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 is quite easy. In the synth page (left side) you have to reduce "poly" to 1 (then it is mono...). Then you will see in the note grid after clicking on a note a "glide" option above the "X" for deleting notes. Can be set on of off - and can sound quite acidic, especially for the FM synth and the 8BitSynth. The glide options sounds OK (and sometimes really good) for SubSynth, Bassline, Modular and Sawsynth, and usually weak for the PCM Synth and Vocoder. It is impossible for the Padsynth and the KSSynth.
I love the bitcrusher effect. Especially on the Beatbox. I've been using it to create stems and using them on my Octatrack and it sounds great.
Thanks for that, it clears things up. Can't understand why there's that unused space at the bottom of the sequencer page on the ipad. As I said, this is great app, but I'm not keen on the sequencer page, as it stands.
my impression is that the way to do it is to just create patterns until you are sick of it, and then arrange in the sequencer after the fact. I've just been adding instruments and new patterns, muting, soloing, etc and having lots of fun.
Not sure if this is what you mean but, If you don't select "Fill Screen for Lanscape Mode" in advanced settings, the space around the sequencer page is balanced, on top and bottom like all the pages, rather than being blank on the bottom (it's the end of the long scroll when used full screen, I guess there had to be the end of the scroll somewhere...)
Not using "Fill Screen..." and leaving black bars on top and bottom just makes me think of letterbox from my cameraman days.
Again - because of Caustic's "small screen phone" origins I believe.
Also of note for noobs is that a lot of features can be unlocked with a touch and hold. Anywhere you see a triangle you'll find extra menu options.
Now that's helpful!
Regarding Documents, that app totally messed up PDFs I had in it which I was not able to recover again. Will
If you think Caustic is a Korg Gadget replacer, fine for you, but, I don't agree...
Caustic is pretty amazing, but, it doesn't come close to the deepness of a total install of Korg Gadget (with 31 Gadgets)...
Korg updating Gadget regularly. Caustic is not updated very often, especially if you as a lonely developer has this spread over four different operating system...
But, hey, Caustic cost ten bucks and Gadget hundreds, so for people with less money to spend on musicmaking Caustic really shine!
Query: I've just redownloaded caustic after learning that the PCM synth and sample editor has stereo support. But my recordings show mono (from AB). So then I see in the file tab a "to stereo" button. I selected the button prior to recording and saw the change reflected in the UI. But it goes back to mono after recording. This leads me to believe that you cannot sample in stereo. That button is solely for taking a mono file to make a dual mono file for a faux stereo file. (Both channels are the same, one is a copy). But if you import a stereo file, that is supported. You just cannot record true stereo. Correct?
it depends on the source... try it with something that definitely sends a stereo signal and you should see two vu bars in the caustic recorder. i always thought the newer ipads with two mics recorded stereo but they don't they just choose the best signal and output mono.. i found that out using Caustic.. it auto senses the source so if you have an fx app in Audiobus that sums to mono you'll only get a mono recording..
@RockySmalls
Ok, after trying your suggestion, I discovered what it is. Even if you have something in AB that sends a stereo signal, it has to first hear the signal after you press record the first time and your in the caustic recorder. Then you will see the VU meter refresh from mono to stereo, then you can record.
So if you're not using an external controller to trigger notes, or if the source isn't already playing from a sequencer, there are extra steps required.
In my case for example, I'm using chordmaps to trigger isem and or animoog. When i press record which brings me to the recorder, there is silence obviously. If i press record again to begin recording, leave caustic to go to chordmaps, play something, and come back to caustic, the recording will be mono.
For a stereo recording, once in the recorder window, I need to leave caustic for chordmaps, play a note, come back to caustic which now has stereo VUs, press record and leave again in order to play.
And these steps need to be done everytime you leave the recorder window and come back again. It doesn't remember.
I'm still thrilled and it's no big deal cause now i have my qunexus hooked up to eliminate the extra step of leaving the app and coming back again, but it is a pain in the ass if you're on the road and your app source is not AB compatible, or if you simply wish to use the sources contol UI for performance playing, such as animoog's sweet and expressive keys.
I'm still thrilled and glad i sort it out. I figured on leaving the details for anybody else.
Cool tip! I wasn't sure if the Caustic recorder was able to record over AB. If I recall it didn't, pre-update. Now I can send loops into the beatbox!
You can also import loops from AudioShare into the BB. Often easier and more precise than recording. I make loops in Vatanator, export to AS and import into Caustic. Just a few clicks and clean loops. FWIW
Yes but with the new improvements to the Caustic wav editor I think it will be more precise and requires fewer steps.
Depends on the source app. Vatanator and some others export clean loops right into AS which are easily imported into Caustic. Just something to consider.
The Caustic wave editor is pretty awesome however so whatever works.
.> @anickt said:
for spur of the moment stuff like bass riffs and glitchy drums I'm thinking the latter will be better
Hey guys, how good is Caustic's modular synth?
I would call it quirky but powerful. See the tutorials on YouTube and download the free Mac or PC version to try it out.
http://www.singlecellsoftware.com/download/Caustic_3.2.0_MacOS.dmg
Great, thanks. Forgot that it's free for Macs and PCs. Will try it today
Interestingly I'm trying to do some stuff in Caustic after years of Nanostudio - and (so far) its a love/hate thing. Love the range and sounds of the synths, absolutely hate and detest the whole workflow and sequencer thing. Partly its learning a different way of working and finding the equivalent way of achieving the same task. But partly some stuff just seems.... odd. Possibly a result of its long heritage form the Android platform I guess - and people who have been using it a while will have got used to it's "features" (like I have with Nanostudio).
But - I'm persevering - and have some results I quite like :-)
I find the workflow with Caustic much more fluid than with Nanostudio. It's just a matter of getting used to where things are. A couple of taps can take you anywhere.
I like Caustic pretty much, and agree, its way of getting you anywhere with a couple of taps is great. One thing that bothers me, is having to swipe carefully to get back and forth between the instrument and it's sequencer. When I'm in a hurry, I often either don't scroll enough, or I blow right past and down to the FX.
Not a big deal, but I'm hoping I'm missing some gesture or place to tap to jump back and forth?
Habits and workflow...more often than not I hit the 'button of little squares' down on the bottom left and then pick where I'm going next. Such second nature I don't even really think about it...
No, tapping doesn't do it but dragging does "snap". You don't have to drag too far to go to next screen.
Thanks. I thought maybe I had missed something. Pretty good when that's the biggest complaint I can come up with though!
You can view instrument and sequencer at the same time in portrait mode.
Yeh, kinda tiny on the phone tho.
Hmm...
Never tried Caustic on iOS but played with it on desktops. For some reason, it’s not grabbing me. No offense to @Rej (who might also be French-Canadian?), but have yet to hear sounds which inspire me. The vocoder is pretty cool, though. Might use it at some point. But, even then, have yet to hear the kind of example which makes me really want to dig into the app.
Same with SunVox, actually.
Maybe my musical tastes don’t match those of crossplatform app developers?
Anyhoo... If anyone has a good example of a cool music which showcases Caustic, that could be pretty useful.
There's a lot about it I like, but (after a fair perusal) The sequencer page is too limiting for me, so it's back to Gadget or FL mobile (somewhere down the line)