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.

*UPDATED 5/14* - Sliver - from Alex Matheu (GlitchBreaks dev)

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Comments

  • @Michael_R_Grant said:

    What's the default positional setting for each pad? Is it right in the middle?

    There really isn't a set default position, but if you are wanting to start from the driest, most un-effected settings, they would be as follows.

  • edited March 2014

    @Audiojunkie said:

    I'm looking for something that allows me to do Alchemy-like pads that I can actually play and sequence with my music. Can this be done?

    Yes, you can do this. The way Sliver's keyboard effects the sound is strictly the pitch, so the sample timing and any automation will keep its timing because no stretching/squashing occurs. If you listen to the extended preset demo, there are a few sounds included that make use of the keyboard, though in a limited capacity. Toward the end (12:15ish) you will hear a buzzing pad sound like bees, and it shifts pitches every 22 seconds, done with the keys.

  • Can we get a adsr control for the keyboard? That will help is smoothing out the sounds as you change the pitch or play different keys? Some control on the envelope would make it smooth

  • I agree very strongly with @thepinkelefant! :-)

  • edited March 2014

    Well, thing is that first and foremost Sliver is a soundscape and texture tool, not a wavetable synth etc.

    That said...
    It would take a heavy amount of changes and additions to make an envelope for the keyboard work properly... not nearly as simple as simply slapping an ADSR in there. This is because the nature of Sliver has everything on multiple levels constantly looping, everything from the audio of individual slivers to the myriad of possible automated parameters... all of it is infinitely looping to generate the sound and movement therein. In order to have a truly functional ADSR envelope, the entire preset would have to re-trigger each time a key was pressed. At any rate, I believe the idea had been tossed around, but was not a v1.0 essential feature. It could however make an update in the future. This would have to be an optional setting. I'll pass along the requests. Many great things are on the table for Sliver updates.

  • edited March 2014

    I can see how standard ADSR could cause problems, but it is possible that Sliver's note on/off could control a simple variant of Volume. Treated like a Mono synth, a simple release/fade could be added in as a manipulable variable that takes the hard edge off of the sound. .....or, maybe a configurable fade-in/fade-out? To me, it is all about the abrupt sound changes that are possible that could introduce clicks and such when playing from one note to the next. I don't think it would necessarily need to be an actual ADSR....a simple configurable volume fade-in/fade-out. This shouldn't affect the other variables at all as far as I can tell... The technology is already there and I bet, if done as I am suggesting, it would take this tool well beyond just being a "soundscape and texture tool." It already is! :-) It just needs this rough edge polished to make it EVEN BETTER! :-) :-) :-)

  • For example: Press a note. Master volume rises as a user configured (in ms) fade-in. Release a note and press another. Master volume of original note drops as a user configured (in ms) fade-out. Rudimentary, agreed, but it would work. :-)

  • edited March 2014

    Oh I hear ya, and I agree.

    Remember this is only v1.0.
    ;) Trust me when I say there are many good things coming to Sliver users in future updates. And of course your comments and requests will be very helpful. Expanding Sliver's playability features is certainly a point of focus for future updates.

  • Ok, I bought the app. I can see why it is currently billed as a soundscape and texture tool. Forget about everything I mentioned above. After playing with the app, I see that the whole ADSR idea is irrelavent without proper key-on/key-off midi note recognition. The whole sound plays constantly once the engine has been turned on. Pressing the keys on the keyboard "only" affect the pitch...no press a key to hear the sound, release a key to make the sound stop. There is some great potential to make this a really cool "playable instrument", but without the things I mentioned, it really IS just a soundscape and texture tool--even with the keyboard... :-( I DO however, think it is a really cool soundscape and texture tool! Just not a good playable instrument. :-)

  • This is exactly the behaviour of an oscillator bank on a string machine, modular synth, or organ. No note shaping occurs without some sort of gate, which is triggered by a key press. The VCA on an analogue synth is really just a gate, which is controlled by the envelope generator, which is triggered by the key press. Imagine an envelope, VCA and VCF (filter), along with modulation possibilities, LFO, etc., tacked on to the output of the Sliver 'oscillator bank', triggered by the same key presses that change the pitch. Would that be a playable instrument?

