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.
Let's talk Automation & Live Playing
So I'm realizing that one of the things that is keeping my stuff from sounding really polished is lack of fluid effects and automation. Not that I want to go nuts with all kinds of filter sweeps and stuff, but even little subtle automations are something I basically don't do, other than occasional volume fades as needed.
I think the reason is that I don't know the best way to go about it. When I'm working on a track, it's kind of like one little slice at a time... I arrange, record or build each loop one at a time and assemble them in my DAW until they all fit together the way I like. It's very static - everything fits into neat little squares and I struggle to get fluid transitions and exciting variations, since they aren't in the original loop I created.
I live in BM2 as my DAW but almost almost all my sound (all synths and most samples) come from other apps, so presumably I could automate effects either as I record them (playing them live in source apps and recording via AB into BM2) or after they're recorded in BM2. But I get anxious thinking about the transitions... like, I'm so reliant on loops, if I do a big filter automation it isn't going to line up when its done. So I guess I just keep a second copy of the sample with the automation? Or else play the whole track live? (ew!)
Do you have suggestions or tips on the best way to go about all this? I don't know why it's so intimidating, but I think it's partially because it involves playing live instead of just laying down perfect looped layers. All I know is when I see some of these awesome live iOS tracks on YouTube I wonder how they make it look so easy... doing this same track with pre-recorded loops and layering in BM2 would take me weeks, yet he does it on the fly without breaking a sweat:
The idea of performing an entire track live like that is absolutely daunting to me. I guess it just comes down to planning (samples, control mapping, etc) and practice?? Is this just a practice-makes-perfect type thing?
So -- Twofold question:
- How do YOU implement automation into your recording workflow, and what tips do you have?
- Do YOU live-perform entire tracks, and if so how do you go about it (planning and execution)?
Comments
Well, I don't have anything to say technically. But DANG that is a great performance. How does he do it?? The music and vocal styles don't do it for me, but... wow.
(I mean... yes, I likewise would be keen to hear informed and experienced answers to your second question.)
Live perfomance like that is about practice. I think that is an LPK mini, only has 8 pads. Using pads is all muscle memory. Watch some Jeremy Ellis to get tips on that. Basically get a setup interms of drums, bass etc and stick with it. I personally have been trying to move away from traditional production and do more live stuff. It's just much more fun...
@KlatuuNinja Thanks for those comments. Yea, that's an Akai MPK Mini -- I have that same controller so you can understand the jealousy that video inspires in me ;-)
I will check out Jeremy Ellis. And yes, I can see your point about getting a setup defined in advance and practicing it. And I also think it would be much more fun... I love apps like Figure when I can just jam live and really express myself, but getting those little wisps of brilliance recorded and integrated to a finished track escapes me.
I never use Automation in my productions either, I don't think that's neccesarily the key to polished sounding songs.
I haven't done any song length performances with the iPad set up yet, though I do it all the time with my Elektrons. Practice, practice, practice!
Wow @Tarekith, surprised to hear you say that about automation. Actually your arranging guide was part of what got me thinking about this more! I'm looking forward to reading your guide on transitions too
So when you do, say, a filter swirl effect on a synth line, would you just be doing that live on the recording for a given loop?
Yep, when I record my synth parts, even softsynths, it's all recorded as audio in realtime including all the tweaking of parameters.
OK, so in the context of a loop... say you have a synth line that's essentially a bass loop. Most of the song it's static and just repeats... do you just record 2 bars of it live, the first "dry" and the second with effects, then split and arrange as needed?
You could try playing your perfect loop baseline for 8 times as long you need and do some variations/tweaks on it while you go. Then, slice out the basic loop and slice out the variations/tweaks when you come to a part of your song that needs them.
That video is wow. Definitely a lot of practice there. Good song and the style allows a little looseness is part of it coming off so well. That sliding keyboard must have been maddening!
Regarding live performance, getting the setup right is good advice for me. I'm fiddling around a lot ( i think i can call it practice) but have yet to land on a setup I can rely on and perfect with practice. It's inspiring to see that you tube video, where his only hardware is an iPad and a MIDI keyboard controller, evidence in favor of keeping it simple.
Here's some live pad playing for that "what the fuck is happening right now how is this possible my brain god help the fish children be the ice cream, wait is it Thursday?" sort of feeling:
What is... I don't.... even..... HUAHZHZHZHZW??!??
Been scouring YouTube for more from Rob Gentry, the guy from the first video. He's crazy talented... Here's one from a live pub show he did:
Not as clean as the first performance, but truly live and apparently unrehearsed.
His website's here: http://thisisgentry.com/
@syrupcore - Yeah, I think your idea of recording longer (8+ bar) patterns including effects for slicing is a good one. The problem is it can be hard for me to get one single measure right ("perfect"), let alone 8 with effects & modulation. I guess that's where practice comes in.
@Hmtx - Agreed, the bare simplicity of Gentry's setup is inspiring. That's my next goal after I finish my current, kinda stagnant, DAW track. Go live or go home! Ha...
Ok, so many questions for Rob Gentry.
what is that shiny glass thing Rob keeps flicking and tapping and the music just magically changes to do what he wants?? I'm guessing an iPad, but...
