Midi Keyboard + Ipad Setup - Questions

[Elamshin]

Hey Guys,
It's been a while. Now i am back with another question.
In last months i bought and sold keyboards,tried them. Wasn't satisfied with them.
I am thinking of Midi Controller Keyboard+Ipad setup. Do you recommend it ? Are they crash free?
Worth getting that setup? Do you think Ipad Apps sound good as hardware keyboards?
The reason i am thinking of this setup is , Ipad can be used for other purposes,feels like 2 birds with one stone.
Anyway , I would like to hear your advices.
Thank You

 

[Biggles]

No
Yes
Maybe
No

The best iPad App that I have used is Music Studio with a midi keyboard that I bought but sold as the key action was inconsistent. The sound from the iPad was not on a par with my keyboards by a huge margin.

Do buy a top quality controller keyboard if you do go this route.

If you do go this route then a PC or MAC as the basis will give you far better sound quality.

BTW

What keyboards have you tried and discounted?

 

[Elamshin]

Hey Biggles,
Thanks for answers.
I tried Korg x50. Was a bit complicated to fix things. Also too many sounds that i dont really need and keys didnt feel right to me.
Juno-Di another one,had some hardware issues. I also have Old PSR E-423 . Its keys feel good. But sounds in it are not satisfying to me.
I always had my eyes on Korg Krome and Kross 2. The thing is You decide to buy a new keyboard , you keep searching and watching videos.
Then there is always a better option so you get disctracted and enD up considering keyboards that you cant afford I made wrong choices. Now only have my Old PSR with me . That's why i considered Ipad Midi option. Also i cant be sure if i really need a new keyboard? How do you guys make sure of it ?

 

[MikeyParent]

I am not sure how long its been since Biggles has dipped his foot in this pool but things are much better now than they were a couple years ago.

I have been using this setup for nearly 2 years. I wont say its crash free but its pretty stable. Most times that I had an issue its been of my own doing.

Korg and Moog make some pretty amazing synths.

Korg makes great emulations of the ARP Odyssey, M1, MS20, Mono/Poly, WaveStation, PolySix

The Moog Model 15 and Model D are amazing:

Tons of other great synths, some even free or very cheap.

Ask me anything!

 

[MikeyParent]

 

[Biggles]

It depends upon what you want to do?

I have some of the synth apps that Mikey writes about and yes they are good.

I have the Kross 2 and love it, but it does take a lot of learning and the fact that the manual is written in Klingon does not help.

I would avoid to many online reviews, instead look at Korg Video Manual tutorials for the Kross 2, watch them a couple of times then go to a music store if you can and play one.

The Kross 2 is what about $600 yet a half decent keyboard controller like a Novation Impulse 61 is about $400 and arguably the Kross will do all the Novation will plus a ton of other stuff as well.

My advice would be to take your time and check out both avenues thoroughly.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I think the age of your iPad is going to be a factor as far as how good the soft synths sound. An older iPad might be able to handle some of the soft synths, but the better soft synths will most likely require iOS 10 or above, and older iPads do not meet the hardware requirements for iOS 10.

But the iPad's connection to external speakers will also be an important factor; I would not recommend trying to get away with using just the iPad's built-in speakers!

 

[Elamshin]

User friendliness is very important for me. And ipad setup seems easy to control and do things. But i dont have ipad or midi keyboard. I need a connector for ipad with a monitor out then right? How do you power keyboard and ipad at same time? Connecting part seems a bit confusing to me.

 

[MikeyParent]

Being that I am one of 2 primary singers in my band (the other is a female vocalist) and the SECONDARY keyboardist, I use a Roland AX-7 (keytar). It is MIDI'd to my iPad over bluetooth using the Yamaha MD-BT01 bluetooth adapter, freeing up the lightnin port should I need it. I have experienced no noticeable lag, tho I suppose it must be there; its never been an issue. Even in the solo for Jump which is the fastest thing I play.

Recent events have led me to believe that AC powering the iPad may not be the best idea. Bad power can cause BIG weirdness with electronics. A portable battery charger is preferable.

I run a standard 1/8" -> 2 1/4" splitter cable out to a DI Box then XLR to the board

 

[MikeyParent]

User friendliness is very important for me. And ipad setup seems easy to control and do things. But i dont have ipad or midi keyboard. I need a connector for ipad with a monitor out then right? How do you power keyboard and ipad at same time? Connecting part seems a bit confusing to me.

