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.
Best DAW'ish experience on the iPhone?
Ok, got my very first iPhone yesterday, a used iPhone 5 from my dad.
And im not gonna make music on the iPhone, but it would be cool to have "1" complete daw experience for doing some sketches when im not at home.
What is the best DAW'ish experince in your opinion? The apps i own that i could just install are: BM2, Alchemy (sort of daw with 4 tracks), GB & Nanostudio.
But maybe you can recommend something else? How is caustic? looptical?
Comments
Maybe your iphone is 32gb. If it's 16gb i wouldn't install bm2 it's huge :-(
I used nano studio for a long time but now I have a 5s I use multitrack DAW .. Phone copes admirably even with 6 or more tracks.
Thanks for your input. It's only 16gb.
I've done complete tracks using NanoStudio on the iPhone, so it's doable though I grew to find it too fiddly. BM is good on the iphone if you like the interface. Personally I think for quick sketches on the go, I tend to reach for apps like Figure or iKaossilator.
@Kloon said:
Once you start loading it with music, photos, video etc, you'll find it fills up pretty quickly. Nano studio is good but sounds are a bit limiting !? The processor in the iphone 5 is well up to multitrack daw and a fair few channels.
Caustic is nice because you don't have to leave the app. BM2 is also nice, but you have to change out of the app a lot to get synth sounds in.
Looptical is really cool. Really does it all.
IMHO you cannot do any better on iPhone than Beatmaker 2. It's a universal app. Has good midi support. Records audio tracks. Audiobus and IAA compatible. Compared to other daws for the feature set you'll get, it's hands down the best option for me. It has a quirky interface some will complain about, but again, pound for pound, this is the answer to your question from my point of view. I prefer it to Cubasis.
MultitrackDAW is a great lightweight app if you're just trying to record, but it lacks a lot of daw-ish features. If I were you I'd just download bm2 again.
MusicStudio
It's a tie between BM2's functionality and options and Nanostudio's simplicity.
Saying that I just downloaded Caustic just to try on iphone.
I have been most productive on Nanostudio
Check out the Looptical web site, documentation, tutorials, demos and videos.
http://www.moocowmusic.com
I haven't used looptical, but for me, for sketches, GarageBand is the best on the iPhone. I have heard good things about looptical, but I just can't get yet another tool to do the same thing right now. Maybe some other time.
I barely use GarageBand on iPad, but for the phone I think the interface is easiest. I'm loving caustic, on ipad, but on iPhone, it's tough for me to hit the right buttons.
I used nanostudio for a while, but never really dig Eden that much. I love the sequencer though.
Beatmaker just doesn't work for me, between the terrible stock samples and the huge size. I'm not a fan of the interface either.
So, GarageBand for quick ideas on iPhone. Auria is my main program on iPad.
I'm a bassist, producer (of bands, not hip hop type producer), engineer, and songwriter, so keep that in mind for the context of my answer.
There's so many amazing tools for iPhone. I have to agree with some above that BM2 dominates the iPhone choices for DAWs. It's a real DAW, and I've got all of them for iPad and iPhone, and usually prefer it on iPad to all the others, including the iPad-onlies. If it's "DAWish" you are looking for, and you want to "sketch" you can get damn fast on BM2, but other apps may feel faster out of the box, and are self contained, and limitations can be inspiring, and -somewhat- simpler tools may help focus the sketching. The best of these are Caustic 3, Looptical, Music Studio, FL Mobile Studio HD (a Music Studio that sounds like Fruity Loops and has a very speed friendly drum seq and an on board synth).
BM2 is phenomenal, Caustic is phenomenal, Looptical is phenomenal (and open ended like BM2 in that it has AB, IAA). My three favorite DAWs were all initially smartphone software, and have been through many versions in the case of BM2 and Caustic, or come from a dev that came in on the ground floor of iOS music in the case of Looptical. All three are killer on iPad too.
Another consideration may be export to your computer. Did you want to export your sketches as midi and wav.?
Nonosyudi still can't record any audio, right? How can that be in any daw discussion?
Edit: Let me clarify that a little before anyone jumps all over me. My basic requirements of any daw are that I can plug my guitar into it, record a track, slice off the end and maybe copy some pieces around to create some loops. Last time I checked nanostudio couldn't do this. If you're strictly using synths and drum machines and other digital music creation thingies, then I guess nanostudio could technically qualify as a daw, but for my purposes, nanostudio doesn't allow for the most basic elements I'm looking for. I'm sure others feel very strongly opposed to that outlook, but that's my opinion.
Thanks everybody for your input!
@boone51 said:
The op did use the word DAW'ish !
And you can sample into Nanostudio via Audiobus and play the loops timestrectched with trg
But i suppose it depends on what we define as DAW'ish I gotta give you that one
Alchemy is DAW'ish in my definition! So, guess Nanostudio is even so.
Since when does nanostudio support proper time stretching?
In the context of sketching musical ideas and putting them together, you also should consider Loopy. And multitrack D a W.
@skogredd said:
It doesn't. It pitch shifts.
