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.
Birdstepper - Multi effect unit , Audiobus compat (out now)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/birdstepper/id818699197?mt=8
FEATURES:
Automatable effects:
*Pitch Shift
*Fuzz
*Ambience
*Delay
*Wobble
*Filter
*Spectre
*Chorus
Post-processing effects:
*Noise gate
*Compressor
*Output volume
Audiobus compatible (Input + Filter slots)
Comments
Of COURSE this comes out 2 days after I drop $20 on for-sale SugarBytes apps
.
Seriously, though, I like the interface (though the red looks hared to read against the annoyingly bright yellow), and it's a good collection of effects. iPad only. I wish more effects apps were universal, since my iPad is old, and you really have to baby it to run the requisite minimum of FOUR simultaneous apps (AudioBus, Input, Effect, Output/DAW) to get the chain to work.
Anybody here try this out yet?
oh, sweet temptation.
The Sugar Bytes comparison is a good'n. Other than the more immediate UI, what would this get you that Turnado doesn't?
@syrupcore said:
That's a good question. Turnado isn't perfect by any means (interface issues, CPU demands, etc.), but it is extremely comprehensive. But as is so often the case with apps, the "best" one isn't always the one that works for everyone. MT DAW is a great example of that - it's missing tons of stuff, but it's the final resting place for basically anything I do because it just works and doesn't take much to run properly.
Effectrix may be a better comparison....
Effictrix, how so?
Effectrix is a sequence-based effects app. The demo I've seen of Birdstepper is also a sequence-based effects app. Effectrix will change effects parameters on a 16 or 32 step sequence. Guessing Birdstepper does something similar.
Turnado isn't based in a sequence. It will stay on whatever effects output that you've manipulated, until you change it.
Is it step/sequenced based? I just got the impression the effects were applied overall to the sound.
Interesting that they referenced guitar first in their list of uses for the app. They even make a comment about "stop turning the knobs on your pedals". The SugarBytes stuff can work with guitar, but I never got the impression they had live guitar playing in mind when they designed it.
(Wait, Doug previewed this a month ago?!?)
Okay, so I'm kind of starting to get this. On pitch, for example, it plays back the course of a measure, so you could draw pitch changes up and down through the course of a measure/loop.
Yep, definitely reminded me of effectrix except it is less beat division bound therefore less rhythmically accurate. I'm tempted as it looks potentially less CPU heave then sugar bytes fx but of course I may be wrong
It is definitely step/tempo based. There is even a grid of steps in each of the control windows, but there are not discrete steps like Effectrix.
So, I've not had much joy getting this to midi sync with apps other than loopy?
With Cubasis, DM1 or Sector set midi sync out to Birstepper it just doesn't cycle through the steps... Just sits there doing nothing
No stop / start from sync master app, pressing play button on birdstepper does nothing. Hmmmm.....
I might be doing something wrong, but I just tested Effectrix and it works perfectly all 3 of those apps. Effectrix price seemed a bit steep, but I'd prefer to pay more if the app can actually go in time with other apps!
Been looking foreword to this release.
It says optimized for ipad 3 or latter, @mgmg4871 have you used this with your ipad 2? If so what kind of milage did you get?
Thanks
It won't sync for me either, even with Midibus
Mailed dev..
@skoptic said:
Have u tried send clock always in sector?
keep us up to date
@WMWM it's working fine in my ipad 2 as long as I don't go crazy with apps in background.
I just tried that. It did pick that clock signal up, but at 128.00 bpm in Sector, Birdstepper keeps switching between 126 and 129. It's a start I guess hehe
@mgmg4871 said:
Thanks for confirming. I want to run my recorded loops through this. So, for example dm1 into loopy, loopy then through this into MTS or such. Should work, right? I rarely leave ideal apps open.
Loopy into bS, and into MTS yes. Of course I don't know how many tracks you have going in Loopy. That would make a difference, and still you can't go crazy with the effects in bS.
Thanks for the help.
I guess I was thinking turnado has similar time based modulations available vs the effectrix step sequencer's effect on/off.
Hey all, birdStepper dev here. Just saw this thread so I'm going to double check the clock with all the apps I have. Please let me know if you have clock issues with any other apps or can confirm the issues mentioned above. I think this issue is with specific apps (I've also had issues with dm1), so if I can figure out which ones that will help. I'll let you know the results of my testing shortly.
That is for replies. I've got sector working now.. Weird, I did nothing different except order of apps open (sector first)
But DM1 and Cubasis still nothing. They might have idiosyncratic midi clock send, but both work with Effectrix, so it's not like they can't work.
Ok, I did some testing and I think I have a workaround for the clock sync issue between bS and dm1. I don't have Cubasis or Sector, so if anyone else has these apps and bS please try the workaround described below and post the results.
bS is recognizing clock & start/stop messages from apps that are able to use virtual midi output ports. Some apps (e.g. Loopy HD) enable this by default, others (e.g. FunkBox) require explicit enabling of the virtual midi parameter.
However, most midi-sync compatible apps (like dm1) do not have this option, so the workaround at this point is to synchronize bS & dm1's clocks via a third party Midi control app. I recommend Midibus ($2.99 - http://appstore.com/midibus). It's cheap, it's open source, and it works.
To synchronize dm1 and bS to MidiBus, open all three apps, in Audiobus or not, doesn't matter. Select MidiBus as the input source for DM1 and bS. Now go to MidiBus and tap the "Transport" tab at the bottom of the screen. You should see something like the attached screen shot. This indicates that both bS and dm1 will be sent clock messages from MidiBus. Press the 'start' button at the top the screen pictured below, and dm1 and bS should begin to loop through their sequences, synchronized to the tempo set in MidiBus. Likewise, pressing stop in MidiBus will stop both apps. I've found that it is sometimes necessary to press play/start in dm1 and bS before starting them remotely from MidiBridge, not sure why.
