Producing at Work

[OfficialDAPT]

I want to start fuckin around with some synths and DAW's on my phone during my lunch hour. I'm not allowed to download anything on my work computer so that's why I'm in this situation. Any of you care to recommend a DAW or synth for an Android phone that you love? I downloaded the demo of Caustic and it seems pretty cool but I haven't gotten too into it yet.

[wub]

I have Audacity installed on my work laptop to break up boring conference calls where I don't need to pay much attention.

[alphacat]

Unfortunately, while there IS stuff available for Android it's still lagging behind iOS overall as an audio production platform. I was a longtime Apple hater until I traded in my shitty Blackberry for an iPhone, and now it's my main songwriting go-to for ideas (Nanostudio, Animoog, Glitchbreaks, DrumJam... so many cool, useful apps!)

That being said: check out Sunvox. It's a tracker-style DAW so a little obtuse to look at, but man is it powerful... side-chaining, crazy fx chains, you name it.

[OfficialDAPT]

Unfortunately, while there IS stuff available for Android it's still lagging behind iOS overall as an audio production platform. I was a longtime Apple hater until I traded in my shitty Blackberry for an iPhone, and now it's my main songwriting go-to for ideas (Nanostudio, Animoog, Glitchbreaks, DrumJam... so many cool, useful apps!)

That being said: check out Sunvox. It's a tracker-style DAW so a little obtuse to look at, but man is it powerful... side-chaining, crazy fx chains, you name it.

What is a tracker style DAW?

I have Audacity installed on my work laptop to break up boring conference calls where I don't need to pay much attention.

Unfortunately that's not an option for me ... strict work/boss

[alphacat]

Trackers were the first DAWs back in the old days when musicmaking software was really just getting going. They're much less intuitive to look at - at first, until you get familiar with it, like anything else. One thing that throws people is that in a sequence playback view, the time scale is usually vertical instead of horizontal L/R.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker_(music_software)

So the emphasis is less on pretty interfaces and fancy pulsing graphics and more on raw computing power applied to sound.

[OfficialDAPT]

Trackers were the first DAWs back in the old days when musicmaking software was really just getting going. They're much less intuitive to look at - at first, until you get familiar with it, like anything else. One thing that throws people is that in a sequence playback view, the time scale is usually vertical instead of horizontal L/R.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker_(music_software)

So the emphasis is less on pretty interfaces and fancy pulsing graphics and more on raw computing power applied to sound.

Are there synths in SunVox, or do tracker DAW's just manipulate audio? I've looked up some reviews on SunVox and it sounds like it's pretty amazing!

[alphacat]

Are there synths in SunVox, or do tracker DAW's just manipulate audio? I've looked up some reviews on SunVox and it sounds like it's pretty amazing!

Yes, synthesis and sampling. You can pretty much do anything...

Example:

[outdropt]

Im looking to get a ipad/android tablet and FL (when it comes out) just for this.. I do alot of sample and vocal hunting at work.

Im in a support center though so i would only be able to use earbuds in 1 ear.. The other ones gotta head set covering it

I just would like to do some sound design, i find this the most tedious when trying to get down an idea for a song, might as well get it done at work before i go home and start producing.

[alphacat]

FL is already [sort of] available for iOS, but - it's not the same as "real" FL and a pretty poor substitute imho. NanoStudio for iOS is the way to go for sure. Android needs to sort out their priorities and make audio more important, because 400ms+ latencies are not cool.

[outdropt]

Thats a little disappointing. I don't use FL right now but i have been meaning to dive into it... Some of the features and plugins seem very useful. I am sure FL will step up there game in the up coming months.. I heard they were slowly bringing in more of the features of 10.

[OfficialDAPT]

Just an update, caustic seems to be the best so far although I haven't tried out sunvox because there is no trial version for Android.

[Shock Rx]

I have android and I am disapointed in the options available. I am also jealous because of the kaoscilator app that is only for iphones.

