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
It's 128 sequencer tracks, 8 stereo (linear) audio tracks, 64 total stereo voices.
I haven't seen a linear multi-track 'overview' view in any of the demos. I know the desktop has it.
I'm really curious about MIDI controller support. Will it be possible to use something with 16 sliders to act as the 16 Q-link knobs on the MPCX? Something to control the levels/pans/sends? I'm thinking since it's desktop software in a box with USB ports, it should be possible to do some desktop standard stuff like MIDI learn.
I need to stop paying attention to this thing until it's out in the real world for a while and we can get some real reviews with the nitty gritty bits instead of watching/reading the same top-level demo over and over.
God no, impc pro sucks, and then you would need to find some combo of interface and pads controller that would work with the iOS then export that through Dropbox or some other horrid workaround to get the stems to a daw! Fuck that noise!
iOS synths to sample into mpc, then mpc individual outs back to iOS effects, that's it! At most!
As a matter of fact skip the iOS effects and get some decent guitar pedals! Boom, easier to use more reliable and funner!
@Samu
I was having the same thought
Only hardware samplers I've messed with IRL are the the old Akai S1000 and EMU ESI-32.
(And well, my Electribe ES-1).
Can't find anything about being able to make layered keyboard instruments on the MPC Live
It seems to be more engineered towards 'beat' and 'loop' oriented production instead of sound-design...
Hmm interesting point, should be able to layer keygroups. Can layer up to 4 samples in drum mode. I also had a S1100, great sampler.
One cool thing that's been confirmed is timestrech on keygroup programs, so that's a major upgrade from old Akai samplers
You could layer samples in key groups in the 1.9 MPC so I wouldn't imagine a motive not to be able to do it in 2.0
Now considering full 2.0 is on the device... here's your answer
Looks pretty cool! I am impressed with everything I have seen so far. I'm excited to get more information this week.
Yeah, this seems kind of antiquated for my taste.'
My opinion and personal feelings are that which sees electronic music evolving as every thing else does.
Mobile, smart, visually appealing, customization while harnessing blue tooth and wifi over wires.
I personally am thinking about ditching my 49 key MIDI controller for a top of the line smaller one. The screen of the iPad isn't even the sole driver. I love some of the MIDI controller apps for the iPhone, my handheld MIDI bluetooth MIDI controller, and even my rotor knobs. The Launchpad Pro is a great center piece and a smaller keyboard with advanced MIDI controls will do me fine.
Things like Impactor, Samplr, Rotor, and my newest fave FLUX PAD make gear like this Akai not worth its price to me. Plus my harmonica, guitar, tamborine and Wurly suitcase.
Throw in the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators I use, I think this AKAI product may seem a bit "tethered" or forgive me, "inside the box".
Really the missing link for me would be a dedicated iPad pro running Ableton at this point.
Until then, I am looking to keep it light, new, and wire free to the best of my ability.
Plus these little things are more customizable and able to be "performed" with. You I know understand that better than most.
Who knows, my opinion may change in time, but I doubt it.
I've read on twitter from the MPC Developer that they'll enable WIFI & BLuetooth on the MPC. Being able to connect BT midi keyboards is in the works
You can still play scales & chords on the pads, but it's nice that you can hook up additional knobs & shit via BT.
The standalone live has Ableton link. Or will have very soon (won't be in there at launch).
I have two iPads now, and to me this looks like the ultimate way to tie all this apps together on my iPads. Tonight I was jamming in Samplr and made a pretty cool beat, if I had the standalone I could of recorded each part out to the mpc, pitch shifted the parts, chopped them, then start layering drums over them and build up a composition out of it. Then for example send out anything that needs some extra something through wow or csspectral or flux fx from one of the extra sets of outputs and record it to an audio track back in the mpc. Then keep building.
The mpc is not a replacement for iOS at all, rather a really good companion
Not that I'm going to buy one but does the MPC Live/MPC X act as a Class complaint USB audio-interface?
If it does it's just a matter of hooking up the iPad using CCK and voila perfect 'digital sampling'
I remember trying to connect the Touch to the iPad but I can't remember if it worked. Midi worked but audio... Can't remember.
Do you want to sample the iPad into MPC or MPCs inputs into iPad?
Btw I got an Amplifi 30 from Line 6 for my guitar and it works like magic as an Interface for the iPad.
I'm not sure if it's class compliant or requires a custom driver but in one of the videos they said it was indeed an Audio/MIDI interface.
Is it confirmed that it will support "additional knobs & shit"? I've heard them say MIDI/BT keyboards but haven't heard anything about external CC type controllers yet.
I'm just assuming
not record it it into iPad, use audiobus like a live rack fx in a studio. So stream the audio of a single track from output 3/4 of mpc, have that going into the input of my focusrite interface connected to my iPad, it runs through a chain of fx in audiobus, then the focusrite outputs are hooked up to the sampling inputs on the mpc live.
Just much more flexibility this way.
It's the way I would rather work, much more fluid, can record tweaks to the the fx, switch the track/group going to the iPad fx on the fly etc. I get the 'keep it digital' but I used to use old ensoniq gear and an Akai s900.. not super worried about a bit of extra d/a in the signal path. It should still sound pretty clean and nice.
This would be interesting!!
Both
the thing about thinking the new mpc is just an redundant overly priced box compared to ipads is not entirely accurate, the main thing being overlooked is that the sequencer is unlike any sequencer on iOS and has features that no sequencer on iOS has... I won't get into if it's better or not than other sequencers on iOS because that's subjective anyway but just for example, if you'd like to string sequences together with different tempos which sequencer on iOS offers this capability besides the impc pro?
from the video if i'm not mistaken they said it's class compliant, you can hook up external hard drives, thumb drives, midi controllers, and qwerty keyboards, strangely they said something to the affect of not a mouse though?
strangely enough, with it's time stretching, clip launching, and midi sequencer, live looper, and audio tracks, portability, battery power, and ableton link..... the new mpc live may be the closest thing to ableton live .
Well, another work day is completed. Time to go home and see if I missed any new MPC live videos that have been posted while I've been stuck here! lol
@mireko_2 I would also like to do both as well
Feed me! Lol. The MPC X is a beast. Too big for me though. The software is looking better in each new video.
a model in-between the size of the two would have been such a sweetspot
Since, according to that video, Q-Link knobs are freely assignable, I'm going to hold out hope that external MIDI CCs are also freely assignable. That would mean a LIVE + a cheap MIDI knob box could serve as the 'in-between' model.
Would be sweet to be able to replicate some of the other MPCX front panel buttons though (like the hot keys under the screen). Hmm, since the LIVE will support QWERTY keyboards, I wonder if it will also support the Keyboard Shortcuts from the desktop software?
Could electron also be releasing an mpc style drum machine?!
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/01/16/elektron-bringing-something-new-to-namm/