VCV Rack on iOS/Android devices?

Is there any possibility of seeing a mobile version of VCVRack? It would be great to configure patches on my breaks at work or when commuting on public transport. I understand the restrictions and difficulties Apple would likely present to an iOS App, but it would be cool to see this happen.

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Not planned - see more in the FAQ :slight_smile:

https://vcvrack.com/manual/FAQ.html#will-rack-be-ported-to-ios-or-android

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Thanks for the response. New here & to modular systems as a whole. Would have been a cool app I’d happily pay for but understand all the licensing side and knew the iOS would be a nightmare for it (ie needing to be jailbroken).

Oh well, we can dream haha

No mobile device could technically afford something like rack. You can put down some ideas with “modthynth” on Android. I know that there’s something closer to vcv on IOS. But I don’t remember the name.

Moog Model 15 app?

audulus

Yes, the summary of my answer in the FAQ is that Apple doesn’t want applications like Rack to exist on their mobile platform, so I have no plans to attempt to work against their wishes. It is up to the consumer to make informed decisions before purchasing their mobile hardware.

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Caustic 3 is close to this. There is even a fully modular tab where you can add / route some machines around.

I bought a copy and played with it some, although it always runs my phone hot even when its barely doing anything.

Yes! GOD! how could I have forgot it. But on Caustic, it’s just about creating sound you’ll play next with a sequencer. With modsynth you have almost infinite space to manage creating self generative music with complex patches. Minus compared to caustic, there’s little connections on modules for cv mod.

I think the latest ARM chips probably are up to the task but as Andrew says the other barriers are far too high.

Rumours abound that Apple will move its Macs off Intel and onto ARM beginning in 2020, which, if true, suggests that they believe ARM can deliver the processing power required for professional applications - one will assume that everything will be tweaked to run their flagship Final Cut Pro.

IOS and OS X will presumably be merged, OpenGL will be nowhere in sight, and everything will be in the App store.

That’s the vision I reckon and Apple have never cared about backwards compatibility, either in software or hardware (I wouldn’t be surprised if the next generation of Macs lacked a headphone socket).

Personally I think that Apple has now passed its zenith and is beginning the long slow decline like IBM and Microsoft before it and I hope somebody at HQ will see sense and realise that the attempt to entirely roof over the walled garden will be their final undoing.

[ Yes, I have a downer on Apple at the moment ! :wink: ]

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I’m not 100% sure that the FAQ regarding this is factual. iOS totally has a user file system, has for years. This is how I load my personal videos into VLC for example or load audio tracks into my iOS music production software. It used to be solely via iTunes sync but now can also be done via the web or iCloud using the Files.app — just today I downloaded some YouTube videos via a Safari Shortcut and saved them directly to my VLC app where I began watching a few seconds later. There’s no reason Rack couldn’t do the same for importing patch files and plugins.

Additionally I don’t think the stance of “Apple bans plugins” is correct either. Maybe you can’t import directly from a website, but the plugins could probably be packaged (bundled) as their own separate free or paid iOS “app” download — similar to plugins for Audiobus.

And iPads these days definitely have enough processing power to run Rack if my lowly 5+ year old MacBook (which has much lower Geekbench scores) can do it just fine.

Personally I’d pay $25+ for Rack on my iPad if the implementation was at least as good as the Mac version. I’d imagine a lot of other people would too. The paid software synth market on iPad seems pretty healthy, given that awesome new stuff appears all the time and even the old apps are still doing really well.

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You’re beating a dead horse. It’s not going to happen for lots of reasons. You think it;s easy Rack is open source. Download the source and go for it.

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get one of these and run vcv rack-https://consumer.huawei.com/en/laptops/matebook-x-pro-2019/

i have the amd mate book d- superb laptops, solid as a rock. i dont touch my ipad anymore.

These things wont have Windows anymore because of the new technology restrictions against China, so i’m not sure it will still work.

Doubt it. Honor Matebook also available.
100 other touch screen cheap laptops also.
VCV rack on a touch screen is not perfect but it works for me.

http://mifki.com/blog/mirack-is-coming-to-ios/

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Is an iOS port possible? Probably, after a developer hits all the obstacles mentioned in Frequently Asked Questions - VCV Rack Manual, or finds tradeoffs that result in a lesser-quality product.

Is an iOS port a good business decision? I have evaluated it not to be. Mobile users simply don’t take software as seriously as desktop/laptop users. A $99 software package is deemed as “expensive” by mobile users (while it’s “a deal” for a desktop VST plugin), but a “more reasonable” price for mobile like $29 is an entirely unsustainable price for producing a product as large as VCV Rack.

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apparently it’s already happening in some form:

http://mifki.com/blog/mirack-is-coming-to-ios/

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Already posted two posts above.

The pricing is comparatively awful, sure, but the market is surprisingly huge and growing rapidly, especially since AUv3. One of my friends that runs a successful plugin company told me that iOS now makes up more than half of their income, despite their plugins being 80% cheaper on iOS. I think seeing companies like Eventide, Audio Damage, and Fabfilter spinning up lots of plugins is a reasonable sign that the market is flourishing there.

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