Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Portable speaker for iPad as guitar amp.
This is probably not the most appropriate place to ask but I'm not really sure where the best place is.
I'm a guitar teacher and I travel to some of my students' houses to teach them. Although I have a little practise amp that I take with me I would love to start using my iPad as my portable amp. It would be convenient to be able to fit everything in a backpack. Plus, practise amps aren't generally very versatile and I don't want to drag pedals etc. around with me.
So anyway, does anyone know of any decent, cheap, portable speakers I might be able to use with my iPad 2. I've considered bluetooth but I'm a bit weary about latency and connectivity. I've come across Fender's Passport Mini which seems appropriate, but a bit bulky still. Obviously sound needs to be decent, but I'm not performing so it doesn't need to be fantastic. I'm using the Behringer UCA-202 into the CCK as my guitar input.
I might be asking for way too much here but I thought I would try my luck. Sorry if this is too off topic, but I figure this forum is one of the most informative places for anything related to music making and iOS. If someone knows a better place feel free to suggest it.
Comments
I'm very happy with the Bose Soundlink Mini which is mostly connected via line cable to my iPad 2. Sometimes I use it via bluetooth, but mainly when hearing music or editing audio. The latency is, compared by other mobile Bluetooth speakers, acceptable when playing synth apps. The Soundlink is not really cheap, but in my opinion the best compromise between sound quality and mobility.
http://www.thomann.de/de/batterie_betriebene_verstaerker.html
i like the little:
Roland Mobile-AC
http://www.thomann.de/de/roland_mobile_ac.htm
for a little bit more RocknRoll
http://www.thomann.de/de/roland_cube_street_bk.htm
g
Get the Yamaha thr10. A little more expensive but it will sound great with your ipad or
By itself
The iLoud seems right for you.
Check out vid on Palm Sound for demo with guitar.
I so want an iLoud but at USD300 it's out of the question for me this year. Drained my wife's tolerance with the IPA 128.
Any of the Bose mini or portable. Latency is no issue
i really like the roland cube lite
I've had great luck with the UE Mini Boom, which is an external Bluetooth speaker, so far. It's very small and lightweight, gets decently loud for bedroom playing, and it's powered by a 10-hour USB-rechargeable battery. Haven't been able to Bluetooth guitar apps to it due to some "apps that can record won't play over BT" issue, but it has a 3.5mm input jack, so it works fine via the iPad headphone output.
I've been highly impressed with the sound quality for such a small speaker, too. The portability makes it easy to move around the house for playing Spotify or Google Music via BT.
As you can probably tell, I've considered it 100 bucks well spent.
Amazon link: http://goo.gl/1Hhe7V
Ultimate Ears main site: http://www.ultimateears.com/en-us/mini-boom
Thanks for the responses so far all. I definitely don't want to be spending more than $200 and nothing that acts as an amp in itself, since these tend to be a little bulky and negate the tone coming from my ipad (I assume a micro amp isn't going to have a fx loop for bypassing the preamp). Still all helpful responses. I'm especially interested in Bose Soundlink Mini and the UE Mini Boom.
Anybody had any experience with the Jawbone stuff? Or Peavey's BTS 2.2?
I have the Jawbone Big Jambox.
Its a great speaker, but in my ears it has sounded a bit "thin" when playing around with iOS synths. I have also experienced quite a bit of unwanted noise as well.
But dont take my word for it, it could be perfect for you.
Have you heard of the minirig?
http://minirigs.co.uk
I have one, 50 hour battery, VERY loud (22 watts) and rugged and portable. Amazing, and not too expensive.
Minirig would be my recommendation too
iLoud looks really cool...40watts, small enough to fit in your bag and it's Bluetooth as well as a hard line input
The minirig looks very cool! But they seem really hard to get ahold of. When they do go on sale they sell out super fast, and one of the main places to get them (Amazon) won't ship them to Australia anyway. Damn... If they were more readily available I might have grabbed one. Oh well.
I think what I'm going to do is grab something like the UE Mini Boom for now and when I can afford it I'll pick up the iLoud.
