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.
Group the Loop Update is OUT!
Here's the word from Jack the dev:
Group the Loop 1.3 is now available for download on the App Store. It has Ableton Link Support and much more. Enjoy!
What's new in 1.3:
• Ableton Link.
• Flexible tempo - Change session tempo anytime.
• Pitch and time stretch tempo algorithms.
• Inter-app audio connections to input stream.
• New drop down clock settings view - Tap the clock status bar to quickly access tempo, time signature and Ableton Link settings.
• AudioShare import now supports more audio formats. (Inc. wav, caf, m4a, mp3, aif).
• Advanced audio export options. Choose file format, sample rate, bit depth and more.
• “Open in” support. Import audio files directly from any other app with the “open in” option e.g AudioShare, Mail.
• Many other improvements and bug fixes.
Also i've put together a short video here:
Comments
Awesome!
Congrats to Jack, who works at this tirelessly! This is a really top notch update.
Can you edit the audio file in the Group the Loop?
(Of course, Open In and Audioshare support effectively means you can do this with an extra step....)
I believe that is planned for the future.
The demo makes it look so easy.
I still have this in my wish list, and may well be tempted. I just have memories of my previous forays into looping apps, where I can never get the timing right.
What I would like is a clip launcher for audio. I like how I can build up song structures by disparate midi parts in Modstep. It would be helpful to take a session recorded in AUM and chop it into loops to work out a structure in another app. Blocs Wave seems built for this, but the actual launching isn't ideal. Maybe I get the IAP for importing my own clips into Launchpad? Or would Group the Loop allow that in addition to the ability to play right into a loop?
Note that the midi implementation in GTL is nascent; don't know if that's important to you. You can't launch clips within a group right now, for instance. Jack says he'll work on MIDI for next release.
Aha, thank you.
Have not tried Link yet but tempo change and time stretch are very cool.
I've been waiting a very long time for this! I will report back with my thoughts when I've had some time to play around with the update.
Yep, this is pretty much me exactly. I've used or tried to use Loopy a million times - my head knows that it's a well designed app. But either due to user error, or some lack of "fit" with how I do things, I find it hard to get usable stuff out of it. Same goes for LooperSonic, LoopTree, et al.
This looks really appealing because of U.I. for layering loops and time stretching features. Definitely interested, but if this one doesn't work out, I'm thinking the problem is me and not all of these different looper apps. Haha.
Definitely interested, but if this one doesn't work out, I'm thinking the problem is me and not all of these different looper apps. Haha.
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Exactly. I suppose at some point I'll take a chance, being a serial chance taker. I know this app is well designed and works just fine. Whether I can work it, is another thing.
I just spent a solid hour or so playing with this and all I can say is bravo!
The pitch shifting and time stretching algorithms are probably the best I've seen on ios, Ableton Link works flawlessly and the app feels like it runs faster and is more responsive. It runs rock solid now. I can't wait to set this up with midi control.
This app is allowing me to achieve things sonically I've only dreamed of before, I left a glowing review on the app store and I recommend everyone else who has purchased the app does the same, this developer deserves to be supported.
There's really not even a whole lot more I could ask for in terms of improvements. It would be awesome if there was a feature to sequence your groups, something like patterning does, but otherwise I can't think of much. Actually come to think of it, midi control for increasing and decreasing tempo would be badass
Anyone on the fence about buying this should pull the trigger, btw, I feel it represents a value similar to apps like Patterning and AUM in terms of quality.
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Patterning and AUM I found intuitive, mostly, and enjoy using all the time. However, every looping app I've tried previously, which includes most of the usual suspects, has been disappointing. Not, I hasten to add, because of faults with the apps concerned, but because I just can't get these apps to work as well as they do in demos.
So I suppose what I'm looking for here is something in-built that assists those of us who, wile enthusiastic, are just not good loopers. In the same way that you don't need perfect timing to use Patterning effectively, or be Studio trained to get a whole lot of functionality from AUM.
Hey @Nkersov, in the video I used Patterning and Figure to create most of the content. Recording it all into GTL via IAA or the hardware input and using Link to make sure all the timing was bang on. Recording live instruments does take practise but i've found that if you have a really solid rhythm section first then it's a lot easier.
Hope that helps!
By the way, i've updated the features poll on the GTL forum, now that we've ticked a few off.
forum.grouptheloop.com/index.php?topic=13.0
sounds great, could you elaborate on what you mean by this?
I think this is where Ableton Link makes all the difference here. To be honest, even as much as I thought GtL was a great program before Ableton Link, I found it difficult to get into a comfortable workflow without Link. I had the same problem with all other loopers. With a looper you need to able to get into a comfortable workflow where you are focused on your instruments and not on fiddling with the looper. It takes you out of the creative headspace. The biggest issue has often been getting your loops completely in sync. As soon as you have to mess around with getting loops synced properly it becomes frustrating and you often want to quit.
Ableton Link has changed this completely. It's well implemented here and you can record and pitch shift on the fly while your track is playing, which is very cool.
It mainly has to do with the ability to record and then pitch shift on the fly. So I can record a bass, pad part into GtL and have that synced to let's say patterning via ableton link. Maybe I then have a separate app playing a lead part also synced via Link. I can that use Group the Loop to slow down the bass and pad while pitch shifting it, and my drums and lead will stay in sync. The lead will stay the same pitch so I can find these really interesting contrasts between the pitch shifted audio and the non pitch shifted audio while everything stays in sync, and I'm doing this all on the fly so it feels musical and not tedious and allows me to explore some really interesting soundscapes. I don't know any other app that can provide this.
To a certain extent an iPhone version makes the most sense to focus on because it would probably expand your user base the most. Newer iPhones are quite powerful and have a lot storage which makes them good for looping apps, and there's a lack of looping or even just good recording options on iPhone. I would gladly pay again for an iPhone version.
Another very cool, but much more ambitious feature would be a loop browser, something similar to what Blocs Wave has and a similar ability to just randomly populate your loops while staying in key.
is it possible to do this all within gtl as well, for example have some loops not time stretched but have some time stretched playing together?
Not at the moment i'm afraid. It's certainly possible so I will add it to the poll.
ok thank you
No kidding. I am still struggling to get everything to sound good in any looper! Practice makes perfect, for sure, and Link is going to make starting/stopping so much easier. This was a downfall IMO of the original version of this -- you had to be just so absolutely perfect in your timing. This is why I've made a request for a trimmer for the various samples because invariably I start to early or just a little too late.... yes, I am always rushing and dragging.
are the loops a fixed length? Can you export stems to a daw?
So, would it be possible, let's say, to have an FX in Audiobus (FX slot) and GTL in the output slot, and plug my guitar in my iPad ? Really like the workflow and the UI of this one, instinctive and user friendly.
Check this video and the Chorus feature, it's amazing!!
Next update with IPhone version ..?
Hi @ExAsperis99, no they are not fixed. Loops are recorded in multiples of the clock and the clock duration can be any length. You can copy the stems/loops to your computer using iTunes file sharing and then to a DAW or alternatively export them to AudioShare to import them into other apps.
I did buy, but didn't have a ton of time to play with it. Has IAA, but maybe AU instrument/effect hosting is in the future?
The drum loop creator is an interesting and convenient thing to have within a looper app, but how does it work? Is it just a collection of a handful of different patterns (like "tight" and "heavy" for rock?).
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I may be beyond help, when it comes to looping. But I'm watching with interest, and will likely give GTL a go.
Yes this is possible
iPhone version is on the cards.