language and framework of choice for iPad development for music sequencer

Question

I need to create a music sequencer for the iPad but have no experience yet on this platform. I have several questions about this subject, hopefully I can find some answers here.

• OpenFrameworks seems to be the way to go for this kind of things. I want my application to be able to play both synth sounds and samples. Are both of those things possible with oF? Any suggestions/alternatives?

• Does iOS have some sort of alternative to the android NDK? I don't have any experience with Objective C but I do know some C++ and I would like to do as much as possible in that language. Is it possible to do the 'heavy' work in C++ and only do the views etc. in Objective C?

• Are there any free sample packs that I could use for my sounds? I'm only looking for basic instruments like guitar, bass, drums and maybe a piano.

Any other suggestions or tips you might have are welcome!

Answer 1

OpenFrameworks seems to be the way to go for this kind of things. I want my application to be able to play both synth sounds and samples. Are both of those things possible with oF? Any suggestions/alternatives?

As of iOS 5, you can use MusicSequence and MusicPlayer APIs for MIDI. Then you can use AUSampler for sample playback.

Does iOS have some sort of alternative to the android NDK? I don't have any experience with Objective C but I do know some C++ and I would like to do as much as possible in that language. Is it possible to do the 'heavy' work in C++ and only do the views etc. in Objective C?

For realtime audio, ObjC is not an option. C++ and C are the common langs in this domain.

Are there any free sample packs that I could use for my sounds? I'm only looking for basic instruments like guitar, bass, drums and maybe a piano.

Yes. First, you should choose your sample/map format. Then see what the musicians recommend for free samples - www.kvraudio.com would be a good place to ask.

Answer 2

You can use openFrameworks. I would go with openFrameworks too, because its cross-platform. you can even deploy your software to mac, linux, windows and android too!

There are several music sequencer apps written in openFrameworks out there, for example: http://nodebeat.com/

You can look here to find even more (iOS) apps built with openFrameworks: http://forum.openframeworks.cc/

Answer 3

I can't help with frameworks, but you can freely mix objective-C and c/c++.

Answer 4

Given that Objective C is a superset of ANSI C, the Objective C tools and environment includes a built-in C NDK.

Answer 5

OpenFrameworks isn't really a good solution for this. None of the libs I have tested are very feature complete or well tested and there are too many hacks/bugs involved.

If you are targeting iOS5 then you can use the MusicPlayer API It is very easy to use, can handle loading soundFonts, load and save midi files, create tracks on the fly, etc. It is all C/C++ and just your UI needs to be on ObjC.

Oh, I've used Bass and it is pretty good for pre iOS5 targets.