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 Store

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

Cheap guitar effect pedals vs ios fx apps on synths?

edited January 2017 in General App Discussion

Has anyone done any investigation on which sounds better?

Im thinking of maybe getting some fx pedals for my analog synth(mostly interested on echo/delay). But i do have a ipad hooked on the synth, so i could be just using ios fx apps(dont have any proper delay yet). So im bit torn on whether to go with ios route or pedals. I would imagine that cheaper delay pedals are worse than something like aufx:dub, more noisy less controls etc. Anyone done any proper comparison between some cheaper delay vs ios? I dont need long delay times and mostly interested on some analog delays, so lack of controls isnt an issue if i can find the right pedal. My main concern is general quality of the tone, degeneration of sound and noise on cheaper pedals. How about more expensive pedals? There is an ibanez ad100 vintage delay(which is praised a lot) and akai headrush E1 on my local musician forum for sell, which i have also been thinking about. They are bit more expensive(90 and 140€), but would it be worth it when it comes to tone?

I would prefer hardware, but if having equal quality means 140€, i might just go with the 5€ option for my ipad.

Would be interested on hearing about other effects than just delay as well. Im pretty settled on going with analog distortion tho.

Comments

  • edited January 2017

    I'd be curious to know what analogue distortion pedals you are considering. I'm probably going to pick up an Elektron Analog Heat at some point, but it's expensive - could get another iPad or two for the same price. I haven't seen many other stereo distortion options, but I'd be interested to know about decent quality affordable mono options in the meantime.

    As for delays and the rest, the AU:FX effects are great quality as you know, and there are a number of others in that category. I can't see most 100-150€ pedals getting a better sound, particularly in stereo. If you specifically want the physical control, it might be worth getting a MIDI knob box like the classic BCR2000 to control all your midi-controllable apps. I love having something tactile to work with, it makes a huge difference.

  • edited January 2017

    @HandOfEmpty said:
    I'd be curious to know what analogue distortion pedals you are considering. I'm probably going to pick up an Elektron Analog Heat at some point, but it's expensive - could get another iPad or two for the same price. I haven't seen many other stereo distortion options, but I'd be interested to know about decent quality affordable mono options in the meantime.

    As for delays and the rest, the AU:FX effects are great quality as you know, and there are a number of others in that category. I can't see most 100-150€ pedals getting a better sound, particularly in stereo. If you specifically want the physical control, it might be worth getting a MIDI knob box like the classic BCR2000 to control all your midi-controllable apps. I love having something tactile to work with, it makes a huge difference.

    Well i do have this old marshall valvestate(tube in od channel preamp, transistor power amp and clean preamp) combo guitar amp and i have been using its preamp a bit for distortion and it sounds pretty good, so distortion isnt my main priority. Also i got a joyo voodoo octaver fuzz, but i borrowed it to someone and would need to get it back. But looking at used gear i found this on the cheaper side http://biyangeffects.com/en/index.php/component/virtuemart/view/productdetails/virtuemart_product_id/38/virtuemart_category_id/6 , this from bit more expensive side http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/m181-blow-torch-distortion and then found a blackstar ht5 tube head( http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/blackstar-ht-series-ht-5h-5w-tube-guitar-amp-head ) for 150€, which i was also considering(it has headphone out, so i could run it straight to my rack eq to ipad). Sadly i dont think i canturn the cab emulation off on the headphone out, so that kind of a bummer. But going with the mxr or blackstar means going ios delay(most likely with aufx:dub), as i dont have lots of cash to put on this. The blackstar could be cool for routing stuff through its power amp(could put the ipad on the fx loop, so that only the hardware synth gets distortion and all ipad sounds gets some of that tube warmth from power amp). Also im pondering on moog mf drive, or mf delay.

    I actually have a midi controller i can use with my ipad, but im thinking of dedicating it to dm2 once they release the update for midi learn. Also i would rather not do any processing for the synth on ipad itself and would prefer to use it as a drum machine and a host for some synths only.

  • You could buy an iPad 1st gen and an Alexis dock for $150. Put Moog's Filtatron on it and I would imagine it sounds about as good as a MoogerFooger. Get an iPad2 for $50 more and you can use Turnado, a desktop quality FX suite. I don't have any comparison videos but I think the control is much better.

  • @thesammiller said:
    You could buy an iPad 1st gen and an Alexis dock for $150. Put Moog's Filtatron on it and I would imagine it sounds about as good as a MoogerFooger. Get an iPad2 for $50 more and you can use Turnado, a desktop quality FX suite. I don't have any comparison videos but I think the control is much better.

