Drambo in Live situation

Hello. 

My question is to those who have had experience using Drambo in a live situation. I am wanting to use my iPad as the only platform to replace an Elektron or another type of groove box and I would like to know how robust and versatile the application is for this type of situation. I am very happy with Drambo to record demos and songs at home, but I fear that the system will collapse in live situations.

other specific questions :

 1) From which generation or model of iPad could I use the app without overload problems?

B) I know this topic has been discussed a lot in this forum, but which relatively inexpensive and robust MIDI controller do you recommend for handling Drambo in live situations?

Any experience and suggestion that you would like to share would be welcome.


Thanks!

Comments

  • 1) Drambo is very efficient. Which iPad you really need totally depends on your projects.

    2) Again, no serious answer without knowing what you want to limit yourself to. No MIDI controller can replicate Drambo's user interface completely - Which are the controls you absolutely need to have in hardware?

  • 1) If you mostly do monophonic tracks and don't use AUv3s, I think any iPad from the past few years would work fine. If you want to do more polyphony and use AUv3s (especially heavy-duty ones like Moog or FabFilter) the beefier the better. I have an Air 4 which doesn't usually max out but I do have to be somewhat conscious about it. I could see myself upgrading again in a year or two.

    2) Controller mapping isn't as robust as Ableton right now, which has controller templates and integrated bi-directional feedback (so you can see the state of your tracks with the controller LEDs). But you can set up some bidirectional feedback, and that'll work with most any controller. I like the APC 40 MKII because it has nice encoder knobs, a bunch of pads and a crossfader. No velocity sensitivity though. There are a lot of options. I'm hoping in the next year we'll get more controller integration but that's definitely just a hope.

    Overall I do think Drambo is very usable live. I find it very stable and AUv3s seem to load great without crashing. I haven't played out in a while due to Covid but I have no doubt of its internal stability for that purpose.

  • edited December 2021

    Fyi: The largest factory project, "Drambo On Waves", still runs without crackles on an iPad Mini 2 at an audio buffer size of 256. It uses 5 monophonic and 6 polyphonic tracks.

    That's an 8 years old iDevice.

    It only confirms how insanely efficient Drambo's code is.

  • Thank you all for the comments. Certainly, the answers to my questions depend on what kind of use I would like to give Drambo, but this is always variable and the more flexibility I can get will be better. I am aiming to replace that generally very expensive type of hardware, like the elektron octatrack, or at least have several of its possibilities from the drambo, without having to pray every time I play live. Today Drambo covers my basic needs, but also invites me to expand my sound vocabulary. My idea is not to have to resort to too expensive midi controllers, and all your answers helped me to solve my problem.

    Thank you! and merry christmas to all!

  • Drambo, even beta has been the most stable complex app I’ve ever used.

    I’ve replaced Circuit with Drambo + Circuit as a controller and have been very happy with stability of my rig. I use it as AUV3 within Audiobus. I don’t use p locks live though so my advice would be to thoroughly test a configuration and take it live when you feel comfortable enough with its stability because we all use D differently.

    I’m on pro 11 2020 and have plenty of headroom to play with. Pro 10.5 also works fine although with less margin.

Sign In or Register to comment.