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.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Bpm/tempo drift when recording

MakyoMakyo
in General App Discussion

Hi

I'm wondering if I'm the only person suffering severe issues with bpm drift when recording through Audiobus.

I'm working on iPad 3rd Gen, iOS 8.4.
I generally record using Audiobus into Auria Pro.

I'm having lots of problems with tempo drift. For example, I set up a sequencer in Sunrizer at 86 BPM, prepare a new project in Auria at 86 BPM, and yet after recording, Sunrizer drifts out of time really quickly. I have the same problem with Magellan and Thor, which is probably the worst of all.

I don't think the problem is Audiobus, because other apps, like Gadget or Alchemy usually record perfectly, no drift. Also, using Audiocopy or recording internally in Sunrizer and importing the file into Auria results in the same problem. I've also tried outputting Sunrizer and Thor into my iMac DAW, and the sequencer time drifts like crazy even when not simultaneously recording on the iPad. I've tried syncing with Auria sending Midi clock, still the same. (And of course I have tried closing all other apps and restarting the iPad, still the same problem.)

I have heard so many people rave about Sunrizeer and Thor, and while both sound pretty good, I find it hard to believe that something as fundamental as a steady internal clock hasn't been worked out.

So, is BPM drift a known problem with these apps? Or is it me? I'm wondering if getting a new iPad Pro would help things or not. Any advice appreciated, esp. any fixes for reliably sequencing Sunrizer. I'm also interested to hear people's experiences, which apps are dependable with bpm synch, and which ones suck.

Thanks,

Gio

Comments

  • richardyotrichardyot

    If you use the synths as IAA instruments in Auria Pro the clock should be much more reliable.

  • studs1966studs1966

    It's better with Link. Unfortunately we all got to wait for the Devs to play catch up, & implement it. Link to Midi apps help with the timing. I hope Rim adds link as an option?

  • AshlanAshlan
    edited February 2016

    ^+1^

  • ProcessaurusProcessaurus

    @richardyot said:
    If you use the synths as IAA instruments in Auria Pro the clock should be much more reliable.

    Absolutely. The IAA uses a better tempo and position matching than MIDI clock. Not all apps implement the IAA perfectly, but the system is good. From what I understand, IAA uses a time code, so it is sending song position and tempo from app to app.

    MIDI clock is more primitive and error prone. The master app merely sends "ticks", 24 messages per beat, and it is up to the slave app to be measuring the ticks to decide what tempo the master is putting out. Jitter is an issue, because maybe the master can't spit out the clock tick message perfectly on time, because it is busy, and the tick comes in a little late. If the slave isn't smart, it will interpret this as a tempo change.

    This is why people are excited about Link, it is simple and the sync is tight. IAA can be tight with tempo, too, though, if it is implemented right, in both apps.

    The midi clock can work right, it just depends on the quality of the clock from the master, and the slave app being smart about interpreting it.

    Good luck!

  • MakyoMakyo

    Thanks for the advice, guys. Have not tried IAA yet, will give it a go and report back. What I have heard from other forums so far is that Sunrizer and Thor do have knwn drift issues. We'll see if IAAgets better results.

  • MakyoMakyo

    Link is Ableton only, correct?

  • studs1966studs1966

    The technology was developed by Ableton. It's more reliable than midi.

  • MakyoMakyo

    "The master app merely sends "ticks", 24 messages per beat, and it is up to the slave app to be measuring the ticks to decide what tempo the master is putting out. Jitter is an issue, because maybe the master can't spit out the clock tick message perfectly on time, because it is busy, and the tick comes in a little late. If the slave isn't smart, it will interpret this as a tempo change."

    All true, but with Sunrizer or Thor, I can even record them into my iMac DAW with no synch whatsoever, just running the app's sequencer and doing no recording on the iPad simultaneously. i then go back in the dAW and try to manually match beat 1 with an identical tempo in the DAW, and it's clear that the tempo clock on these synths is incorrect. Like I said, I can do the same thing with Gadget, or Animoog, nd the clock is accurate. If I play in 110 bpm and try to synch up ex post facto to 110, it is no problem.

  • j_liljedahlj_liljedahl

    Many apps don't run in the exact given BPM. The reasons can be several, maybe the app internally has a course grained "control tick" duration, or it measures current time with too little precision, so that time drifts from the ideal tempo.

    So unfortunately you should expect to see drift if simply entering the same BPM value in two apps. You'll need to use some sync mechanism, like IAA host sync or Link.

  • MakyoMakyo

    Tried IAA with Sunrizer in Auria, same results, a bit improved, but still steady drift over time.

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