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.
Loopy workflow: how to time recordings?
Last night, after a long day of work, I sat down to try Audiobus (which I had already purchased early that morning). I started by pasting a DrumJam loop into Loopy HD -- this was before DrumJam updated -- then switched to SoundPrism for a second track. I had a very poor sense of when the recording was starting and ending, so all I got were some awkward smudges of sound. If I were a real drummer, I'm sure this wouldn't have been a problem -- I would have sensed intuitively where I was -- but I had gotten used to Loopy's visual cues and missed them in Audiobus.
Queries:
Are there some visual cues already baked into Audiobus that I'm missing? I noticed that sometimes there's a vertical bar in the Audiobus sidebar, but I have no idea what it means and didn't see it mentioned in the manual.
How do other folks time their recordings?
Request:
Yesterday someone suggested an option to start recording in Loopy when there's sound input. I second that motion here.
Comments
Yes I end up with loops not syncing.. Not really a good outcome
So... adding some sort of visual clue to the connection panel would help, right? Like a visual metronome or something?
@Sebastian... that's what I was thinking. I can't recall, but I don't think Loopy's metronome is audible from other apps used as input to Audiobus is it? Multitrack DAW's metronome is but I don't remember hearing Loopy's (though I could totally be doing something wrong)
Loopy's metronome is definitely audible from other apps.
Loopy's metronome works for me!
What I had in mind, actually, was some equivalent to the little glowing dot that travels in a circle. I realize that this might be more app-specific than Audiobus wants to get. But this would be helpful nonetheless.
Am still curious about the mysterious vertical bar that appears in the Audiobus sidebar.
Can you make a screenshot of that?
OK, will try that tonight. Like I said, probably user error
Here's that bar:
http://t.co/LuhBvuPA
Look to the extreme right. It's tall, skinny, and dark. Starts just above the Audiobus icon and ends a few mm below the top of the recording button.
Oh that! That happens when the connection panel runs out of vertical space. Then it lets you scroll through the options available and that black bar is the indicator of where you are in there.
How to visualize this?
Presumably this would require an additional variable in the SDK.
Michael is gonna hate me for suggesting this, methinks...
Useful for loopers, obviously, but it could be extended to punch-in/punch-out in MultiTrack DAW.
Ah
Yeah, I've been aware that something like this needs to happen right from when we first started thinking about the connection panel. There's a bit that needs to happen first before this can be Done Right, but I think it's where we are headed - that includes more widgets too, like sliders and such.
For a while prior to release I had the record button flashing red in time with the beat before recording started, but it's gotta be more than that, as you say.
So, yep, no hating Sebastian - I'm on board ;-)
It won't happen tomorrow, though. Till then - time to metronome it up!
I guess this is the going to be the next most wanted feature ( after scenes..)
In addition to the visual indicator , Would it be possible to have a generic arm,record ,overdub and "next track" option for all the apps that can be recorded into ?
Similar to most DAWs , it can just be a control that each sink app can implement as they see fit but atleast this lets have the user some control on how he wants to capture the audio..
In the meantime, there's click tracks. Any other techniques that we're using?
Recording a generic drum loop and using that as your timing cue helps, I find. You can always remove it when you're done.
Brian Eno's "Before And After Science":
"Before and After Science is really a study of 'studio composition' whereby recordings are created by deconstruction and elimination: tracks are recorded and assembled in layers, then selectively subtracted one after another, resulting in a composition and sound quite unlike that at the beginning of the process."
I asked this under another topic, but perhaps it is more appropriate here... How do you sync Loopy's play start with MultiTrack Daw's record start? So far, I've had to start MT Daw's recording an instant before starting Loopy's playback, but then I end up having to trim the front end of the MT regions. Can they be synced to start simultaneously, or is that possible yet?<\font>
I don't know if it was asked before but, as I do a lot of "realtime" recording, playing other apps live from their own interfaces into Auria or Beatmaker, I would love if there was a button in the Audiobus sidebar for "Undo (last) Recording" when using DAWs. That simple, so everytime I make a mistake I don't have to switch apps for their dedicated Undo or Delete buttons... or I should rehearsal more before recording
Oh by the way I have some difficulties with Loopy HD, but in the way the recording starts after pressing the REC button in the AB sidebar. Usually a 4 beat count-in works, but you have to be really precise and "release" your finger from the REC button in the right time (or a little sooner).
@Fribeiro With count-in on for Loopy, tap the record button and it will be green until the loop goes around to the start. Then it turns red to record - no need to hold the button. You just need to know how long you want the loop to be, setting that in Loopy itself.
I second the request for an Undo button. That would be so, so useful.
[Update: got it sorted.]
@Michael_R_Grant, I can't seem to get the Record button to show as green, despite trying various combinations in the Loopy HD settings. Could you detail how you have it set up to do this?
Thanks.