See above. I use a stage monitor back from the mixer

 

[Elamshin]

Well i dont know much about Apple products. So do i need an Ipad Pro for this setup or regular Ipad is ok ? And how big are those apps? Do i need a model 128 gb? Also bt adaptor is not available to buy in my country i guess. Can you do splitting via apps on keyboard?
Too many questions ,sorry for that. I can find answers here only. Thank you for amazing comunity.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I can’t answer your question about iPad Pro versus regular iPad, since I haven’t compared their specs. If you can afford the Pro, then it might be worth it just for the larger screen size if screen size is important to you. I would go with whichever one has a faster processor and more processing RAM, rather than just looking at the screen size.

As far as storage RAM, the general rule is the more the better. Sample players can require a lot of storage space; and while a soft synth that generates its own oscillator waveforms rather than playing samples shouldn’t require as much storage space, you might want to get a number of different soft synths for variety. And if you end up using your iPad for other things as well, such as taking and storing photographs, or buying and reading digital magazine subscriptions, then you’ll want to have plenty of memory for those things as well.

 

[Biggles]

Now this thread is just not now making any financial sense to me at all!

Going the MIDI route via keyboard controller, cabling and a large screen iPad Pro is vastly and I mean vastly more expensive than simply buying a Korg Kross 2 or Roland Juno DS and a pair if powered speakers, so for either as a full kit we are talking way less than £700 which is a bargain in my eyes.

I have a small screen iPad, and it is not suitable for frequent use and at 128Gb its practically full so yeah you do need a large screen with a shed load of memory.

A 11” iPad Pro with 256Gb is £919 and a 14” with 256Gb is £1119, even going with an old iPad Pro you are talking smaller screen than the new versions, and a far older processor and yet still it will cost £719. Consider any iPad other than a Pro version at your peril, yes they will work but the largest size is 128Gb and they only have a 9.7” screen and even older processors than the last generation of Pro iPads.

Something like a Novation impulse keyboard controller is £256, then cables and Apps so say another £60

That Sums up to £1435 so yep 2x more expensive.

 

[MikeyParent]

Well i dont know much about Apple products. So do i need an Ipad Pro for this setup or regular Ipad is ok ? And how big are those apps? Do i need a model 128 gb? Also bt adaptor is not available to buy in my country i guess. Can you do splitting via apps on keyboard?
Too many questions ,sorry for that. I can find answers here only. Thank you for amazing comunity.

You do NOT need an iPad Pro. A regular iPad is what I have and its just fine. Mine has 32 GB and it is tight but adequate. 64 or higher would be better tho. It's noteworthy to mention that I could free up a ton of space if I deleted the many many apps I have installed but never use.
What country are you in?
You can do your splits from your controller assuming it has this ability. Also there are apps you can use that will manage this for you: AUM and iMIDIPatchBay to name a couple

 

[MikeyParent]

Now this thread is just not now making any financial sense to me at all!

Going the MIDI route via keyboard controller, cabling and a large screen iPad Pro is vastly and I mean vastly more expensive than simply buying a Korg Kross 2 or Roland Juno DS and a pair if powered speakers, so for either as a full kit we are talking way less than £700 which is a bargain in my eyes.

I have a small screen iPad, and it is not suitable for frequent use and at 128Gb its practically full so yeah you do need a large screen with a shed load of memory.

A 11” iPad Pro with 256Gb is £919 and a 14” with 256Gb is £1119, even going with an old iPad Pro you are talking smaller screen than the new versions, and a far older processor and yet still it will cost £719. Consider any iPad other than a Pro version at your peril, yes they will work but the largest size is 128Gb and they only have a 9.7” screen and even older processors than the last generation of Pro iPads.

Something like a Novation impulse keyboard controller is £256, then cables and Apps so say another £60

That Sums up to £1435 so yep 2x more expensive.

This is your opinion, it is, however, far from fact.

Needs are obviously subjective but not everyone NEEDS an iPad Pro, a large screen (unless you have vision problems), or 128 GB. I dont think I would want to go with an iPad mini but a regular iPad is just fine. It's screen is much larger than pretty much any dedicated synth screen would be. Obviously you are pretty biased against this setup, and thats fine. Just trying to present an alternate opinion/viewpoint.

Ultimately an iPad will allow you to do things a dedicated board would not. And its user updatable with new synths as they come out. Obviously however, this setup requires more work and fiddling, to be fair.

