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.
tonestack is wayyyyy better than bias/jamup
So I have been doing some tone tests in Aum.
Basically I load the same di track in two different channels in Aum and then have two sets of fx playing the track.
Chanel 1 is DI track -> Jam Up with imported Bias Amp (Tube Screamer into JCM800) - > Either built in Bias cab or OwnHammer IR
Chanel 2 is DI track -> Tonestack(tube screamer into Britannia amp sim)
Tonestack just always sounds way better. More clarity and less muddy.
What do you guys think? Am I just not messing with the bias amp settings properly? just eq? tonestack sounds way louder.
Comments
I can't say one is uniformly better than another. I've had better luck with early Floyd (Gilmour) tones with ToneStack than any other sim, but I've been able to coax a wider variety of convincing tones from BIAS than any other. (I have a nearly dead-on Boston/Scholz lead tone on BIAS that nothing else can touch.) AmpliTube has given me some excellent hard-rock and metal tones as well.
For me, I think the secret sauce has been in the FabFilter plug-ins in Auria—most especially Pro-Q 2.
EDIT: Also, be sure to set the two channels so the volume is equal. Human ears have a tendency to interpret louder as better.
see im pretty limited with no ipad because I cant work with auria or some other AUs
I wish these guitar apps would come out as AUs
it is so hard to make presets using the apps together. In Aum Bias Amp takes over 30 seconds to load.
Tonestack has made me happy in a way that these other amp sims have not so I wholeheartedly agree.
i guess im not the oonly one.
do you think they will be adding anything new anytime soon?
Possibly. They just released KASPAR, which may have been taking up a lot of their resources recently.
I bought Magellan on sale for $5 last week which has a Yonac effects rack built in. I have yet to check how these effects differ from their Tonestack effects. But I bought it for the synth and then was thrilled to find out that I basically get another effects unit for free. One of the best $5 deals in the app store.
what is the effects rack?
What a coincidence! I just try tonestack,flux:fx...etc on AUM ,too (with my guitar and app like GEO/animoog/...etc). As same as you,tonestack is more better
my Aum Signal chain goes sometimes...
Jamup (for boost pedals and noise gate)
Bias AMp for amp model
Fiddlicator for Impulse Response
Tonestack for stereo FX
I wish I could get two instances of the same app going so I could do dual rig chains with Impulse responses.
Or else I need a second Impulse response loader app.
The effects available in Magellan show up as an IAA effects unit in AUM, so that you can process a guitar or anything else you want through them.
You'll get as many opinions as there are guitar players. But testing one amp against another is not much of a test. I have Amplitube with a bunch of in app purchases, Bias FX with all of them, and Flying Haggis. I tried Jam Up and Tonestack, shrugged, and stopped. Lots of options in what I have, along with Saturn, Timeless and Pro-R in Auria.
There's so many variables involved, its hard to say whats best. 80% of all guitar tone comes from the players fingers, picking technique etc. So the overall sound (Tone) will vary from player to player. Glad you find something that works for you.
I'd rather blame my bad tone on the gear and apps than admit to poor skilz, thank you very much.
If you have Auria, go with FF Saturn’s amp sim whenever possible. I found it the very best on iOS.
Tonestack is my favorite as well. Feel like it hit the perfect marriage of clean/digital but also warm/analogue. Bias is great as well but there's just something about tonestack tone and response I love. Also the only guitar app that has reliable pitch shifting that doesn't do horrible tracking artifacts. Bias, amplitube, and others seems to just fart when you add pitch shifting into fx chain. I've got a pretty convincing bass tone out of my guitar in tonestack
For example of different strokes , I absolutely loathe Tonestack and never got on with it after several tries and finally just deleted it. Nothing sounded all that great when I compared it to Jam Up pro and Bias.
I also love ToneStack. I use the recorder quite often too, and the tape recorder is also good for playing back background jam tracks. I prefer this over using another app to play them because ToneStack offers independent volume control.
Not only is Tonestack an excellent product, but the dev periodically has really good sales, where you can buy the Motherload for a tenner. Far better value than the competition.
I've found that each of the guitar apps I have (AmpliTube, AmpKit, Bias, BiasFX, Flying Haggis, ToneStack) and the Auria plugins (THM and Saturn with MicroWarmer and Fab Filters)) all have their own special something. I'm glad I have options.
I'm not to the point of loathing TS. But, since I play mostly metal, Bias FX with Bias Amp, nothing comes close to it. The distortions sound REAL. Tonestack distortions sound digital/fake/crappy. Now, TS effects, those are top notch, and sound mint. I love the Tonecloud in Positive Grid apps. I can download a tone, and then tweak it to what I want. Sometimes much easier than starting from scratch. Also, I can upload my patches, which are quite awesome by the way...
.... For everyone else to enjoy! lol......
