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.
This is why I give up on iOS music making
Warning: This is a rant but I have nowhere else to vent
Instead of just making music and having fun, I've lost a whole Saturday figuring out bugs and workaround upon workaround for something that could've taken 30 min on desktop software. You've got so many freaking moving parts in the iOS world that the weakest link in the chain end up rendering the entire workflow USELESS.
Here's what I wanted to do. I simply wanted to capture loops from different songs to stick into Launchpad to inspire melodies and/or beats.
Here are the apps I had hoped would be tools but ultimately didn't help:
Djay
Launchpad
Audiocopy
Audiobus
Audioshare
Hokusai
Loopy
Shazam
Spotify
Beat Time
So I was at Starbucks today when I heard a song that was catchy and shazamed it. There was a catchy melody in there that I wanted to develop a rhythm behind it so wanted to capture it for later. Shazam connects to spotify so I was really excited that I had developed a new workflow since djay works with spotify.
First strike: You can't use spotify when using audiobus. That's not audiobus' fault as I'm sure that spotify probably put that restriction but djay sure as hell didn't make that clear.
Next idea was to just find the song on YouTube and capture the audio via beat time. To it's credit, beat time did it's job but since I have the whole song, I've got to edit it which only leaves audioshare and hokusai as two options. As much as I love audioshare for general file management, editing isn't smooth since the zoom makes it difficult to know where exactly the song is playing. It's not bad but not easy either. So tried hokusai, and while it's a little easier for me at least, it's still not simple. I got a headache just messing with it that I had to take a long nap to recoup my mental energy.
Next idea. Use beat time to export song to djay then use audiobus to stick into loopy. Not sure why but when opening up loopy in output slot opens app store now so workaround is to just open loopy directly. Then for some reason, I couldn't hear djay anymore. Not sure if this was problem but I was using iPhone loopy on my iPad mini so I decided to just buy loopy hd for iPad. I have no problem supporting the most reliable developers for iOS. Again for some reason when opening loopy in output, it makes you open app store so workaround is to just open loopy outside audiobus. This time I was able to hear output.
IT WORKED!! Hallelujah-!!!
Okay, just need to copy and paste this bad boy into launchpad. Okay, copied the track outta loopy. Open launchpad and tried to audiopaste but nothing appears? Da hell? Do a search online to find out loopy only has general pasteboard but launchpad only has audiocopy 2 and Dropbox.
Okay stay positive, focus.
Ahhh.. Audioshare to the rescue!!
Okay, copy it out of loopy into audioshare.
Now, audiocopy that badboy into audiocopy 2 and....
What? Wha? Where is it? Where is it?
Try again. Try again? Am I tripping? Am I doing something wrong?
Google search online again.. Check Apple store reviews to see if anything wrong..
F.&$@!!
People complaining about certain parts being broken.
It's not working!
ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!
WHY? WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS AND WASTING TIME?
Just for one simple idea of which modern day producers are working with hundreds and thousands of ideas, I'm here dicking around with one.
Okay, I feel better now. As Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
I will check in again in another 6 months to a year but for right now, too many opportunity costs working on an environment that isn't conducive to my sanity and creativity. It's like working on Linux but for music.
Comments
It helped me that I was crazy to begin with.
And this is why I only use ios as a sound source.
I use my iPad for jamming. It's an instrument first and foremost for myself. If I was to start recording again, I'd probably go iPad plus laptop.
I don't own Launchpad, but it sounds like it needs to support the General Pasteboard. Can you do an "Open In" from Audioshare to Launchpad?
A reason why i finally selled my iPad and just use Macbook and iPhone now. But apps like NanoStudio, BeatMaker etc. are still great as long as you use them not with other apps together. One app will break it.
For me iOS 9 and the iPad Pro was the last sign to give up here.
Maybe i will buy an iPad again in future since there are so many apps now i can´t use anymore but i also buy now just universal apps and/or waiting for the day when i can run iOS apps on my OSX devices.
