Does an IPAD have similar computing power than a PC to power those synths?

[9headshydra]

I mean, "if you consider that it's your own skills that make good music", than there's no reason to opt for an iPad, right? Unless you think it makes you "cooler"

I'm happy with something that doesn't need a mouse controller and tablet / tactil screen help me a lot about the carpal tunnel syndrom and the pain it gives.

Is this a good reason or should I continue to suffer to please your own vision and satisfy your hate of Apple company ?

[fmr]

I mean, "if you consider that it's your own skills that make good music", than there's no reason to opt for an iPad, right? Unless you think it makes you "cooler"

I'm happy with something that doesn't need a mouse controller and tablet / tactil screen help me a lot about the carpal tunnel syndrom and the pain it gives.

Is this a good reason or should I continue to suffer to please your own vision and satisfy your hate of Apple company ?

There are many laptops now that also work with tactile screen interface, and there is an OS that already allows you to work like that. Again, what you refer is no compelling reason for use an iPad, and pay a lot for a very limited piece of gear. It's your option, nothing else. And the OP didn't mention any physical limitation, he just mentioned that he wanted to know if the iPad had some limitations in terms of computing power, when compared to a PC. And the short answer is: YES, IT HAS.

[Numanoid]

As a rough estimate, a desktop CPU is between 5 and 10 times more powerful than the latest gen iPad CPUs

If you got the latest model desktop I guess.

What if you are sticking with a computer that was new, lets say 2008, that still runs Windows XP ?

[chk071]

As I understand it, synths for the iPad are using workarounds in order to get a comparable sound.

Can you explain a bit more in detail on that statement?

With Alchemy Mobile we've had to reduce the number of additive oscillators, number of grains, and disable completely the spectral audio engine (among other things) so that presets load and play with a decent number of voices.

This will probably change at some point, when we can be certain the majority of our users are running newer devices ... but we still won't get desktop class performance.

As a rough estimate, a desktop CPU is between 5 and 10 times more powerful than the latest gen iPad CPUs. The clock speed of a single core and the fact that desktop CPUs have more cores are both factors.

Peace,
Andy.

Thanks for the heads up. I've always been wondering how the processing power of tablet devices compare to desktop computers, and how companies manage to port their allegedly identical synths to them.

[whyterabbyt]

As a rough estimate, a desktop CPU is between 5 and 10 times more powerful than the latest gen iPad CPUs

If you got the latest model desktop I guess.

What if you are sticking with a computer that was new, lets say 2008, that still runs Windows XP ?

A 2007 era Q6600 is still about 2.5 to 3 times as powerful as the A7 in the current iPads.

[9headshydra]

There are many laptops now that also work with tactile screen interface, and there is an OS that already allows you to work like that. Again, what you refer is no compelling reason for use an iPad, and pay a lot for a very limited piece of gear. It's your option, nothing else. And the OP didn't mention any physical limitation, he just mentioned that he wanted to know if the iPad had some limitations in terms of computing power, when compared to a PC. And the short answer is: YES, IT HAS.

best position for long session for sure ...

[Numanoid]

best position for long session for sure ...

You should check out the HP Pavilion x360 and other "bend friendly" laptops

[BiancaNeve]

So what touch friendly ( ie no mouse or keyboard required) music software is there that runs on a windows tablet that won't cost me an arm and a leg ?

[Numanoid]

So what touch friendly ( ie no mouse or keyboard required) music software is there that runs on a windows tablet that won't cost me an arm and a leg ?

If in need of a DAW, Sonar is optimized for touch.

Get a Windows 8 laptop with touchscreen, and that should be what you need to get going.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

As I understand it, synths for the iPad are using workarounds in order to get a comparable sound.

Can you explain a bit more in detail on that statement?

With Alchemy Mobile we've had to reduce the number of additive oscillators, number of grains, and disable completely the spectral audio engine (among other things) so that presets load and play with a decent number of voices.

This will probably change at some point, when we can be certain the majority of our users are running newer devices ... but we still won't get desktop class performance.

As a rough estimate, a desktop CPU is between 5 and 10 times more powerful than the latest gen iPad CPUs. The clock speed of a single core and the fact that desktop CPUs have more cores are both factors.

Peace,
Andy.

Thanks for the heads up. I've always been wondering how the processing power of tablet devices compare to desktop computers, and how companies manage to port their allegedly identical synths to them.

from what i gather, camel audio are adopting this strategy to cover a broader base of users, many of whom are using much older ipads. alchemy mobile is pretty unique in that it offers a kinda multi-preset scratchpad/track recorder. the compromises that they are making allows me, with my 3rd-gen ipad, to record multiple presets incl. automation, with zero issues

taking camel as an example to doubt that other developers are, in fact, offering one-to-one, conversions of their synths is unwarranted. as far as i know, synths that are advertised as accurate ports, actually are

i might be wrong.....either way, the experience of an ipad as a musical instrument may not be best judged as a discussion of processing cycles and quantities of ram

[wakax]

short answer:
yes. I'm into electroacoustic/experimental electronica and I can play a complexe live act from my iPad Air + midi controllers connected to it. I have everything i need now: low latency, audiobus, granular synths and fx, samplers, loopers.
just for example, the new released apeFilter eats 3% on cpu!!! (complexe filter+verb+compressor!)

[UltraJv]

So what touch friendly ( ie no mouse or keyboard required) music software is there that runs on a windows tablet that won't cost me an arm and a leg ?

There are threads on this already :


http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 6&t=405737

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 6&t=417652

[Numanoid]

short answer:
yes. I'm into electroacoustic/experimental electronica and I can play a complexe live act from my iPad Air + midi controllers connected to it.

Paul Hartnoll is using at least three iPads on stage during the Paralympics opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... l6c4#t=195

[UltraJv]

Touch screen is just another way of doing things. Someone on KVR told me it was "a paradigm shift" It isn't necessarily productive tho. You can move sliders around remotely by touch, but is it any better? Ever played a Glass keyboard? For music, your probably better off getting a dedicated controller to plug into a laptop. Youll often see people with laptop, tablet and mobile phone - none is a replacement for the others.

[chk071]

@ el-bo: But taking a look at what's actually ported, it's often year old plugins which shouldn't take much processing power. Or it's newly developed stuff like Waldorf's Nave, which is probably highly optimized. If you want to run a reasonable amount of instances (don't know what's possible on the iPad, i remember there was limitations in the audiobus stuff too?), you got to have stuff which doesn't use up all your processing power, which is way limited with portable devices, as you want to have a good battery span. Processors which are optimized for energy saving will always be rather limited in processing power. E.g. Intel Atom processors with 1.6 GHz were on par with Intel Pentium 1 GHz CPU's.