Auria first emerged in 2012 but it was the upgraded Auria Pro version that made a splash when it debuted in 2015. Aimed to rival the likes of Cubasis and GarageBand, Auria Pro pretty much nailed it. It’s a comprehensive multi-track recorder, sequencer and mixing environment with a bundle of effects and instruments from some professional developers.
The specs are great: unlimited tracks with up to 24 multi-track recording in 24bit 96kHz. It supports AAF import so you can potentially import audio from Pro Tools sessions, Nuendo projects, and others. It uses similar technology as Cubasis for audio warping and transient detection. It can automatically quantize audio and extract the feel of an audio clip to apply to other clips or MIDI. You could, for instance, pull the feel off a sampled drum loop and apply to your own MIDI drum programming.
The mixer is remarkable and looks like what you’d find in a desktop DAW. It has 6 auxiliary sends for effects and you can create up to 32 busses and 8 subgroups with flexible routing. Within the mixer is a fabulous Channel Strip plug-in from PSP with an extensive EQ section, expansion, compression, and gating.
You can insert up to 4 effects like FabFilter Pro Q2, a convolution reverb, PSP StereoChorus and StereoDelay. You can buy many more through the in-app store from the likes of FabFilter, Overloud, PSP, and Fxpansion. On the end of the audio chain is the superb PSP MasterStrip with EQ, compression and brick-wall limiting.
On the instrument side, they have their own Lyra sample player that supports SFZ, EXS, and SF2 sample formats. FabFilter has provided two instruments in the shape of the Twin 2 and One synthesizers. Along with the piano roll editor, you have real-time control over quantize, velocity shift, velocity compression, random, delay, legato, and transpose.
Auria Pro takes the iPad DAW to another level for the same price as Cubasis. My only slight concern is it has not received any major updates since the original release in 2015, just little improvements and fixes and I wonder what the current development schedule is like.
Street Price: $49
Website: auriaapp.com
App Store: itunes.apple.com