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Apple's iPad: will you soon be making music on it?

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Do you think it's likely that the iPad will end up being used for 'serious' music-making, or do you think it'll be more of a 'fun' platform that people will use alongside their desktop and laptop computers?

EN-B: "I think you could have asked the same question about the electric guitar. I'm not even sure those two - fun and serious - are opposites.

"So, I think it will be both, of course. However, even on the iPhone I am still waiting for that application that really taps into the potential of this new computer 'format' (for lack of a better word).

"Going back to the electric guitar analogy, I think we are still in that phase where the electric was just used as a louder acoustic. We have yet for someone to crank it up all the way and plug in a wah-wah, if you see what I mean."

DW: "I don't see the iPad replacing the desktop, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see some more studio-like applications (or 'lite' versions of existing studio applications) coming to the device. Casual music making and live scenarios are good fits for the iPad. I could see a scenario where someone might take some loops over to their iPad to play with different audio effects, or using one of the many DJ apps at a show. Using the iPad as a multitouch control surface is a no-brainer."

MJ: "There are already some excellent MIDI control apps out and the iPad will be even better at this, so it will definitely find its way into the studios. Music making should be fun these days, but I'm sure serious composition tools will also appear."

HG: "It won't replace desktops for studio work of course, but it certainly will change the market for controllers and hardware keyboards. And what's serious music without fun…"

Do you have any specific plans to develop music software for the iPad?

DW: "bleep!BOX will definitely get an iPad version, as will bleep!Synth. My goal is to have those done by the day the iPad hits the streets. The bigger interface will allow for a better 'heads up' display of the full tune you are working on, as well as global access to things like the mute buttons. Navigation will also be a lot easier. After the first release, I will work on adding some additional features (aside from just enhanced UI's).

"I've been thinking a lot about what the 'killer' iPad music app would look like - something both casual and creative, but I don't think I've got the perfect design just yet."

HG: "We have already developed a soft synth for the iPhone platform with audioMIDI.com: iSyn uses parts of our TERA engine and is comparable in audio quality. The iPad delivers even more processing power and you can be assured that we won't ignore it in our future development plans."

EN-B: "Propellerhead have this thing where we never comment on future releases, sorry. The main reason for that is that we are totally committed to delivering finished products of high quality, regardless of platform. And that is impossible for us to do if we start talking about things too early.

"But I can say that the iPad is at least as powerful a computer as the ones we started making software for back in the '90s. And that's pretty exciting!"

MJ: We already have a prototype running in the iPad simulator.

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