NO, the Ipad has it's uses and as a new sort of instrument, sure.

Ok here is why??

even now I have computer free work enviroment, huh??  I put my laptop on a box with all the hard drives on the box as well.  I sit in front of my 80cm TV/Monitor and everything is wireless.

I use the ipad as a controller as well.

An I pad may eventually be powerful enough to power a real DAW but if I already have an invisible work environment, why do I need a dwarven one??   
 
Look lets use these new wonderful devices, as they are being used, as instruments, controllers and other freaky things, the desktop is dead!!! Ok here comes the howls but I am right on this one and I know I am right, I use an I5 first gen laptop and so do a lot of other people around here but they're laptops are a lot more powerful.
 
I haven't even maxed my computer out mine and I have 80 cut up tracks, gazzilons of effects, vvocal, audio snap.
 
Laptops are just too powerful and here is the argument against my argument what about connectors onlaptops, well as long as they have ESATA, USB3 (express card slot although these are obsolete) and now wait for it Thunderbolt.  The desktop is dead.  My laptop whilst not quite quiet is almost, certinaly you can't here it in the background.
 
For me and this is where I could be wrong, I want to see and feel that I have an eco system, imagine how flimsily your cables into your ipad are going to be.
 
On saying that Alesis have a very nifty interface for the ipad two and for mobile recording I would have no problem, the ipad as a 4 track mobile recorder has huge potential.
 
Neb 

I figured, but it was hilarious how they implied it would sound that good! of course the samples would sound great ;)


Lance

samson7842


Actually, I'm looking at getting an iPad to use as a sketch pad for song ideas. Would be great to have a Sonar app that would allow me to come up with basic ideas on my iPad, then transfer them in to my home set up to flesh out and finish.

NI's Maschine has this, why not Cakewalk?

munmun, you should try nano studio. I've heard great things about it. I understand it's a very usable creation tool. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIl8tG_dmt8

I think tablets are basically a nifty gimmick, with not much to offer a 'serious' computer user. They definitely fill a niche in the market, for people who don't really want to deal with a proper computer and all it's idiosyncracies, and like John T said, don't need all the performance. It's basically a big smartphone, without the phone.

But the extremely limited I/O, total lack of onboard expandability/upgradeability, lack of user serviceable parts, and the small touch screen basically make it worthless (IMO) for serious work like audio production. (Serious meaning, requiring lots of hardware like audio interfaces and HDDs, CPU and RAM intensive, control-laden interfaces, etc). I mean, how many audio tracks can you fit on an iPad screen, at a resolution that lets you do even the most basic edits? Forget Ctrl+Shift+Click... no hotkeys!? Kill me now.

Useless.

That's the "replacing the desktop" mentality. I don't think anyone would consider producing and mixing a full record w/ the need to record a live band and all using an iPad.

There are already some interesting devices out there to provide additional functionality to the iPad, like the Alesis AmpDock, I/O Dock and DM Dock.

this is a classic "horses for courses " scenario.
the tablet is by design a mobile device. It is designed to be so, and it provides great capability in the mobile world. Garage band on an iPad is nothing short of brilliant in that context. the iPad also has the ability to run control surface apps etc etc.

but when it comes to storage, resilience, sheer brute processing power etc, then there is a way to go for the tablet. 

when you consider tablet devices, all they are really is an access device to "the cloud" so a sensible, viable and desirable strategy (at least in the short term) would be to allow access to your desktop (network daw) as a remote device using the key strengths of all of the technology available.

cakewalk have a programme it seems that ultimately your complaint is that it ain't your programme - if you need validation just ask how many final mixes and masters are produced on an iPad.

munmun


I have a desktop on which I have Sonar, email, facebook ...  general purpose usage and also music recording.  I recently bought myself an iPad and it is amazing how my usage has changed.  I barely use the desktop.  Just for music recording and some iTunes stuff.  I now have Garage Band on my iPad and am using it to make demos.  Garage Band is quite mickey mouse but good for quick song ideas.

As tablets get more powerful, it is likely that we will eventually have our DAW's loaded into them and use our hands to control knobs, etc on the screen.  It is also quite like that much like today, Apple will retain a huge dominance of the tablet market.  Windows will become a secondary player as desktops and laptops get eclipsed by tablets.
So I want to use Sonar on a tablet of the future. That tablet is likely going to have the Apple brand on it.

So what are we doing about this Cakewalk?

