From Beatmaker to... (Cubasis)?

AParadigmBehind

Having mixed music since 2011 by myself, the solo act is getting boring. I'm planning on forming a band after acquiring more hardware in December. Right now I'm using an Beatmaker 2 on the iPad but I plan on purchasing a more complex iOS DAW around Christmas.

Cubasis is the program I expect to use, as well as some quality equipment that will enable input/output recording such as a professional grade microphone, audio cables and an iOS-compatible MIDI keyboard.

I'm looking for tips and advice on what programs and hardware to buy in order to further my music career. Does anyone know of any hardware I should buy or other programs I should explore before Christmas comes around?

dendy

i'm not sure tht cubasis is "more complex" than BM2 ... BM2 have lot weak places (not working cutoff when filter is modulated by lfo or envelope, general poor quality of filters and effects at all), but it is still most complex DAW on iPad... Cubasis is for me a more like joke - i expected lot more from such bog company like Steinberg ... no automation, no serious sampler / drum sampler, only very basic media library without !subdirectories!, synth with just one lfo, which takes maybe 50% of my iPad mini power (cmom - nanostudio's eden have lot more posibilities, and my ipad mini can hanlde 16 instances with 4 effexts on almost all tracks !! ..... for me Cubasis is really fail... i have all currently available DAW's fo iPad and even with all disadvantages, BM2 is still winner ...

thesavage

If are looking for a more complete ISO DAW go with Auria, For band type music.
But i agree with Dendy, BM is right at the top for what it does. For sample based music its #1.

It seems BM gets misunderstood onhow good it actually is.

AParadigmBehind

Alright, so it sounds like Auria is the way to go for band productions. However, I may still consider producing music on my own every now and then. What program(s) should I use to create new samples (synths, MIDI, etc)? Also, I'd like to have some iOS compatible physical hardware to create with, any pointers there?

thesavage

Here a good site for some resources. http://idesignsound.com

kae

Is the filter envelope still not working in BM? I remember this from like a year+ ago

thesavage

Me too

dendy

kae:if you mean issue "not working cutoff when Env > Filter or LFO > Filter modulation is turned ON", then sadly this issue is STILL there .. :-( For me this is currently of biggest BM2 issues, it's really shame that such huge bug is there still after maybe year ..

rusty

I use BM2, Cubasis and Auria, but find I use BM2 for all composing and Auria just for mastering/mixing. Cubasis has nice colors but BM2 can do everything it can and more, and a lot more easily. If you're planning on going the desktop route then you'll need everything or nothing - sampler (kontakt, halion etc), sequencer Daw (cubase, pro tools), keyboard, midi connectors and a mixer. Miss one of these and you'll still be composing on your iPad until you've filled in the missing piece. I've gone down this road a few times over the last three years and just keep coming back to bM2 with my kontakt sample library loaded up into it. Does the same job for a tiny fraction of the price and I take it with me everywhere. If you really want to invest in some new hardware I'd recommend the only thing BM doesn't have - either a sample library like Kontakt or a mean looking Gretsch!

DeeJohnson

@rusty BM2 with kontakt sample library...How?

MicGee$

After reading some of this advice...
I'm curious...
What in the world is wrong with some of your folks?
Beatmaker2 is not better for daw purposes than cubasis or auria...it's not even close in any regard, in reality it's not aimed for that purpose anyways...just to be fair to its programmers.

In order to be on par at all it would need these things that it does not have, and furthermore it's implementation has a way of going backwards not forwards.
1. The effects are not good...at all...sorry, they suck. (Auria=fabfilter, sugarbytes! etc.)
2. Arming tracks in bm2 is a overstepped hassle....not so in the others
3. Auria load aaf files....making it a serious daw...bm2 does not
4. I can not group, nor rearrange tracks...I can't cut copy paste audio to other tracks
5. The interface is big and clownish with ever shrinking inaccurate faders.
6. Effects chains can not be saved, named, etc...
7. Bm2 has an very non efficient file system...period
8. Auria has 24 bit....bm2 is only 16
9. Auria has real bussing, side chaining etc...bm2 has attempted but failed
10. Auria has portrait 100mm faders (awesome!)
11. Auria has a routing matrix, punch in and out etc...bm2 is NOT a Daw.

Beatmaker2 IMHO is a kick ass drum machine sampler with a sequencer that was stolen from nano studio, with some of the features taken away. If the next gen of nano studio includes a drum sampler that is equal to or better than the one in beatmaker2, then bm2 will breathe its final breath....or WHEN auria gets midi...and fab filters twin2 and some plug in drum sampler...there also again would be a bm2 killer!

Bm2 doesn't even plug in to auria as an IAA plug...which is not cool. At least this way I could use it in a real daw with real effects plugs and get real results. Just sayin.

Can bm2 become a daw...sure...will it become a daw...hope so...but as of now...save your breath.