I also tryed things with my iPad and iOS which just not work and why going trough the pain of workarounds?
I focus now on a few apps on my iPhone 5. Main focus for apple on iOS is the iPhone... there is all there money. I still think that an iPad should have a more advanced OS today!
So single synths (or maybe 1 or 2 FX chains in Audiobus) or self contained apps like NanoStudio, Gadget etc. are the way to go.
Ha ha sorry, had to laugh at this as I've been there so many times. I jacked in iPad music all together for a few months due to constant frustration but I'm back on it now with a more open mind and an acceptance that I will hit walls from time to time. That attitude has made my experience a lot more enjoyable.
Yep, it can be very frustrating...
I still can't understand why they haven't introduced a shared folder accessible by every installed app. I don't want to copy my samples into every app I want to use them in - I want a central store for my files to save space, time and effort.
I get this completely. A year or so ago I'd run Audiobus jams into GarageBand, record the results then happily overdub more over the top, using my iPad 2 to instantly capture ideas, and interesting sounds I'd created.
For a while I enjoyed this 'sweet spot', and made a lot of music. Then an update somewhere along the chain messed things up, and along with the lack of audio automation I decided to upgrade to an Air 2 and Auria.
I would say at least 30% of my iPad music making time now is spent reloading apps that have crashed, muted, started wailing or 'gone to sleep', and rebooting the iPad completely. Great sounds I'd discovered while jamming are lost, inspiration broken and in extreme cases whole Auria songs have been corrupted.
I know which apps are the worst culprits but in some cases there are no alternatives, so have to use them.
I keep hoping for a return to that 'sweet spot', but with apps like Auria not getting fixed to work on iOS 9, it doesn't look like it's coming anytime soon.
But I'll still keep plonking away on it, because when it does work, it's capable of unique results, and some apps like Gadget run perfectly.
I agree Ios is still buggy and there are lots of problems with apps crashing and midi not recognized. I just decided a while ago to just delete all the apps that give constant problems and only use the apps that work OK. Now I'm on Ios 8.4 and found a nice workflow and only update my iPad when I'm sure everything runs fine.
@gicyrus: Well,maybe some unknown force don't wanted that you steal other peoples ideas ;-)
So if you know the song and the artist, buy the likely $1 track in iTunes and then import it directly into audioshare.
I think that's a small investment if you actually intend to use the track as "inspiration" for something else.
The problem usually is that users don't know their apps enough to know what capabilities they have, and thus concoct bizarre combinations they "think should work" based on the app names alone.
I believe things will improve in the future as iOS will stabilize as a platform at some point.
I think iOS devices as standalone music devices aren't the best value for edm type musicians in the long run but they are perfect intermediary training wheels for understanding DAWs on a basic level before moving on to vastly more capable desktop software.
I think they are beyond great value for instrumentalists that are looking for the best portable recording options. I'm in that camp.
Also, using music io between my iPad and Mac simply kills.
That said, this is all pricey in a world which no longer values new music much.
And I think another worldwide global recession is going to make it very difficult for a lot of aspiring musicians to hang onto their dreams and keep purchasing or even maintaining iOS devices for the long haul.
But, I get far more than just music-making value out of my iPad, and when the iPad Pro arrives, I'll be able to expand that even further with the precision drawing capability.
The way the AppStore is designed however is completely f'ing up the amount of possible diversity in their app ecosystem, and they severely need to drop this "top apps" bullshit which channels all money to the top 40.
It's crazy obnoxious, and Apple seriously needs to wake up to the fact that hinging so much attention on a few apps is damaging the ecosystem and value of their platform. It's a tragedy on both iOS and Mac unfortunately.
And DropBox?
AudioShare to DropBox works great if you have a network connection. Don't have LaunchPad either so can't try this.
