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.
So many apps, which inspire you and get the creative juices flowing?
I'm interested in stuff that takes advantage of the iPad or offers a different way of creating or interacting with audio. I just bought Oscilab and have been really enjoying by the workflow and how intuitive it is. I also have Grain Science.
I'm on the verge of buying the Sugarbytes Fx bundle cause i don't have any fx other than magellan. It's more individual apps than DAWs, still not sure about doing full tracks on an iPad until i at least add an interface and some form of controller, focusing on sample manipulation and synthesis for now.
Cheers!
Comments
The by distance most inspiring app for me is ... Gadget.
Different apps on different days. I know. Not really helpful. But I often find myself noodling on something I haven't played with for a while and, bingo, a new depth or way appears. I had put Beatwave down as something that was fun but limited, but this morning came up with some variations that made me realize the limitation was more mine than the program.
I suppose it also depends what you're after. I find Mixtikl incredibly frustrating but also inspiring...on other days just the quality of a certain synth's sounds (Thor) or the leftfield madness of a certain effect set (Turnado) get me going. When all else fails:
Thumbjam.
At the moment:
Gadget (quick workflow, gets you from start to finish easily, where everything gets put together)
Samplr (experimenting)
Sector (glitching)
Figure (noodling on my phone)
StepPolyArp (quickly trying rhythms out with different notes)
Fingertip Midi (jamming melodies over a defined chord progression)
Fiddlewax Pro (jamming chords and melodies)
And inspiring patches and sounds in:
I've also recently found that looking for and thinking about samples to use - voices, sounds etc. has been quite inspiring.
But number 1 source of inspiration is actually listening to and discovering music I like and want to kind of emulate. So Soundcloud and Spotify are my friends.
Werkbench and Different Drummer are juicy
Gadget. All-in-one app is least distracting.
Nanostudio is the app I start playing with to get quick results that I can build on later. Auria when I'm mixing. Sunrizer or Thor when I want pleasing synth sounds. And when I want to just play grooves on the bass, audio elements to play along with their drum breaks.
Sector is really nice for taking a simple idea and developing variations, plus it has a really slick interface.
Gadget is great for workflow and having multiple sound sources in a single app.
Modular Synth is a good way to burn a couple of hours coming up with original sounds.
iPoly6 and iMS-20 always lead me to something interesting.
Gadget for me as well, though I have to say I'm always impressed with how good Alchemy Mobile sounds everytime I use it. Just the right amount of tweakability with the 1-8 grid too, perfect for a touch screen.
On the iPhone I keep going back to Figure and iKaossilator. Easy to use on the smaller screen, you can actually play them like a real instrument.
@Tarekith Funny you mention Figure and IKaos. Neither of these are ever my starting point, but whenever I'm on the road/on a plane I always end up noodling out sections of a beat or a structure....it's almost as though they're TOO simple back on the home range. I detect user stupidity...
I forgot... Yes iKaosilator too. Of course.
Thing is I never really use the output from either that or Figure. But it gives me inspiration and sometimes I recreate the notes or beat in Gadget. Figure win for me because you can easily work out which notes are being played.
Tabletop, plus the already mentioned ThumbJam, Gadget and WerkBench
Figure, creating patches in Animog or iMini, Drumjam for some ethnic groove...... Which brings me to the conclusion that I should get Gadget soon.....
Usually I end up treating anything I make in Figure or iKaoss as a single loop, and then heavily effecting it to use in another song. I haven't yet really used it to start the different parts of a single song like they intend. Though having Ableton export and new sound options via IAP in iKaoss might make me change my mind.
Triq Traq is another fun app that doesn't get too much mention.
I cannot open Samplr without getting lost in there for an hour or three
It's a good question because there's "buying and experimenting with apps" and then there's "creating music", and they are often two very different things. And since, I can think about the former 24/7, but actually doing the latter takes undistracted time I just don't have right now, I'm sadly spending more time with the apps themselves than I am actually using them. (Not that I don't enjoy that very much, it just isn't really musicianship, which was the original point).
That being said, I have say Korg Gadget for the reasons set out above. If you are as limited in time as I am, I hate to say it, but even the very simple procedure of getting AudioBus hooked up to a DAW can become extremely inhibiting. Which isn't even to mention that while AudioBus is fully capable of hooking up a beatbox and several synths all at once (so I can noodle on different parts as I create an idea), the functional reality is that I would never try that with my device (too slow). So AudioBus projects become my highest quality finished products, but I have to have a very clear idea of what I'm doing and lay down one track at a time.
Gadget has none of those constraints. The piano roll (and scales) are universal to all 15+ gadgets, and you can even swap in a different instrument once you've coded a part. I should note "Casutic" is answer 1A to this question. Every bit as much of the creative convenience, but Korg is just a little better put together and has some great sounds. (Though not as MANY sounds thanks to the beautifully "open-sourced" feel of Caustic).
The honorable mention app is Xynthesizer. In fact, it tends to be the app that leads to much bigger ideas. It's a deceptively powerful, universal little app that is both it's own surprisingly good synthesizer, plus a MIDI controller for anything from synths to samplers to drum machines.
And while we're talking of Figure, I see an update has just dropped here with AB 2.1 and IAA generator integration.....hmmm....
def samplr, the reason I bought the ipad. I just bought an mpc element though and I impc pro is well integrated with it. plenty of fun for finger drumming. others I use a lot, gadget, caustic, reactable, tera, sunrizer, impaktor, jasuto.
Chordion as MIDI controller gets me going like nothing else. What a fantastic app.
Animoog, also, just somehow unlocks ideas constantly.
Samplr, Nanostudio, Thumbjam and Impaktor all manage to get me creating quickly.
@mulletsaison said:
I have always struggled with making Chordion work with MIDI (entirely my fault), but your enthusiasm sends me back into the trenches...if you don't mind sharing, what do you find it works best with?
Caustic, Samplr and Multitrackstudio for me.
If I start playing with Sector, I always end up producing something that I want to use. Can't say that of any other app.
^ it's my go to as well. Sector never disappoints me.
I supose it's time for me to get Gadget.
get the Gadget, i got it on sale
Nanostudio and iSequence HD always do it for me.
Hi @Guiltysouls...
I'm just looking at iSequence... looks interesting. Could i ask... does it broadcast live Midi out for all it's 8 tracks? If so how about effects (midi cc) - or does it not work like that. Wondering if it might be a quicker experience than setting up a project in Beatmaker 2 everytime I want to write some Midi.
... I wish Gadget would just get Midi Out
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Gadget for me, too.
As mentioned by others, the all-in-one aspect helps me maintain focus and compose with minimal fuss. It's the same reason NanoStudio was (and is) so popular. Being able to chain together apps with Audiobus is a boon, but there's a simplicity to apps like Gadget and NanoStudio that makes working with them a very fluid experience.
WaveGenerator
Thor
iProphet
Sunvox
Gadget
DM1
pulse code's Modular- by far- it is the most satisfying emulation of modular hardware I've ever experienced- and I have a small modular system- it has Serge NTO oscillators for godsake! and voltage controlled delay -
all of apesoft's granular/fm apps are also great for new ideas- just load in some random audio and tweak-
Gadget is wonderful for coming up with traditional Berlin school and prog rock synth jams- also industrial/ebm stuff- it's not just an EDM tool-