Protools or New iPad?

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windyweekend
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Protools or New iPad?

Post by windyweekend » Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:44 am

Audio Jedis, I need advice.

What I'm using - I'm currently using Beatmaker 2, Cubasis and Amplitube to do all my recording. By accident rather design I've become an iOS evangelist because I can do in my hand what I could do with an Atari ST and Steinberg Pro24 back in the day.

My big issue - that I'm prepared to invest in to fix is final mixing quality. Today I use Audacity for final mixing because its free and easy to use. The result is okay but Audacity lacks the EQs that Auria comes with which I need. On the flip side I'm having hissing issues with everything in Auria and massive cpu limitations (i have a 32GB iPad 2). Where I am I currently not find a way to bridge the quality gap of the final output - I need the ability to add some good EQ in the final mix and tracks and have the output levels loud enough to give me a good volume song without clipping. Simple as that.

My question - what would you all recommend for accomplishing my final mixing quality improvements? I am currently torn between waiting a couple of months and investing in an iPad 5 (new and shiney toy, more CPU for Auria, but still have the hissing issues) or investing in something like ProTools and mixing everything on a PC?
Are there any other software or hardware options I should consider?

Would love to hear opinions and suggestions.

mrufino1
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by mrufino1 » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:09 am

What is the issue you're having? I'm not experiencing hissing or any lack in output. It sounds like something else is happening in your signal chain somewhere along the way.

Rim
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Rim » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:16 am

Auria has a pristine signal path from audio file all the way through to speakers. I would love to see an example of the issue you're having with hissing.

Rim

Dubhausdisco
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Dubhausdisco » Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:33 am

I would choose the option that will allow you to get more work done, period.
iOS stuff is great, (I own Auria, BM2, Cubasis, and countless synth apps), but why limit yourself to just your iPad?
I think too many folks get caught up in the novelty of the touch screen, myself included. Don't be an "appumulator"!!
If you've got the resources,(fast desktop/laptop) it would be a no-brainer for me.
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martygras
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by martygras » Tue Sep 10, 2013 1:04 pm

It sounds to me like you are describing the "mastering" portion of the recording process, but I still feel that mastering should be left to the experts. Just my opinion though.

If you are recording for a commercial release I would strongly recommend that you find a 3rd party mastering facility. Good quality mastering services can be very pricey, but you will hear a difference, a consistency from song to song. This is an old process honed by producers so the songs are in the right order (flow) and that it doesn't sound like you recorded in 12 different studios.

There's a lot more though. It depends on what you are intending to do with your product.
Marty Schulte [I'm a drummer. So, there's that.]
iPad AIR(128), Akai EIE, Akai EWI USB, illudium q-36 explosive space modulator
Head First Audio (live sound for Southern Oregon, USA)

syrupcore
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by syrupcore » Tue Sep 10, 2013 4:12 pm

You might check out reaper. Considerably cheaper than ProTools. I'd say just about as powerful but not quite as smooth, workflow wise.

Auria is *amazing* but the iPad processor and auria development hours have a lot of catching up to do to offer the power and flexibility of a desktop daw. That said, for most mixing jobs auria can absolutely get it done. One of the places it's already on par with desktop DAWs is sound quality. That hissing issue sounds like a interface or physical recording problem.

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mtingle
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by mtingle » Tue Sep 10, 2013 5:36 pm

Hiss is created during the recording process and is not dependant on Auria. To reduce hiss use a professional audio interface like the apogee one.

It may also be possible to add hiss in the mixing process, but Auria does not add any noise to the audio.

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Anthony Alves
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Anthony Alves » Wed Sep 11, 2013 1:17 am

The learning curve for Protools is intense. Many users have switched from Protools to other software to have a change in sound. I would wait for the iPad 5 which will be 2X faster than the iPad 4 which by the way us 3X faster than the iPad 2.
No hiss in any of my recordings. Can't wait for Auria under iOS 7 and the iPad 5. Good luck.

Syltaldo
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Syltaldo » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:13 pm

Considering the latest iPad always outperforms the latest iPhone and the iPhone 5S being faster than 3year old iMacs, I'd say you'll get enough power for years of music with Auria and iPad 5. And because you know Auria, you will spend your time making, not learning:)
But you MUST get a good interface. The new Apogee One sounds amazeballs with my iPad 2.

windyweekend
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by windyweekend » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:32 pm

Thanks all. Great advice and lots of it, which is why I love this forum.

Rim - would love to send you some of the hissing wavs. Where would you like me to load these up to?
They're 44/16 files that work okay in Audacity, but they all have 1 decibel or two of white noise underneath everything when loaded into Auria.

Rim
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Rim » Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:16 am

Would love to see these. Please send them via dropbox to rim at drumagog dot com.

Thanks,
Rim

Dubhausdisco
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Dubhausdisco » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:18 am

Anthony Alves wrote:The learning curve for Protools is intense. Many users have switched from Protools to other software to have a change in sound.
I would have to respectfully disagree with these comments. If you use auria, you can use protools. It's as simple as you want to make it, or deeper than deep. As far as a change in sound, that sounds like hearsay. Unless one switches to Reason, which has the SSL emulated mixer.
dubhausdisco

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jsol
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by jsol » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:30 am

I purchased protools 10 January 2012 for my macbookpro. I have used it a few times. It works good however, it can get a little overwhelming with the amount of things you can do. I purchased Auria the day it was released and use all the time simply because of the ease of use. I've learned so much with Auria about mixing and mastering due to the interface, it is really intuitive. It's much easier to just to pull out your ipad and get to work. No booting up, external hardrives to work with. I feel once a user masters Auria, they will know the basics and beyond on any DAW. The ipad goes everywhere I go. Auria is a fantastic product! I have only one request Rim. Would you be able to program Auria so that the transfer of files can be done directly on to the ipad? Dropbox method is good however, the speed is dependent of the wifi signal. I did the iTunes app file transfer and its a pain in the you know what. I import multiple wav files all the time and want to do it via a USB flash drive through camera connection adapter. Just a simple transfer with no headaches and wait times. Not having to look for the laptop and deal with with slow app iTunes launch/slow sync times would be icing on the cake. It would also eliminate the need to wait untill the storage filled Dropbox app to upload 15+ 40mb wav files on to their limited storage space server. This is what I think is the major difference between protools and Auria. This is a small yet simple important feature. I know Apple has many tight restrictions but I thnk this will allow users of Auria for a more pleasant and efficient experience.

Thanks Rim
Last edited by jsol on Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:46 am, edited 2 times in total.

Shay
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by Shay » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:37 am

To continue @jsol,

Anyone here know what is the status of the WIFI drives which can work with IPad?
Anyone used such a device?

Such a solution can be the best answer for Auria users.
Saving both waves and exported-projects as backups, clearing the IPad memory.

jsol
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Re: Protools or New iPad?

Post by jsol » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:40 am

@Shay

I agree! This would be a feature that would propel Auria many leaps forward. If not now, having the basic capability to file transfer via USB to ipad would make work flow a much better experience. The file transfer process is the thing I dread when I use Auria.
Last edited by jsol on Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:53 am, edited 2 times in total.

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