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.
Pro MIDI - new sequencer, recorder, editor and more.
From Vitaliy Tarasyuk, the developer of MIDI Studio
Comments
Looks fully specified this one.
Ugh.. I just got the genome midi sequencer like a month ago. It's a good app but there are some things about it that annoy me. Also don't feel like I got my money's worth from it. I would like to see this pro midi app in action though. Pics look nice. Might get it if price drops and wait for some reviews.
No mention of time signatures, whether you can change them in the song, or support for anything other than 4/4. I'm going to assume it's the same sad story until I hear otherwise.
Haha. Terrific. I'm a MIDI addict recently, and I didn't see this one or know about MIDI Studio (the latter looks pretty useful, too). The price ($12.99) U.S. isn't bad if it works as advertised. Feature list seems pretty complete and I like the scale editor.
One thing I'm not seeing quite yet - does it open MIDI files with "open in"?
Fourth screen shot shows swipe to change time signature. No mention of background operation, hopefully it has at least this. No AB. No videos. No website.
I don't understand the mindset of no Audiobus for midi controllers and sequencer apps. I can only imagine that the developer envisions this being used with external hardware rather than within the iOS environment.
Agreed just yesterday I was relieved chordpolypad was AB compatible, simply for access to transport controls.
Smeeth, background mode supported and seems very stable.
@smeeeth said:
This is his website:
http://www.wiksnet.com
The link incorrectly directs users to wisknet.com, which doesn't exist. That said, there's no info on the correct site regarding this app—at least not yet.
Pasted from http://www.wiksnet.com/ :
Support manager
Nick Mayer
[email protected]
Promote
Vitaly Tarasuk
[email protected]
Edit:
There is no word on the new product. Like they released it before doing any promotion or marketing.
@Seegio - good to know. How do you like it, as a midi editor?
@smeeeth said:
This! I've posted that probably dozens of times on other apps - we need transport controls, or it's a pain to record!
I, too, would be interested in hearing how it is as an editor - touch and drag for note lengths, etc.?
I hope @thesoundtestroom will do a movie on that one.
@smeeeth said:
I'm still invistigating, but first look is very good. Really good to edit notes and it work fast on my ipad 3. I moved folder via itunes with 1000 mid files, they all visible by "import" icon. Also it is possible to open midi file from Email app by "Open by ProMidi" feature.
To create note I need just touch on a grid and same for remove. Also I can change a scale (major, minor, "fold" like in the Ableton live or my custom) edit all envelopes.
Tomorrow I'll try it with my Acess virus.
Smeeeth, I'm still invistigating, but first look is very good. Really good to edit notes and it work fast on my ipad 3. I moved folder via itunes with 1000 mid files, they all visible by "import" icon. Also it is possible to open midi file from Email app by "Open by ProMidi" feature.
To create note I need just touch on a grid and same for remove. Also I can change a scale (major, minor, "fold" like in the Ableton live or my custom) edit all envelopes.
Tomorrow I'll try it with my Acess virus.
Looks interesting but also looks pretty similar to Genome in form: pattern based midi sequencing (ala ableton) vs something linear like Cubasis/NS/BM2... Is that correct?
If so, how are pattern lengths determined (pattern = the things that look like Ableton clips)? Can they be any length or are they fixed multiples of the clock?
And... if they can be any length, how does looping work? does it loop immediately at the end of the pattern or does it wait to start the next loop at some fixed clock division? I see that you can do custom time signatures but I'm not sure if that's per pattern or for the song.
I might just be totally missing what's up here. Video please!
Awesome. So it sounds like it it has "open in" (I import them from AudioShare/DropBox). That's big.
@seegio - you answered the question about adding and deleting notes; can you also pull on the edges to lengthen or shorten them? How about velocity adjustments?
I hated those two things about MidiPatterns, which was otherwise a good looking app. Will likely give this a shot with a little more information.
@smeeth - I think you can blame the Audiobus folks for that mindset. midiSequencer dev had to fool AB into thinking it is an audio device to get his in there, all just to get access to the side panel for transport controls. So it takes up a silent channel processing load. Pure overhead.
@dwarman said:
Really? I hadn't heard/seen that. Trying to think, though, because it seems like the MIDI apps aren't the only ones that don't produce sound but have AB and a transport panel. Effects apps process sound. DAW's receive and record sound.
