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.
Comments
@water_horse_3G , I followed your mapping of notes on your blog however with my lPB 8 it receive the midi notes if I play a sequence but when I try to play the note via the controller it does not work. If I play the note on the iMPC App the note played is reflected on the controller. Please advise.
@thinds said:
No, but a little hubris never hurt anyone. =P
IMO, any developer in the iOS music production space would be wise to keep tabs on this forum.
Hi All!
I'm here to answer questions along with @walter_horse_3g (Our fantastic team member who we also call Neal). I'll be a bit more active tomorrow, but I wanted to say hello now.
You guys have discovered some bugs that we are working on now. I appreciate all the feedback. Someone here mentioned that 'when you fix something you break something else'. This is one of the madding things about software development. Especially in the last weeks of it.
Here are some of the issues we have fixed already and are hoping to submit soon:
1) Velocity + variation control
2) Trim endings on load
3) Export doesn't show progress quite as smooth as I'd like
4) Dragging sequences/samples between banks (A,B,C,D) used to work. It doesn't in 1.0. UG!
Here are a couple of other things I'm hoping to work on tomorrow
1) Sample delete! We have a design for how this would work. I'm hoping it won't take too long.
2) Slightly improved iTunes import. (if samples are name .WAV rather then .wav they don't always show up). There is more to do here, but a quick fix would be nice in the meantime.
I'm glad to see so much interest and passion here. We read lots of feedback and comments about our products and try to reach out on the internet wherever discussion is occurring. I personally spend quite a bit of time listening to the awesome music created by the musicians using these tools. This can also be a source of inspiration and feedback.
My favorite kind of feedback (other then tracks on SoundCloud) is when someone describes a workflow, technique or sound they are trying to achieve. It's more helpful to hear "I really wish that iMPC Pro had midi out so that I could control my old 808 directly with the sequencer in iMPC Pro" rather then "OMG WTF NO MIDI OUT!?!".
Oh and finally, I'm trying to spend a little time imagine brand new instruments and tools for the iPad (we had a great time building Stryke). What are you most excited about seeing next on the iPad? What sorts of things do you want to create and how?
Thanks everyone. (and go easy, it's been a tough month
Dan
@thinds said:
We've been going over this app with a fine tooth comb for the last few days. Looking at other forums and tweets and whatnot, no one else is really doing this that I've seen. Negative posts and lack of AB aside, if they've read thru this thread they can see a lot of issues that need addressing in upcoming updates. So for them, this is a pretty important thread. We got their attention, and the response was fairly quick. I think it's best if we continue a positive and open dialogue however we can.
Hi Dan, congrats on an overall fantastic app. Look forward to the updates. I know from experience that to develop and deliver anything complex to market is tricky.
@DanWalton is there a bug with midi out
@djjuniorpops
Midi out is primarily designed to light the pads on the Element and MPC Fly. I wouldn't say that we have tested or built a midi out feature (although someone else might be able to hack it). What kinds of things would you want to do with a midi out feature?
Thanks!
@DanWalton said:
@DanWalton If you read my post before, I am using a Akai LPD 8 and followed the midi note number settings on your Blog to control the iMPC Pro app with my LPD 8 , however when I try to play a note on the controller nothing happen in the App. If I play a note on the IMPC Pro drum pads then the lpd 8 pad light up what am I doing wrong.
Hi Dan, thanks for dropping in. Were there any plans to include an option in wav export for exporting individual tracks?
@djjuniorpops Very strange. I think we have an LPD 8 at the office. Hopefully we can take a look tomorrow.
@Context
We were discussing this very thing today. I think this could be cool although Turbo Duck and Flux Link are applied to the master mix...so those things might not come through. Where do you want to import these tracks too?
@Bunzai
I see. That makes sense. The challenge here is that there are hundreds of different little midi controllers and they all work a little differently. It's hard to come up with a single interface that makes them all work well without making users to tons of work. Is there an app that handles this problem particularly well?
@DanWalton
Thanx for reading this thread, i found another bug, and replicated in two ipads.
Working on timeline and pads.