Nothing is ever perfect on any platform. I enjoy creating music on iOS but sometimes you need patience. The community here is a great help too.
Hope it feels better now
The way I see it is that an ios device should be used in its strength area. I know there is an urge to do everything on it while travelling, lying on the sofa or sitting on a toilet. The trick IMO is to use it where it shines. In my case it is a live performance. To be honest, what you're trying to do is a meticulous task even on the desktop.
I'm lucky enough to have the old version of anytune that allows you to download and cut loops within the app but the new version can't do it.
What I'm trying to say is: use the tools you have at your disposal but don't try to do everything with that multi-tool only because it fits neatly in your pocket.
@AQ808 "The way the AppStore is designed however is completely f'ing up the amount of possible diversity in their app ecosystem, and they severely need to drop this "top apps" bullshit which channels all money to the top 40." Sad to say that many areas operate like this, "Success breeds success" and everyone else carries on in the hope of getting their app/single/whatever into the top sellers where the real money can be made.
Exactly, supadom. When many jumped on this platform originally, especially the iPad, we raved about how the lack of "everything under the sun" DAWs were making us much more productive, making more music easily.
Many found that seeing what you can make within set restrictions was more creatively stimulative than having a sea of options and not knowing where to start.
Some became so productive that going to high end desktop DAWs with their experience and knowledge of "where to start" has become the best option for them.
Some are too suffocated with options by even limited apps, and are probably finding they don't have as much desire to create music as they originally believed, and slowly fall on their sword, one by one, especially as they slowly realize they may never become recognized or famous for their work.
Increasingly difficult financial conditions are definitely speeding up that breaking point.
I see the platform for what it is and use it for its strengths. It is definitely not an all in one solution for many things, but has so many awesomely valuable strengths when kept in perspective, that I can't drop it entirely.
The generally low price of apps makes it very difficult not to be constantly distracted, and making a workflow takes a lot of patience, but is more necessary on this platform any other currently.
At least we have some standout apps currently which make the necessary effort worthwhile.
The problem with iOS is even when you do find a perfect workflow, as I have several times now, a random update can muck up the whole apple cart, and it can take a lot of time to isolate the culprit (this forum is a great help for that though), and sometimes (Auria I'm looking at you) a fix is not going to be forthcoming, so your lovely workflow is completely trashed. Start again, buy more apps etc.
A lot of patience is needed to make music on the iPad, and it's capable of great results, but that doesn't diminish the frustration I get when an pleasant evening's groove is lost due to some ruddy, undersupported app throwing a random sausage into the chain.
on this platform any other currently.
(and from earlier...)
I wish I could tag AQ808 in this forum with the name "Speaks the Truth." I really am impressed.
Limitations sometimes make the creative artist more inventive. I could go on and on about six strings attached to wood and the physical limitations of the instrument still being pushed to new boundaries, but that's not in my wheelhouse: samplers and drum machines are. The first hardware samplers (Like Akai) were so limited in memory that you HAD to be creative with them to make them useful, hence lo-fi gritty Amen break beats made of very tiny pieces.
I come from a background of hardware samplers and believe me, they could make you scream with their limitations, which sometimes inspired you to create a workaround or buy expensive converters. There was no hope of a future fix or update.
The iPad has an amazing amount of creative punch. Imagine a hardware version of Sampler on it's own, with a touch screen interface? $1500. Patterning? $1500. Can't even put a price on Gadget! Add Turnado effects to your hardware via a slot in the back? How much would that cost?
And, if you buy another iPad, you get another copy of everything you own for no extra charge. Imagine THAT back in the world of hardware! Plunk down less than a grand (or used, 250!) and I get another set of the same instruments? This is amazing to me.
The downside of all of this sound creation potential of the iPad for me is summed up by five problems:
Configuring and interacting between apps and imported sounds is so tedious and iffy. Wires in reality rule in this regard.
LATENCY (My effects pedals suffer no such blasphemous condition) is so unforgivable.
