MP3 import?

[devonair]

Forgive the potentially dumb question, but I've watched the demo video a couple of times and have browsed through this forum for a while and still haven't been able to determine if this app suits my particular use-case...

I am not a musician, but am instead a choreographer. I don't need to record music, but instead need to take my existing library of MP3's and remix individual tracks, and/or mix several tracks into a longer production. In my line of work, most people (choreographers, dancers, hobbyists) swear and live by an OLLLD and incredibly outdated Windows app named Acoustica MP3 Audio Mixer (long since replaced by it's parent company by a newer piece of software called Mixcraft... which I'm not even sure if THAT is even all that up-to-date). This software is ancient (haha, it ran great on Windows 95, and still runs great on my Macbook Pro via Parallels and an old copy of Windows. But this seems like some serious overkill to basically cut and mix MP3's, and I'd love to be able to make my mixes on the road with my iPad. Garageband has a HORRIBLE interface for this, and I'm loving the look of Auria from the videos... but does it support IMPORT of MP3's, as well as export?

The main features I'd be looking for (which are the exact features that I live by in my current old and antiquated app, as sad as this is, haha):
- native use of mp3's (without having to convert to AIFF or any other formats, since the bulk of my music is already in MP3)
- ability to pitch/speed-shift individual clips of audio in-app, on the fly, without affecting the entire project (preferably with some sort of adjustable visual on-screen aid on the audio clip)
- ability to crossfade and fade in/out individual clips of audio (again, preferably with some sort of adjustable visual on-screen aid on the audio clip)
- cut/copy/past of audio clips
- mixdown to MP3

I may have forgotten one or two things, but if Auria supported the above I would buy it TODAY and would immediately begin evangelizing it to my entire industry and community. I guarantee that this would become the go-to app for dancers everywhere (from veteran adults like myself, down to aspiring schoolkids who watch too many Youtube videos), and if it doesn't already support these features, you could gain a HUGE following by adding these. Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.

[Rim]

Auria imports and exports MP3s, but it doesn't use them natively. It converts them to WAV before use. Most DAWs do this becuase it's incredibly taxing on the CPU to do real time decoding and encoding of MP3 across multiple tracks.

Auria has a real time pitch plugin, but it's mainly used for correcting vocals.

Hope this helps.

Rim

[devonair]

First off: you are AWESOME for how quickly you responded! =) That makes me consider purchasing even more seriously.

As strange as this might sound to you, can the pitch-shift feature you mention be used for beat matching? That's entirely what I would be using it for (unless there is a better way in your app).

And again: thank you for clarifying. I really do wish Apple allowed for trialware/demoware of paid apps. Since I have such a particular use-case with such particular needs, I just want to make sure your app fits my workflow -- or that I can adjust my workflow in an acceptable way... hell, if Auria has ways of me being able to remix tracks that work better/faster, I'm more than willing to change my old habits =)

[Rim]

The ReTune plugin basically can scale up or down the pitch of a track in real time. It's mostly sed in automatic mode, where it acts like an auto tuning plugin for correcting vocals, but you can also use it in manual mode to simply alter the pitch of the music. however, it won't alter the tempo or speed, only the pitch.

Rim

[devonair]

That's what I was afraid of. So is there any function in the app for changing the speed or tempo of an audio clip?

[Rim]

No, Auria doesn't have anything like that.

Rim