imac..for what I'm doing way good
 
I'm happy with recording onto iPad Air 1 128Gb with Presonus Capture app, Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 plus Focusrite Octopre Mk II to provide additional microphone channels. Setting up audio interface was the biggest pain, but once done I've ditched my Zoom R24 entirely. I make mostly live classical concert recordings - and from iPad to mixdown on Studio One Pro couldn't be simpler with direct file transfer via wifi...

Haven't yet tried Cubasis but would be useful to learn to use the app properly for non-classical stuff in the future...
 
I just got the Behringer UCA222 for Christmas.
Hoping that I'll be able to run the audio from my laptop into the iPad (headphone 'out' of focusrite 2i2, via stereo-jack-to-RCA to the phono 'in' on the UCA222) when making videos.
I've not had chance to try it yet but will post when I can...
 
I have a setup that I have tweaked and perfected over the past year or so with Presonus 1818vsl and IPad 4. I can use the 1818vsl to provide 18/18 IO direct to the IPad using Cubasis or Auria which works great. Other uses that have been more the focus is using the 1818vsl as a live mixer and using the IPad to manage and control the mixer wireless with their App. lots of great features, comes with Studio One DAW software and a perfect rack component for a starting home studio. good luck!
 
I'm using the irig pro. It's a great little interface, but will only take a single guitar input, or a single powered Mic. I use auria as a daw, and believe me, it's not a toy. It has a first class control strip, and fantastic plugins available, cheap. New version will have full midi. It's amazing.

You might want to look at the iPad camera kit, which creates a usb interface to the iPad. You can then run all kind of devices in. There is a list of devices that work well with it on the auria home page. It all depends on how many tracks you want to do at once.
 
I've been using the Behringer UCA222 for a while now... Although an improvement on the built in iPad mic I still don't consider it stellar...
The 2i2 works well though and when I finally pick up a new interface (likely to be the Steinberg UR44) the 2i2 will become the permanent soundcard for the iPad in the studio for getting audio in (beatmaking videos - audio from main rig) and out (synths)
 
Android's OS and devices are great, I have used them since early 2010, but when it comes to music production the iOS format is where it's at. The developers have put their money on Apple from the beginning and if they do make an Android version of an app it usually takes a long time to materialize or it isn't as stout as the iOS version.

I am using an iPad Air 2 64GB with a Tascam US-2x2 audio interface. The USB to Lightning adapter Apple sells is required to use a USB interface, it's a pain to have to buy something else but the adapter is fast and seems very well built. There are devices made by IK Multimedia like the iRig HD etc. to get your guitar or microphone signal into the tablet/phone but the sound quality is hit or miss. Going with a good quality USB audio interface like the kind you would use with a desktop DAW setup will insure that you'll get
good signals going in from jumpstreet.

I am using WaveMachine Labs Auria DAW app and it is incredibly full featured and totally professional. Right now it's on the AppStore for $24.99 and it's worth it. I have had to readjust my thinking about app prices since using an iPad as my main studio platform. While at first blush the $10, $20, $30 prices seen on some music making apps seems really high but when compared with their counterparts on different platforms they are dead cheap...I have to compare them to the price of the tool elsewhere not compare them with the price of other apps in general. Some DAW's go for hundreds of dollars but the full featured Auria is just $25; the guitar amp emulators like Amplitube, ToneStack and BIAS go for $30 with all in app purchases added while the cheapest stomp box at Guitar Center goes for $50 easy. It's all relative with mobile recording.

I have lots of virtual instrument apps, Audiobus effect apps and drum machines as well. When they're like $5 and have good reviews it is hard not to check them out. But you can get carried away I'm sure. I use a lot of the same gear I used with my PC DAW and analog PortaStudio setups: couple of Sm-57's, a large diaphram condenser, a tube mic pre to warm up mics and DI'd bass, MIDI controller for the keyboard and synth apps and some Sony MDR7506 headphones. Everything is very mobile if I want to record somewhere else and aside from the price of the iPad the whole setup is not very expensive.

Give the iOS platform or the Android equivalent a try because in 2015 recording on a tablet or smartphone is just as easy as recording on a cassette 4 track setup but with pro DAW studio results.
 
Back
Top