ftp for importing files

[KevinLacy]

Hi Guys! Thanks for an awesome app!

I appreciate that I can import files form my DropBox but my iPad is WiFi only and I work on the train a lot. I have a neat little device called CloudFTP (which is guess is now called iUSB Port from http://www.hypershop.com) which is basically a portable, battery powered FTP Server and it allows you to access files on any USB device you have plugged into it through any browser you have on your iPad (or any other connected device, for that matter).

I do a lot of voiceover editing and sometimes my day goes like this:

1) Commute by train into the city
2) Go to corporate client's awesome studio
3) record VO session to a Marantz digital recorder
4) When the session is over, copy many large audio files from the Marantz to two USB thumb drives (1 for backup)
5) Dump those into Nuendo on my MacBookPro
6) Commute home by train while editing in Nuendo with headphones on

I would rather just bring my iPad with Auria and dump the files into my iPad because I much prefer to leave my $2000+ Nuendo ThumbDrive Key and my $1300 MBP at home. My problem is that I don't very often have access to Wifi (not on teh train or at my corporate clients' studio) and uploading and downloading large audio files to/from my DropBox in order to get them into Auria is a major time/buzz kill. It would also be great to just be able to export the AAF files and mixes to my portable FTP server. Does this make sense?

Auria is a great app but the file handling clunky-ness is a sizeable hurdle. I know it's Apple's lack of file system design and not Auris idea to handle files this way but, especially if you want to truly work remotely and sometimes without 3G or Wifi access, getting files in and out is a drag, at least for me and the way I would prefer to work.

It is SOOO close

So, my question is, are there any plans to allow FTP server access or other browser access in the Import and Export dialogues so that I can just load in my audio files from the USB thumb drive I have plugged into my portable FTP server?

Are there any other solutions people here are using for file handling?

I'd love to hear what you all have to say

Thanks!

Kevin

[Geronimo]

File management is huge problem on iOS imo. Really looking forward for the answers.

[Navpack]

Kevin, you bring up some good points. I also spend much time out of the office and while I have the wifi+data iPad, Dropbox works but having alternative options like you describe would be very helpful. One thing I struggle with is attempting to export/upload large mixes to DB only to have the export bail as the size is larger than Dropbox can take over wifi.

Having a way to move files out of Auria without iTunes sync via FTP would solve much of this for me.

Will be interested in what the possibilities are...

Regards,

Phil

[robdean]

FTP can be very useful. Lots of other apps offer it, including Music Studio, MultiTrack DAW, Meteor Multitrack...

[Rim]

Interesting. I'll look into this. Sounds like it could be a good way to manage storage without needing a computer.

Rim

[robdean]

Rim,

Not just that, but FTP can also facilitate cable-free file transfer to /from other computers and drives on your local Wi-Fi network - for example you can swap files with a DAW workstation using any basic FTP programme and even do basic file transfer operations via a regular web browser.

[hselburn]

What if you, as I tried, download a file to Dropbox, a zip file of a multitrack session, and Auria doesn't see it? What would I do then?

[hselburn]

Ok, I had an epiphany... What if the zip app uploading to Dropbox wasn't doing so properly? Well after some research, that's what was happening! So iZip has issues. FastZip is getting files onto Dropbox that Auria recognizes! WooHoo! Now I hope it all works after creating a new project and bringing the new files in! The upload to Dropbox for iOS is taking awhile so I may not get to tis until the afternoon. But this is encouraging!