iPad 2

[dentunes]

Those who do not own a tablet will have their opinion of them. Those who are "geeks" apparently will be convinced Android is better.

Tell me what computer will fit on a music stand of a music keyboard and store every piece of sheet music / chord charts / lyrics / set lists a muso may have and not look stupid. OnSong + iPad becomes the perfect songbook for live stage use.

Have you seen the Alesis StudioDock and AKAI SynthStation 49. These are iPad specific hardware units designed to increase functionality of the iPad for musos. In these two units alone combined with GarageBand for iPad you have a portable studio/synth setup that you couldn't get for that money in the past.

Sometimes I wish people looked past the fact that tablets aren't simply for doing computer stuff and realise that they are used for so many other things that neither a desktop nor laptop nor phone will do.

PS: I have a first generation iPad 16GB Wifi for sale! (Yes, I am getting an iPad 2)

PPS: Accelerometer being used for touch sensitivity on the software instruments is pure genius and I hadn't seen that used ANYWHERE else. Apple do think about some things others simply do not.

[dentunes]

http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_101it/index.html?country=gb&lang=en

Worth a look also.

They say they are the thinnest though not anymore!

[dentunes]

Please, feel free to enlighten me. What is it that a pad does that neither a notebook nor a good smartphone will do?

As far as I can see, the iPad, for example, is simply a physically larger version of the iPod touch. I would have said the iPhone, but as it's not actually a phone, I didn't.

It's just too big to be genuinely portable (I see people with regular seats struggling with then on the train every morning without fail, only those at table seats have a comfortable experience) in the way a phone is, and just too isolated/unexpandable to be a replacement for a notebook.

I mentioned using it for on stage use as a song book.

It isn't about whether other devices can or can't do it, it is whether one would use it for that. I wouldn't use a phone for sheet music use as it is too small. Laptop's do not fit on the music stand and desktops belong at home.

I am not saying that a tablet isn't simply a bigger smart phone. The fact that it is bigger opens it up to more uses.

[dentunes]

Please, feel free to enlighten me. What is it that a pad does that neither a notebook nor a good smartphone will do?

As far as I can see, the iPad, for example, is simply a physically larger version of the iPod touch. I would have said the iPhone, but as it's not actually a phone, I didn't.

It's just too big to be genuinely portable (I see people with regular seats struggling with then on the train every morning without fail, only those at table seats have a comfortable experience) in the way a phone is, and just too isolated/unexpandable to be a replacement for a notebook.

Another use that I use my iPad for is as a controller for Logic Studio. That allows me to control my DAW from where I am recording, not from where my computer is. I don't even have to see my computer to do that. I am sure a computer would do that but you wouldn't want to move a computer around the studio for that purpose. A phone is simply too small to do that.

[dentunes]

Some links for interesting things the iPad does

Hardware controller for the iPad turning it into a fully fledged synth
http://www.akaipro.com/synthstation49

Dock turning the iPad into a fully fledged recording studio
https://www.alesis.com/iodock

Example of using a clip to attach the iPad to a mic stand for stage use
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/review/iklip_clip_your_ipad_to_your_mic_stand/

Guitar effects unit on the iPad
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/amplitubeipad/features/

OnSong app allowing storage of sheet music even with option of foot controller to turn page
http://www.onsongapp.com/features/

[dentunes]

It's a good point, and there's an opening there for something like that. However you won't see too many professional musicians using them for displaying their scores - the shiny screen makes the risk of glare too great. Now, an iPad-alike and sized device with an e-ink screen would be the business...

/me runs out to patent that idea.

Interestingly, on a recent holiday in Portugal I was impressed in one restaurant to have the winelist handed to me on an iPad. Fantastic idea! just swipe through them to browse, or sort by region, grape, price etc., read about the winery and other details you don't get from the traditional paper ones...

I disagree with your comment about glare. 99% of the time the issue is not glare, the issue is playing in a club where there is almost no lighting whatsoever. The fact the iPad is backlight is actually a GOOD thing. I can also see the buttons on the keyboard to help change sounds, etc.

