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
I can't comment on the hardware, but the iOS app is really good IMO, it has some great DSP that lets you get pretty nice recordings from the built-in mic on an iPhone. I was stranded without any of my gear for a while last year so I tested all of the options for using the built-in Mic (such as the Propellerheads app etc) and this was by far the best.
I recorded this using the built-in mic on my phone for the guitar and the vocals, and the quality is pretty good considering. The bass and drums are from Music Memos and the guitar was recorded first, hence the slightly crazy timing.
So considering their DSP tech is so good, what's to stop them using a really cheap and crappy mic in the hardware?
I read a bit on the terms of usage thing and you cant sell stuff you make with this app, neither can you install it on multiple devices. lol
Howdy! Chiming in here to clarify that that's not actually the case. In the End User License Agreement, it says a user may not:
(e) use the Application for any revenue generating endeavor, commercial enterprise, or other purpose for which it is not designed or intended;
(f) distribute the Application to multiple Mobile Devices;
re: e), of course, this is intended as a device to record audio. If you want to record audio and then sell it, it's your audio. You can do whatever you'd like with it. This sentence makes no representation otherwise. You can't generate revenue via unconventional, unintended means, for example, re-selling the App.
re: f), you can of course install it on multiple devices. What this sentence represents is that you're not allowed to re-distribute the app to multiple devices, thus usurping the app store. You may download it from the app store onto any Apple devices that you so wish, as per the terms of any app on the app store.
Hope that helps clarify!
Thanks for the clarification.
Honestly, I read it the same way @ToMess did. You might just say what you mean because if it requires an explanation then it probably isn't written well in the first place.
I like the app but would wish it could get Audiobus compatible.
Here's a little test recording I did with it. And though I played through the Apogee Jam it only recorded the mic input. For that it sounded quite decent. But if you could put it in the output of Audiobus and play through amp sims and effects it could sound a lot better I think.
This Studio thingy is indeed interesting but a little too expensive for my small wallet I fear.
Trying to comprehend the importance of the hardware.. Downloaded the app and there is, 'open in' .. I mean, there seems to be quality mics you can stick into your phone, record and open in Blocs Wave...
Importance is relative. Perhaps it is of interest to you, perhaps not. It's all good!
It does sound really, really good. And it's super easy and elegant to build up a great sounding song on this device. It isn't just a mic, there's a lot more smarts going on under the hood to live up to the 'portable recording studio' promise. At risk of being overly promotional, rather than words, here's what it sounds like... this song was made with Spire Studio hardware during a four hour recording session:
TL:DR for the curious and/or brave:
Spire Studio adds a significantly higher quality microphone, two Grace-designed combo preamps on the back to plug further mics/instruments in, an onboard soundcheck that auto calibrates all the levels to sound as best as possible, and a lot of iZotope signal processing under the hood and also in the creative effects. It's an elegant multitrack studio on the go. Of course, every piece of gear has it's place, whatever works for you!
Happy to help with any questions folks have, but I'll take a step back from any promotional bias ;-)
First quality wireless interface out of the gate. Worth a look....
As a non-musician, I'm obviously not the target market. But if I was, I'd think this thing would be very useful and easy to use. Price might be a wee bit on the high side, but considering its wifi, onboard processing, boards to handle additional mics/gear... the price seems completely reasonable.
The demo sounds good, but a little thin for my taste. From the looks of the app, I'm guessing it'd be a snap to get a little fuller sound mix if desired.
I dunno. If I were a mobile musician I'd be taking a very close look at this.
Is the app out yet?
Been out for a couple of years, in the iPhone category.
In addition to the apparently nice microphone, 2 headphone jacks, and 2 combo jacks (and phantom power) on the back, the app gains a number of zero-latency effects when used in conjunction with the hardware.
I do think it's a bit spendy, but for it's intended use: to immediately be able to record song ideas that are actually of a quality you can live with (or move into your Daw) with virtually no setup or delay, I find it intriguing. (And I would love to see how the wireless features work in actual practice).
I like the vision and the design. Were the drums in the track in that video recorded with the onboard mic? Can you share the audio from the band jam session shown in the video?
Sure is handsome.
Is the hardware just an interface or does it capture audio internally? Can it be used stand-alone (without the app)? If so, to what extent?
Two Grace Design preamps alone is pretty close to worth the asking price for me.
@MTH do you know how the drums were recorded for tune you shared?
Agreed on the preamps. That's why I'm wondering if the drums were recorded from an external mixer and brought in through the line pre-amp or with the onboard condenser mic.
yes, nice app but need audiobus support to be a legit to for ios musicians
So this thing is basically an overpriced wireless audio interface? What am I missing?
the more I think about it the more I want it
We used the onboard mic for most of the session layers (violin, guitar amp etc), and the Grace Preamps for bass (DI in), keys, and a kick drum mic, letting Spire Studio's omni get more of the rest of the kit. There was no external mixer used.
Spire Studio can be used independent of the phone, it has battery power and flash storage. When connected via the phone, the multi-track session is synced in realtime between the storage on both devices, in case one fails, so you don't lose anything.
Ah, that's cool that you can use the internal mic at the same time as the inputs.
That it can be used stand alone is a serious bonus. Can you multi-track in that mode? I don't see any buttons that would allow for that. Similarly, how would you select which input(s) to use? Or is it internal mic only?
I want it because Alexa wants to get married.
They'd make beautiful babies.
Cylinders that record and tell you the weather forecast.
Just don't let them look round the back of the car
MTH, this seems very much what I'm looking for. I want two very clean channels and the Grace preamps are a huge bonus. I want to streamline my workflow.
One thing I'm concerned about is the lack of Audiobus support. Suppose I wanted to use a different DAW like Multitrack or Auria, or record directly into an app such as Loopy, because of its rapid ability to build up tracks. This could be accomplished with an actual wired interface, but not with the Spire without Audiobus, from what I can tell.
Is Audiobus support in the plans for this device? I would buy tomorrow if I could be assured of this.
Thx
I was asking them on the Spire fb page three weeks ago if they (please) could implement Audiobus support into the app and received a message today that this was "noted!", so might be a good sign it will be coming in the near future
Or not. I note a lot of things my wife says...