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.
BIAS Desktop for Windows/Mac
Hey everyone, Z here from Positive Grid!
Has anyone tried it out BIAS Desktop on Mac/Windows? Interested to see how you guys like the desktop version of BIAS and the Amp Matching feature! Share clips if possible too!
BIAS Desktop Overview (with Ola Englund)
Let me know if you have any questions or comments?
Thanks,
ZT
Comments
I have a question; what are the differences between the desktop version and the app?
Yes, apart from the amp matching feature, are there differences in sound quality? It looks practically the same as the iOS version.
Also, are we going to see custom ToneCloud amps created on PC with amp matching that we could download on iPad/iPhone? Or is that only a PC feature?
Ditto on desktop vs. ipad sound quality.
I know desktop software is more expensive, but I have a hard time justifying this when I already have the iPad version.
As I understand it: apart from the Amp Matching (in the pro version), there is this difference: with the PC version you can reamp, which means you can record a dry and a wet track at the same time, and later you can tweak the dry track with all the tweaks in Bias. So you can change your sound completely after recording. You can't do that with the ios version. You do need a sound card with supports dry track recording.
Ah, didn't know that, thanks @Marcel
Actually you can do that in iOS.
@Marcel said:
Yes? Is that true? Are you sure? I don't think it is true. Which recording app do you use for it? How do you do this? (re-amping on the ios platform I mean)
A source for my statement is this interview (see the second question)
http://blog.creativelive.com/customize-everything-positive-grid-releases-bias-desktop/
Yes, you can record wet and dry at the same time in Auria. You can use IAA and bypass Audiobus on a filter on one track and record your dry to a muted track.
I have Auria and Bias and I just tried to re-amp a guitar track, but nothing happened.
The wet and dry recording at the same time isn't my main point, the point I make is that on the ios platform you cannot re-amp a dry recorded track with the Bias app and with the Bias Desktop plugin for PC you can re-amp.
You definitely can. I'm sure it's possible somehow with AudioBus, but the way I'd do it is with Inter-App Audio. Just apply Bias as an effect on that dry track you recorded. If you want to do it with AudioBus I think you'd just need to use Auria as your input, then Bias in the effects slot, and record it to a new track in Auria.
If you watch the sonic touch show where they feature bias you will see exactly how to do it in iOS. Very easy actually. In auria, you can record many tracks of the same input, so make 2 tracks , one with bias and one without, set to the same input. In addition, if you don't have the effect set to record with auria, then you're actually recording a dry track and monitoring bias, so it's actually only one track needed. (Hold the record enable button on the track to pop up the menu with that option).
Yeah, I don't follow how you don't think its possible if you understand what Im saying. You can totally reamp any recorded guitar track with the method I mentioned above. It's not as nice as the one I used wy back in the day in Amplitube, but it's defintely a real solution. Not a hack.
You can't reamp a recorded track processed via IAA, if that's what you mean. You'd need to use the built in plugin guitar modeler for that I believe.
Well, sort of, because if you record into a track where bias is running , but just monitoring, not recording bias, then you can change bias as much as you want after the fact since the actual audio clip would be dry guitar.
With any recording scenario, if I mic an amp and record it, I can reamp it but the original amp sound will be feeding the reamp. If I use a DI before the amp and record the DI as well as the amp through a mic, then I would reamp the DI signal. And, if I DIDNT record the amp, just the DI, but listened to my amp while tracking, it would be the same as listening through bias or any other modeler while only recording the dry signal.
Head spinning? Perhaps- much harder to write or type than to actually experience it.
I was wrong, it is possible to reamp with Bias, but......
I just tried what Matthew said. Audiobus: Auria in input slot, Bias as effect and Multitrack Daw as output. Re-amping worked. So i was wrong.
However: it was far from smooth. I have an iPad 3 and the experiment uses too much CPU power so every time I turned a button, I heared weird noises. So reamping on my iPad with Bias is possible but is irritating noisy, so I will not do that. I know that there are all sorts of actions possible to make more CPU available, but I guess that in conclusion Bias reamping will work a lot smoother on PC.
