Best Joystick For Ipad Pro
Otilia Mojarro
The Backbone One (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a delight. Plug the Lightning connector into your iPhone (get the USB-C version if you have one of the newer iPhone 15 range or an Android phone), stretch the controller over it, and play. The buttons and bumpers feel nice and clicky, with super-fast response times, and there's broad support for PS Remote Play, Xbox Remote Play, and Steam Link, as well as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce Now. Even if you don't love mobile gaming, this little controller can turn your phone into a console or PC. The experience might even change your mind about mobile games; I played Stardew Valley for so long I forgot I was playing on my phone. The built-in headphone jack is a nice touch.
I also tested the newer and cheaper GameSir X2s ($46). It feels very similar to the X2 Pro, but the design is inspired by the Nintendo 2 DS, the USB-C connector is on the left, and the buttons are non-swappable.
Ideal for Xbox Remote Play or Cloud Gaming, this controller will feel instantly familiar to Xbox owners, and it even has an Xbox button in the center, like the official model. It's much lighter, but there are solid standard Xbox buttons, grippy thumbsticks, and a couple of programmable pushers on the back. The only disappointment is the mushy D-pad and the absence of haptics. The clip design is smart, with two adjustable joints and a cradle that expands to accommodate most phones. It even has minimal forked prongs that avoid the power and volume buttons on the side of your phone. The phone connection is a choice between cable and Bluetooth.
The dock is a little flimsy, but it managed to hold my iPad in place, with ports in the side and back for plugging everything in. I struggled to get it all working, as the instructions are not the clearest, but once it was hooked up and configured, playing Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Minecraft was a breeze. The Keymander 2 Mobile could also work well for remote play on PlayStation or Xbox or for a streaming service like GeForce Now. Just be aware that only games with controller support work well, and you do need to tweak settings frequently for best results.
Turtle Beach Atom Controller for $80: With a clever two-piece design, this controller folds away neatly, but feels insecure without a back. The clamps on each side are awkward, particularly with phones sporting large camera modules. I had trouble connecting, and dislike that the right side has to be turned on separately (press B and menu buttons). The right side connects wirelessly (2.4 GHz), but the controller connects to your phone via Bluetooth. It mostly worked fine for me, but when I played Jydge, the movement was inverted on the left stick. You get around 20 hours of battery life. It takes about two hours to charge. If portability is your main concern, it may be worth a look.
GameSir T4 Cyclone for $40: Relatively affordable, with a grippy finish and Hall Effect joysticks, this is a solid controller. There are a couple of programmable buttons around back, rumble motors in the grips, and a handy multi-function button. It also supports Bluetooth, 2.4-GHz with an optional dongle, and USB-C connections. But the battery is only 860 mAh, the GameSir app is flaky, and the LED is annoyingly bright.
Nacon MG-X Pro for $88: It feels like Nacon cut an Xbox controller in half to insert an extendable phone cradle, but if you want this style of controller the GameSir G8 listed above is what we recommend. The MG-X Pro is slightly roomier, but the G8 is superior in every other way.
Turtle Beach Recon Cloud for $59: Here is another Xbox-branded controller that supports Xbox Cloud Gaming and Remote Play and comes with one free month of Game Pass Ultimate. It feels good in-hand, has a solid phone clip, and works with Android, Xbox, and Windows. It also features some audio enhancements (when plugged in), programmable buttons, and a handy Pro-Aim feature that reduces sensitivity on the right stick for aiming in FPS games. It's a good upgrade pick over the PowerA controller listed above, but only if you want the extra features.
GameSir X3 for $100: On paper, this is an upgrade over the X2, with refined buttons, more options for the joysticks, and a cooling fan on the back. But I recommend the cheaper X2 Pro listed above instead, because the fan adds bulk and weight and it needs power via a dedicated USB-C port. (It has a separate USB-C port for pass-through charging of your phone.)
Hey keys brothers - I'd really like to hear about your experience from you players out there who have switched from a traditional hardware keyboard rig like a Nord Stage 3 or 4 or YC73/88 whatever etc...that you use in the bottom keyboard role to cover your bread and butter keyboard sounds and who have switched to a controller and an iPad rig to do their thing instead.
Honest confession: For the last 20 years I've had a Motif Rack (original version) and a controller to cover my bread and butter sounds mainly Piano and Rhodes and Clav and I've been petrified of going to a laptop keyboard rig. I realize my hardware is old and tired sounding and in dire need of an upgrade. I've wanted to stick with hardware but I'm also wondering if I need to really spend 5k and go for a Nord Stage 4 or similar, and if it would be possible to just get a nice controller and a top of the line iPad and a few great apps instead for a lot less coin and perhaps just as good results for Piano, Rhodes Clav? Do you think that's possible?
