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.
Guitars, Tonestack, Bias, Impulse Responses, and AUM
I'm trying to get s handle on routing my signal through all these different apps in order to test tones etc.
I have been using tonestack and fiddlicator together and now introducing bias amp it seems like I just can't get the right sound. It seems kinda underwater or something.
Any tips thoughts on using apps together? Do I need to use AUM?
Comments
Are you maybe running more than one cabinet simulator? That could make things sound funky.
Im bypassing the cab in bias amp and using fiddlicator to run impulse responses
I'd start with a completely clean sound (bypassing everything apart from the guitar and output) and progressively add in components to see where the clarity is being lost.
I've had this where I've been mistakenly running two reverbs. Took me a while to realise too such are my cloth ears.
So I'm working through trying to decide what sounds best. What are you guys doing?
I just got AUM and it's awesome. Problem is that it can never load bias. I have to open bias and then go back to reload it in AUM.
AUM can save preset chains but it doesn't save the settings inside the actual apps.
I've had the same issue with BIAS loading into AUM, I don't think it's ever worked - it must be a bug in BIAS and the developer doesn't seem bothered about it. As you've discovered, opening the BIAS app first allows it to load into AUM. (Edit: I've just logged a bug report with the developer)
I've had AUM a while but have only just started using it, primarily for managing the input/output mapping in my Focusrite Scarlett interface, for which it works brilliantly. I load Tonestack 3 as an effect but haven't ventured into IRs etc yet so I can't help you there!
I noticed that the last update for BIAS (Feb 18) fixes something to do with mic input when can sim is turned off, have you updated to this version?
You are correct in that AUM doesn't (or can't) save the presets inside the apps it hosts, I presume this is a limitation with IAA (Inter App Audio) - I've no idea if this is the case with AUs or Audiobus, I have no AU apps and never used AB in anger...
Well it helps to have some understanding on what the different amp models that are being simulated sounds like. For example orange has quite different tone to a fender. Try to google stuff like "fender tone". "mesa tone", "peavey tone", "engl tone" etc to get the idea. Ofc these brands have different models, but pretty much all oranges have some of that "orange tone". Then search some of the speaker demos. Figure out how mic placement effects the tone(pretty important when choosing impulses, as they often have multiple mic placement settings for each speaker).
So now that you got some idea, and you for example want a nice brutal, yet not overly distorted with some fuzz like characteristic low mid growl tone, you ofc choose orange(mesa would also do, but its a bit different from orange growl) and then you go pick a cab that supports or extends to that low mid growl. Then you go back to tweaking the amp and possible pedal settings to perfect the tone.
There are ofc loads of ways to get the tone that you want, and everyone has a bit different approach to it. But my main point is that you should know what you work with, learn how different parts of the simulation as a whole(pedals, amp, cabs etc) interact with each others. You might find that you like few tones a lot more than the majority of amps or impulses. Thats good, try to find some favourites and basically limit the amp models and impulses to as little as possible. Like try to find one two or maybe three amps from each category(clean, crunch, distorted) that together can cover all your needs, and also try to get rid of impulses you dont need(at least from the impulses list on fiddlicator) to make it easier to find and remember the ones you like.
Also i recommend making an fx chain on the presets that you save, even if you dont need the all the time(just save it with them bypassed), get to know the pedals you like and to build some basic fx chain that you know well and like to use. So that its easy to for example take some fender amp you like, an impulse you know fits it well and then just turn on some phaser or something that you know how to work with.
TLDR; minimize everything to your favourites and learn them properly.
still learning lol. one thing that has helped me in the app is making a loop and then chaning settings to see what happens. I have some dry guitar files that I would like to reamp. I cant seem to get the files to the file player in AUM though
Ok so i chumped up for Audioshare and now I cannot stop having fun reamping dry guitar files and testing stuff.
so Bias gives almost limitless amps with tone cloud.
Tonestack has most of the fx that I have.
And then Fiddlicator runs the Impulse Responses.
Trying to figure where to put some fx in the chain. if I want stuff from tonestack in the loop i need to load bias inside of tonestack and then put that in AUM. Where do you guys usually put a reverb?
if you do have it loaded (Bias) in either tonestac or in AUM and you pick it to jump in and tweak amp settings, you then need to go home and reenter the host app. You cannot select the AUM incon within BIAS to switch. So weird.
Reverb is generally last in the chain for me or it gets muddy to my ears.
That said there are no rights or wrongs. I have Bias and Tonestack, it's great to mix and match the two.
i do like mixing and matching. its just finding what is going to actually work at this point. it has been frustrating to get them to work in conjunction with eachother through AUM
I don't bother with AUM for this. I add BIAS FX (or BIAS Pedal) as an IAA effect inside ToneStack.
Is your IR 44,1 kHz ?
yeah sometimes bias wont load that way either. How are you using the IAA for BIAS? how do you have the input and output gain set for the IAA in tonestack?
not sure how to answer that. I am trying out God's Cab IRs and Redwirez free Marshall 4x12 IRs
Check the samplerate of the IR wav-file, it should be 44,1 kHz. If it is higher the sound gets bad...
Positive Grid responded to my bug report of BIAS Amp not loading into AUM and it looks like the latest version (1.6.7) has fixed this issue - it still takes a while to load but I haven't had any errors loading it since.