Filling the pads. A01,02,03,04,05,06,07. And i leave by mistake 08 and fill 09. Everything fine but if in timeline put the A08 wich is in blank if i put that empty pad on timeline the sound changes of the other sounds playing doesnt matter if is Mute or poly the 08 pad
And please fix the grid everytime i save a song in 1/16 note grid when i reopne the song is in 1/8
Thanx in advanced
@DanWalton Hi. Thanks for taking time out to speak with us, and developing iMPC Pro. I wouldn't presume to speak for anyone but myself, but full connectivity is necessary on a mobile music platform. As you can see, trying to find workarounds can be a long process, with a lot of testing needed. That makes AudioBus necessary, just as much as Inter App Audio and Midi is necessary. It benefits everyone. Your company, because Retronyms becomes a developer we can trust to build music tools that we know we can use with ease along side other music applications. And us, your customer base, because it stimulates our creativity, we can produce music in ways never thought of before, and we can share those ideas with others. Adding AudioBus to iMPC Pro and your upcoming apps will greatly enhance our experiences growing and learning this platform together, especially when iOS 8 is released. It's the future, and I hope you are there.
@DanWalton thanks for your quick response , please let us know the outcome.
Congrats to you both on such a much better rounded app than IMPC , also is there a update for TableTop so you can use IMPC pro in TT
@DanWalton said:
Hi Dan thanks for participating here.
Midi control plays a central role for many musicians as it allows them to have greater flexibility in terms of connecting various apps and hardware together as well as being able to synchronize.
Sending and receiving midi from its own virtual midi channel(s) as well as being able to specify which ports to send and receive from would be great. Would also like to be able to send/receive midi clock as either a slave or master midi clock would be fantastic too.
A solid midi implementation will definitely enhance the functionality and compatibility of iMPC Pro and will go a long way towards reducing the perception of the app being a closed isolated system.
You can currently send and receive midi to and from the app, but due to a lack of a manual or a video on how to do this, there's a lot of confusion, trial and error plus frustration. If midi had been built into the app from the get go anticipating the musician would need it, you'd have a lot more satisfied people rather than having to try and figure it out on our own.
@Aphex ok, I'll take a look at both these issues at the office tomorrow.
@ArcaneScreams
I know this might be an unpopular opinion here, but rather then supporting every possible configuration we focused and supported the free standard, InterApp audio in three different workflows. Effect, sampling and node. I'm hoping you can connect to nearly every music production app this way.
Please help me understand the what your production goals are. What workflow or sound you are trying to achieve. We need a more complete picture in order to make the best product possible.
@djjuniorpops
Ok. I'll try to let you know something tomorrow. Yes, I'm very excited about the TT update. Just waiting on Apple. I'm also happy to say there will be yet another TT update soon too!
@Paulinko
Thanks for the helpful feedback here.
During every single product I have worked on I've been really surprised about the things that people ask for once we launch it. During development we ask, "Will they want A? We really have to have A..." then when we launch everyone says, "Where the heck is B?".
I am seeing now that some people are asking for better midi implementation. (We posted a few midi details at blog.retronyms.com. Are these helpful?) Yet, what is the specific workflow or configuration you are personally interested in creating? What app best supports midi for your purposes? I think this kind of feedback really helps us to build better products.
@Dan Walton, thanks for taking the time to address our concerns, I'm have a blast so far with iMPC pro, lots to get my head around.
@Ripper No problem. Enjoy. Make sure to post on CloudSeeder!
@DanWalton said:
You can currently use iMPC Pro in Audiobus via IAA inside Audiobus compatible apps like AudioShare and Cubasis for example. Once again, your company would benefit from creating a video that shows examples of how this can be done. Please consider engaging more with this community as you are now doing and I think you can find ways to make a better product with less frustration. I would worry a lot less about our specific music work flows and focus on providing tools iOS musicians are asking for.
Some of the basic problems with the app could have easily been eliminated with feedback from dedicated beta testers. The midi implementation and sample deletion are just a few that come to mind plus Tabletop not being iMPC Pro ready at release.
Your company does a poor job of managing expectation in my opinion. There are slick videos leading up to the release but because the same amount of care hasn't gone into getting feedback from beta testers, the app's release falls short of being a refined app as depicted in your videos.