If people are interested, I can do a quick tutorial video of this tomorrow.
Also, I wanted to offer some information in response to a few of the comments/questions above:
-when synced to an external clock source, the tempo displays the actual tempo (the average time between midi tick signals received from a source), not the target tempo, which is set by the master clock. I chose to display the tempo this way because it gives the user information about the consistency of the clock source. In the example cited by CalCutta above, bS's tempo displayed a range from 126 to 129, rather than the intended tempo of 128. This is indicating that the clock sync received by bS is drifting between 126 and 129, though it is presumably centered between 127 and 128. The smaller the range, the more consistent the clock signal.
All for now. I'll let you all know when I get that tutorial going.
Thanks for the info. However I don't fancy buying another app or going through any extra setup to make this work. Like I say Effectrix working with DM1 and Cubasis and Auria. (I also just tried Auria and it's not doing anything either.)
Not working with major DAWs is pretty damning and like I said Effectrix is working on all these so it can't be the apps fault. I understand you don't have all apps, but it was in beta for a while, has no-one tested these? It seems a good test for a sequence based fx unit.
I'd love to use this without having to buy another app, really and would want to hear feedback from midibus users (someone mentioned above that it didn't help) Hoping that the app itself can be improved to be robust standalone
@CalCutta said:
Sorry to hijack but dictator mode in turnado is basically a step sequencer right? I just got it so I haven't figured it all out yet sorry
@nic_b_nice said:
Nope, you can setup the dictator to move around all 1-8 effects in various ways in the window next to it. For some added chaos.
The only stepsequencers in Turnado is on the back panel, where you can choose the various waveforms that is controlling the two LFOs, there's also a stepsequencer option in there for the LFOs.
Sounds brilliant when it's going in time though!
I think it is only fair that if an app states it syncs via midi it should sync without additional purchases. So many apps manage it: xynthesizer, seekbeats, loopy, bm2, effectrix, samplr etc. it shouldn't be the end of the world. I'm sure those developers would be more than happy to share their secret. Sorry, having a rant. I haven't purchased the app but I feel for you guys
Edit: especially for a pattern based effect.
@skoptic said:
I agree with this 100%. Not being able to use a DAW (or the iOS equivalent) as a master clock is discouraging.
Also want to add that, as I mentioned earlier, I already tried Midibus and it didn't work. I suspect that it might be that I don't have the clock to send in to itself on the Transport screen in Midibus, so I'll give that a try later today after work. With that said though, if that's the solution, I'm not a fan of it at all. That makes clock recognition by other apps (namely BM2) double the BPM...no thanks.
Also, I now understand the fluctuating bpm's showing in Birdstepper, but it's that inaccurate? Midibus also shows the tempo fluctuations of clocks to like the ten-thousandth of a second, and it's nowhere near as extreme as 3bpm. To be fair though, it was true that I didn't really notice any major issues with the tempo being off in play. Just threw me when I first saw it (I suspect I won't be the only one, either).
After getting to really hear the app in action last night, I do like the sound results. It's less immediately invasive than Effectrix, I like the way to modulate parameters with the envelope, and the "Ambience" effect is neat.
Hey all, here's a quick tutorial I made that demonstrates how to use MidiBus to synchronize clocks between DM1 and birdStepper:
@skoptic, not sure why you were having an issue earlier using Midibus to sync DM1 and bS, take a look at the vid, hopefully it will help you get up and running.
As a few folks have mentioned, needing to use a third-party app to get midi to synchronize is less than ideal. I couldn't agree more. I'm getting in touch with devs from some apps mentioned above to see if they will indeed share their secrets
That said, I want to get on my soap box for a moment about why iOS musicians (and devs) should support MidiBus. I think the biggest weakness of iOS as a music-making platform is the lack of a single, agreed-upon protocol for how apps should handle midi clock info. At the moment there are several competing midi clock protocols on iOS that are not cross-compatible. This is one reason why you'll find so many AB forum threads devoting to users tearing their hair out trying to get their apps synced.
I encourage you to support MidiBus for a simple reason: it is open source. An open source midi protocol has many advantages, not least of which is that it is accessible to all developers, i.e., it is not the property of any single company or group of affiliates. Open standards promote universality because they are accessible to indie devs (like me) and large companies alike.
There has been a fair amount of talk and hope that either AB or Apple will step in to suggest a common midi protocol. I for one would be thrilled. So TL;DR: I'll get bS synced up with these other apps, but please don't denigrate MidiBus as a solution, because it is an open standard and represents one of the most viable solutions out there for improving the pitiful state of midi sync on iOS.
To @Skoptic's question about the magnitude of clock variations...here's the scoop. Clock source apps send clock sync (midi tick) messages 24 times per beat. birdStepper displays the average tempo of the last 4 ticks. At a tempo of 128, that's ~ 468ms per beat, divided by 24 is ~19.5 ms between ticks. If the average time between ticks drifts by 0.3 ms to 19.2 ms, the time between beats is now ~ 461ms, or about 131 BPM. Because I am averaging the tick length over only 4 ticks, birdStepper picks up very small variations in the sync message, on the order of 1 * 10^-5 seconds. If I averaged the time between ticks over a longer interval (say 24 ticks), smaller variations will be washed out by the larger sample size. Personally I like being able to see how the clock signal is varying in BPM, but I agree that there's no reason for the casual user to assume that this is anything other than a bug. Perhaps I'll change that in the next update.
Thanks all for your feedback, keep it coming. If you're not won over by bS yet, please keep an open mind...it's only going to get better.