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.
Arturia sale: iMini and iSem 50% off (first sale of the year)
iMini $4.99: http://appshopper.com/music/imini
iSem $4.99: http://appshopper.com/music/arturia-isem
Comments
Maybe means the release of their new synth is imminent?
Looking at www.retronyms.com it does look like they're atleast very close to announcing it (the Prophet V port that is:)
It would be nice if they would fix the broken midi implementation of iMini before moving on to a new synth.
Somewhere in the 1000 post iMPC Pro thread, I think Dan said they planned to. But also didn't seem to understand it was broken and insufficient in the first place....
Ha, yep, that would be the iMini sale I've been waiting for ever since checking out the (excellent) iSEM. Looks like I need to empty out my piggy bank (literally).
Well, expect it to sound great (IMO) but to listen to all MIDI channels and occasionally get stuck notes.
They already have the IP to do this since it was done correctly with iSem. It's weird that they wouldn't (couldn't?) have already reused the same code in an iMini update.
iSEM was coded/ported by Tempo Rubato, iMini was not.
@Zymos - Interesting. I've heard quite a few good things about iMini, however. Will double-check before I buy.
@StormJH1 said:
It's a beautiful house with a leaky roof.
This is reminding me of m-audio 10 years ago, when products were introduced at a quick rate and had lots of issues, with poor tech support, and rather than fixing issues (or at least trying to understand them), new products came out.
And I find it intriguing that iSEM comes out and works, I've never had a crash or a stuck note. Tempo rubato has , as far as I know, nlog, nave, and iSEM. All which work well. I use iSEM on every gig and I don't worry about it.
Imini sounds awesome (the work of Arturia) and is flaky in it's iOS implementation. With neither company aware of the continuing issues. With emails such as "a gliss on imini results in stuck notes every time, using 3 different controllers connected via direct iOS connection, USB through official cck, and midi through USB audio interface" one could see how a company could be unaware of the issue. Perhaps too many non working solutions on their plate.
Just my opinion and anyone is free to disagree. But a stop in a forum once per year does not make me think a dev is interactive.
It's too bad, because imini sounds so good. But, so does iSEM and it's rock solid.
^ that pretty much sums it up.
Given the problems with all their products, maybe Retronyms should hire someone who understands how to do Midi properly.
First they'd have to admit there IS a problem, and acknowledge that MIDI implementation is something a lot of people actually care about.
If they can't do it in house, then it could be that the cost to get it fixed outweighs the revenue they've generated from the app. A price tag of $10k to fix it (just a guess) would negate 1,000 sales at full price.
I don't wish any dev anything negative. Even if imini never works correctly I'm only out 9.99 (I bought it within about 2 minutes of it being released, which at the time was a total surprise). However, I'd love to see any company focus on making really useful tools rather than almost working toys. And those tools are out there.
I sincerely hope we don't see a prophet V before other apps are solid. But, if we do, I'll be skipping it as I am not really in need.
I opened Thor the other day again while debating whether or not to check out Tera and realized how good it sounds and how deep it is, so I'll make sure I wring a lot more out of that (and sunrizer and iSEM) before I look for more. The main symptom of "Too many tool itis" is "too many unfinished projects!" For me at least. I wish I didn't love shiny new tools so much!
i was ready to jump on the iMini sale, but after reading this thread i'm glad i didn't.
These are all great points, and I'm thrilled to see critical discussion of them. I will have some homework to do. I frankly had no idea that it had a different developer as iSEM (especially since the developer is listed as "Arturia" in the App Store and when you click on the "Related Apps" tab.
Once you get below $5, I'll take a leap of faith that I otherwise might not. There are a lot of partially-flawed apps that still can be very useful, including Retroynm's own iMPC Pro. But these Virtual MIDI problems are something to take note of both for this app and for their new Arturia synth, because I'm using MIDI control more and more.
So if I get just one of these... it should be iSEM?
Without question.
iMini is one of the better sounding synths available on iOS though, it's just a matter of if you can live with its bugs and limitations. I wouldn't trust using it at a gig or something.
I bought both and agree with Zymos. Both synths sound great.
Yep, iSem. Plus, lovely as iMini is, I think iSem makes more interesting sounds.
And while Retronyms didn't code iSem, Aurturia almost certainly owns the rights to the iSem source code which they could share with Retronyms. Doubt it's as simple as copy and paste because of the rest of the implementation details but...
Wait, let's not get away from ourselves. $5 for iMini is a smoking deal. Sounds great and mostly works. I'd buy a mostly working hardware Minimoog for several orders of magnitude more money and be stoked about it!
The all MIDI channels thing is totally annoying (deal breaking) in some contexts but for sampling into Eden, recording tracks into Loopy/Auria or even triggering via MIDI BM/Cubasis and then recording the audio, works totally fine. I've never had the glissando crash but I'm a slow player!
^ i'm tired of buying apps that have some killer fail that gets in the way of using it how it's supposed to be used or would be used in the normal course. It may be a smoking deal, but there are alternatives WITHOUT having to deal with workarounds. I'm so sick of that with iOS music apps.
For $5 it's well worth it. As long as you don't need it for live stuff, you can work around the midi stuff and it sounds fantastic.
As for iSem. Just do it.
@Zymos said:
Ahh-turns out it's their 15th anniversary- the VSTs are all on sale for 50% off too.
Downloadable versions are $49- great deal, but not as great as $4.99!
Yes, imini is great as long as you're in a situation where a stuck note may not get in the way. At a wedding gig is not that time, if I was in a live situation in which it would be adventurous or funny to have small glitches it would be ok. It happens far less than it used to, but still not quite rock solid. ISEM is rock solid though. They both have different sounds, and both are great sounds. I am a bassist, so I use them for synth bass type sounds, and since I'm doing covers, pretty standard type sounds that you'd expect from them. They compliment my novation Xio really well.
For 4.99 each, definitely by them both, they are great for "bread and butter" type sounds and can do a lot more. Imini will at some point be rock solid I hope. And it is true that an original hardware mini is less than reliable live and has its quirks, but I don't have one and probably wouldn't be carting it to wedding gigs anyway- my 1.5lb ipad is much more "working guy" friendly!
That's one Prog wedding if you're usin' iMini!
Nah, but I am using it for synth bass on newer dance stuff and some 70's and 80's dance. That's not to say I've never played Tom Sawyer at a wedding (that's about as prog as I get in my playing!)
Awesome!