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.
Comments
I am sure someone else has mentioned this but it would be great to have the pattern switching duplicated on the main widget panel. Here is a quick UI mockup, not as pretty but would really enhance performance options and allow for more nuance in playing.
I know I already thought it but I can't remember if I said out loud so I will write it down(again?).
It would be great to be able to edit patterns "offline" and @AudioGus idea merries perfectly using the main view as pattern switch and the actual pattern view as a editor. This would cut the need of more than two patterns.
Oh interesting... hmmm, maybe you could make more than two patterns in the pattern editor and choose which two are in the pattern performance slots on the main widget window?
I think you can but I wanted to avoid to get lost in production, making n patterns and then just having to switch them. I really would like this app to be a intensive live only instrument where I have to be actually learn or read a tune and USE my instrument instead of programming it and then throwing some kind of loop showing musician skills rather those of a programmer, and keeping everything so tight and simple forces me to focus on playing. Having just two patterns to work with would be only to have a very little time to double check if the steps are correct instead of being always live. I hope I made some sense but sometimes English fails me.
Totaly makes sense.
Was in a long rehearsal today in a group that I use iOS music elements in:
In breaks, I had a play with Skram and other people also had a go (including the young'ish' son of a backing singer who was in attendance.. he really got it going!!).
Having taken more time to play with it and seeing other people play with it, seeing how people interact with it and get to know and use it's interface, my opinion of it (which was already warm) has skyrocketed. The simplicity of the interface hides real depth, and we can be sure that it's only going to get deeper and deeper. I really do feel that it's touching on something genuinely special. I've also mentioned this before, but the sounds are truly exceptional and easily some of my favourite that I've heard in iOS (or anywhere else for that matter).
It's infectious. All other members iPads in attendance had copies of Skram installed by the end of the day and the singers son sat with headphones while we rehearsed and played on it for hours. The music he was making was genuinely brilliant too and he was pushing it's limits as far as they can go! At one point during a break, band members were dancing around in the room while he improvised through the PA. He was also very excited when he discovered that he could keep Skram playing in the background while he used other apps.
Can't recommend this app enough and excited to see it's future development. I say get on board!!
O
is this the impression you got from what the dev posted here , his post gave me the impression that they are interested in allot more patterns, programming, and allot more widgets?
I had the impression nick is interested in having as much feedback as possible and I was giving my contribution and envisioning further Skram's development from my very personal perspective.
forgive me MS, not trying to prevent you from giving feedback it's just that I got the impression you were clearly trying to restrict the development of the app, and going back over all of the post including the devs responses I just wondered was I getting the wrong over all impression of his vision and where the app was headed?
Alrighty here is a super rough mix of the Skram / Novation Circuit mash. I just have one pair of decent headphones to test on, so not a stellar mix by far plus I also wanted to post before Monday and the weekends intentions become an a blur ... anyway, excuses, excuses
In summation, Skram is damn fun!
I've been through this with the auxy app, where I misread the dev, just want to make sure I'm reading the dev right as to avoid those kind of situations.
Enjoyed this
O
Fun. I really wanted samples of/from Hendrix/Star Spangled Banner over parts of this
i can hear it
@kobamoto
Nothing to forgive, nothing to be sorry
I feel that my I devices have already enough swissarmy knives which are pretty useful tools in every situation, the blade is sharp, the toothpick is a great addiction and so on(hence I always have 2 of them in my pocket) but all in all the blade is short, the screwdrivers won't fit most of the times, the scissors are a good laugh. Most of the times you will need some professional and very specific tools, which won't do anything else but that, to have the job done properly. I feel like Skram can become that specific tool for live performances straight out of the box but in order to do that, due to the many restrictions a iDevice has, distractions have to be kept off the platform and everything should be at max 3 taps far at any point so the performer can immediately focus, and be also forced, to make actual music instead of tinkering the ocean of features given creating the habit to perform with no interruptions which in iOS music, despite my decent and ever-growing app collection, I feel is a pretty neglected area when talking about all in one app-and-device: Figure is meant as sketchpad, Launchpad needs a lot of very intelligent sampling and organization skills, Blocs Wave at the moment is some how a less deep form of Launchpad, Gadget is pretty soulless and plasticky soundwise but for a few gadgets, then there are all the modular systems you can think about which are everything but hands on. I'm dreaming of a groovebox a la rs7000 or mc505/808(and probably OP1 and some Elektron stuff)workflow on stage where everything is just there and you eventually won't need any other gear.
