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.
Johannes Dörr's new MIDI Devices
Since there hasn't been much discussion about these mini apps that are supposed to launch together with AB3 "very soon" let's see what we know about them so far and what we expect them to be. And maybe the man himself @JohannesD has some teasers or other information to satisfy our curiosity?
What I think I know is:
- They are several mini apps that filter or otherwise modify MIDI input, similar to Ableton Lives MIDI FX(?)
- They can have multiple instances per set
- There will be a bundle available
What I'd like to know:
- What are the apps, how many, and what will they cost?
- Can we use multiple filters per track?
- When will they be out?
What to expect:
- Scale Filter
- Chord Device or Harmoniser
- Arp
- Velocity
- Gate
- Delay
- some kind of Sequencer?
Anything else we know or suspect?
Comments
Eager to find out more about these as well. Right now I am using Aleph, Xynthesizr, Arpist, and sometimes BM2 to sequence different tracks in the same song. It can be messy and more often than not I'll put a song idea into cold storage out of not being able to glue it all together. I don't know if AB3 + these will help glue it all together, but more MIDI sequencing options are welcome.
Forgot the most obvious: a simple pitch transpose device, hopefully with an octave selector
There will be 8 apps at the Audiobus launch, 6 of which are MIDI effects. You can insert them in any order in one or more MIDI routes. The apps will allow you to split incoming notes, filter and remap velocities, map notes to a scale, randomize, transpose and monitor. There is already more in the making, but this is what we'll start with.
Each app will be between $2 and $3, some will be free. All apps will also be available in a bundle called "Midiflow for Audiobus 3".
Other devs have sequencers and arpeggiators. As MIDI will be a no-brainer with the new Audiobus 3, you can combine them as you want and do all kinds of cool things. I have to say, I'm really excited about the new system!
w00t! Thank you so much, Johannes! Can’t wait. Seriously, these MIDI filters are likely to be the missing pieces in my current puzzle.
This sounds like a great addition to the ios music ecosystem. Ableton Live's midi effects are nice examples of this sort of thing IMO.
https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/live-midi-effect-reference/
I'm especially fond of the arp, velocity and pitch. They've become basic tools like a screwdriver.
Good comparison!
Of course, the workflow will be rather different from Ableton Live, but it’s a useful way to think of those.
That’d be very, very neat. Have yet to find a MIDI chorder on iOS. There are some harmonizers working through audio, which can already be fun. But nothing like mucoder’s tonespace, for instance.
Sounds like Johannes might add something like this in the future but didn’t mention it as part of the launch bundle.
Will these apps be needed if we already own Midiflow and it's IAPs?
Exactly. I picked the most essential functions for the launch, but will add more in the coming weeks and months.
Feel free to tell me, what the harmonizer (and others) should do exactly. I'm currently designing an app for chord generation based on a scale.
Yes. (The original) "Midiflow" and "Midiflow for Audiobus 3" are two different things and don't replace each other. Although the original idea, when I sat down with Sebastian last year, was just to bring Midiflow's features to Audiobus, I've built lots of new stuff since then.
Never used midi effects. What else can u tell us about them in general? I assume that each effect - since just midi data - will consume very minor CPU resources? Wondering if I should be interested for my aging ipad4 - or hold off on until I get a new iPad.
Yes, the MIDI apps don't consume very much resources, compared to audio apps. I've been using my other MIDI apps on an iPad 3 on stage to control external MIDI hardware — without any problem.
Well, some of the effect apps are more like "tools". For example you can split your keyboard. Or you can create velocity layers, where one of the sounds sets in with louder notes. Others really modify the data, like randomization/humanization: Lets say you have a sequencer that produces notes with a fixed velocity. You can add some randomness to that to make it sound more natural. Or you filter out some of the notes of a track to create a second track for a bass sound.
Don't worry, I've recorded almost 30 minutes of demo videos...
Holy...
sounds great! thanks
Yes, sounds very good!
So if I want to get the bundle, how much will it set me back?
Once again, my longwinded reply gets me in the moderation box.
Shorter version…
Basically, my favourite chorders/harmonizers allow you to play a note and have different chord structures produced, either deterministically or randomly. The two main (free) examples are mucoder’s tonespace and ewiVoicing from i-yanase.com (which also produces some iOS apps). Easier to try than to explain.
@Enkerli
Thanks for you PM, I'll look closer into this soon, and invite your for beta once there is a first version.
Is there some kind of integrated state saving of the midi status of midi fx apps within an ab3 preset, Johannes?
Of course. The whole MIDI setup can be saved and recalled, along with the audio setup
A nicer trailer video would really stir up the fan base sir
And another question: Couldn't you sneak in the code that you already have in midiflow for BT MIDI connectivity? Because AB3 doesn't seem to be able to support that in 3.0?
Would be fantastic!
Really pleased about the demo videos. Many of us are wary (as a result of our own ignorance) as regards anything further than most basic MIDI issues and some idiot-guides to what your new work can do will make this idiot happy.
For the future: Could you make a little thingie that turns incoming audio into a fixed MIDI note? Would be great for using a bass drum pedal with a trigger running into an audio interface...
cool. Thanks.
Sounds really good. So we're basically getting mid fx add ons which we can't yet get with AU (although hopefully will eventually happen).
Midi lfos would be really useful to assign and save in setups.
Look forward to all the randomisers and probability FX
Isn't Audiobus 3 due to release tomorrow?
I'd love to see an midi device that can take an incoming chord, and send individual notes to different destinations. And then rotate each note. Much like the app polymer for OSX
Topping up the iTunes account now ... This stuff holds way more interest for me than another noisemaker or audio effect.
yep me too.
Velocity layers: I am splitting an incoming MIDI channel into two outgoing with different transfer functions, then using those two to play an ff and a pp multi-sample Sax patch in BM2.
The transfer functions are not algorithmic - I am trying to reproduce in iOS the smooth and controllable Alto Sax S-550 disk (I forget the part number but it's a special disk a friend at Roland got for me). The MidFlow transfer functions let me draw my own curves. So far this is the only solution that even comes close.
Q1: will MidiFlow for Audiobus have - and ideally be able to import - my self- drawn maps,
Q2: it's a complex setup for a single instrument, is there a way to macro-ise it so it is easily used in multple setups, q is for both MidiFlow and MF for AB?
Thanks!
Yep, that's totally doable. Looking forward to the first implementation of this. I doubt it's going to take long.