Limitless creative potential stunts depth of exploration of instruments.
My instruments, with one click on an update, can be destroyed beyond saving.
Everything hinges on developers caring enough about their customers to constantly update and refine. Just the simple fact that an app creator is now expected to update their app forever to simply make it work for prior purchases. It ain't sustainable. There is an implied warantee of undefined time to both consumer and maker.
I will say this: most people quit guitar. Many great guitarists, at one point, quit guitar. And many, many guitarists with an endless drive and dreams of the big stage should quit guitar.
This isn't a guitar (or quitar!). It's a machine with limitless parts and potential with interaction limitations and bugs and oversights that may make you scream. MIDI and Din Sync and Voltage and Lack of any interface can be just as frustrating (if not more) to get to interact with one another, but there's one difference: No hope of a free update.
I went from (stubbornly) all hardware to iPads being Ground Control of the Mothership. I am consistently in awe of what a couple bucks will do for me creatively.
Again, thanks to AQ808. You are on point.
In regard to the OP - I sympathise and have been there (similar fraustrations) many times... but once the track was in Audioshare I personally would have been able to cut out the 2 bar loop or whatever and then done whatever I wanted with it (into Launchpad or Loopy or whatever).
I think that part of it comes from really getting to know the tools. And the only way to do that is with hours spent on trial and error unfortunately.
In the case of the OP actually I'd probably have taken the loop into Bilbao in Gadget and then worked up all sorts of other ideas around it in other Gadgets - keeping everything in one app.
@Monzo - I feel you on the Auria issues. I've found Auria amazing as a mixing / mastering tool for Gadget stems. But as a tool for live recording multiple third party apps into Ive found it struggles. I wanted 3 or 4 apps to record live into it and, on my Air1 it was just flakey using both Audiobus or IAA.
My solution has been MultiTrackDAW - maybe you should give it a try. With IAA it just works. Every time. And it allows multiple IAA effect apps to be applied to each track and the master too. I'm sure it's possible to push it over the edge too - but so far is not had any problems. For example Patterning, iElectribe and Animoog simultaneously recording into different tracks and the applying IAA effects from AudioReverb and AudioMastering.
It's very like your GarageBand workflow you describe. Overdubbing more stuff would be a cinch. You should try it. And you can always then take all the stems into Auria.
Thanks Matt, never really looked at that one but I'll check it out
The Audiobus/Auria combo thing is the biggest sausage in the works at the moment, most other apps seem to be ok.
I'm with monzo, that AudioBus / Auria sausage is the hardest to cope with, especially as we know it is unlikely to be sorted, excepting an upgrade to Pro when it comes out.
Why is Auria not going to be fixed? As far as I know Rim said that Auria will be updated to version 2, which will be a free update for Auria owners, as per usual, and this will work with iOS9. He just said that it would be quicker to keep on with version 2 than update the version we have now, as that would be a complete rewrite. I might be wrong, but that was my understanding.
Same here, iPad went bye bye, too unreliable. Caustic & Figure on iPhone and waiting for the new version of FL which could potentially be a really good DAW.
Cool. I've not needed Audiobus with the MTD setup. Just IAA and so far - and it's been very reliable.
I've been using Genome to sequence apps - and a bit of live playing and internal Patterning sequencing.
Maybe I get the whole thing wrong but I use my iPad in my music-making workflow for what it is capable of and don't really look at the device as the tool that should fill in all the gaps. It obviously can't. I don't think the iPad is ideal for multitrack recording and mixing/mastering because of it's size, capacity and power, but it is a powerful device when it comes to sequencing, sample tweaking & playing. There are lots of amazingly creative apps out there, some of them got so deeply integrated in my rig that I simply couldn't live without them, musically speaking. Audiobus, Patterning, SamplR, iVCS3, Impaktor get heavily used on a daily basis, hooked up to or working next to my hardware synths and drum machine. And while I focus more and more on playing all parts of my compositions live when on stage, every now and then older songs pop up in our setlists and on those occasions the backing tracks get also played from the iPad using another great app for that. As much as I tried to refuse even thinking about buying an iPad like 2 years ago, today I'm a firm believer. It's just me though and I might look for way different functions and features compared to other folks' needs, so I'm not saying that those unhappy with the iPad as a music-making tool are not right.
