What if...? (BM3 UI on multiple devices?)
Wouldn't it be cool if BM3 could be spread across multiple devices at once?
One device would act as the 'Host', doing all the audio processing, midi etc and the other device(s) (which could be far less powerful/more affordable) acting simply as a 'Shell', which send commands to the host. Turn a knob on the shell and you see it rotate on the other device. You could jump to other screens and edit note placement while tweaking attack on another screen etc.
Comments
Why would you want everything duplicated if it is already on the more powerful device ?
Or do you mean some wort of remote, so you can have say a record panel in the vocal booth or whatever ?
Maybe you want a HTML control panel ala Reaper or something ?
Yes a remote. Very literally what you see in the shot above. Being able to tweak and edit parameters on either screen independently. I recommend just sitting down with BM3 on two ipads and imagine how the workflow would improve with this.
Like having multiple monitors on a desktop daw being able to put up what you want on each monitor at different stages... power extreme, man/machine etc.
Imagine Massive on the left is the sampler in BM3. Imagine the piano roll on the right is the piano roll in BM3 with the monitor in the middle being the timeline. You could get this with one kick ass ipad in the middle (the Host) and two cheap ipads (Shells) on the left and right.
I have to be honest, I simply dont get it, iPad is mobile, multiple iPads for one app is simply not, why not just wait for the desktop version and ask for multiple monitor support.
If you are losing mobility uou may as well gain the power of desktop hardware and OS.
I use multiple ipads on the train sometime, at a cafeteria or outside on the balcony. KRFT and Egoist over bluetooth, that sort of thing. As long as I have a table I am good. Not trying to sell you on it. Oscar and I would be very happy.
Yeah i just dont understand to be honest.
Using two ipads at once in general?
No, the way you explained it, offloading process, audio/MIDI on one device and controls on the other.
That is a simple recipe for latent disaster that pretty much no developer is going to take on.
Q Is it for more power ?
A1 Sell both ipads and buy a more powerful one.
A2 Just Ableton link the two devices.
Q Is it for more screen real estate ?
A You have one set of eyes and can only look at one screen at a time.
I just dont get it.
Not saying it is not a viable thing, but i will say this, development time on any niche app like BM3 is finite, development time and dollars developing next gen iPads and processors is vast.
Example...
On the desktop a few years ago, setting up extra machines and using networks to run VST plugins was absolutely amazing, within three years of the software being developed to do it, the developer went bust because CPUs got so fast that running multiple machines was a complete latent nonsense.
WIFI is garbage for this, it wont work well, a 1gb network is not great for it and still has massive latency.
Two iPads synced via link = Works
Two iPads controlled/triggered via MIDI =Works
Personally im going to say, ask for more MIDI control of parameters, use the slow iPad/Phone/Android device to control it via Lemur or something, much more viable.
Cool man, thanks for the feedback.
I am saying audio/Midi on one device and controls on all devices.
No. (edit: uh, depends how you define 'power'. CPU Power, no. More non-linear, creative workflow, yes.)
Yes, so you don't have to go in and out of deep UI rabbit holes and can have instant access to more disparate features. Using a DAW on my laptop with one screen is cramped compared to using multiple monitors, where I spread the access out.
That's all. Very simple idea. Mixer on one, timeline on another, sampler parameters on another etc. Mix and match to taste. No need to dive in and out, lose your place etc.
Oh I know. I am being 'blue sky' about this and not 'I need this next week or I can NEVER be creative again!!'
Even if another app years down the road does something like this, fine by me. Just getting the ideas out there.
I run KRFT into another iPad just fine for my needs. Mostly knob twiddling, scoring etc. Works great. I am not talking about streaming audio.
The nice thing with simply being able to load a copy of the app as a shell is that all the params could be instantly hooked up and work in parallel.
