Noob here be gentle with me!

[koss]

Hi,
I'm an old school guitar/harp/vocals musician of 40 years. I want to move away from my old Sony hand held cassette recorder (lo-tech but it has served me well) and take advantage of the wonderful recording opportunities on iPad. I want to record sound on sound. Lay down a rythtmn track with GarageBand, add rythtmn guitar, vocals, then lead guitar building up a song track by track. This requires me to monitor (actually listen to) the existing track or tracks as I build the song adding further tracks. If that makes sense? What is the best App for that. I've looked at Harmonicdog and the more expensive Auria. But neither specs are clear as to whether I could actually monitor by listening? I don't want to buy the App til I know it suits my purpose. I've contacted the software companies but they haven't replied. I have a simple Tascam iXZ interface.
Can anyone help?

Many thanks and this is a great site, by the way.
Mike

[9white5]

I may have misunderstood your question but do you have a DAW? It sounds like thats the thing you're looking for, if you're asking what i think you're asking

[9white5]

Wait nevermind, i just read that you're using Garage Band. I dont know much about GB but cant you record audio in real time in it? It wouldnt be much of a DAW if you couldnt.. o.O

[_ronzlo_]

For iPad, take a look at Loopy in conjunction with Audiobus to patch in other instruments as needed. You can monitor playback and recording at the same time discretely, and Audiobus allows you to pipe those tracks out through FXx or into other recording apps as needed, or to do the opposite (pipe in tracks through FX or to record into a track in Loopy.)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/loopy-h ... 23185?mt=8

[Dub_Fiend]

There's also a version of Steinberg's Cubase available for iPad called Cubasis for about £35? It supports both audio and MIDI work and it looks much like the PC version. I use Cubase 5 myself and I find it's a solid DAW on the PC so I would expect the same of the iPad version too

Product Info: http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/mo ... basis.html

iPad App Page: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/cubasis ... 76519?mt=8

[JBE]

I would honestly suggest not investing in the ipad as a primary device for music. It's a wonderful device when used in conjunction with a DAW or other live performance devices but I can't see it being sufficient on it's own.

I would suggest looking into a pc/mac related DAW. If it's the cost you're worried about check out something like reaper which is relatively cheap in comparison to most programs on the market and it's got a really lax trial period to learn it before purchasing.

If you're absolutely set on using the ipad then I would look for the programs that were developed by companies that already have a marketable working product on other platform such as Cubasis as mentioned by Dub Fiend. At least this way you know you're getting a product from a reputable company that has a lot of experience developing this kind of software. Take some time and look at some different DAWs and then check to see if they have mobile versions. A lot of the more popular ones do these days.

[fragments]

I almost posted pretty much what JBE did when I saw this yesterday. Honestly, if you dont already have the iPad or even if you do...I feel like if you start taking this more seriously you are really going to want something with more power and more options available.

[elyhess]

ableton, logic, cubase, pro tools, reason, reaper, fl studio

[Jens]

I think cubase or logic is the way to go for your music style. fl and ableton is kinda more designed for techno-music

[_ronzlo_]

I would honestly suggest not investing in the ipad as a primary device for music. It's a wonderful device when used in conjunction with a DAW or other live performance devices but I can't see it being sufficient on it's own.

@JBE - I would respectfully disagree, although the workflow is still a little wonky at this point. There's an entire community of folks who only use iDevices in their composition and sonically you would not be able to tell the difference in results from a standard desktop DAW. Take a look on the Sunvox forums, or check out Discchord.com or Palmsounds.net. Entire LPs produced and produced well on nothing but an iPad or even iPhone.

That being said:

I can also see an iPad as being a good entry into production-land and eventually prompting someone to get a DAW down the road once they've mastered the basics. You can still do it all on an iPad, but IAA needs to come a lot further and be more ubiquitous before the workflow is on par with, say, Reaper and a handful of good plugs. Sound design on a touch device is a lot more fun tho tbh. A little closer to oldskool hardware tweaking where you try to find those sweet spots between settings.

[legend4ry]

I adore my iPad and its absolutely fine for recording, simple editing and arranging.

Even the Garageband app will let you do this! I can't remember exactly but I think you have to buy the audio in function, I bought the whole suite for around 3 quid I think?

If you are going to record into the Ipad I would absolutely suggest one of the third party microphones for better clarity such as the Zoom : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoom-Black-Micr ... s+for+ipad or even the little Rode : http://www.amazon.co.uk/R%C3%98DE-SMART ... y_MI_img_y is great for just simple demos.

Though I must say that you'll have a lot of messing around to get it sounding past the 'demo stage' without a 'real' DAW to export into.

Though your question about monitoring : do you mean live? I think Garageband allows this if you have headphones in. I can't confirm it though.