Even though I know we differ in opinion about the sampling and production aspects of skrams future it looks like we share some of the same iOS dreams. The thing about skram is that I don't think anyone has brought this type of ethos to the sampling and production side of things, I think skram is about to break some new and useful ground.
I'm also a fan of the qualities of skrams immediacy like just like you, and to fit sample slicing/mangling etc.. into this paradigm is going to kind of be a mild game changer of sorts to say the least. I believe Nick can do it, and the fact that everything is based on widgets means we'll be able to put it together however we want so I think it's possible to still maintain and enjoy the functionality that we have now.
Hehe, cool, I never would have thought that. Must try now...
That's excellent , I might have to buy this now lol
Nice one!! Reposting this. This is the first recording of Skram used with other gear.. inspiring!
Nice one!! Reposting this. This is the first recording of Skram used with other gear.. inspiring!
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
Would love to know what are some of your favorite sample slicing/manglers. Personally, I was blown away by Sektor last year! (and of course I've been using MaxMSP for years to do my own sample obliteration)
Wow. That's really incredible to hear. I can't wait to have Link implemented and to hear you guys jamming on multiple iPads.. (!)
If you could take just a short moment to get everybody to leave a 5-star review and write a little review in the App Store, that would be SUPER helpful and I would be eternally grateful. And it always makes the developers feel good.
I'll do it myself later today and mention it to them
O
Same!!
I feel that amid the great feedback in general, that there's a touch of skepticism going around regarding Skram as a result of the minimalist aesthetic that you guys have gone for. I admit that in my earlier response I was also guilty with a touch of this, but with a closer look and some time invested, I've revised my opinion and am much more in line with you guys statements. I think that you're really onto something.
Here's my 'wishlist' as it stands presently:
Link+Audiobus/IAA (with separate outs per instrument). No explanation necessary here!
Deeper performance/sequencing ability. I'm not talking piano roll or in house production level, but just building on what's already there in a way that adds a greater depth and allows for more realistic use in performance. I actually don't feel the need for any external MIDI control with regard to input methods and I would consider the in apps input control system to be an intrinsic part of the 'voice' of each instrument, but MIDI Learn on all parameters (including A/B pattern swap) would be wonderful and open the door to a much deeper level of performance. As would some external ability to control the key and mode changing wheels (MIDI learn could also cover this, but what about AB Remote Triggers?). It'd also be handy for performance to have a 'change next bar' toggle on the modulation functions, rather than always just changing instantaneously.
If it's of note, I'm approaching performance from the perspective of an instrumentalist who is controlling electronic instruments in addition to instrumental performance.
Slightly more accessible controls. Accessing mixer is a little awkward in performance (add a volume dial per instrument?), some of the dials are too close to the bottom of the screen and it's a little fiddly to hit the mute/widget access buttons when you're performing.
O
2. I was just thinking this morning that the tonality wheels could be a widget with some chance to be sequenced. I completely support the "change at bar" with a little twist: change at quantum(1/2/3/4 bars). This would give the chance to queue the pattern change while building the transition for some wow effect when the new pattern kicks in.
@liine_nick
Out of curiosity how are you guys planning to implement new widgets into one-screen workflow? When swapping widgets, will the old one be ejected or will it have the chance to run in background?
We're on the same wavelength.
O
How? With a lot of thought and work going into the UX design.
Very early sketches could sequence the harmonies. I could maybe dig up some of the old Lemur + Max for Live prototypes at one point if you're curious... (we're talking two years ago here, completely unrecognizable design from what Skram is today, but the concept was sketched out)
Now I'm feeling even more excited about future updates!!
O