# Android tablet for TOUCH OSC or other touch controllers app



## DANIELE (May 18, 2019)

I'm looking for an Android tabled that I would use to read some music sheets (maybe PDF ones) and to add a control layer to my studio setup.

I'll use it with Reaper, and maybe for some other app that simulates a keyboard and maybe macros.

I would like not to spend a lot because I'm planning to buy a Surface in the near future. I'll use it only for this purposes. Maybe something undred 100 euros would be ok.

Do you know some good stuff I could buy that doesn't broke in my hands after a month of use?

I'm thinking about Fire 7 for example but the missing google play app thing is holding me from buying it.

Any advice?

Thank you.


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## Mystic (May 21, 2019)

I still use a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 in mine. I'm sure you can probably find the older ones like that at a pretty decent price and they are solid.


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## DANIELE (May 21, 2019)

Mystic said:


> I still use a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 in mine. I'm sure you can probably find the older ones like that at a pretty decent price and they are solid.



Ok I'll do some research. Thank you.


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## unclecheeks (May 21, 2019)

One thing to consider - and this may no longer be the case - but Android tablets for a while were significantly more laggy to touch than iOS counterparts. Don't recall the exact figures, but I think iOS was somewhere around 30-40ms, while Android in the 100s. Might be something to research if you expect to be doing anything fast.

Another plus for the iOS system is that there are significantly more music-making apps and utilities than on the Android side.


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## DANIELE (May 21, 2019)

unclecheeks said:


> One thing to consider - and this may no longer be the case - but Android tablets for a while were significantly more laggy to touch than iOS counterparts. Don't recall the exact figures, but I think iOS was somewhere around 30-40ms, while Android in the 100s. Might be something to research if you expect to be doing anything fast.
> 
> Another plus for the iOS system is that there are significantly more music-making apps and utilities than on the Android side.



Thank you for the answer. Yes, I know about the "more Apps for music in iOS" thing but I don't like Apple policy. I'd like to try an iPad only for the music apps purpose but it is to much pricey for what I need.

I also already have some physical controllers for fast operations, I need this to extend my range of available "one click" actions on Reaper to speed up my workflow, I don't really need to do something live.

Anyway have you any advice on some specific product I should look too?


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## unclecheeks (May 21, 2019)

I'm not sure what kind of communications protocols Reaper supports, and I'm on iOS so my advice is limited. If Reaper supports Open Sound Control, you could look at TouchOSC. Think that one is available on Android. Another one is Lemur, but I'm not sure if that's also on Android, or iOS only.

Otherwise, I imagine there's a good number of MIDI control apps available on Android you could look into.

As far as iPads being expensive, you could look at second hand early models. It's surprising how many music apps still run on iPad 2 and iPad 3s! And i imagine those can be had for under $100 used these days.


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## oks2024 (May 21, 2019)

I have a cheap chinese tablet, a CHUWI HI8 dual boot windows 10/android, and I'm not sure I would recommend it.
It feels cheap, the sd card reader stopped working on Windows after an update, 32Go for each OS is not a lot (it's mainly an issue on Windows, updates are a pain), and the battery life is far from good.

But, when the sd card reader was working I had FLStudio installed on windows, and it was usable, reading PDF, scores, tabs was fluid, and, well, 100$ is even cheaper than a Windows 10 licence alone, I can't really complain.

I'm currently using it as an additionnal screen, when need it I boot it on windows, "connect to wireless display" on my main PC, and it's a third screen, with a 1920x1200 resolution, touchscreen, and I can move it anywhere I want.


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## DANIELE (May 22, 2019)

unclecheeks said:


> I'm not sure what kind of communications protocols Reaper supports, and I'm on iOS so my advice is limited. If Reaper supports Open Sound Control, you could look at TouchOSC. Think that one is available on Android. Another one is Lemur, but I'm not sure if that's also on Android, or iOS only.
> 
> Otherwise, I imagine there's a good number of MIDI control apps available on Android you could look into.
> 
> As far as iPads being expensive, you could look at second hand early models. It's surprising how many music apps still run on iPad 2 and iPad 3s! And i imagine those can be had for under $100 used these days.



Ok, I'll do some research on used ones iPads, let's see what I came with.



oks2024 said:


> I have a cheap chinese tablet, a CHUWI HI8 dual boot windows 10/android, and I'm not sure I would recommend it.
> It feels cheap, the sd card reader stopped working on Windows after an update, 32Go for each OS is not a lot (it's mainly an issue on Windows, updates are a pain), and the battery life is far from good.
> 
> But, when the sd card reader was working I had FLStudio installed on windows, and it was usable, reading PDF, scores, tabs was fluid, and, well, 100$ is even cheaper than a Windows 10 licence alone, I can't really complain.
> ...