It really depends what type of music you want to make. If its conventional rock or pop with virtual instruments GarageBand is by far the best. If you want electronic with cool fx you can automate I would recommend Looptical (although it has no piano roll editor). Id avoid Beatmaker 2 cos of the big footprint on your phone. Music Studio is also pretty good. However, with inter app audio and audiobus its very straightforward to move tracks between DAWs and to make use of the many fx apps (the AUFX range is superb). Lastly, dont underestimate what can be done with just an iphone: I make full blown complex songs with an iphone 4 and a 5. Ive been doing this for a couple of years now and have built up a pretty substantial following on Soundcloud - so I guess I must be doing something right. If youre interested in hearing what can be done, listen here:
http://www.soundcloud.com/the-clocktoys
Most importantly, prepare to have a huge amount of fun : )
@boone51 said:
You can very easily record your guitar into nanostudio using the sample record feature in the TRG pads: I've long used this for recording vocals. You can sample record a chord progression say, then perform extremely detailed trim editing of the sound wave, then select another sample slot in your TRG and record another bit while monitoring the chord progression so everything is nicely in time. Repeat this process to your hearts content and then you end up with a crisp set of loops you can place precisely in your mix by hitting the Appropriate TRG pads: in effect you are almost multiplying the number of tracks available in nanostudio (you can apply 3 different fx sets to the pads in each TRG pad). Nanostudios synths are old now but for rapid editing and tweaking loops etc it remains in a class of its own in my opinion.
The sample-as-audiotrack thing in Nanostudio works really really well, particularly considering just how many you can have going at once with separate effects (or sampled into Eden to use all of it's synthesis stuff to process the audio...). That is, until you have a 30+ second clip and want to start playback somewhere in the middle of it: doesn't trigger. You have to start playback before the sample start is triggered in the timeline. I know lots of people work with it just fine but it drives me nuts. Can't wait for NS2 because I otherwise agree that NS remains in a class of its own.
@syrupcore said:
You can do that no problem! Heres how: mute everything except the loop you want to start from midway; go to a fresh pad in your TRG and press the red record button to go to the actual record screen. In the top left you will see the option to resample. Select this and you then get the option to resample (make a duplicate basically) of all or part of the original loop - you select the number of pars and the start point. Hit the record button and in a second or two you will have your copy. Then go into edit, zoom in really close and delete any unwanted bits at the beginning or end (volume fade in an out is handy here for smoothing any rough edges). Thats it - now you should have the section you need. One general tip- When editing your wav always have the grid set to bar not 'secs' because this is a huge help in seeing exactly where to make the cuts so everything is precise. All this sounds difficult but its really very easy and can be done in seconds with practice.
@Clocktoys , I hear ya. That's not conducive to my creative process at all though. I don't want to record into a sampler than have to play that recorded sample out with a keyboard. That sounds like a nightmare to me in fact. I'm sure it works for some folks or certain genre's of music, but for me its not how I want to go about it at all. Doesn't mean I'm right and you're wrong or anything like that. Different strokes.
Also, I wouldn't ever dismiss an app because how much space it took up on my device. The performance is all I care about.
You don't have to necessarily play it. If the sample us set to play through on a key press, you just need a note where the sample is supposed to start, and it will run from there. It's not too hard to do. That being said, I agree that it is a distraction and not my favorite way of doing things.
Thanks for taking the time @clocktoys but similar to @boone51 that's just not fun for me, though I've done it before. Differently, I have zero conceptual problem recording into and triggering from a sampler but not having random access to the audio is usually just frustrating. NS2 will land eventually and I'm pretty confident it'll have audio tracks. Until then it's the NS/auria combo for me.
@syrupcore said:
I too look forward to NS2! Everyone has their preferred workflow, I know, but if we are focussing on the iphone or ipod, Im just sticking up for nanostudio's often overlooked features!
@boone51 said:
The sampler pads are just mini recorders - you record say a 50 second meditative guitar solo onto one pad and its stored in there as a 50 second loop which you then trigger with a single fingertap on the pad. This is a different kind of sampling to the kind where you just capture a single twang or beat and then play them on a keyboard.
Though this topic has gathered some dust, I thought I'd add my 2 cents. There are some good arguments in here about the different apps and their strengths and weaknesses. My main objective with my iPhone 5 was to make it a convenient music making tool while traveling and, if possible, avoid a wall socket when using external devices.
In my case I mostly record audio but want to have the occasional soft synth or drums at hand, in case. For my purposes Garageband fits the bill. I have a USB hub, connected to a Mophie USB battery, for plugging in an Apogee One (the old one) as audio interface and other devices, perhaps the Beatstep, a USB keyboard sometimes. I used to use Korg nanokey but they are awful. (I wish the Nanokontrol worked with all iOS apps, though). I'm hoping to get a Quneo to replace the Nanokey.
In Garageband I've set up a default tune with empty tracks as a template which I duplicate for new recordings, in order to avoid resetting a bunch of annoying options whose defaults can't be changed (for example, all new tracks are 8 measures by default). That's probably the most annoying thing about GB for me. GB is friendly enough with AB, so other apps are an option, too.
There's no question working with a tiny interface is what it is. I'm not going to convince anyone the UI is comfortable. But when traveling, sometimes I just don't want to bring the iPad along, I want to keep things minimal. There are rumors of big screen iPhones in the next rev which would be nice.
I found the USB battery and hub solution thanks in part to other users here in the forum, especially dwarman and supadom.
If you want a traditional DAW and don't require midi tracks, you might want to look into MultiTrack DAW. At the track and overall mix levels you can control volume levels, pan, has a compressor, equalizer, supports both Audiobus and IAA for effects, can easily copy and paste sections. It tends to be fairly efficient in terms of resource usage too. Records multiple audio chains in Audiobus simultaneously. To edit sections, you can easily zoom in and slice, delete regions plus select multiple regions to copy or move. You can name tracks, regions, and songs. The UI is very straight forward and doesn't require a bunch of screens to make a song.