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
Yes, midi clock sync is very very good. There is no Link (Quantum has it though) and I'm not sure if there's a way to export a midi file. It's not really a "set and forget" sort of sequencer though. It's really meant to be played. You can then record that output to your main sequencer.
I want to say that midiSequencer is to Quantum what the BeatStep is to the BeatStep Pro but 1) mS is way more powerful than the BeatStep and Quantum is way way more of a jump than BS->BSP. A Quantum leap, if you will.
Tony said this in a post here once and I think it's worth repeating: in midiSequencer (and Quantum), the step is the first class citizen. In some linear, piano roll style sequencers, the song is the first class citizen. In others, the pattern is the first class citizen. In mS you can create an insane amount of musical variation with a single 6 step sequence via probability, play direction, midi fx, real time manipulation, etc.
Great answer, thanks. I´ll grab it. Looking forward to midi fx!
How can you improve on perfection?
So excited. Follow your instincts.
I think the initial idea was to simply make it possible to run multiple mS instances within the same app. So, "improvement by expansion".
But in the process of expanding it, the madman saw an impossible-to-summarize set of other possibilities and just went ahead and implemented them. Quantum remains quirky in the same way mS is but the possibilities are basically unrivaled in the world of step sequencing. At least with the step sequencers I know about! Numerology might be considered a rival feature wise but it's missing all of the magic of a touch screen.
Put another way for existing users of mS: there are now 6 64-step sequencers, each of which can have 4 concurrent parts (so 24 concurrent sequences in reality). This is enough of an expansion to merit interest. But here's the thing: a single sequence in Quantum is considerably more powerful than mS, ignoring the parts and 4x step increase, and then you add the interaction possibilities of all of the different sequencers (one can transpose another or advance another or...) and things kind of explode! Been beta testing for months and still have not found the edges of the app. Recently had to ask how to do some basic things I'd done previously because I'd spent so much time in different corners of the app.
I'm looking forward to Quantum and i saw the list of follow actions it has, sounds great
mS makes me grin every time I open it. Can't wait for Quantum.
@midiSequencer
Good to hear that Quantum is coming.
When we spoke late March your were obviously optimistic and expected it 1 month out.
I did purchase MidiSequencer then and hope it will be maintained to survive Apple a little bit longer. It has features that are needed.
This is an app I would really like to see worked by someone who knows it well.
Its already 64 bit. No Ableton Link or file sharing, but it saves files in its own document space.
this app is designed to be played - you interact with a running sequence - for example it's still the only app that allows you to (optionally) make changes that are not applied until it wants to loop - thats the Cycle button.
sync is midi clock, which is so-so and depends on your setup, certainly not as good as Link.
Quantum has Ableton Link (Tempo, Beat & Phase), inter sequence sync (so master/slave relationships), polyrhythmic sync (so sequences change speed to synchronise looping), airdrop open/share, bluetooth midi, Audiobus 3 midi, and midi clock(using midiBus). But this app isn't ready just yet.
That would be me
There will be videos this time - you already know of my audio outputs, so some of those videos will be session based, but most will focus on features in short 10m sessions.
Also I'm including interactive help in the app that shows a pop-up description on most controls - as not everyone reads a manual (MidiSequencer's was 95 pages alone).
Hi @midiSequencer
I was trying to use this last night alongside Modstep....trying to sync with MIDI Clock.....I couldn't get either sync or start/stop to work, whether I had ModStep or MidiSequencer as the Master/Slave....any ideas ?
Thanks
I was thinking of recording midi sequences in Modstep from midisequencer so I'll be watching how this goes...
I can get both ModStep and MidiSequencer to sync to Launchpad app midi sync out.....a bit extreme but works for now....
, btw MIDI Notes are received fine by ModStep
Just can't get them to talk to each other
you need to have the clock active in the Device/Input - midi clock is handled by Midibus engine I just turn it on, but I do interpret clock ticks to bpm to drive MS in slave mode.
tbh - Ableton Link is better......
I'm loving this app. I wish you'd release quantum sooner. The lack of ableton link is quite jarring
Agreed. This app is a joy, but Link has become so central to what I do.
OK I made it work as master....I didn't originally see the MIDI Clock send option in the devices as well as options....
Link may be better for app to app timing, but it doesn't do start/stop, I have external devices I will use this to also sync to
Thanks
Yep, yep and yep!
I really dig the probability stuff, and especially the Mordent, Appoggiatura, 2 note Tremolo, etc...
I find myself wishing those could be linked to a probability. It would be awesome if that became a feature in Quantum.
Probability can be applied to humanise to good effect - here is an example of Quantum using just two sequences each of 1 step each playing at different speeds.
It also has probability on repeated notes but not yet on ornaments - but that is easy to add as I'm digging the more stochastic way of playing too.
Also you have different types of ratcheted notes - so not just a simple division into three say, but pitch changes too (same note, trill, alternate trill, stepped, step wave, ping pong)It also has probability on repeated notes
Also, all loop actions can be given a probability of being applied (e.g. transpose 80% of the time say)...
I think I will have to take a serious look at quantum when it arrives.....those things can take a lot of programming or skilled playing.
Great deal there.
I will be producing videos, but fundamentally its still midSequencer (faders representing a lot of step parameters you can often just draw)
Count me in on Quantum!
Any current time estimate?
But don´t rush it ...
Definitely looking forward to Quantum, all the way back to when it was looking like February.
Since then I've been slowly pulled in the direction of Elektron machines, and I'm wondering if I might get myself an Octatrack MkII... Quantum wouldn't by any chance have anything like the OT's crossfader and scenes, would it?
Bought it. Like it. Use it.
scene crossfade - interesting idea.... reminds me of the yamaha an1x.
It has sequence versions - you can load them in or automate them, but being able to crossfade them sounds great! Will add that to my list.
Yeah sorry it's delayed - I turned some great ideas (sub-sequences like in the David Vorhouse MANIAC sequencer) into months of extra work and also wasn't going to include AB3 midi, but thats all done now.
There are lots of things to make patterns easier - like select faders by dragging a selection box, then copy/paste.
Also such much more I intend to add post launch - like generative loops to use math to drive the step positions. Often a good sequence is a matter of serendipity - but having some rules (like conforming to a music scale, or going forward 3 back 2 on a rising scale) create very interesting rhythms and effects - add to that midi echo and fx from your iOS synth - its great.
That all sounds awesome, can't wait.
Heh. If you were gambling that offering the sale would serve to peak interest in Quantum, then you hit the mark here!
^Best new app teaser ever. Ready and waiting for Quantum now.