iPhone 4: how many tracks will it run before there's problem

[runmikeyrun]

I have an iPhone 4 with about 2 gb free at the moment. I was wondering if I put it into airplane mode and kill all other apps before starting how many tracks I can process before I start to have issues (locking up, glitches, etc). I can delete my music if necessary freeing up about another 2gb. I have a tascam iU2 interface, so I'm doing two tracks simultaneous recording. Realistically I'd probably end up having 10-12 tracks, and shooting the whole EP on one "song" at about 35-40 mins. I've done 5 or 6 live recordings with the iU2 that were about that long and had no problems at all. Just wondering if my older phone can do it ok.

Thanks!

p.s. I love Multitrack!

[martygras]

I believe the iPhone 4 was originally limited to 8 tracks and the iPad was expandable to 24 tracks. This may have changed, but you shouldn't have any problems using as many tracks as the app will let you use.
Copying to the clipboard and mixdown may take more time to execute though because they are dependent on the processing speed.

Pwnified has stated quite a while back that Multitrack DAW is not exactly geared for recording 8 tracks at once for very long recordings, but I've been using it for recording rehearsals that last for 3-4 hours and have not had any problems on an iPad 2.

It should be fairly easy to test the limitations of your iPhone 4 though. In fact, I would recommend throwing everything you can at it to see how it holds up on you device.

[runmikeyrun]

cool, thanks Marty! I just hope I don't get it all done and get mixdown crashes... I think I will download the individual tracks as they are tracked just in case (I have Cubase). The app offers me purchase of 16 more tracks for 7.99, I'm going to try it and see if it works.

I'm also going to delete all my music and non-essential apps. Probably time to clean house anyways lol.

[martygras]

Try a test run with "throw-away" tracks. Just record some noises etc. Push its limits and find out what you can and can't do.

I'm sure others here would be interested to know what your findings are too.

[Anorton]

I'm on an iPad 2 now, but a couple of years ago, I recorded a 21 track project (I think 24 tracks have been available since 2010 on all devices around at that time) on an iPod touch 3 one track at a time. I've done lots of 8-15 track projects without any real issues. The screen real estate was tricky as I wasnt always sure which track or region I was on. It's easy to accidentally select a region and delete or bounce it. Having said that, MultiTrack has always been my most stable music app. I've never attempted more than a five or six minute song, though. Good luck; let us know how you make out.

[runmikeyrun]

Thanks guys... I deleted a ton of useless apps and all my music, have over 7gb free now. Should be enough. I will report back when finished, which will probably be months... lol... you know how this stuff goes!

[pwnified]

You shouldn't have any problems playing back 24 tracks on ANY device. For recording, up to eight tracks at a time are supported on iPad. As far as I know there is no way to record more than 2 at a time without a USB device, and since general USB isn't supported on iPhone/iPod, those devices are limited to 2 tracks recording simultaneously. However you can record additional Audiobus tracks simultaneously.

[martygras]

Except with Audiobus we can have the audio inputs and additional inputs from synths etc.

On my IO Dock I get the left and right mic inputs and whatever I have loaded into Audiobus as well.
So cool!

Oops "iphone". oh well.