Have you thought of those daws that can run without being installed? You can download it at home and put it on a thumb drive. No downloading or installing, just plug in and run the daw app.
I remember a loaded out daw with a bunch of vsts was being given away on this board and no install was nescesary. It may have been reaper.

[OfficialDAPT]

Have you thought of those daws that can run without being installed? You can download it at home and put it on a thumb drive. No downloading or installing, just plug in and run the daw app. .

How would this help for android or iphones?

[alphacat]

I have android and I am disapointed in the options available. I am also jealous because of the kaoscilator app that is only for iphones.

Have you thought of those daws that can run without being installed? You can download it at home and put it on a thumb drive. No downloading or installing, just plug in and run the daw app.
I remember a loaded out daw with a bunch of vsts was being given away on this board and no install was nescesary. It may have been reaper.

Yep, that's Reaper. I use Reaper as my main DAW when not composing on the iPhone fwiw. Reaper changed my workflow for the better too.

Caustic is fun but felt a bit limited sonically when I played with it. The iKaossilator app is cool, but there's just so much more useful stuff available on iOS for better or worse. Like, Alchemy Mobile? Oh my god... the sound quality is fuckdiculous. Same with Animoog; it sounds better than hardware synths I've owned that cost hundreds of dollars, and it cost me NINETY NINE CENTS. That's insane.

The iPad especially is finding a niche for this stuff too since it's more powerful and can actually run some heavy processing - everything from DAW control surface to complete studio (Audia, Tabletop, many more.) Again, the latency is excellent; this is well and truly pro level gear, or prosumer at the very least.

[outdropt]

I have android and I am disapointed in the options available. I am also jealous because of the kaoscilator app that is only for iphones.

Have you thought of those daws that can run without being installed? You can download it at home and put it on a thumb drive. No downloading or installing, just plug in and run the daw app.
I remember a loaded out daw with a bunch of vsts was being given away on this board and no install was nescesary. It may have been reaper.

For me i dont want to have a DAW on my screen just in case the boss walks by.. But i mean he is mad lenient, when there's no calls. I spend the day here, youtube, pandora, facebook, soundcloud, and some sample websites, soo maybe.. Id love to use my work laptop with an i5 and 8gb ram for production, shit would be smooth.

[alphacat]

I have android and I am disapointed in the options available. I am also jealous because of the kaoscilator app that is only for iphones.

Have you thought of those daws that can run without being installed? You can download it at home and put it on a thumb drive. No downloading or installing, just plug in and run the daw app.
I remember a loaded out daw with a bunch of vsts was being given away on this board and no install was nescesary. It may have been reaper.

For me i dont want to have a DAW on my screen just in case the boss walks by.. But i mean he is mad lenient, when there's no calls. I spend the day here, youtube, pandora, facebook, soundcloud, and some sample websites, soo maybe.. Id love to use my work laptop with an i5 and 8gb ram for production, shit would be smooth.

For years when I had a more private desk I did 98% of my producing at work. Thing is: most people have no idea what a DAW looks like. Something like Reaper or Acid might as well be a spreadsheet from a distance (little cells... ) I found that as long as nobody sees a waveform or a pumping VU meter, you're golden. Oh, or making this face while rocking yer head furiously;

[outdropt]

Lmao,

This post re sparked my interest in producing at work =P....

Ill probably end up moving ableton over tonight. Thing that is gonna suck is i can't where my cans... So I am going to have to find a decent pair of buds to produce on.... And workout with cause these ipod buds suck dick.

[OfficialDAPT]

these ipod buds suck dick.

Yes, yes they do

[alphacat]

Sennheiser bass buds are decent for the money, although certainly not ideal.

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

is it not possible for you to get a bare bones laptop on the cheap and slap ur daw, a couple of essential sample packs and a handful of essential vsts e.t.c.?

I'm on the verge of doing this, I've had a really big vibe for setting up a mini portable studio for the sunny days/friday evnin pints e.t.c.