I have an 5 year old Ipad and a Novation LaunchKey - Can I combine them to play keys at gigs?

[SanDiegoHarry]

Is there an app that will actually act like a good enough keyboard engine so that I could run this as a rig for gigging?

Recommendations?

THANKS!

 

[Biggles]

Depends.

If your iPad is up to date with its OS then yes, if not no and even the yes is qualified on what you want to play.

A while back the OS changed so that only 64 bit Apps would run and hence if your iPad is not up to date trying to install the latest Apps will fail.

Check if Garage Band is installed and if it is up to date, if it is not installed try to install it.

Then come back and advise on what you found.

Good luck

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

The OS is completely up to date and yes, Garage band works fine.
What I am hoping for sound engine for the basic giging timbres - piano, organ, horns - like a simple gigging keyboard (roland / korg / nord). I actually figure that I'll mostly play bass and 2x on keys for this band.

thanks

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Okay, more research has me finding a PILE of good iOS apps that will do the trick - but they are all big synth kind of apps - Animoog, Waldof Nave - all very cool, but not what I'm looking for. I'd like *gigging* sounds - piano, organ, brass, strings - not wild about what I"ve found in Garage band - any suggestions?

 

[Biggles]

Music Studio, Arturia, Synthesia, Korg Gadget, Galileo Organ are worthwhile with Music Studio have a good selection of Bass sounds.

I have have tried a few piano Apps which are OK but only OK, best if you download the trial versions and check them out.

Best I have tried is Piano but it is a subscription and my 7 day trial expired a while ago.

Good luck.

 

[anotherscott]

Okay, more research has me finding a PILE of good iOS apps that will do the trick - but they are all big synth kind of apps - Animoog, Waldof Nave - all very cool, but not what I'm looking for. I'd like *gigging* sounds - piano, organ, brass, strings - not wild about what I"ve found in Garage band - any suggestions?

The problem with Garageband is that it always listens on all MIDI channels, so as a keyboard-triggerable "sound module," it is basically impossible to run it along side any other MIDI sound module apps, which is really limiting to start building a system around. So for that reason alone, I'd look elsewhere.

For single apps that can simultaneously play multiple "gigging" sounds as you describe, I think possibilities include
Sampletank
iM1
BS-16i
Roland Sound Canvas
Korg Gadget
Thumbjam
Beathawk

Korg Module has nice sounds, though it can only play one at a time (though you can also bring its sounds into Gadget which then lets you play more than one at a time).

Then there are apps that really focus on just one sound (or one kind of sound), and if your iPad is capable enough, you can run a few of them at once to mix and match their sounds (more easily done if you have an integrating app like Keystage, AUM, iMidiPatchbay or Camelot Pro, though your need for something like this may also depend on the flexibility of your controller, and not all apps necessarily play equally well with all others). So for example, you could look at apps like Ravenscroft 275 for piano, Neo-Soul Keys for EPs, Galileo for organ, iSymphonic for strings, Heavy Brass for brass, etc. You might pick one of the multi-sound apps above, and just supplement it with one or two of these other for specific sounds that you wish were stronger.

 

[Biggles]

Throwing in a curve ball if you are looking at replacing your iPad with a Macbook then that opens up a whole range of options.

Logic Pro and its companion App MainStage will give 80Gb of instrument sounds and samples, with MainStage extensively being used within live gigging.

I have MainStage on my Wife’s iMac and it is awesome, still learning its capabilities myself but just noodling around with the sounds is intoxicating. Just buying MainStage gives the same 80Gb of sounds and samples as are available with Logic Pro.

 

[b3maniac]

Korg Module has nice sounds, though it can only play one at a time (though you can also bring its sounds into Gadget which then lets you play more than one at a time).

I think the Korg Module Pro option provides for layering two sounds. I haven't tried it though. Don

 

[Biggles]

Before you buy K M Pro do read the reviews as one person has a polyophny problem that may also affect you if you play similar to them ie with fast runs and sustain.