[dentunes]

Fair enough, different musicians and situations I'm talking from the perspective of some classical pianists I know who can't even have their music in plastic covers because of glare. They'll usually be playing on a stage with spotlights focussed on them. The girlfriend says the same, although she's an opera singer and so more often than not she wouldn't have the score in front of her, but when she does it's off with the plastic covers again and no hope of using a shiny screen.

Horses for courses, of course

The settings available allow for rather high contrast and I am yet to run into problem though there may be times when that isn't the case. It is definitely taking off as a music device, though.

[dentunes]

But it their stupid lock down I hate not just on software but hardware, why have they not got sd card slot or hdmi connection, why do I need to pay £30 to get a hdmi connection, why cant I replace the battery for maybe a better one or when the battery final dies why does it cost £300 to replace, why does a so call internet central device not support flash, (i know a lot of people have no love for flash on here, but I do and it is part of the web weather you like it or not). why, why, why.

300 pounds for a battery? Really?

It is actually $99US plus $6.95 delivery and they simply ship you a new iPad with a new battery instead of replacing the battery. I am not sure what the UK price is though the exchange rate would suggest it wouldn't be 300 pounds.

[dentunes]

My Fav bit, and don't know if anyone else mentioned it yet as not read through rest of thread.  Was the round of applause for a fucking cable.  Here you go gulible stupid public, HDMI mirror video output, but you will have to buy an extra dongle, what a lod of shit.

Well, what about the fact that the xBox 360 first came out without HDMI and what did you have to do to get it? Buy another IDENTICAL xBox360 which simply had an HDMI port added on. Nothing else was different.

I prefer a dongle, personally.

[dentunes]

Yeah but its the over exaggerated finger movements to scroll of smug bastards on the train using their  iPhones and iPads.  makes me want to slap them.
 
What the connection between the new iFap2(Pad) and Steve Jobs.
 
They are both 33% thinner

NICE!!!!!!!   lol

[dentunes]

I'm surprised to see so many posts from people looking forward to this device.
Personally, to me, it looks like a giant iPod or iPhone (without the phone).
Can someone explain to me the attraction of a laptop like device without a real keyboard?
Frankly, The whole thing looks kind of silly. I could see the utility if it were smaller. But right now I'd prefer a laptop.

Read the whole thread.

[dentunes]

There are going to people who get tablets, and people who don't. Just like people who get scooters and people who didn't. Utes, Vans, SUVs and so on.

If you don't see the benefit of it that doesn't mean there isn't any benefit. Thankfully, the world is made up of many different people with different needs. If not there would only be one brand and one model of computer on the market.

Could you imagine if the only computer on the market was an IBM PCjr? Nothing else to choose from. It was never updated as no one saw the need to update it as it was the only computer everyone used and needed?

Also, I like the argument that you can do everything on the Xoom, unlike the iPad. Seriously, what a crock. It is still an Android tablet using a touch interface. There are things both do and things one does the other doesn't. I am sure they are both great tablets. Buy the one you want or buy neither.

It is everyone's choice. Trying to convince other people of one's opinions to be their own is a blatant waste of time.

If you listen to some people there would be 5 computers in the world that had no more than 640k RAM and no bigger than a 14" screen! (IBM, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs)

[dentunes]

Here is another reason the iPad is a unique device for musicians. You can now control your mixer from the iPad. Set up a wireless connection to it and it becomes the control surface for the mixer.

Each musician on stage can have direct access to their own mix (not necessarily a good idea) as well as being able to walk to the back of the venue, hear the mix and adjust it there and then via the ipad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J1VolxZqdE

[dentunes]

Dentunes i looked at your links earlier and i thought it was really cool being able to hook up your ipad up to a synth. It reminds me of when i was young and there were programs you could use that turned your Amiga keyboard into a synth. Really, really cool

Yeah, I am looking forward to them landing in store to try it out.

[dentunes]

Ive seen you trying to tout the iPad as a good tool for musicians a bit in this thread, but personally I just dont get it. In over 20 years of being a musician, Ive never once thought to myself "damn, I wish there was yet another unnecessary device involved here". Guitar <->rack<->mixer<->amps kinda covers it all. To insert another device adds absolutely nothing.

So you have never recorded yourself playing? Not one demo tape? Never used chord charts?

Tablets aren't for everyone. You don't need it. That is cool. At least 15 million people so far have a different opinion to that. Thankfully we are all different like that.