Two More Weeks

[Jay Vaughan]

> Well, I meant more in a generic way. Right now, I could connect any USB slave device to my Galaxy S3, like a mouse (?), keyboard, or indeed a USB music keyboard or a DJ controller. But there's no software on Android worth mentioning, as far as I can tell. I don't even know if it would recognise a MIDI interface, or a USB audio device.
> 

Android, since 4.x, has recognized any USB-class driver you plug into it - that includes MIDI, which works just fine on my Nexus7, and it also includes Audio.  The apps which can utilize these devices are fewer on Android, than iOS, but nevertheless it *can* be done:  Audio Evolution, USB MIDI Monitor, USB Audio Recorder Pro .. SunVox.  These all run pretty smoothly on Android, at least my Nexus 7, right now ..


> The thing you're showing is kinda cool, but it looks a bit limited, and what happens if Apple decide to change their connector? Not that this would ever happen, of course...
> 

I just got another USB->Lightning adapter thingy that lets me hook up my Akai controllers to the iPhone5.  Sure, it was a $%@% expensive adapter, but it also just plain works - plug in MIDI controllers, use iPhone5 as a masterful synthesizer workstation, just like the iPad, iPad3 before it ..

> 
> It would have more potential, I think, if it were more generic. But on Android, it's the chicken-and-egg situation. Even though top-end Android devices beat the iPhone 5, and tons of Android devices are sold (60% of the market, although I expect that's mostly low-spec smartphones), the software in certain niche areas – and even not-so-niche areas – isn't really coming along.
> 

Audio and GUI latency on Android are terrible by comparison with iOS, and until Android addresses the music latency issue in a future release (supposed to be soon), iOS will still deliver the superlative performance experience, latency-wise. 

But, Android is catching up and there are some nice opportunities to make music apps not so-niche in the immediate future ..