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 Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Cubasis Update

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Comments

  • sold me on it :p

  • I'm gonna duct tape my wife's iPad 1 to mine (iPad2) for extra horsepower to make that work! :P

    iPad 1 + iPad 2 = iPad 3!!!

    Simple math!

  • I have Meteor and Cubasis. Can't answer the questions though as I've not used either enough to form an opinion. Still messing about in the shallows.

  • I just watched the three tutorial videos for Cubasis and must say that I am impressed. More so with the way Steinberg has presented the tutorials than the actual product. I'm not saying that Cubasis isn't a great product (I plan to purchase it if I get lucky like I did with Auria, at half price) but it is great to see so much info in video format. I really wish other developers would consider doing the same thing. A lot of apps provide video demonstrations but lack the tutorial aspect of their apps. Kudos to Steinberg.

  • edited February 2013

    I just did some testing with Cubasis. Recorded WaveMapper, Thumbjam Sunriser,, DM1, Ipolysix, Animoog, Guitarism, and Nlog Pro on different tracks with 3 send effects on each, without a glitch. This was on a ipad 2. I must say Cubasis is a pretty stable app. I'll keep adding tracks until I blow something up. I must add that I left all these apps running in the background. I only disconnected them from AB.

  • Ok, heading to my room to try Auria with FAB Filter Volcano into Cubasis.....expecting smoke to come out of my iPad 3 :)

    Wish me luck.....

  • Can Auria be used in the effect slot?

  • The good news...much to my surprise, once I'd set up a new clean project in Auria, I was able to set Auria up as the input and Cubasis as the output. I was already running 8 stereo tracks in Cubasis and had a distortion pedal and FAB Filer Volcano running on Auria. Everything was monitoring fine and the system was still responsive!!

    The bad news once I went to record my initial pass created a blank region. I've had this problem with Cubasis before and usually all you have to do is eject the input effect from AB and reinsert it. I did this and recorded the track again. This time it recorded my guitar but it recorded the clean input not the effected output from Auria. The track in Cubasis was named Auria (sub 1) automatically.

    I couldn't immediately see a way of fixing this. Anyone any thoughts?

  • @Skipp Are you recording the guitar into Auria with effects, and then playing the track and recording it into Cubasis?

  • No, I was using Auria as an Input only, effectively giving you access to Auria's channel strip in Cubasis, so the idea was that the effected signal would be recorded in Cubasis. Otherwise you might as well use ACP.

    It looks like it should work but it might have something to do with Auria's input matrix. I'll keep trying but if anyone's got this to work I'd appreciate a helpful hint.

  • @skipp

    Even an iPad 4 would feel pressured with that particular workflow.

    Ideally we would all like to have a single DAW solution for our IOS recording needs but as I think we're all finding out none exist (Meteor appears to be the closest here if you're happy with it's 'not quite pro standard' effects bundle).

    Fabfilter's Volcano is a fantastic filter effect (probably the best available on IOS alongside Moog's Filtatron) but one that's pretty resource intensive on a paltry IOS processor (no matter the iPad generation). I'm going to do a more detailed post on this at some point but it's good to start planning your sessions with multiple app workflows in mind, using each app for the areas that they excel in most but not attempting to use them all at once.

    As a quick example here are a few steps I went through yesterday whilst experimenting.

    1. Set up AudioBus session with Cubasis with a basic rhythm/click track
    2. Sequenced/recorded multiple IOS synths into Cubasis (one at a time, and shut them down after recording).
    3. Exported a loopable mixdown to play via Loopy HD (you could also ACP each individual track to play in Loopy - far more flexible in the long run).
    4. Put Loopy HD into the into Audiobus's output slot so that it could both play back existing recording and capture new recordings
    5. Plug in external instrument/s to Audiobus, effect via JamUp Pro, capture results in Loopy HD
    6. Export individual stems from Loopy for final mixdown with effects in Auria

    As I said this is only a rough example of one particular workflow. In comparison to a desktop DAW workflow this may appear cumbersome but before Audiobus none of this would have been possible. And by using each app for the things they excel at, it's actually pretty quick to use all these individual apps in a very speedy, pleasurable and most importantly creative & inspiring fashion.

    I think it's a case of looking at your Audiobus powered IOS device as 'The DAW' with each individual app being a particular aspect of that DAW. We're going to need to wait at least a generation or two of IOS device upgrades before this will change.

    There will always be all singing/all dancing options like Tabletop, Nano Studio (or the aforementioned Meteor) that promise the earth, but the results will always be compromised. By jumping through a few extra hoops via Audiobus you could record and master an album ready for commercial release. For an IOS device this is an absolutely earth shattering achievement - excuse the hyperbole! :)

  • It's interesting to see the work arounds that we're all using. My workflow with both Cubasis and Auria is much as you described.

    Remember when we all just wanted more Apps to support ACP.......

    Interestingly the system was responsive with Auria/Fabfilter and Cubasis open. I think the issue is a purely technical one...... That hopefully I'll resolve :)

  • @Skipp

    100% with you.