Avid recently had a little survey concerning iPads. Whether we like it or not, anything that's integrated into Pro Tools is likely to become standard. 

As unappealing as it is to some who think more in terms of "serious work", I wouldn't be surprised if a few years from now, DAW software developers used compatibility and/or integration of the iPad in their software as a selling factor. 

Incidentally, I'm downloading the latest update for Logic which improves compatibility w/ Garage Band iOS. Not that I care for GB myself - I've uninstalled from my computer - but I like to see the progress.

Yes, I think that's right. Touch will become significant for DAW use, but not necessarily the tablet form factor. The thing that we currently call a desktop will change, but the paradigm of the brute power of a non-portable system is not going away quickly. For one thing, a computer is only one small part of a studio, and portability is not something you can easily bring to the other elements.

chuckebaby


benMmustech,

to say the desktop is dead is like saying "please replace the fan on your laptop"..i cant...why?..becuase i almost need to be a tech to take it all apart and then put it all back together again using every single nut and bolt"
i used an i3 laptop for a while till i built my own i7 "desktop" know why i went desktop? because if something goes wrong or i want to upgrade to multi monitors(even though i use 3)someone who only has one might want a small upgrade.
tell me how easy will it be for you to use three monitors on your lap top,and im not talking about counting your laptop as one of those screens.you cant,you cant even go two screen unless you use a usb monitor(which suks the life out of your cpu to a good extent)or a docking station(will still suk the life out)laptops are a great means of survivial in the transportation world but the desktop will live on because it can not only fit more in it but it is versital to the point it can change with time.when your i pad breaks,can you take it apart to fix it?.no.when you desktop breaks can you take it apart and fix it?.yes,easily.

I told you there would be howls of condenmation, well you have me on the tech and I need a new fan thing, I had to get new a monitor for my laptop parts were expensive but the actual labour was 50 bucks hardly going to break the bank and because it is a monitor yea it's going to be an expensive thing to replace.
 
So whilst your argument looks good on paper it doesn't hold water, I dont mind paying a few bucks for the actual tech ****, I can do the rest or the software stuff.
 
Now for the monitor, why have three monitor's when I can have one **** yea 100cm job and I actually think X1 has been designed for larger TV/Style monitor's, there have been a few complaints about having to scroll the screen on the smaller real computer monitors.
 
Now I am going to drift into speculation and I will have to do some research but if you use a HDMI splitter because that is how I send my vision out of the laptop into the TV.  You would think there would be someway of turning the HDMI splitter into multiple monitors.
 
If I haven't explained myself properly let me know and I will try and do better.
 
Neb

When the Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks with Intel Ivy Bridge chips hit this fall we will have the best of both worlds. Some will have a pivoting screen to fold over to convert it to a tablet like device. 

Apple make some cool toys, however I won't be recording any albums on any of their tablets.
 That would be like going backwards, IMO touch screens suck !!!!!

Serious music- or video makers who need several screens, heavy duty software, instrument keyboards, hardware for secure backups and for moving the projects will never become "lightweight iPad operators", which doesn't mean they could not benefit multi-touch screens,  tablet- computers  and such.

I believe we can't quite see yet, what are the most usefull features the new technology has to offer to music- and video makers. On the gaming front the main development continues to go towards heavier and more demanding systems, big screens, 3D, game-specific hardware and whatever, and the iPad department is a totally different world with a philosophy of it's own.

...and Adam tried the apple....gave it to Eve...now see where our sorry world is headed...make the correlation!

ROTFL!

You have it the wrong way around but who cares.

Frostysnake

benjaminfrog


Creepy avatar, Mike.

Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit....sorry, this was the first thing that came to mind and it is early AND I have not had any coffee...cheers fellas...
 

This is what I think of every time I see Mike's avatar:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8MkVIe9xGc   

It's moving fast... Check this out. 

Pretty cool little thing to record jams and rehearsals, w/ 4 I/O...

The desktop is dead.

 
Have you run a well configured 3930k based DAW???  
Unless you plan on dropping upwards of $4k, you won't get anywhere near that performance with a laptop.
 
If you do take the plunge on a 3930k based laptop, what happens when you want to upgrade it?
You have to purchase a whole new laptop.
With a tower, you can swap out the motherboard/processor... and essentially have a whole new machine.
With a tower, it's easy to add HDs, setup RAID-0 arrays for disk-streaming sample libraries, etc.
 
Desktop machines will be around for a LONG time... for those that need the most power/flexibility.