To reamp one track with Bias in a multitrack situation in ios.....haven't thought of that....I think that is not possible, but even if it is, the lack of CPU power makes it not nice.
Been waiting for this for a while, was on the early list. Tested it and loved it, but the price wipes it out for me. Hell, I only paid $200 for Logic Pro X.
If it was $59, even $69 I would have jumped on it (and bitched about the price) the second it came out, but $99 is way much for a part time amateur hobbyist. Yes, I know there are many more expensive guitar sims for the desk top, and I like the sound of BIAS better than the ones I've tried, but I will never buy one of those either.
I can already run all all my iPad apps audio into my Desktop so why spend $99 for a little convenience?
If it ever goes on sale %50 off I'm all over it, otherwise looks like I'll go for AmpKit on the desktop and hope the rumored AU eventually arrives.
Greed
Gotta love it : )
@Marcel said:
A few thoughts on your post:
No need for audiobus in this case, use IAA in auria
If you really want to use audiobus, just return it to a track in auria, no need for mtdaw to be open as well (or just use mtdaw if it can send back to itself- I don't have it so I don't know)- you do this by selecting auria as the output first, then when selecting auria's input, click the arrow next to auria which allows you to select which output you'll use- you'll need to either use a group out or aux send.
This may be one of the few times I advocate for the use of IAA
Lastly, your iPad 3 probably cannot deal with bias and auria at the same time, the iPad Air just barely lets that setup work ( but you know that already). The same scenario probably would work with jamup , although I've noticed that the amps sound different when used from jamup rather than using bias directly.
I hope my post was somewhat helpful.
Marcel's point is technically true. The dry record can't be done inside of the standalone BIAS app on iOS.
But the point is that it doesn't have to, since BIAS for iOS functions more like a VST which can be placed anywhere inside of a signal chain (using Audiobus or IAA). For less than $30 you can have the feature on iOS. (LoopyHD+ Audiobus+ BIAS)
BIAS for PC/MAC is a standalone app, right? so it needs the built-in re-amp feature. And costs $99. ...
Edit: this is all totally wrong, I have no idea what I'm talking about. The comments below from positive grid seem to answer the questions, more or less.
Oh, I wasn't aware that bias on the computer had a built in recorder. I bought the 8 track in jamup at one point but having auria makes it totally unnecessary.
@Hmtx said:
To my knowledge Bias for PC is not a standalone app, it is a plugin. So it needs DAW software.
@mrufino1 said:
To my knowlegde Bias for PC has no built in recorder.
@WMWM said:
@mmp said:
@StormJH1 said:
The BIAS desktop version is a bit different that the iOS version, but it's subtle, that also reflects the price point. Here is JR from Positive Grid addressing those concerns
"We think cross-platform is very interesting because when we put the same technology on different OS and devices, it allows users to create, share and download over tens of thousands amp models, and that's never been possible before.
Instead of simply porting from iOS, we took several steps further: first, we designed BIAS Desktop from ground up with a much more complex and robust software architecture so it's ready for professional studio and serious home recording applications; second, it's subtle but we worked hard to keep the look and feel quite similar but optimized for larger displays, and finally we spent significant amount of R&D hours to develop and support various formats (AAX/RTAS/VST/AU) for all major DAWs for both Windows and Mac, this makes BIAS Desktop really ready for professional studio usage.
It's just a start, we are currently working many exciting new technology and features."
Hope this helps with some of the questions!
My brother on my recommendation just bought the Bias Desktop version (I have the iOS version) so I asked him to comment on it so I could post it.
"I’ve spent a bit of time with the full desktop version of Bias. Most of that time has been spent trying out the amp matching capabilities of the software. I’ve had a few amps lying around that I never set up anymore so I was looking forward to seeing how good Bias would be at emulating them.
This might be overkill but, since I was specially setting up the amps to record them, I took the opportunity to record the amps at a clean setting, a crunch setting and a dirty setting. So I ended up amp matching each amp 3 times on average.
I matched a Mesa Boogie 50 watt Calibre head, a Marshall 50 watt JCM 800 head and a Blackstar HT-1R all sent through a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet. I didn’t record these using a C414 or a SM57 microphone - I used what I had to hand which was a Røde NT1. When matching I just chose the C414 and relevant 4x12 Celest T-75s cabinet in the cab section of the program. I then tweaked the amps to get the sound in the ballpark and proceeded with the matching.
