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.
New year's resolution: Build a sampler 'cuz nobody wants to God dammit!
After two years of iOS and Android development I think I'm able to start building an audio app.
I've found http://audiokit.io and in 10 minutes I've managed to build a simple synth with a tuneable oscillator. How hard can it be to build a sampler? 
)
So here's what I want to achieve:
AU / Standalone (although it will make sense as AU).
Record / paste samples (the file manager is my biggest fear honestly )
Start / end points visually
Chop a sample into regions with editable start / end points (like Samplr)
Play sample / chops chromatically via internal / MIDI keys.
Basic filtering, envelopes, pitch and all that.
Think of GarageBand's sampler but with a little bit more functionality. Honestly... they have that awsome "Drag region to create sampler instrument" feature... For the love of God I can't understand why they didn't think of adding MULTIPLE regions to create multiple sample layers, since that's what they do with the first sample (you can see it in Logic).
- Would you buy this app?60 votes
- Yes96.67%
- No3.33%
Comments
Bring it on please!
The record feature would be the most interesting thing. I guess it would mean, the sampler running as an effect and generator plugin, if that would be possible it would enable awesome workflows!
Your biggest fear should be the graphical handling of the chop/region part
(spiced with convenient auditioning)
Examples to learn from: auto zoom in AudioShare, zoom handling in TwistedWave
(the latter is cool, but doesn't prevent the waveform from shifting off-screen)
If your app allows to read longer records and marked regions with names it would be an almost buy for me.
If this feature could be applied to several files (region position+name) automatically, I'd pay 100 bucks or even more instantly. (given the stuff can be transferred to other apps)
You may introduce a transparent bpm ruler layer (shiftable) to estimate timing.
(instead of the more common approach to set a fixed value and force audio via stretching into a pattern)
In a more general context I would discourage a monolithic omnipotential app, but organize it strictly modular.
The frame could be free (with limited demo capabilities).
Functions like the ones mentioned above (which would be pretty exclusive over all system platforms afaik) would be in app purchases.
They would instantly extend all DAW like arrangers AND provide the basic functionality for your own sampling engine. 2 birds with 1 stone.
Admittedly I'm not interested in the next Akai/Emu follow-up, as their multisample programs are tedious to setup and most things exist in Kontakt already.
It's a die-hard group of users that claims this trad sampler functionality for years, but imho that's a dead market.
I'd rather focus on the creative side of one-shots and groove oriented stuff.
Here you can find wishlist, help and hate in similar parts related to the "Perfect iOS sampler" even range price. :}
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/16554/ot-finally-free-from-intua/p1
Good luck!
I've read that topic.
I'm planning to build something pretty basic at start. Like a minimum viable product to see & test users reactions.
So... Load a sample (like in Samplr) add markers manually on transients and play those transients.
I used this worklow on the OP-1 with I regret selling... I had a wav file containing all oneshots of a drum kit. I mapped each transient and played the kit via keys.
My sampler would allow 2 workflows. This one and the one where you load a note and play it chromatically. No stretching & shit at start...
Anyway... I'm gonna build myself a statue if I manage to do what I proposed.
Cheers!
I say just borrow some ideas from that well known quirky app with a lot of bloat but with great drum sampler, you can't go wrong.
That's my first on the list, but I don't plan to include sequencing or pads or stuff like that.
I intend to use my own sampler like an Ableton Sampler. Load it on a Cubasis track, sequence some notes and bounce the audio.
Famous last words
Remember to put fade in and out things on the sample chopping. Too many forget to add this essential thingk which results in clicks and pops unless you cut the sample from some perfect position or there is silence at the point of the cut.
Also make the option for count in when recording to the sampler.
Midi in and the ability to map everything(And that includes sample star/end points etc) to it is pretty essential.
And yea i would buy a good sampler. Sadly the only one that actually is good doesent work and keeps crashing + the devs dont care
Just add transcient detection, simple slices editing options (like micro-fade in/out, reverse...), good timestretching/pitchshifting, a basic drum editor or player to test your chops directly and you'd make a my dream come true (I wish I was able to code something lol)...
Peace man and good luck for your project.
This, thanks!
take a look at the Simpler Instrument inside of Ableton live. That would be my ideal sampler on the iOS side. I like the chopping up ability but then It would be nice to be able to use the same app in a classic mode as well. Midi and file handling is essential. If I can easily import a file from iCloud, dropbox, audio share, etc.