I'm not going to "blame" AudioBus for the issues because AudioBus itself is a cool invention that tricks iOS functionality into allowing apps to talk to each other. Kind of ironic that MIDI apps have to then trick an app which is tricking other apps
syropcore last time i did the real zoom out they were well beyond 30.000. just loaded a 200 bar midi file into the first patterns in 6 channels. swing is missing - per pattern basis would be nice.
and i can't find anyways to chain the patterns. had it running strokemachine/sunrizerx2/cassinix2/nlogpro/thor through audiobus into mimix moreoreless without glitches - checking this thread at the same time on iAir1 - lag on menus in ab, still it didn't croak. the automation lanes are ace! i'll throw nordbeat and lemur at it tommow and see if they sync up and how they record into it. gotta sleep.
n
no idea why it looks like that...
Thanks @ntk. That's also a mind blowing set of apps you had going at once. Do the x2s mean along with the iPhone versions and well?
For formatting, I'm guessing you did #syrup instead of @syrup. That makes a heading tag in markdown.
@StormJH1 - I have 126 Apps in the Audiobus Input drop-down list. The only one there that does not have an audio function is midiSequencer. I have 36 MIDI Apps.
(edit) MIDI Designer shows up in the Output slot. One of 80 Out or Effects (much overlap so fewer than that unique Apps, but you get the point. Somewhere north of 150 AB compatible Apps and only 2 are MIDI only.
@syopcore i guess i could have gone for another nlog. yes both versions of the app.
i can't figure out how to record midi into it - haven't gone midibridge on it yet ...
+30.000
ntkk?
forgetaboutit
NLog recorder MIDI setup. Does a pretty good job. The recorder is a looper really.
Yes, nLog has some cool MIDI recording functionality. You can also drop a MIDI file directly into the app...pretty cool for an app that debuted in Sept. 2010.
But getting back to the topic of the thread...I bought the app and answered some of my own questions. Didn't get too much time with it but really liked what I saw. Compare to MidIPatterns, I think I like this one better, even as "drum friendly" as MidiPatterns tries to be. ProMidi (which is $9.99 U.S. btw, not $12.99 as I said above) has a beautiful interface.
Things I like:
It has "Open In" functionality with MIDI files. Didn't check if you can export MIDI files directly, though I believe you can email them, so that's at least a workaround. A lot of otherwise good apps lack "open in" and it's a pain
Note editor - single touch to add, double-tap (I think) to remove, and yes, you can drag and stretch the edges of notes to lengthen/shorten them.
Scale-specific note selection - similar to an Xynthesizer, you can set it so each note in the grid is in a particular scale/mode, or you can even customize your own. This is beyond the level of functionality in something like Koushion. Helps with composition, too, since you could set the scale and experiment with random notes/patterns.
Routing to other MIDI apps is done with the arrow on the bars across the bottom of the screen. And you can trigger sequences to play from the pattern boxes, kinda similar to Auxy's layout.
More later if I discover things I like/dislike...
Velocity - this is mapped to the pop-up bar graph looking interface on the bottom of the screen. Defaults at 100. Not perfect, though it does light up the note you are adjusting as you change its velocity. Some of my apps didn't seem to respond to it, however. Wish it lightened the color of the midi notes as you lowered velocity like some other apps do.
Keyboard - Totally forgot this - it has a keyboard interface that will control whatever app you have connected to that MIDI channel. You can then start the transport and record MIDI notes with the keyboard. So that helps with the lack of AudioBus since you don't necessarily have to leave the app.
Quantization - pretty standard feature, but works well here to clean up timing on recordings. You can lay down a rough draft and then tidy things up by adjusting notes to the nearest time interval or whatever you have the grid interval set to.
Just a few questions if anyone who has this feels like answering:
Does this have multi-note select i.e hold and drag for a selection box?
How does copy/paste work?
Can you 'move' notes in addition to add/delete?
How does scrolling and zoom work (two finger, pinch)? Is it fiddly at all (e.g. notes added accidentally when trying to scroll)?
Do you need to hold a control down or tap a button to perform note manipulations?
I have several different midi editors but they all have their quirks, still looking for the holy grail app...
What busker asked, please.
Also, can you select multiple notes at a time and move/edit/whatever them?
Is there any way to know what track 3 was pointed at the next time you open it? If it was pointed at Cassini, for example, how do you let future you know that? Track name (meh)?
Can you send program changes?