  • If I am understanding you correctly @PaulB, then what you propose would work nicely! :-)

  • There really is a TON of potential for this app to be the "Alchemy" synth for the iPad! Almost all of the pieces are in place. Just the "gating" is needed to make it a note-playable monosynth for creating our own Alchemy-like sounds. Alchemy for iOS is after all, just a player... :-)

  • :) Downloaded and reading the manual as i type. . . & looking forward to the first sonic-doodling sometime today w/Sliver.

    Looking back at some earlier posts w/the question of what to do with this ap? It's launch icon is sitting happily in my granular folder and it should be a nice additional tool during creating my preferred "Ambient Drone" soundscapes to go along with my BrainWave Entrainment works.

    All the best to the dev.team.
    Thom

  • Amazing app. Congrats to the team.

    Totally with @audiojunkie and @PualB that gating would be an incredible next step. An option to have the default state to 'no sound' and using the keyboard to control not only pitch but gating would be amazing. Visible "hold" key required though so you can tweak and then go back to keyboarding. :)

    With an envelope in place you could do shit like trigger the sound mayhem along with your snare hits from another app via midi. Imagining a midi map via MIDI Bridge that took my kick and snare notes and mapped them 3 octaves apart in in Sliver. Then my music would be good, right?

  • @Accrete would love to hear some of you're creations.

    @syrupcore yes, that is sure to make all your tunes astounding.

    Anyhow, update features are being mulled over... and some things are already finished or in progress.

    Still a little time to get in on the intro price of $3.99 (=33% off)

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sliver/id789010140?mt=8

    Please do rate and review Sliver on the App Store... it will really be a huge help to Alex and help bring bigger and better updates to Sliver users. Have fun!

  • Hi everyone, I wanted to let you guys know that I am following this thread, but have not joined the feature discussion yet, because @OmnilimbO is doing a fantastic job of gathering the requests, and compiling a list.

    I do want to say though, Sliver is first and foremost a Texture/Soundscape generator, and I would like to keep it focused as such. If the feature makes sense in that context and is doable in the design of Sliver then it will definitely be considered.

    If the feature morphs Sliver into something that is not, maybe the conversation should be started for a sibling app :)

    Alex

  • edited March 2014

    Thinking about it, if Sliver has MIDI in, it should be possible to get the functionality I described using a modular synth with audio in routing and MIDI out functionality, as the modular's keyboard could both trigger its filters and envelopes AND change the pitch in Sliver. I don't think a sibling app will be necessary.

  • Great point PaulB, not trying to take away from that focus but is there a way to delete the default presets and sounds, I m finding a number of them are not needed and are taking up space. I tried the edit function then swipe to get the delete key but nothing happens.

    Any advise?

  • The presets are compressed and are only txt files kb's in size... they don't take any noticeable amount of space, in fact the entire app with all sounds and presets is only 29.8 mb.
    Currently factory presets are not deletable from within the app, but I believe you can remove them if you are really bothered, using ifunbox or similar you can access the app folder and delete the presets from there.

  • edited March 2014

    Thanks, I got the app to generate sounds that are unique. And back to Paul's point.

  • I thought I'd made it. Fire and forget and all that...

  • edited March 2014

    @PaulB said:

    Thinking about it, if Sliver has MIDI in, it should be possible to get the functionality I described using a modular synth with audio in routing and MIDI out functionality, as the modular's keyboard could both trigger its filters and envelopes AND change the pitch in Sliver. I don't think a sibling app will be necessary.

    This sounds very interesting @paulB, you and @audiojunkie have got me thinking, I could put Sliver in the input slot of Audiobus and Audulus in the effects slot, then create a midi controlled ADSR in Audulus and then, hey presto the monophonic take on Alchemy
    is born no idea if it will really work but I'm gonna have a go.

  • Worth a punt. :)

  • Well that worked, it was almost too easy, just created two inputs, outputs and ADSR nodes then a midi keyboard node in Audulus, then used Thumjam to send midi to Sliver and Audulus simultaneously, worked like a charm.
    I think I'll try this with some of my other soundscape and droning apps.

  • Feel free to post some audio clips.

  • Awesome, @Multitouch.

    What @PaulB said. ;)

  • That is great @Multitouch

    I may put it on my list to work on ADSR for the keyboard, because I now have Audibus Filter working, and it works with any incoming signal through the Tune effect, which is really fun with the keyboard.

  • Cool! I would LOVE to see that added @distraub!

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