For myself, being able to have robust apps that can communicate with each other and allow me to integrate with existing apps and hardware is great, plus future acquisitions of both apps and hardware. The degree to which a developer is able to deliver on these integration issues, the happier I'll be and the more easily money will flow from me to them.
@DanWalton Ha, that's ok. Honesty more than opinion works for me. I'll stick with iMPC Pro as an example of what I'd like to achieve. I see the iOS system as a modular synthesizer, each app being a module. My particular workflow has moved toward Lemur being my main controller. I find it easier to use one app to control many, instead of jumping back and forth. This is why the iMPC midi and connectivity is so important to me. I could use Lemur to control iMPC, which, in turn, could control another music application. I set up my apps in AudioBus, so they can be recorded in Auria or Cubasis. We seem to have a workaround for recording in Auria and Cubasis posted here, but it's not the easiest or most effective way of handling recording. I'd like, and am hopeful that iMPC can become my one and only sampler. One drum app, that's what I'm looking for. We can use AudioShare and Loopy to record into iMPC Pro using AudioBus, no problem.
@DanWalton On the topic of exporting individual tracks: This is useful for collaborations where not everybody is using the same software/ hardware. In this situation, at least everyone can use wav files.
For example, I'll send individual tracks (stems) to a vocalist so that he or she can adjust the levels to their liking or even cut out elements that don't work well with whatever they are trying to do.
Another example: My studio is geared for creation, not engineering. The same goes for my expertise. I outsource my finished music to good engineers that I trust to get the job done right. It is ideal in this situation to have stems rather than a fully mixed down track that the engineer can't do much with.
I understand that flux link and turbo duck complicate this matter. A good engineer can achieve what turbo duck does, but flux link... that's a performance thing and yeah that could leave some people out in the cold if a solution can not be found. However, even if some features have to be compromised I'm sure that this option would be useful for more than myself and a few people.
Edit: The midi details that were posted on the Retronyms blog are indeed helpful, thank you for that.
@Dan Walton will you be looking at Dropbox integration or the new Apple iCloud file sharing (ios 8) to enable us to have all our sample collection available for audition before loading them from within iMPC Pro but not taking up valuable ipad space?
This would be a workflow masterstroke.
Please say it's already in development
@DaveMagoo
This is a huge topic for us. If you look at the new AudioCopy app you can see we are thinking about sample management and sharing across apps. We are still digging into all the details of iOS 8, but you can tell Apple cares about these goals too. I expect big changes around all this and we want to stay as up to date as possible. Stay tuned here.
Hi,someone can tell my if there is any manual or something for the iMPC Pro? I'm having trouble to chop individual samples to each pad.It seems like it's only possible to chop 2 samples at time for 2 near pads.I used to use the FL Studio in my pc.I have no experience in iPAD music apps.
+1 @bunzai @thinds @jamie @telecharge — all good/fair points
+10 @water_horse_3G and @danwalton for thick skin. Honestly, I like to think I would have similarly thick skin but I doubt I would. Really great and helpful to have you guys here.
That was me and was because I've spent the last three days fixing things that worked two weeks ago on a current project, just about to launch. FML. Luckily for me, there's not nearly as much money or brand loyalty on the line.
@Danffsm Inside the app there is a <?> symbol near the top. That should bring up documentation. My favorite way to learn about the app is to dig into our ProLog series on youtube. It's all over our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/retronyms
Let me know if this is helpful.
Thanks.....looking forward to what you guys decide on.....,,,,,
@DanWalton when I drag a sound from one pad to another it overwrites the sound that was on the pad....
I can't seem to undo this if I do it by mistake, is there a workaround when undo is unavailable ?
....also.....@DanWalton how do i access the option to vote on a future feature?...someone mentioned from the original impc app news feed but I can't seem to figure it out...:)
I found a post in this thread detailing it but I still don't see the page in the original iMPC app news feed....
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BrpEmFXCAAM3D3l.jpg:large
@DanWalton @water_horse_3G good work guys, nice to see you here and exciting to think of your future developments with this project. I was into Tabletop on day one of release and that app (along with more processing power on the iPad) is now fulfilling it's early potential. Congrats as well because it's great to see iMPC Pro sitting at #1 in the AppStore charts.