I was very pleased with the end result that Bias gave. I was actually pretty pleased with my ball-park efforts at matching by ear but I found that when I got to the ‘match’ section and toggled between my tone and Bias’ result - the Bias result was much closer - and I mean MUCH closer. In all instances the Bias result put a lot more guts, a lot more body, a lot more je ne sais quoi into the sound which my ears were incapable of doing on their own. To my ears the amp matching does an excellent job and I can’t really pick holes in it.
After this I matched a Fender Excelsior 13 watt combo this time using a SM57 which I’d managed to borrow. I matched 3 sounds: a clean sound on the dark setting, a clean sound on the amp’s bright setting and lastly a crunch sound on the bright setting. This last sound was the first and only sound that I a little trouble with. I felt that I needed to tweak it from the given result or to begin the process over again. But that could have been as much about my initial ball-park sound not being quite good enough.
In the end I took my previously matched Bias sound of the clean setting and tweaked that, saved it and went through the matching process again and the result was much closer and I was happy with it.
As an added bonus, and in case you run out of guitar amps, it occurred to me to try and replicate some guitar tones from some of my favourite artists from CD. So I identified some candidates - often intros - that didn’t have any other instrumentation playing along - and I came up with some fantastic results. I ended up emulating 14 guitar tones that way.
I found the process pretty easy - with a little research on the internet I could determine which amp the particular performer was likely to be using, so I’d start in Bias with that amp and already - even if the tone was a little different - I could hear that the main characteristic of the amp was spot on and so it gave a really strong point from which to start. I also went as far as to learn an excerpt of the song using the most same guitar (if I had it) in order to help with the first amp matching stage in Bias. Even when I didn’t have the same guitar I just used a similar one - one with humbuckers instead of single coil pickups for example.
I created about 14 guitar tones using that method and the results were fantastic. Add in the 11 that I did from my own amplifiers that makes 25 times that I went through the amp matching process and it works terrifically.
As far as using the plug-in in my DAW (Logic X, OSX 10.9.5, Early 2008 Mac Pro) compared to other plug-ins that I’m using Bias appears a little sluggish to initialise - Amplitube under 2 seconds to update the GUI while Bias takes about 5 seconds. Plus copying an instance onto another track (alt-drag) takes around 7 seconds whereas other plug-ins are pretty instantaneous. Incidentally I’m using the first release of the plug-in as I haven’t updated yet. But it’s only a little niggle since it’s well worth waiting for the plug-in to initialise."
Great review! Would he be willing to share the audio (perhaps via SoundCloud or some such thing) of the actual amp vs. the BIAS Desktop matched version? I'm also curious as to which tones he pulled from music CDs.
Thanks for sharing!
@kgmessier Here's the response from my Bro (I'll post a link if he get's around to soundcloud although life has a habit of getting in the way):
"The guitar tones that I picked out from CDs were from Paul Kossoff, Ronnie Wood - from a Rod Stewart song, a couple of early Alice Cooper tones from Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton and the lion’s share comprised of Rich Robinson tones from various albums by The Black Crowes.
These were the first tones to occur to me to search for - I’m sure that the potential is immense but I’m glad that I stopped here with just my initial ideas else I could be going on forever.
I used a Marshall base for the Alice Cooper tones and a Fender base for the Ronnie Wood and Paul Kossof tones. For the Rich Robinson amplification there’s a lot more documentation online concerning what he might be using but even then I’ve heard said that the Crowes used a wide range of amps - some from Jack Joseph Puig’s collection - for Amorica.
So with Rich Robinson, depending on the album and specific track, I started off with a base of Fender, Matchless and HiWatt as a Harry Joyce substitute.
I'll try and post something to SoundCloud on the weekend."
Thank you!
@kgmessier Here's an example from my Bro (Marshall then Bias and fender the Bias):
Marshall JCM 800 & Fender Excelsior
@pangolin said:
Impressive modeling from that desktop app. \m/