    I just think it's worth remembering that IOS devices have very sophisticated power management features built into the OS so they can deliver the great battery life we all expect and this also has an impact on multi app workflows; which becomes particularly noticeable when using power hogs like Auria (which is optimised to run effects at 4096 sample frames rather than the 256/512 sample frames available through Audiobus).

    Love to see other examples of multi-app workflows people are using to get the most out of Audiobus. Reckon it's a candidate for a Sticky thread. What do you think @Sebastian ?

  • Got it to Work!

    All I had to do was send the live track in Auria to sub-group 1 which is the name of the Auria AB input in Cubasis.

    According to Auria, 8 stereo tracks of audio in Cubasis plus Fab Filter Volcano and a distortion pedal in Auria used 24% CPU on an iPad 3! (Don't know if that just Auria's CPU use?)

    As long as you record one track at a time there are a lot of possibilities here :)

  • edited February 2013

    @Skipp

    That's pretty impressive performance.

    Have you got the System Status app (it costs next to nothing) - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/system-status-activity-monitor/id401457165?mt=8

    This will show you the CPU/Memory hit on your iPad in total (it takes into account all your running apps and any background/IOS tasks).

  • @Skipp I've been trying to record Auria tracks into Cubasis via AB but keep coming up with blank tracks. I set the output matrix to sub1, and it shows up in Cubasis as sub1 but no data in track. Am I missing something.

  • edited February 2013

    @skipp:the auria cpu meter only shows what auria is using.

  • does anybody have a tip where i can find my audiobus recordings in the media bay?I can see the project file but no audiofiles.I would like to audio copy/paste them into auria.Or do i have to mixdown them first?.When i tap on"share" it shows me the ACP option but its greyed out.Can't select it.

  • @Crabman

    If you read the Mixdown section of Mediabay help (via the help button at the far top right of the Cubasis interface) all will make sense. This isn't intended as one of those RTFM type comments, it's just that the Cubasis support team explain the function far better than I ever could! :)

  • @mgm4871 You need to change the setting on the channel strip to send the audio to sub 1 rather than the master left and right.

    Note that Cubasis appears to loose touch with its Audiobus connection on occasion particularly if you use undo and this can lead to blank sections. If you eject the input App from AB and then insert it again it seems to reset the connection and audio starts getting recorded properly again.

  • ah well,stupid i am.But i did check the audio folder of course.Never mind,i found them:all my recordings are in the trash folder but i didn't put em in.Must be recorded straight into the trash.But why?

  • Quality control? ;)

  • Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

  • btw,i was wrong.I found only files in the trash that i already deleted in the edit screen.Quite confusing cause they all just have the default name and numbers...so,stil:can't find my files in the media bay.Refering to the manual they should be in the audio folder but theres nothing except all the preset loops.

  • edited February 2013

    @Crabman

    OK, I'll attempt to explain it better than the Steinberg manual.

    1. Open Mediabay
    2. Click on Mixdown tab
    3. Click Create Mixdown and ensure that seperate files for tracks is selected (the other options should make logical sense

    It's all a bit Heath Robinson at the moment as it attempts to render both the originating midi tracks as well as the Audibus return audio track. The midi track of course turn out to be silent (the feature was originally designed to record the internal Cubasis instruments and they haven't thought about the impact of Audiobus to this workflow).

    The greater irritation is that the rendering of seperate tracks ignores any track names you've given the individual tracks and names them according to the project name and originating track number. You have to click on the edit bottom (the e) the change the track names.

    The final irritation is that you can't seem to save these exported stems in individual project folders so if you're working on a number projects at the same time things could soon get very disorganised.

    All in all very sloppy for a $50 app. As ever with Cubasis every delight it gives you is balanced out with heavy doses forehead slapping!

  • edited February 2013

    wait,are you saying i really have to bounce the files i recently (and already) recorded in cubasis??
    After a wonderful day full of happyness because everything runs so smooth and feels just"right"in terms of workflow....this would be a BIG disappointment.

    it's not mentioned in the manual.The manual says"all raw audio files are stored in the audio folder" (e.g.mic input,import audio etc...).Yes,Would be suboptimal because of the "all in one folder"mess up but at least i could save the step(s) for extra mixdowns.

    And they are already recorded,they play fine in my song.So they have to be somewhere or not?
    The files i deleted are visible in the trash but why not the regular files?

    edit:okay,i guess i got the concept now.It's really not intended to access the files seperately.Guess they put everything in this self contained project file so in this case nothing get lost (delete a used audiofile by accident...).Well,makes more work to copy them to auria but the stem export makes it up a bit.Could be easier though...

  • @crabman

    The only way of accessing those files in the project folder is via the hateful iTunes File Sharing options and all the ridiculous steps that involves or via the built-in Cubasis WiFi Server. The whole of the export system is optimised for transferring iPad Cubasis projects to one of the family of Cubase desktop products. It hasn't really been designed with inter app workflows in mind. If this were the case all we should have to do is copy an audio clip in the project window to copy it to Sonima's ACP system. How much easier would that be!

    I have to admit I'm getting fed up of sending emails to Dev teams for the most simple of things. I think I'll start charging them consultancy fees. :(

  • @Jonmoore, Hateful iTunes file sharing. Lol. Good description.

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