    I already have ipad air2 with dedicated interface(the synth goes to its input, and is also split to go to other interfaces input thats hooked on computer), and i do have filtatron and turnado on it. Also if i were to get another ipad and interface for some reason, i wouldnt go with alesis dock.

  • As long as you don't mind sending your synth into an instrument input then you could do a lot worse than the Line 6 Amplifi TT.....
    70+ guitar amps, 100+ effects and 20+ speaker cabinets
    Up to 8 simultaneous effects...
    Has Headphone on the front, Stereo Line Out and an amp out on the back to skip the Amp Simulation, will also connect to iPad via USB and CCK for recording and will also play back audio from the iPad either over usb or Bluetooth.
    Currently going for £84 - Although the minimum spec foot controller for it is also £84

    uk.line6.com/amplifi/amplifi-tt/

    I've only used it with guitar so could not say if the input can handle a line level signal from a synth, but aren't guitar pedals designed for the same input anyway ??

  • @AndyPlankton said:
    As long as you don't mind sending your synth into an instrument input then you could do a lot worse than the Line 6 Amplifi TT.....
    70+ guitar amps, 100+ effects and 20+ speaker cabinets
    Up to 8 simultaneous effects...
    Has Headphone on the front, Stereo Line Out and an amp out on the back to skip the Amp Simulation, will also connect to iPad via USB and CCK for recording and will also play back audio from the iPad either over usb or Bluetooth.
    Currently going for £84 - Although the minimum spec foot controller for it is also £84

    uk.line6.com/amplifi/amplifi-tt/

    I've only used it with guitar so could not say if the input can handle a line level signal from a synth, but aren't guitar pedals designed for the same input anyway ??

    Im pretty sure that bias fx sounds better than that thing :D I have played enough guitar to appreciate analog gear, tube amps and grown to dislike that sort of cheap modeling stuff.

    Yea i have been reading on this whole line vs instrument level thing on synths to pedals. And some pedals can handle line level just perfectly, but some are picky about it. My synth(minibrute) does have volume control for output, which might help with it and i also have a rack eq and compressor that has -4/+10db pad, which could also help. If you got any info on this, it would be much appreciated. I read that this is about impedances being different, but should it matter if i can tone down the output volume of the synth?

  • edited January 2017

    You can pick up great sounding pedals for £25 and total garbage for £300. Google has all the answers.

    Of course if you use more than 3 then you need to spend £200 on a pro power supply or you'll be forever plagued by irritating varieties of hiss and whining sounds and spend 15 minutes of your setup time for every gig until you shell out the £200 figuring out which of your pedals is causing the problem in this particular venue (it's different every time) and rewiring everything to accommodate for missing that sound tonight.

  • edited January 2017

    Cheap Analog delays are pretty noisy,
    Overdrive distortion too.
    The guitar stuff doesn't always work for synths, lots of them cut the low frequencys because guitars don't produce them. Mxr distortion plus is one of those cutters.
    It's trial and error.
    Boss os2 makes nice acid vibes.

  • @ToMess said:
    Im pretty sure that bias fx sounds better than that thing :D

    Maybe not with me playing through it ;)

  • Pedals that worked for me are ProCo Rat, EH Deluxe Electric Mistress, EH Small Stone, EH Memory Man. These were all early 80's vintage. Newer cheap pedals don't cut it in my experience. Try before you buy.

  • this can be a lot of inexpensive fun, and you get much better results using a reamplification box such as:
    http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/products/l2a

  • I usually run all my effects from Auria...chorus, delays, etc...but I love the Overloud THM plugin for great rack effects, flange, reverb, delay, etc...they have some decent distortions and overdrives to...plus you can run your synth through the virtual amps and cabs and get crazy good sound. However...sometimes it is taxing on the CPU and there are moments when I find it useful to just plug in my Digitech RP360 XP which gives me complete control over Amos, stomps, delays,....you name it ($199 or less) sturdy, durable, built like a tank and is fully programmable onboard or via software

  • @anickt said:
    Pedals that worked for me are ProCo Rat, EH Deluxe Electric Mistress, EH Small Stone, EH Memory Man. These were all early 80's vintage. Newer cheap pedals don't cut it in my experience. Try before you buy.

    Yes!

  • I think iOS is the way to go, if we're talking about cheap pedals, not a strymon el capistan. I haven't tested this one myself yet, but so far everything from this company sounded good to me: http://www.virsyn.net/mobileapp/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&itemid=8

  • I think ill just go with ipad effects for delays etc. But i found one of these used near me as well

    Not sure if i should get it..

  • edited January 2017

    I've heard this is a good synth companion. Am considering one myself even though behringer pedals are not usually a consideration.

Sign In or Register to comment.