MicGee$

@rusty
A person could just buy reason 7 and balance...
It sounds better than logic, studio one, and protools
Reason has a modeled ssl console that gives very highly awesome results
I have never lost files with reason, or for that matter had reason crash on me EvEr

rusty

@Dee - I loaded up the wav samples from my entire Kontakt 4 library (42GB) into BM and have assigned the instruments using the keyboard mapper to create new instruments. Works a dream and I now have over 100 new fully articulated instruments in BM and growing. The only issues you have here is RAM. Beatmaker is the only iOS DaW that can do this for some reason which is probably the top reason I'd never move away from it. It makes it just so easy to create a new instrument from scratch with a bunch of samples. When you use instruments like Strings, Brass or Choirs from Kontakt that give you every articulation for every note then bm2 sounds like you've got the real thing in the room with you. Takes a bit of time to load up and build each instrument but it's oh so worth it.

Can you do this with Cubasis or Auria - No.

rusty

I've used all three and I can't see how Cubasis and Auria compare to BM except eighth effects. Having said that, the effects in Auria seem hypothetical to me because I've had so many issues with their convolution reverb that I no longer use the App any more. Cubasis doesn't let you build an instrument library any where close to what you can do with BM2. My 42GB instrument library proves that. Never found a way to do that in Cubasis. Waited two weeks for a response from Steinberg who told me you couldn't do it.

thesavage

Ditto man. I have ton of samples loaded.
Bm really is its now beast. and i hope it stays that way,....just keeps getting better.

MicGee$

I would be happy if bm2 was merely the drum machine instrument, with audiobus and IAA, so that I could run it in auria and cubasis. The statement made earlier about putting sample libraries from kontakt was indeed interesting in two aspects....a) there is no way an instrument from kontakt can be properly articulated from the very limit filled keyboard sampler of bm2. you actually mapped all those multisamples? Good patience building such ferocious patches on such a shit sample building platform!

Beatmaker2 is not easier to use than cubasis...in fact arming, using, building, and mixing tracks on it absolutely sucks by comparison. Routing is impossible. Whoever compares a daw to a wanna be daw with so much error has limited knowledge of such things. In cubasis better effects can be used in the INSERT AND BUS effects...not on bm2. No, in bm2 we are stuck using the effects unless we send them out thru audiobus or copy-paste process them somewhere else...and then reinsert them. This blowwwwwwwwwwwws.

Just the slider length alone kills me mixing anything on bm2 seriously
There is no precision in 2 inches of slider

Don't believe me about shit being weird let's experiment....get any reverb from anything made ever....now load the reverb on bm2....make a big reverb, you can't pick a type on bm2, now start adjusting the the wet amount...notice nothing get applied very consistent at all....then the last 10% of the slider is a sudden huge application of said effect! now after full wet is set! go to the size slider???same thing!!! What the hell?

Why in the world is sf2 file compatibility not in bm2?

Midi files are compatible, but you wanna talk about a weird setup for the process wow...bm2 handles this task in a very foreign way.

Swing...I don't know what beatmaker's template is, but I know it's not what everyone else period uses. Anyone coming from an Mpc, reason, logic, my, or anything else will notice this right away...set the swing on anything to 57% now compare???

Musical staples and standards are so foreign in bm2 that it really makes you wonder, are the developers into music or gear....or do they know about the industry much at all...

I have read the arguments and discussions, I have used the tool being discussed, I have compared it to standard equipment, I do not feel the validity of many arguments being made in favor of bm2.

Why do I still own bm2? The sampling drum machine...is the best one available at this current time. Many props for this. Honestly, this is the best part of the app. The sequencer doesn't bend the mind, the GUI isn't touch happy, the effects are trash, the keyboard is meaningless, it's kinda like the jack of all trades master of none.

Ipad air and ipad mini2 will once again reshape what is to come....the CPU
On these devices may even open up the ass whoopin power of alchemy...oh please let this happen...cuz that is a powerful sampler!

thesavage

Who cares man, BM2 is still a dope app. regardless of its flaws. If your really trying to make commercial/professional music i'm sure you would be using a Desktop Daw which has all the features you are always talking about. Really no point always griping about whats lacking in BM. If it was a feature i really need, i would find another app, software, program whatever to do what i need. So who cares what the developers do with there app. if you like it you like it, ya don't you don't.

MicGee$

You are welcome to your OPINION.

MicGee$

But I will answer your post.
I care, maybe you don't. Bm2 fills a need for now. I am making music on a daw, just a bitch to haul it around, have you done this? If so you know. The point of griping about what is lacking in bm2 might make bm3 useable on a pro level, feel me. It's the only sequencing Mpc like program going with note edit...so yes, I want it to work properly...I don't set prices for apps or any of that other jazz so all that argument about devs, and price points, etc is mute. I want what the website caption advertises...is this possible, we all know it is.

So I don't give a damn whether you want crippled half ass shit or not...if you like less features, don't upgrade when new ones are available, but you know what, you will...as will everyone else who tries to convince me that this is all we need...and when you do, realize this is you telling you...that you want more...apology not necessary.

Have a productive day!

thesavage

have fun on that video game chopping samples....oops i mean music app

DeeJohnson

@rusty how did you do that? Is their a way to extract the wavs from a kontakt library on a mac? Also you're more skilled than me man lol. For some reason I can not get an instrument to loop the right way so it can be useable.

@MicGee$ What is balance? Also sound fonts are compatible with soundfont pro or bismark bs 16i.

Also what error do you guys get with filter modulation being turned on? Explain please cause I don't understand lol.

DeeJohnson

Oh. They definitely need to fix that!