Er, Android apps. Anyone at Cakewalk heard of them?

Will any of these funky apps...
"ScratchPad 1.2 for iPad is now available for just $1.99 on the Apple App Store! http://scratchpad.cakewalk.com/"
...ever appear for non-Apple devotees? 
Seems ironic that a brand started from a Windows-only stance (hence my adoption of it many years ago!) only seems to support/promote mobile apps running on its chief rival's hardware.
Perplexed.  Please excuse me if I'm missing something obvious. 

I have to agree with you completely EezyP!  I have an iPad and an Android Dell Venue 8.  I've found NOTHING for the Dell tablet.  I'd love to see something like V-Control for Androids.  I guess it's out of Cakewalks hands but I hope they're encouraging some developers.  At the end of the day, I'm actually looking for tablets to be powerful enough to run Windows AND apps like Sonar.  I'm guessing that's still a couple years down the pike. 

I've talked to a bunch of other developers over the years about Android. There seems to be two basic issues:
 
1. As pointed out above, latency. You can't really do real-time music apps on Android, which is what CW has done for iOS. Sonoma Wire Works came up with a low latency solution, but apparently it was never adopted.
2. iOS is very standardized. There are many variants on the Android platform, so it's difficult to come up with universal solutions and QC them. I have an Android and there are tons of programs that simply won't work with my particular phone. If you look at reviews in Google Play, you'll see "Works with this phone," "Doesn't work with this phone, uninstalled," "Worked until recent update," etc.
 
I doubt Cakewalk would want to divert resources away from their core programs to get into that particular quagmire. That said, I do know they are aware of Android and following its progress. There are always rumors that a more real-time Android OS is "just around the corner," but I've been hearing that for a couple years. 

IKMultimedia are one of the companies most into tablet/phone music applications. They also say the latency is too great with Android, hence they only produce for IOS.

AT
 
 I think Noel said they were thinking about that option, and now Craig hints at something exciting coming this way.  You can tell me the secret Craig - I won't squeal.  Well, maybe w/ delight if it is a big scratchpad.
 

Please don't read anything additional into "That said, I do know they are aware of Android and following its progress." Take it at face value. If they are working on something, I'm not aware of it.

I started coding for Android earlier this year, with the idea of a writing a remote terminal app for my own product. What I've found is that Android is going down the same fragmented path as every other Linux derivative, diverging into competing semi-standards as vendors jockey for competitive advantage.
 
Google owns Android, and does attempt to set standards like Apple does for iOS, but you just can't do that and still maintain the open environment that makes Linux/Android so attractive in the first place. The result is an operating system that's not particularly good at any one thing, applications that aren't compatible with all platforms, and an inability to adapt quickly to changing consumer demands.
 
Right now Android has a powerful champion in Samsung, whose market dominance is enforcing something akin to platform standards. But we've all seen market leaders come and go the way of MicroRim and Palm. Microsoft won't save the day because their flagship O/S doesn't adapt well to tablets and phones. Trying to crowbar Windows into that world is what brought us the abomination that is Metro.
 
Here's what could happen: Samsung could end up crushing its competition and becoming the IBM/Microsoft of the smartphone and tablet world, thus establishing a rigid model for everyone else to follow. This has already begun, insofar as compatibility with Samsung hardware is already a de facto standard for developers. 
 
Samsung is the world's largest non-public, family-owned company. I don't know if the future of computing is best served by being entirely in the hands of one Korean family, but at the moment it's the best we Apple nonbelievers can hope for.

I'm not going to mention the product name and it may not be what I think it is BUT when I was getting a little frustrated with X2 (loving X3 though) I was looking around at alternatives. One of the competitors seems to have written a specific little add on for their program to control things from a touch device. I think now that Cake has shaken out a lot of the bugs and quirks of the X series platform and they seem to now have the time to work on cool new goodies that a similar program specific app written BY Cakewalk FOR Sonar would be really cool. That way the Bakers have full control of what's going on. Sonar is a rather unique program in many ways so I think the "One App Fits All" approach a third party company would offer might not really cut it. I'm sure Sonar users who are interested in such a thing (which I would be if I had the cash for a pad device and an app) would be willing to pay $50 or perhaps more for the ability to RELIABLY control things remotely. 
 
Just a thought. Cheers.

I have not tested it out myself yet but I have been told by a few people here that they have been able to run Sonar on severely under spec devices for the purposes of basic tracking and MIDI editing. It's when you start trying to use the crazier VST's and effects where things start going wrong.
 
Again I have not tested this out yet but a clean modern PC or tablet set up correctly should have enough power for basic functions. Cripes... my old system was a P4 with under 2GB of RAM and it NEVER hiccupped or dropped out unless I was doing something really stupid. Of course I was using an older DAW though but people have been recording digitally for a loooong time on computers even a mediocre current day phone or tablet would destroy performance wise.
 
I was more referring to control surface applications earlier though and what I'm assuming what OP was referring to.

Sylvan
I guess I am in the minority. I don't do Apple or Android. I am completely committed to Windows. I use a Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface tablets, and Windows XP, 7, and 8 desktop operating systems.
 
So I suppose I will suffer in some ways by not having cool and useful apps developed for my Windows phone that I could use with SONAR. But oh well. I'll manage. But it would be really cool to have some useful control apps for SONAR on Windows Phone or Surface tablet.