 

[Elamshin]

I am from Turkey. The reason i consider this option is because my wife needs a tablet. So it feels like 2in1. Ignore currency but lets make a calculation.
Korg Kross 2 is 4000 TRY
Korg Krome is 5000 TRY
Ipad 128 GB 2800 TRY + Impulse 49 1500 TRY + Ipad Connector 300 TRY = 4600 TRY
Pros of second way is Ipad can be used by my wife for her work.
Cons is you need to buy many apps for different kind of sounds. I am not sure if you can find sweet brass ,string sounds. I am obssessed with them.
Other option comes with many sounds but you cant surf internet with it.
Whatever i pick i need solid 5000 TRY in my pocket. But nice brainstorm going here,ive found answers to many questions that i wonder ,thanks to you guys. This comunity is awesome.

 

[Biggles]

I am from Turkey. The reason i consider this option is because my wife needs a tablet. So it feels like 2in1. Ignore currency but lets make a calculation.
Korg Kross 2 is 4000 TRY
Korg Krome is 5000 TRY
Ipad 128 GB 2800 TRY + Impulse 49 1500 TRY + Ipad Connector 300 TRY = 4600 TRY
Pros of second way is Ipad can be used by my wife for her work.
Cons is you need to buy many apps for different kind of sounds. I am not sure if you can find sweet brass ,string sounds. I am obssessed with them.
Other option comes with many sounds but you cant surf internet with it.
Whatever i pick i need solid 5000 TRY in my pocket. But nice brainstorm going here,ive found answers to many questions that i wonder ,thanks to you guys. This comunity is awesome.

It makes sense to go the iPad route if that is going to offer the best vfm for your family needs, but there is a big BUT and that is the quality of the instrument voices you seek that are available via Apps.

BTW
A non Pro version of an iPad is old tech and I for one would suggest that this is not the best buy for the long term.

The new iPad Pro has a different connector so expect that the availability of Lightning connectors fitted to current standard iPads to drop off considerably in the not to distant future just as the old 30 pin has so if you do buy a standard iPad do buy a couple of each of the connection leads that you will need..

If you plan on storing music and images on an iPad then 128Gb is barely enough, remember what I wrote earlier, my 128Gb iPad is practically full.

If you are going top use it for your music then screen size become important, I do have an old 16Gb iPad with 9.7" screen and that is a bit small for any detailed work hence why I suggest a Pro version and ideally the larger the screen the better.

As far as Apps go there are a lot of Synth Apps, which for me can become boring and repetitive.

Music Studio is a pretty good App with a full range of instrument voices but alas not one of the Brass voices compares at all to those on my Kross 2.

Have a look at this

It is the best App that I have found so far and the Lite version is free there is a paid for version which includes far more Instruments.

The last thing that I suggest you do is to buy the hardware before you find the Apps that suit the music you wany to play.

Good luck.

 

[MikeyParent]

If you are looking for bread and butter sounds you could start with Korg Module, Roland Sound Canvas or SampleTank.

 

[MikeyParent]

I am from Turkey. The reason i consider this option is because my wife needs a tablet. So it feels like 2in1. Ignore currency but lets make a calculation.
Korg Kross 2 is 4000 TRY
Korg Krome is 5000 TRY
Ipad 128 GB 2800 TRY + Impulse 49 1500 TRY + Ipad Connector 300 TRY = 4600 TRY
Pros of second way is Ipad can be used by my wife for her work.
Cons is you need to buy many apps for different kind of sounds. I am not sure if you can find sweet brass ,string sounds. I am obssessed with them.
Other option comes with many sounds but you cant surf internet with it.
Whatever i pick i need solid 5000 TRY in my pocket. But nice brainstorm going here,ive found answers to many questions that i wonder ,thanks to you guys. This comunity is awesome.

Something none of us asked which I think might be relevant.... is this to be used for live stage performance or home recording/composing use?

 

[Elamshin]

Amateur stage performance and mostly jam sessions with friends. But not full time because i am also vocalist. So i will be adding some background while other vocal is singing and also few solos time to time. User friendlines is a must for me. Because as Biggles said it is hard to understand manuals. One of reasons i sold my X50 is you have to hit many buttons just to split or add a sound to favorites. Or maybe i was just doing it wrong.
Off topic question , i saw Yanni video where he had 6 Korg Kromes. Why Krome when you can afford Kronos or other flagship keyboards?