In case anyone is interested, I grabbed a Bravia 440. My local store had it for half price so I couldn't pass it up. Works very well for what I want. Sounds fantastic for such a small speaker. It's no guitar amp but with the help of JamUp (and soon BIAS) it sounds pretty damn good for practise and lessons. A more versatile setup than most practise amps and cheaper than anything that outperforms it (provided you already have the iPad/iPhone). Very happy!
I will be after the ILoud soon....to use mainly with iPad and Guitar.
I have an iLoud and just purchased AudioBus. So far, I can get iLoud to work sort of with a cable from the iPad headphone jack to the iLoud. The iLoud BT function refuses to work with AudioBus or any other app that takes in my electric violin (Amplitube and Stompbox). On the other hand, the iLoud BT functions perfectly with stand-alone apps like Amazing Slow Downer. Go figure. The speaker sound is phenomenal for the size and price. Much cleaner than my Roland Cube. Now if I can just figure out if BT is supported by AudioBus I will be in the money. I have a support ticket into IK Media to see what they have to say.
AB is just a conduit for the audio. It does not output audio or BT. The app in the o/p slot of AB needs to support BT. I think the speaker will also work in the o/p slot and use BT, if you have a BT connection established, but I've never tried that.
My understanding is that real time apps don't work with BT because of the latency in herent in BT. I don't have an iLoud though.
As Mike said above, iOS will not transmit BT in any app that engages the microphone. As a lot of instrument apps do this you will likely need the auxiliary cable to carry the signal to the speaker for most situations.
The roland micro cube is a has an stereo aux input that can be used along with the guitar/mic input. It is surprisingly loud and clear. Also has a killer amp simulator / reverb delay. Runs on 6 aa batteries for about 20 hours. They just made a new version the cube street, with a dedicated mic input and more power.
dnoll said:
Hmm...I ve seen it, and it looks great, still a choice. Although, my first choice is the Yamaha THR10...I can use it with guitar, bass, ipad and mac...beside the effects which has in it.
The THR10 is awesome, but if you just want it for electric guitar/line-in the THR5 does the same job. Of course you'd be doubling functionality with the ipad but it's just such a cool little amp...
i agree. I have thr10 with my new ipad air and jamup pro/bias sounds great!!
thatsRayor said:
Right! the THR5 will do the work as well....hmmm, however, if I understood good the THR will give me the plus to use also the bass, and in that case I can use it with three different setups.
so I can fix the amp under....and link the THR to an Airport (or something) so I can use it with Airplay from any ios devices.... DrumBeats+, JamTrack, DM1, Band Session .... gotta try if works!
Next stage, as soon as I can put the hands on it....get a laptop stand
For something a bit alternative you should check out the JukeCase portable guitar amp by Son Valise. A portable suitcase guitar amp with up to 40 hours playtime and awesome sound, all the way through the range. My friend got one and you can play your backing track via Bluetooth whilst playing guitar/singing over the top. They look awesome too!
www.jukecase.com
I know the original post is not too current, but why not just get a pair of computer speakers and plug them into the ipad to hear what you're doing if budget is a concern? For giving lessons that would probably work well. Then, when budget allows, get the bigger speaker that you want?
I have the Bose sound link, because someone had given it to my wife a few years ago, and it is pretty good and pretty portable, and does connect via 1/8" so the latency of bluetooth wouldn't be an issue. There's other mobile speaker products in discount stores around here that would probably work as well.
I mentioned the Mini Boom in the Bluetooth speaker topic. Wonderful speaker that sounds far better than its size would imply. Highly recommended. Aside from Bluetooth you can also pipe in audio via 1/8 inch cable. You can string two together in stereo, as well, and place them where you wish.
Just saw the Yamaha THR-10 mentioned. I have one. It is glorious, even for bass. Awesome little box. But we're talking $300 for this one.
Yeah the THR10 is great, no regrets here. The regret will probably set in when they release a class compliant version (here's hoping for just a software update!).