That being said, I do love THM in Auria, Ampkit has its moments, and heck even Amplitude. The only two apps that come close to Bias though, for Thrash, metal, death metal and such are AmpOne, and ToneBridge.
But, I am also glad we have options, and.that you have found something that works for you. If I were to start a thread like this, it would say: Bias FX is waaaaaaaaay better than TS for the style of music I play.
Exactly how I feel. I wasn't blown away per se at Amplitube but got it to have more paints on the palette. Glad I did because the IAP Fender Collection 2 they released awhile back is incredible.
ToneStack, BIAS Amp & FX used within JamUp and Peavey's AmpKit (whih really gets overlooked) all have pro's & con's. As @supanorton & @theconnactic point out Auria users can get the FabFilter plugin Saturn which has some really cool amp presets, ripe for twiddling with and creating your own. Man, that Saturn plug with a nice overdrive tone into the Fiddlicator app with a good cabinet IR is very impressive.
I found through a long path of trial & error that getting the gain staging/levels right is essential when using amp simulation. If the input from the guitar is too high then the WRONG kind of distortion will pop up; input too low with a cranked output to compensate is a ticket to lots of noise and that fake, springy rubberband tone.
I get some guys don't want a bunch of stuff eating up MB's of real estate especially if running low on space or spending a bunch of dough on guitar apps. But most if not all of the apps touched on here so far can be had for less than the cost of a cheap overdrive pedal. That's including with most of the IAP stuff too.
Tonestacks INstudio addon lets you have 8 tracks each with their own FX inserts like amp cab etc. pretty wicked.
only on iPhone unfortunately
preset?
I cannot even disagree with you more. Jamup and Bias Amp provides muffled dead tones to me. When I run two chanels in AUM one with Jamup/Bias and the other with Tonestack and switch between, tonestack just sounds more real.
If the case is that Bias really does sound better than that means I am not setting it up correctly and that makes me bummed.
but i love metal. I cannot for the life of me get a good tight djenty tone from Bias and Jamup.
I actually have found bias amps sound best inside of tonestack as IAA with another IAA for fiddlicator to load IRs
I see from @High5denied that he's mostly into metal. My guitar is built for that sort of tone, an Ibanez RG570, but after all these years I'm not into it... I now prefer to play classic rock (Eagles, Floyd, Boston). I have to find a series of settings in ToneStack that let's me emulate the classic tones because I'm not in a position to buy a new guitar.
I wonder, for those who don't like TS, perhaps it is just a mismatch between expectations and the way it is designed? Perhaps TS is more oriented to high gain, high distortion whereas the other apps are better built for a smooth toned overdrive/blues amp emulation?
I don't know, I still think my ear isn't good enough to discern the difference. Plus I'm invested in ToneStack so have a natural bias (pun intended).
Ya, I can't remember much of what JamUp sounds like, I used to use it exclusively. But since Bias FX came out, not so much. I think to my ears, it did sound better than TS. I know when I make a preset for Bias FX, I usually say in the description, No djent here, lol....... Just some good ol' 80's thrash-Death Metal, Power, Hair.... 90's and New wave thrash metal tones.
I don't really care for the way Bias Amps sounds, unless it's run with Bias FX. Then it sounds incredible. I wish Bias FX's....FX pedals were better, like Tonestacks. I wish TS's distortion pedals were better, like Bias. But, when I play Rock, or classic rock, or worship music for church, or some mellow stuff, Bias FX still works great for me.
I have everything Tonestack and Bias FX/Amp have to offer. I've spent a lot of time, trying to dial in a decent Metal tone with Tonestack, Garageband, Amplitude, OverLoud, Ampkit(though with Ampkit and Overloud, I've been close)........Nothing sounds good/real/heavy/thick/full/chuggy.....for metal. And...........In Bias FX, I can create a really good sounding Metal tone in about a minute. (I've gotten pretty good feedback from users of the tones I've created) Still haven't been able to in the others. And, I don't think I've really heard any that have convinced me, except for AmpOne, that they sound good. Well, Tonebridge is actually pretty dang good as well. No tweaking needed.
I am not by all means saying TS is no good. I do like to use it from time to time. But, mostly I use Bias FX. Even if I want to play something besides metal. I have a Surf guitar preset that is exceptional for playing The beach boys stuff. Sounds so good. Just hit download, and BAM, it was there for me to use.
Anyway, I know you said you couldn't disagree with me more, but you might after reading what I just wrote.
and......I think, really I'm right. I don't know Jack shit about Midi, but I know a good metal tone when I hear one.
Ok, so.that last paragraph was just me being a funny ....So please don't take it to heart.
I feel like this is reminiscent of the Auria VS Cubasis debate. But, with this one, if I could actually hear a decent metal tone out of TS, I could be convinced it's possible, but still wouldn't want to take the time it would take me to create it.