Before you read this blog post any further I want to sympathize with you. The last thing we need right now is another person playing Monday morning quarterback with the Ipad. This post won’t be that at all. Its interesting to see the large amount of people that have deemed the iPad as Apple’s next great FAIL. But does Apple really fail at anything? When you’re a 15 billion dollar company what do your fail’s really look like? The truth is there are people that would buy whatever Steve announced yesterday whether it be an iPad or an iEnema. I’d be careful to call it an Apple fail because, as Apple always does, in a few months they’ll come out with their new iPad model that will blow everyone away. In this post we won’t critique the iPad for what it is but look at what the existence of the iPad could mean for music. So put your criticisms aside for a few moments and dream with me about what the iPad COULD mean for music.
Ultimate Touch-Screen Controller
This is the most obvious conclusion to draw from Wednesday’s announcement. There have already been plenty of blogs to speculate on how the iPad could be used as a killer touchscreen controller. This is expected as we are currently controller obsessed. There’s been a huge emphasis on getting your hands off your computer and onto a controller. Now we’ve got the APC40, the Launchpad, the APC20, and even Openlab’s creations. Imagine connecting to your computer via bluetooth with no cables and being able to control every aspect of your DAW with the controller. You could walk around on the stage, start a song off stage and walk on stage with it, etc. Where the iPhone started this possibility, the iPad is allowing it to come to fruition a little more practically. A bigger screen means bigger buttons and better ability to really interact with a lot of parameters. With your controller being a virtual interface and not a physical device it means you could have 15 pages to control 550 different functions or more. Where other controllers have attempted to be “mobile” the iPad could really truly be that “mobile” controller. The fact is this possibility is already very much a reality. Think of running Novation’s Automap software on an iPad and having complete control over your Live set. The possibilities are endless.
Virtual Midi Keyboard
A phrase I’ve coined over the past few years is “everyman needs an Oxygen 8“. M-audios 25 key midi-controller is incredible when it comes to being an external controller. It can function as a controller to fire scenes in Live, tweak your VST setup or even play some pretty hot synth bass or killer lead lines on. Imagine having the same function as an Oxygen 8 under your fingers. We’ve already discussed the ability to use the iPad as a controller, but how about it as a keyboard? Imagine programming your drums using a screen with 8 “drum pads” on it. Or imagine playing a synth part into Live using your “virtual” Oxygen 8. You could switch octaves and create multi-velocities for each key. Sure the keys wouldn’t be weighted but have you ever played an Oxygen 8? It’s not like its the best “playing” keyboard ever anyways. Plus, there are not too many people trying to play Chopin on an Oxygen 8 anyways. Having the ability to pull out your iPad and program your keys parts or drum parts comfortably with your laptop would be super cool.
DAW in the Clouds
This is probably the coolest possibility I see for using an iPad. It’s still a little “futuristic” sounding but could very easily be pulled off soon. Imagine being able to run Ableton Live on your iPad and reference samples and instruments that aren’t on your device. Imagine being able to open Live sets that you created on your home computer and being able to upload those to a location on Ableton’s site. You then bust open Live on your iPad. It automatically loads based on the preferences set on your home computer. All your preferences and midi and key mappings are exactly the same. Change a few knobs and hit save and its all the same when you get home to your computer there.
Imagine having the ability to reference your 21 gig sample collection on the go. Use any sample you wish – just select it and drag it into your set and you’re good to go. Imagine being able to collaborate “over the air” with your friends also running Live on their iPad or computer. You could provide them with access to your set and they could control parameters in Live and you could control their Live sets. Oh yeah, and remember earlier when we talked about having access to a keyboard and a controller ON your iPad. Imagine having that and Live all on one device!
We may still have some work to do to get us where we could trust samples and sets for live performance but the way technology works with things continually speeding up, I don’t think we are too far off from it. For now just dream with me a little bit and get excited about the possibilities.
Affordability
One of the complaints everyone seems to be presenting is “why would I spend $500 on a tablet when I have an laptop and an Iphone already?” Well its important to remember that the iPad is supposed to be our “middle” device. Its supposed to meet the need that netbooks have attempted to meet. Its unclear whether or not it will be able to successfully do that yet…but let’s look at it within the context of a musician and how it could be more “affordable”. Let’s get more specific and take a look at someone who travels and uses a few pieces of external gear in their music performance along with their laptop. Here’s a sample gear list:
1) M-Audio Oxygen 8 ($69) *This could be higher if you we’re to get a newer keyboard with more features*
2) Akai APC-40 ($399)
Total = $468
So with just that gear alone we are only $31 short of an iPad! You’ve cut down on the size of your gear and you’re now carrying less of it. Oh yeah, and your new piece of “music gear” answers emails and has internet access and has access to over 140,000 apps. All those “extras” for only $31. Sounds like a deal to me. Sure you’d still be using your laptop to run Live but you were doing that anyway. And whenever we get into the future (cue.. “In the year 2000…”), you’ll be able to run Live directly on your device and may be able to keep your laptop at home.
I’ve chosen to be more on the optimistic and excited side about the iPad than most people simply because of what it could do to revolutionize music creation, production, and live performance. Lets see what the next few months look like for Apple and the iPad and maybe we’ll revisit this topic. Let me know your thoughts and whether you’ll being getting one!
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