Advice on ipad mini for OHs daughter for editing music?

Stheno

Hi everyone,

Complete newb in here, but was pointed towards this as a forum that might be able to answer my question.

My OHs daughter is a student who works in theatre doing different jobs such as lights/sound etc.

She currently has a very low spec Packard Bell netbook with 1gb of ram and a fairly basic processor, and is looking for a new laptop to edit music on.

I'm wondering if an ipad mini would do the job? She is not a pro sound engineer, and is looking for something that will be a step up in terms of the netbook. I'm about to get an ipad mini 2 and will happily give it to her if it will do the job.

My understanding is that she is looking for something that will make splicing tracks and creating samples easier than the netbook if that makes sense.

Any advice and feedback would be greatly appreciated, including any details of apps that could be used if the ipad mini is an option.

Many thanks in advance

Dravokivich

I've only really seen them used as a gimmick. Along the lines of a control device. I've never seen anything serious put together for a tablet device. But i dont look out for it either becuase i'd consider it a bit limited in usefulness. You'd be better to find out what software she intends on using and getting a proper laptop spec'd for that.

Typically you'd want a processor with a high cache, a reasonably high amount of ram. If you can't get ssd, get a 7200 rpm HDD.

Stheno

Dravokivich wrote: »

I've only really seen them used as a gimmick. Along the lines of a control device. I've never seen anything serious put together for a tablet device. But i dont look out for it either becuase i'd consider it a bit limited in usefulness. You'd be better to find out what software she intends on using and getting a proper laptop spec'd for that.

Typically you'd want a processor with a high cache, a reasonably high amount of ram. If you can't get ssd, get a 7200 rpm HDD.

She doesn't really have any idea about what she'll be using, and coming from the low specced netbook, was looking for a fairly low specced laptop with 4GB of ram as her main requirement, which I'd consider poor.

Higher specced laptops are outside of the budget that we have tbh, so I was looking at the ipad mini as an interim solution, this is a part time job, with limited amounts of editing so not exactly something that we could justify spending a lot on.

TroutMask

Hi Stheno,
I suppose it depends on where she sees this theatre work going. As entry-level positions are quite low-paying, it can be hard to justify a 'big spend' on equipment/computing when the returns are so low. But there is a strange divide in production in Ireland: there are many technical people around with limited experience, then a few highly-qualified people (and these techs get the work). Theatres (and directors) want people with many skills, and fortunately the technology of theatre (lighting, sound etc.) is fairly defined and easy to learn (though it may not seem that way to a person starting out).

So, perhaps the best way would be to spec a machine for her that would enable her to 'skill up' and become one of the latter group. I've done quite a bit of sound-for-theatre and one needs a good DAW(like Reaper or Logic), a fast-ish laptop, and the ability to edit quickly to suit the director's wishes. If she can skill up and edit quickly, she will increase her employability – and these are transferable skills, so even if she leaves the theatre, then they will stand her in good stead.

I think tablets could be a viable option, though I don't have an iPad myself. I do have an android tab, and tried using a commercial Droid-based DAW/multitrack, but it did not go well. An iPad mini is probably too small, so perhaps a full-size iPad?

The other thing to consider is connectivity: programs like QLab are designed to run theatre/multimedia show control–a tablet might not have the connectivity to connect to DMX (lighting), MIDI (music and lighting) and multichannel audio setups. My spec of choice for a person at this would be a refurbished MacBook Pro from the Apple .ie store. A quick browse today shows a few realistically-priced MBPs, e.g., an I5 loaded with 8 gB RAM for 1100-ish. If you want to go the PC route, you'll need to choose carefully, Lenovo are good.. there are others and forums such as Gearslutz will help you find budget brands that will work well for audio.

kidfromkibbly

Just a thought.

If she is very specifically only looking to do some editing, then perhaps rather than looking at new hardware, she should consider if she's using the right software. Programs such as Audacity (free) and Reaper (unlimited trial) are well known for working on what are considered low spec laptops. It might give her the tools she needs to learn on for now, before committing to a new laptop that is beyond her needs.

Doge

I use an iPad with a lot of audio apps, but i reckon the post above says it best , that her current netbook or a cheap laptop might do the job for basic audio editing.
Do you know exactly how she would like to edit music?
Just cutting out gaps in recordings, or more advanced stuff like EQing?

Would be worth asking her specifically what she intends using it for.

As nice as iPads are with an unbeatable amount of audio and multimedia apps compared to android,
iOS is extremely crippled and locked down.

Want to download an audio file? Forget it.

You're forced to have to connect the iPad to a laptop running iTunes to trasnfer audio files which sort of defeats the purpose of using an ipad as a replacement to a laptop.

I'm jailbroken and its still a bit of an ordeal to do something I can easily do an android.

You cant connect a usb stick to the iPad either and simply load on recordings.

You can do it if your jailbroken, but it requires using Bridge or iFile and you have to use a powered USB hub, as Apple restricts the amount of power a usb device can use.

A USB microphone might suffer from the power restriction also but im not sure.

And I frequently experience app crashes and browser crashes with the jailbreak on 2 versions of ios 8,
so its not worth doing in her case.

Its an absolute mess really.

Some apps might allow importing from dropbox but id still just rather use a laptop.

godfrey

As someone who edits audio frequently, my opinion is that an iPad is wholly unsuitable, starting with the lack of a USB or Firewire connection onboard. How are you going to get the raw files in and the finished ones out? Time is an important factor in audio editing, especially for performance. You simply don't have the time (sometimes you don't have an internet connection either!) to use email, FTP, Dropbox etc.

As said above, Audacity for example is free, it requires very little processing power and is commonly used for just this type of work.

Hope this helps ~

g

godfrey

As someone who edits audio frequently, my opinion is that an iPad is wholly unsuitable, starting with the lack of a USB or Firewire connection onboard. How are you going to get the raw files in and the finished ones out? Time is an important factor in audio editing, especially for performance. You simply don't have the time (sometimes you don't have an internet connection either!) to use email, FTP, Dropbox etc.

As said above, Audacity for example is free, it requires very little processing power and is commonly used for just this type of work.

Hope this helps ~

g