I've found that patience and flexibility are the best tools for these sorts of situations. Sometimes the gap between our expectations and what we're experiencing can lead to frustration which drains our energy and makes it more difficult to seek viable solutions. It might be tempting to blame our tools or the promises we believe have been made to us by software developers or Apple. People have been making music with all sorts of tools and technologies. It seems to me when we get to know ourselves, our tools, and their current limits, we're positioned to grow our creative capacity. By it's very nature this will not always be a smooth process so gauging how much risk of frustration and failure we can handle as well as being able to step back and regroup can allow us to maintain momentum.
I'm just going on what I've read on here, if he says the current version is going to be fixed to work on ios9 then that's good news.
I've noticed someone's posted about issues with MTDAW on here, is it working ok for you? Looks like a nice little thing - can you automate volume changes for mixdown? That's an essential one for me.
Yes, this is exactly what Rim said would happen. Auria will be fixed for iOS9 + Audiobus, but the fix will have to wait for the new version because the existing Auria is a 32 bit only app and Apple doesn't allow them anymore. Auria 2.0 will be 32bit/64bit and a free upgrade for existing users - its release coincides with Auria Pro, but you won't be forced to upgrade just to get the fix.
The problem for me on an iPad (compared to my iPhone) is there is no huge limitation if tools.... just the way to connect them without a crash. So the great limitation and foucus on work never happens to me on my iPad while it was great (and is still) on my iPhone. The iPad is a great device but it's a half baked thing for me today.
But of course it's all a matter if taste.
Its a difficult one this. On the one hand the iOS environment is superb. The capability speaks for itself - Gadget, Auria, Cubasis, countless synth and fx, sampling tools, loopers, mastering packages - all portable, with a touch interface and expandable with hardware controllers and the integration options of PC/Mac studio set-ups. You can't argue with that as being a hell of a deal.
But that's where the frustration with the seemingly little things becomes such a major annoyance. For example, a couple of hours ago I headed into my studio and was about to hook the iPad into my dock and crack on with a track I've started in Cubase. When I think 'I haven't checked the app store for updates today'. So I have a look and to my glee I see that Final Touch has an update that supposedly fixes the Stereo Widening graphic bug. Now I really like FT and don't want to lose it from my workflow. So I update and run some tests. Sure enough that bug is fixed. FT gets dragged back onto my front page of music apps again. I test it with Audiobus -- HONK HONK - it now won't work with AB at all. So I run more tests, reboot, uninstall, reinstall. No joy. IAA on the masterbus Cubasis - yep, that works so I can still use FT with some adaptions to my preferred way of mastering.
All good? Not really. That all took about an hour out of my session - which was only going to be 3 hours long in the first place. So why am I now wasting more time on the forums? 'Cos by the time I got into what I was going to do in Cubase the idea I had has sort of got muddled and the last hours efforts sound like crap - so I'm stomping off to make coffee and see if I can get my head back in space it was in before I took on the role of (UNPAID) app-update beta tester (yet again!).
It's things like this that overshadow the great things about iOS - but then in the scheme of things - perhaps there are more important things in the world to get bent out of shape about?
know your pain gjcyrus, I think your salvation lies in getting to know audio share better, like snapping to grid and nudging by ear at one of the nudge percentages, and just getting used to the zoom tool etc. that's kind of the nature of the beast with your kind of craft ya know, but once that happens I'm sure things will kick forward for you, you also you might want to try pasting direct from audio share into loopy if that would help anyways man I hear you!