Whatever else you might feel about Apple and iPads and iPhones, the multi-touch functionality works undeniably well and the range of apps available is amazing. Maybe I’m just easily impressed! Having said that, at the moment, I believe the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the best possible option for iOS music. Even the controller apps such as Lemur, TouchOSC and touchAble work on iPhone, and Gadget and Blocs Wave will let you create Ableton Live projects from your iPhone or iPad, which still blows my mind a bit.

Most iOS music apps run on both iPad and iPhone and for me, that’s really important for true mobility and the feeling that you can use the same tools to make music wherever you go. I find that using an ad-hoc connection rather than a router invariably works better. The Mac Audio MIDI Setup utility is a fantastic Swiss Army Knife for audio and MIDI routing, and if you’ve never explored it, it’s well worth spending some time to poke around in there. Once you wade through the options and the connection possibilities, you can build a Live/iOS rig that includes MIDI and audio coming from both boxes, in a stable and repeatable setup. If you’re using MIDI or Link to sync everything as well, there’s every chance of getting a very neatly cut, ready-to-use clip straight away.

There’s also no reason why you can’t continue to record audio straight out of your device into Live, courtesy of your audio interface. Apps like Apple’s Voice Memos let you AirDrop recordings, which is fast and convenient. It’s true that it’s a little inelegant at times to get audio in and out of iOS apps it sometimes requires a few extra steps, but the workflow is getting smoother all the time, and there are apps which make iOS audio management much easier, like AudioCopy, Audiobus, and AudioShare.

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