I have a little coding background but I dont think I would attempt an app. Good luck and if you need a tester, let me know.
Definitely take a look at Ableton's Simpler, the basic sample module that comes stock with Live. And build it exactly like that as an AU. Notice its ability to set adjustable cross fades on the start and end loop points and the ability to move the loop around while maintaining the smooth crossfade. I would like to order a couple hundred of these, thanks!
/thread
Even if some of those ideas are already borrowed from Nanostudio.
In particular, check out Nanostudio's wave editing. Use handles, avoids user confusion and makes interaction event tracking easier on the code side.
Guys I have and use all of the big apps so there's plenty of inspiration.
The plan is to make a basic sampler that just allows me to nicely play some samples / chops in Cubasis or GB and then if it works and it's not crashing & stuff I'll get down to business with advanced features.
Filter / FX per chop, etc.
Since we're talking about Live... would be cool to investigate having a 16 pads drum machine and on each pad you could load an AU (my sampler in this instance). Just like Drum racks
My favourite sampler is Native Instruments BATTERY 3. Now discontinued, but I still own it and it is just fantastic.
Each sample can be tweaked. Can have up to 128 samples or triggers that are assignable, it has FX per sample and global (although limited), light on CPU, resizable for everything, grid, rows, you name it.
If you could make something like that, maybe just 16 notes but AUx!!! would be great...a real sampler without sequencer...
Good luck I wish you make it...
I finally started working on the sampler
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iosIo3VDMmx82bhB2
Here's a sneak peak. I still have a long way to go.
Basically I want to build some kind of Ableton Simpler functionality in an AU V3. Fingers crossed!
Wow, right on!
Cool! Audiokit?
Yep. But just discovered there's no way to set start/end points on a sample. I'll have to think it through.
Right now I'm working on loading it in GarageBand as an Au and make it respond to GB's keys also.
Looking good so far.
,> @alecsbuga said:
Holy cow. I thought this was a beautiful dream long abandoned, like Kramer's "levels."
Lool
Looking forward to this. Let me know if you run into difficulties or strange issues. Chances are I’ve had to deal with the same things at some point.
Wow. Thanks.
Managed to make more progress. Assigning start & end points
https://photos.app.goo.gl/447okjbQDWbFrWXi2
Nice...I’ll think for AU a C++ engine will be required
Well, not exactly. I managed to load it in Garage Band pretty easy.
The fun part is hooking up GB's Midi input to it, and state saving
Meanwhile. I'm progressing fast with the engine.
I'll make an album with all the progress and post the link here. So I won't stress you daily
This is a pretty savage slice management system, just to test how playable the engine is. Right now AudioKit's sampler is monophonic. As in you play cue points on a sample.
In order to make it polyphonic, I have to create a sampler instance for each chop. Like you would add a Simpler in Ableton's drum rack.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hHVqOZfv7fdpCFsN2
@alecsbuga - looks rad!
Some hints for anyone looking to build a sampler with AudioKit:
One can specify sample start/end points out-of-the-box with the AKAudioPlayer class.
While this can be used to allow users to "setup" their sample, (i.e. Display the waveform to go along with a custom UI for users to set start/stop times, etc), this class would not make an ideal playback solution. As @alecsbuga mentioned, it would require an instance for each voice. Meaning, you'd need to duplicate envelopes and other signal processing on each channel.
A possible "plug-n-play" solution (with existing tools provided by Apple) might be to (1) save a wave file (or files if you're chopping up the source file) from the user's selection, then (2) create an .aupreset with the newly saved waveform(s) and use AUSampler. Then you would get all the free functionality that comes with AUSampler such as ADSR, cpu-efficient poly playback, etc
My humble opinion is that handling MIDI and audio at the Swift level is not a valid solution for sample-accurate AUv3 pro audio apps (as Swift is not real-time safe). That being said, I welcome anyone's attempts to try it and share their knowledge!
Someone mentioned to me that they are building an Ableton Simpler/Sampler clone with AudioKit that will be free and open-source. Therefore, if anyone needs some hints, there may eventually be a full code example of an AUv3 "Ableton-style" sampler. But, it is probably a couple of months out.
Best of luck!