I normally play a 2 keyboard rig- an analog synth on the top like a Model D or sometimes a Sequential Prophet 6 or whatever for leads and sound effects but my bottom board I use for Piano, Rhodes, Clav and basically electro mechanical keyboard sounds with an occasional mellotron in there. On my bottom board, when I do a gig, I honestly use only use about 4 sounds. I think this comes from my olden days when I actually gigged with a Rhodes and Minimoog like Jan Hammer, so I'm not used to needing a lot of sounds nor do I want a ton of sounds. I just want to be able to switch and access those couple sounds quickly which is why I thought of the iPad since it has touchscreen capability vs a Apple laptop. I don't want to scroll through sounds when I'm on a gig and I want to get to those sounds quickly even though I might only use 3 or 4 sounds on a gig. That's why hardware has always appealed to me because I can program my favorite 3 or 4 sounds to some hot buttons so switching sounds is quick and easy. Can you do this with an iPad?
I'm hoping someone has had the same thoughts as me and could share their experience. Thanks keys brothers. I appreciate you sharing your experiences and any tips or neighborhood knowledge you've acquired from your experience.
I'm actually in the process of making this exact transition! What I've been finding is iPads work pretty well and have a consistent operation that makes connecting dongles such as audio interfaces relatively quick and straightforward.
Another boon is that there are a good number of relatively cheap apps that give you strong functionality for what you're looking for, and what's great is that they oftentimes offer free versions or demos that you can try out to determine if they work for you. I wish more interfaces in some of these were better optimized for touch, but at a rehearsal last weekend I was able to change parameters and instruments rather easily. I'm a very tactile person so I'm still nervous about missing out on knobs etc (I'm not a fan of mapping but I think I'll have to suck it up), but overall, it's been a good transition...plus it's lighter on the body and wallet!
I had this set up with an iPad which I trialled for rehearsals. Worked great. I had a Studiologic SL88 and iPad running Module so only two sounds there but the SL can send the program changes to move through the set list and I could assign splits, layers, different channels etc. The ipad case actually snapped magnetically to the SL too and a single 3.5mm cable out to the powered monitor. Bear in mind you would need to buy the expansion to get full access to splits and layers in that app.
Been back and forth with hardware only and iPads/laptops more times than I care/dare to admit.
Pros and cons galore for each, but I had to get another Kronos 88 last year and sold on my Arturia Keylab 88 without any regret!
Years ago I tried to incorporate a version 2 iPad into my rig with an Alesis iO dock. Ultimately, I ended up just using the iPad for setlists/charts, as there was a small latency that just made the feeling disconnected for me. In addition, it meant extra audio, power and MIDI cables, which brought on complexity that wasn't worth it for me.
I now have an iPad 9 and the experience has vastly improved. It integrates nicely with my K2700, as a single USB cable connects MIDI and Audio to the Kurzweil. I have done a handful of gigs using VB3m as my main Hammond and it is wonderful. Everything is mapped to controllers on the k2700 and I don't ever need to even look at the app on screen. I also recently added the minimoog app from Moog and MKSensations extreme. At this point, if I had too, I would feel comfortable using just an iPad and a controller.
This is where things really get fun. I'm using Camelot Pro, but there are multiple apps that do similar things. With an AUM host app, you could definitely setup favorites for easy patch selection. I have setlists setup with program and routing changes for all kinds of configurations.
I'm with Al Quinn, though I never really got away from hardware completely. I brought an ipad into my rig for one reason--better b3 organ. It worked well for over a year, no real complaints, but just little things like forgetting to charge the ipad were an annoyance And I did have the occasional glitch. I don't think I'd ever be inclined to go all ipad or all computer--which is a bit weird, because at home I'm completely comfortable and enjoy being 100% "in the box" (other than midi controller). But that's at home. At gigs I like dedicated boxes that do their one thing. I like having a power switch and audio outs and that's it...don't even connect anything with midi. Hell these days I'm using a single keyboard (with a backup in the car for peace of mind). Set up in 5-10 minutes and go grab a beer.
All that said, there's no reason it can't work. I didn't need or use AUM or anything like that...just left B-3X running on the ipad set to respond to my chosen midi channel. It worked when in the background as well, so I could use my lyrics app and mixer app. I experimented with "free running" 3 apps at a time (B-3X, Model D and Zeeon) and that worked too, each was set to a different midi channel and I happened to be using a keyboard with transmit zones that could have a specified midi channel. To do a 3-way split of those sounds, I'd have 3 zones transmitting on say channels 11, 12 and 13 (whatever I had picked). If those apps running on the ipad were correctly set up to respond and could run in background, worked fine.
I'd personally have a backup for anything you are doing, whether that is another ipad, or phone, or hardware keyboard to get you through a gig. Ironically, I got to one gig a couple weeks ago and was missing part of my stand because I'd been adjusting something and forgot to put it back on...the stand is the one thing I have no backup for. Well, other than a mic stand, without my stand I couldn't use that either because it attaches to it! Had to play that gig on a stand the bass player happened to have in his van, way too short and a weird angle, but that was my penance for messing around with my rig and not having a backup! He also had a mic stand thankfully. I felt like a dolt.