Well I'm personally with you, at least in regards to studio stuff. I am invested in Sonar which is a Windows only platform and I am not the type to mess around with trying to fit square pegs into round holes. I am currently delving into some Linux stuff for other things and if I had a ton of cash to throw around I wouldn't mind having some iGoodies just to play with BUT I have been a Windows guy since I first booted up a computer. It is what I know, all my gear was bought around Windows and Sonar and frankly it's all harrowing enough as it is without tossing unknown OS's and devices into the mix and trying to make them play nice with each other. When I am making music I want to record my crap and be done with it. I can experiment with other things when I'm not pretending I'm an artiste.
 
That said I think there will be a lot more Windows based options for this type of softech coming down the pipe. I mean it was only a few years ago that MS had absolutely NO real touch options. Win8 was their first real foray into the touch world in an effort to keep up with their competitors. People want touch. People want tablets. People want to do crap on their phones. Whatever. They were behind the ball on that and I think they were suffering for it thus the drastic and somewhat awkward (IMO) release of Win8 BUT they are making the effort. We now have Windows tablets and phones and whatnots and you know that shiz is going to get developed out the ying yang.
 
I have been as hesitant about the touch stuff as much as I was about digital audio and before that computers in general because all of those things were a) too expensive, b) too complex and prone to failure and c) simply not worth the effort for the bottom line results. Basically it was far cheaper and easier for me to pay a guy to record my bands in the old days than it was to do what I am doing now.
 
What I expect is the Windows touch world to take its place in the market and integrate itself to the point of being just as or more useful than it's competitors for either less cost (in relation to Apple) or compatibility/stability (in regards to Android or other oddities that filled a niche while MS was picking daisies).
 
I'm not an MS fanboy by any means but they are generally predictable, reliable (to an extent) and everyone writes code and/or builds their hardware with them in mind. They just drug their feet with the touchscreen stuff and are gonna go through their usual awkward nonsense before we get the Win95 or WinXP of the touch world.
 
I do seriously think the Bakers should be writing or considering some kind of control surface app for Windows now if they want to stay modern because it is coming and it really is what people are wanting these days.
 
 

mmorgan
 
I would take a look at Music Creator, it is very similar to Sonar just a slimmed down version and is pretty much written with a tablet in mind (i.e. very touchable).
 
I don't have it but an acquaintance does and I have to admit I was kind of scratching my head at just how powerful it appeared and was wondering if I could actually get by with just that much as a DAW. 
 
Regards,

Not that it would serve the same purpose as MC but I've used Pyro AC EXTENSIVELY over the winter for recording and editing basic single track recordings (weird I know but it did what I needed it to) and it works very well on my laptop. I tried Audacity at first but Pyro kicked it's arse and I was easily able to import the Pyro exports into Sonar for more intensive screwing around. I'm sure MC would be great for most audio needs on low powered devices and it was recommended multiple times when I was asking about capturing audio on my underpowered systems.
 
Also... hi, mmorgan. ;-)

Thanks, Mike.
 
I may have to swipe MC as a backup alternative for multi tracking live recordings if I can't get any of my X series stuff to play nice on my (other other people's) more transportable setups (laptops, computers that people don't mind being in bars/chaotic enviros).
 
Pyro is pretty cool though but is definitely not a full on DAW. It's like a nicer program than Audacity but a cheaper alternative to something like Wavelab (which is what I had on my old rig) plus it's got an audio library and ripper function so I don't have to deal with the current WinMediaPlayer which I hate (more like WinAmp). I got it for redbook stuff (tagging, track separation) and the MP3 stuff, etc. Basically all the things that Sonar Pro doesn't do (for some reason and much to my chagrin). It's got a little FX bin for VSTs (and comes with the Sonitus multiband EQ and Cakewalk 2 band EQ as well as some Izotope audio restore stuff and a few other things) and some rudimentary but good editing features.
 
The fact that it works great as a simple audio recorder was an unexpected surprise. The single track thing is a drawback but it's easy enough to just import a wave and nudge it up/x-fade it to where it needs to be but multitrack isn't really what it's supposed to be. Not bad for $20 and I snagged it free with one of the $20 freebie coupons Cake sent out. If you need something like that it's worth a look.
 
Hope you are well. Cheers.

Well if you're just snagging a stereo out board feed (or two mono tracks left/right into the stereo track that can be split in Sonar later) Pyro is a very easy solution. I had an RCA to mini stereo jack cable running from my board directly to the stereo mic input on my laptop and I was snagging some very clear, dropout free stuff at 48khz 16bit (but I probably could have gone higher). No interface or nothin'. I just set the Windows mixer so it wouldn't clip too easily and then did everything else from the hardware mixer. It's got a markers function, slip editing, cross fading/fade in and out, move tools and the little zoom/nav bar on the bottom is kind of archaic but wicked easy to use. Exports were all perfect (no dropouts or glitches at all). I'm on an AMD 1.something Ghz with 3gb RAM laptop crowded with bloatware and AV stuff, had all sorts of other programs running and using the MOBO's onboard audio driver.
 
I mean... I'm probably gushing more than I should. It is a very basic program but I was really impressed with it. Kind of wish it did multitrack stuff but I'll check out Music Creator if the need arises.
 
Cheers, Grem.

Grem

CakeAlexS
 
Personally I don't need any android apps .... Far more interested in the PC based core product.

Yes I agree. But how hard would it be to have a "lite" version of Sonar to run on a Win 8 tablet? Or even a Win8 phone?

 
I was told that Sonar doesn't run on .NET. My speculation would be that Sonar would probably need to be moved to .NET first then stripped down and a new Modern UI created from scratch. And I guess a new engine would have to be rewritten (?). Not easy or quick I would have thought in any scenario whether I'm right about this or wrong.