Well, I actually have 4 screens, one of them is a touch one and to make touch working I have to disconnect and riconnect it on every boot because it loose the touch screen functionality.
I also already have an Asus T300 with Windows 10 and I'm planning to buy a Surface in a few month. I'd like to have a cheap tablet to use only for the purposes I described in the first post because for other things I already have it. I thinked about Android because of the new Fire 7 that is very cheap and maybe useful for my purposes.

So actually I don't need a Windows tablet but an Android one.


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## MexicanBreed (Jun 7, 2019)

I got myself a 2016 Samsung tab last December for a number of uses, including as a midi controller. Well, it was even harder than I feared and I kind of forgot about that intention. Having said that, I want to try again and have the versatility offered by touch screens. Reaper handles OSC just fine, and even though I haven't tried an iPad (not a fan of Apple either), I am confident any latency is likely negligible. TouchOsc is available for Android, as is Lemur, as is another one called TouchDaw.

Now, what I really need are pre made available TouchOsc templates.


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## jeffreycl (Jun 8, 2019)

I cannot speak to using with Reaper, but I have a Kindle Fire (think it is the 8) and bought TouchOSC from the Kindle App store for $4.99. Works like a champ with Cubase. (The only issue I found with TouchOSC and Kindle is that the "Flip Screen" setting does not work on Kindle, but that is a minor issue.) I also bought TouchOSC in the Apple App store. Now I use an old iPhone 4s with a simple screen to control my main speaker volume and turn the metronome on and off. I have an OLD iPad and because it is a bit slow, I use multiple pages on it for buttons representing keyboard shortcuts (a few ms delay is not noticeable switching tools, transport, etc...). The Kindle Fire, being the fastest, I use for buttons tied to keyboard shortcuts and any commonly used slider and knob control.

With all the devices, you still only have one TouchBridge so you are allowed 16 channels @ 128 controllers = 2048 button/slider/knob in whatever combination you want. I wondered if that would be enough but haven't come close to running out yet.

The key to setting things up is to understand your workflow and group your items together that are commonly used together so you don't have to flip pages all the time to find something. (I'm not quite there yet.)


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## Will Blackburn (Jun 8, 2019)

i got one of these for about 120 used a few years back and it does the job. Nice large screen

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Samsung-Ga...10-1in-White/193973528?iid=362672128093&rt=nc


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## DANIELE (Jun 24, 2019)

jeffreycl said:


> I cannot speak to using with Reaper, but I have a Kindle Fire (think it is the 8) and bought TouchOSC from the Kindle App store for $4.99. Works like a champ with Cubase. (The only issue I found with TouchOSC and Kindle is that the "Flip Screen" setting does not work on Kindle, but that is a minor issue.) I also bought TouchOSC in the Apple App store. Now I use an old iPhone 4s with a simple screen to control my main speaker volume and turn the metronome on and off. I have an OLD iPad and because it is a bit slow, I use multiple pages on it for buttons representing keyboard shortcuts (a few ms delay is not noticeable switching tools, transport, etc...). The Kindle Fire, being the fastest, I use for buttons tied to keyboard shortcuts and any commonly used slider and knob control.
> 
> With all the devices, you still only have one TouchBridge so you are allowed 16 channels @ 128 controllers = 2048 button/slider/knob in whatever combination you want. I wondered if that would be enough but haven't come close to running out yet.
> 
> The key to setting things up is to understand your workflow and group your items together that are commonly used together so you don't have to flip pages all the time to find something. (I'm not quite there yet.)



So maybe resolution could be the key for what are you talking about, a bigger resolution results in more space for controls. I don't think I'll use so much sliders, I would mainly use it for keystrokes to use with Reaper actions.

Since Reaper has a web remote implemented I'm thinking I could only need a browser for what I need.


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## MexicanBreed (Jun 26, 2019)

In case this is of interest to you or others who might read this, I have been trying out a free app to program macros. I have no experience with things like the Stream Deck or others, but it seems to have its uses for a number of purposes with some of its functionality. I've been using it with a non-music relates program, mainly for keyboard shortcuts, with no problems. The app is called Macro Deck.


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## DANIELE (Jun 27, 2019)

MexicanBreed said:


> In case this is of interest to you or others who might read this, I have been trying out a free app to program macros. I have no experience with things like the Stream Deck or others, but it seems to have its uses for a number of purposes with some of its functionality. I've been using it with a non-music relates program, mainly for keyboard shortcuts, with no problems. The app is called Macro Deck.



Wow I didn't know about this app, pretty good indeed. Thank you.


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## MexicanBreed (Jun 27, 2019)

You're welcome! Hope it's useful to others as well.


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