Again, I am in 'blue sky' mode here. BM6 perhaps? Maybe some other future app or daw with this ability? Likely it would have to be built from the ground up to work. I know we have very different timelines / expectations for development, but anyway thanks for nailing all those points in one message, very cool.
I will put this in the request list when i get home, but i will actually offer odds of 1000 to 1 that this will never happen.
The obstacles in the way of making anyyhing like this usable are huge.
MIDI control of mixer and you could have it on a second ipad, this sort of thing i can see happening sooner rather than later.
.> @5pinlink said:
Certainly retrofitting this on an app like Bm3 is super unlikely. BM4 though? 5? 6?
But technicaly speaking, I would think that on a new app, simply sending and recieving basic UI interaction data would require less bandwidth than audio or pressure sensitive styluses and they work over bluetooth.
I am in no rush for paradise.
Good luck.
With a 'traditional' studio machine, your best bet to get more out of it was to add in a bunch of new RAM and a new screen. With the present direction that we're going (in our niche at least), your best bet is to add another device with 'speaks' in a functional way with the other ones in your 'composite machine'.
But surely "Speaks in a functional way" for music is MIDI and Ableton Link, those simply can't be beat.
Here is an example of why MIDI is more important than "Shell processing"
Mixer can now be shell controlled from a second iPad, works only with iPad.
MIxer can now be fully MIDI controlled with feedback, Works with any MIDI controller including motor faders, and also iPads with any of the available MIDI controller software, LFOs and modulators can be added by users, the list goes on...
Which is the viable option with finite development time/resources ?
Currently, it is very clear.
Long term though, sky is the limit and I see this app as capable of amazing new paradigm shifty things down the road.
Well i suggest you promote BM3 as much as possible then, because there are only so many things the developers can achieve in such a niche market.
Niche for now is my point. I very literaly am talking about the future future... Intua could hire a big old staff and be climbing the App Annie charts for a while. This is the age of Chubby Checker.
Wait, you think that music making on IOS will become more than niche ?
Intua may hire more staff, but it would be because the desktop version took off.
Sure. Mobile in general. Maybe BM6 runs on zOS or TeslaOS or Monkeydon or heaven forbid Andyroids. I am platform agnostic.
Works for me.
OK, well mobile as a computing platform is already dead, the initial buzz of "Oh s**t look what i can do on my phone" has completely died, tablet sales are continually down because the majority of people buying tablets do so to surf the net, the major portion of iPad users are still on iPad 1/2s because all they do is surf the net while they watch TV.
The IOS music market is such a minuscule part of the IOS market as a whole, most of the major music developers ignore it entirely, it is not a viable platform in terms of usage or sales for most products, that is why it is niche.
Unfortunately BM3 will be MacOS only when on the desktop, so that makes it a niche product even on desktop, look how well that worked out for Korg with Gadget, next to nobody at all using it, and that is Korg !!
Fascinating. Really, music making is niche. Most people are slugs, am i right?
I think with full MIDI support you will get pretty much what you want though to be honest, maybe even OSC support, that would be amazing.
Just go look at what Reaper is doing using not only these but HTML based controllers too.
These are some August estimates posted by nrgb on the AB forum today "From Priori Data - Estimated monthly (August) downloads:". Not sure how these numbers are obtained but if they are accurate it seems pretty stunning to me given the size of this operation.
Massive high fives to INTUA.
I would want every option available looking exactly the same with zero setup. (with the exception of what the devs need to grey out of course, due to complexity or sync issues etc). If the devs wanted to use an existing protocol for the communication then fine, but for me it is the exact interface I am on about.
Anyway, don't worry about it, just blue sky dreamer stuff here.
I would say that is terrible considering some of the garbage above it hahahaha.
But yeah well done to Intua for getting on that list and not being one the 'Apple Buddy' apps.
As for blue sky, i would say the shell is blue sky, as for the rest, i think you may be doing it much quicker than you think, it just wont be shell processed
Yah man, punk rock lives!