What synths, drum apps?
He has to be automating some parts, or looping bits of the audio, but it's so smooth I have no idea how he does it.
And for comparison, here's my attempt at live music from a few months back. I spent hours and hours practicing, filmed about 10 takes, got the final take in a 12 minute performance, trimmed it down to a five minute video, and really ended up with about 2 minutes of a song. My point is I need a lot of practice before I can take it out in public! Skip to 2:30 if you're short on time
@jesse_ohio - I think that's part of the charm of it, not getting everything perfect, and can give a little different or possibly better sound
Or maybe you can trigger live loops etc and play live on top:
@KlatuuNinja Nice! Took a bit to build up but once it got going I really enjoyed it. That is definitely a direction I'd like to go and experiment with, though a little more structured and not quite so ambient.
I'm guessing he synced those iPads with WIST? I actually have an iPad 2 and an iPad Mini (I gave the iPad 2 to my wife & kids after I bought the Mini for myself
) that I could use just like this. Is WIST pretty reliable to sync apps across iPads?
@Hmtx that was great! Yeah, I can see what you mean about the amount of practice needed, it would take me a long time to get something like that right too. But now I'm itching to try my hand at it!
I think Loopy is really a lot more powerful than I ever considered. It single-handedly usurps the iDAW for live performances and it's pretty easy to use, although I need a lot of practice getting loop timings started right.
SO now I want to try my hand at laying down live drums into loopy to get tracks started and then adding live guitar and synth. Should be fun!
@jesse_ohio thanks! Making that video definitely left me feeling like I need to come up with a setup that is not so... tedious production-wise. So I've been working on that, trying to simplify and just have fun.
I have to agree, LoopyHD is essential. perhaps its the closest thing to Ableton live as far as creating and looping clips on the fly on iOS. Loopy is audio only but it is incredibly stable and full of MIDI -mappable controls, which is nice if you have foot controllers or extra iOS devices sitting around.
You can't see it too well in my video but I have MidiDesigner on the other iPad controlling Loopy via wifi for record / mute and volume levels for all the tracks. And on the iPod touch, MIDIDesigner is controlling my bass patch, affecting Animoog's LFO rate and xy pad (via accelerometer). Too much fun.
OK, in the spirit of this thread, I tried some live play and loopy work on my lunch break. The result:
Sorry it's slow for awhile, picks up about halfway through if you want to skip ahead.
This is nothing special except for the fact that I did it on the fly into Loopy and lovvvved it! I tweaked some effects modulation live in Magellan on my keys and stuff, it was a blast.
Just spotted this great live iPad performance video via Disccord:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qy4Jt1Xb1Qk
The song is great and I LOVE how he takes a minute to walk through how he has the QuNeo mapped so we can actually learn and not just be impressed
Also: The QuNeo is sweet.
Ah, wow. Before this, I thought I wanted a QuNeo. Now, I know I want one.
And did I mention Loopy's MIDI capabilities? You don't even see the Loopy screen till half way thru Otem's song cause he has all the record features mapped to the QuNeo.
This might be one of the best iPad only live jams I've seen, serious.
And nice jam, yourself @jesse_ohio! Loopy makes for such a fun time, I haven't even bothered with any of the iOS DAWs.
Another thought, Genome MIDI sequencer is (or was) on sale this week. I just got it, so not sure how practical it is for live performance, but it automates (record and playback) notes and cc changes. It doesn't have Audiobus yet( the Audiobus tab would be nice), but I'm still hoping it will be useful for MIDI patterns. So far, I'm impressed with it.
I was wondering when some of the midi only apps would be on the bus. I emailed the MidiBridge dev to ask the question and got the following....
"Unfortunately to participate in Audiobus an app must run an audio engine and adding a dummy audio engine to MidiBridge would affect its performance, so I'm sorry this is unlikely to happen with the current state of play."
I imagine the Genome dev will face the same problem.
@syrupcore ʇɐɥʍ ǝɥʇ ʞɔnɟ sı ƃuıuǝddɐɥ ʇɥƃıɹ ʍou ʍoɥ sı sıɥʇ ǝןqıssod ʎɯ uıɐɹq poƃ dןǝɥ ǝɥʇ ɥsıɟ uǝɹpןıɥɔ ǝq ǝɥʇ ǝɔı ɯɐǝɹɔ' ʇıɐʍ sı ʇı ʎɐpsɹnɥʇ¿
@Hmtx cool vid. Nice uses of MIDI Designer. Did you make that Loopy layout?
@SpookyZoo: neat hack. I never got the hang of Thursdays either. But I still got 8 hours to go. You must be in the UK.
@SpookyZoo, yep, I should have know you would come around greedily eyeing my MIDIDesigner layouts, lol. I do believe you've caught the MD bug. :-)
in the video above, that's my old version Loopy controller layout for MIDIDesigner. I'll post you the new version when I get ahold of my other iPad. The new version has pan controls for each loop and some volume supercontrols for fading in/out and instant mutes. There's so much more I'd like to add to it... Reverse, decay, tempo settings, clock length halve/ double... Etc.