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
Your initial interest for Soda use sounds consistent with my own. Since you likely know how a Loop Roll is supposed to work and how it's used, could you describe it to me and see if Soda is doing what you expect it to do for a roll? Like I said, I watched their tutorial video (that goes waaay too fast) and what it looks like it does is kind of keep the loop going, but fades it out while the button is pressed, and fades the loop back in when you let go. At least, that's what it looks like in the video, but I'm not even 100% clear on what a Loop Roll is supposed to do in a conventional setup.
Since you likely know how a Loop Roll is supposed to work and how it's used
Actually I don't as I am not a fan of any of those CDJ satanic trickery but I think it works like you describe where it grabs a predetermined lenght of audio and turns it into a quick roll that fades out
Which style of music or performance?
Maybe a couple of each? Basically, like in the videos where it looks like some kind of mad genius juggling all of these different sources, but delivering them with the timing of some kind of insane Jedi Master.
Hmmm... that's sort of what's going on in the video tutorial. I wonder if mine not functioning like that is actually a bug. It's possible and likely that it has more to do with the lengths of my samples and cues though. Will keep experimenting, but maybe the devs will reply to my query about it. thx
These fit Jedi Masters, jugglins and madness but if you prefer something more musical or loop based I have other proposals. If this are fine from there jump over the related at youtube itself
@Dubbylabby Perfect! Thanks!
Read the end again, I was editing meanwhile you posted.
I'll take the other more musical/loop-based proposals you suggest as well if you don't mind. And, thanks for taking the time!
First loop roll. This video is old and quality soso but the user know his tools. If you want to see him performance start over 5:00 and go.
Then some controllerism about loops and remix decks
https://www.digitaldjtips.com/2014/07/bluffers-guide-traktors-remix-decks-part-1/
Finally worth a look into beat repeat ableton device as glorified loop roll device
... and how Launchpad app has these fx-like implemented as inspiration. Since it can record it can be used as loop creator too.
If I found some other interesting I will bring them to the party.
:cheers:
@Dubbylabby Thanks! I used to listen to similar stuff years ago and liked it, but these days I'm more into esoteric sounding stuff along the lines of Tim Hecker, Jon Hopkins, OPN, etc. Or legacy trippy synthy atmospheric stuff like the Pauline Ann Strom album Trans-Millenia Music that I picked up last night.
This dj stuff sounds like what I listened to late 80's early 90's. Is it still fairly popular? What I find most fascinating is more the magnificent acrobatic timing and digital performance.
@skiphunt IDK since these are old to me too... I was trying to find some useful and musical tutorials to point the use of loop roll which maybe is popular in trap music nowadays (after the Skrillex Dubstep erw madness) but I’m more in Dub/Dancefloor (ala Massive Attack, Flying Lotus, the Internet and NY House) where more of these glitch is out but fun when I go mad with friends djing other styles.
I bought Soda to support the dev since I was in love with old app waiting for midi for ages... and AUv3 support makes possible my Smartmixing needs. I will need to dig deep into layout building related to AU and so. That’s why I suggest the “layout community” since if someone could handle it for me...
I need to make music more than craft tools.
@Dubbylabby I'm also a huge Flying Lotus fan, and I've listened to Massive for years too. Was more curious about the ways that the original "dj'ing" art form has matured. I liked Skrillex very briefly, but eventually found that style a bit too manic for my taste.
My question about is this sort of dj'ing was still popular had to do more with how I'd frame my little story idea, ie. "is this still of the 'now'? Or, is this now a dated story?"
I also became more fascinated in this particular genre after watching some street/break dancers in Mexico about a year ago I think... I'd assumed that'd kinda gone out of style, but I also saw some street performance in the Yucatan that was very impressive.. the timing of the dance with all the interesting, precise breaks in the music is a very cool thing to watch.
The "Loop Roll" is defined as when you loop, then half, then half again to get that stuttering machine-gun effect. Which you can easily do with just the 1/2 & X2 buttons. But, I can't for the life of me figure out what the Soda Roll button is actually supposed to do, and whether it's actually working, or if I'm not using it correctly.
Can you describe a basic scenario in Soda where you would use the roll button and what it should be doing if I'm doing it right? Soda is really a brilliant tool with incredible possibility for customization for a multitude of uses I think.
I’m checking and it’s what pioneer call “slip roll” (look into my previous post of thr Pioneer mixer, the second one). These work stuttering like meanwhile you have the button pushed but the song still runs in the background. That could be useful for build ups or elapsed breaks (tension without build but slap into your face
)
IDK if there is a switch to bring it to regular loop cycle but in this way seems more useful into my eyes. I suppose you can avoid roll and just use loop and lenght buttons.
Example of glitching using this technique in old Serato ITCH. Time before Skrillex gone mainstream if I remember well the time frame
@Dubbylabby That's really cool! Especially the last third where he's kind of playing the loops like keys. I watched the other slip roll video too. I'm starting to think maybe it might be a bug and it's not working. I noticed some other weirdness last night when I had significantly changed the tempo on one track and got this weird diagonal line and the sample just turned into a weird electric hum. Had to quit out and start over. It's not surprising that something this complex may be a little buggy at launch. I bet they're already on it.
As a simple example, lets say I have a 30-60 sec sample track playing. Let's say I have 3 cues set up. First one is just a 8 bar loop. The second one is a 4 bar loop with an auto trigger built-in. The third cue is short 1bar loop. Now, I'm playing/looping the sample track, I hit the first cue a couple times, then let it play through until it hits the second cue with the auto trigger, then I jump to the 3rd, short 1bar clip and hit it a few times before letting it go to continue with the track.
If in any part of this I hit the "roll" button, wherever I hit it (depending on the loop length I have set) I'll see blue loop markers instead of the orange. If I hold the button, all that happens is that it plays the sample to the end and stops... ignoring all of the cues altogether. If I just tap it, it does the same thing... plays the sample to the end and stops.
@skiphunt mmmm sounds broken. When I make some loops and cues and hit roll it works like slip roll in these videos. Never gets until finish and stops...
@cblomert any clue or known bug?
Ok. Thanks for checking. Mine is definitely not doing that. I can't recall if I've tried a delete and reinstall yet. Given that other buggy behavior I mentioned, and that your rolling button doesn't behave like mine... maybe I've got a corrupt install. Will try later tonight, cheers
Mine behaves like yours @skiphunt. It doesn't do anything except for place a blue loop region for the duration that I hold the button down. From the description it sounds like to me it should be just like loop, but only for the duration that you hold down the button. But it doesn't loop anything whether I hold it down or not.
[edit] OK, now I think I get it. Hold the button down and it will loop as long as you hold it down. The reason it didn't seem to work for me before is because the loop length was too long. Set a short loop duration and try it.
the differences between loop and roll:
Ahhh.... sheeeeeee-it. Doh! That’s was it. Works fine.
And, oh man... that’s freakin fun as hell too! Thanks
Thanks for digging these up! After watching, I finally turned the corner on understanding this thing. I think I get it now.
You are welcome guys and excuse me if my explanation wasn’t enough clear.
Happy finally is working as expected!
+1 for the videos and feedback. Thanks! That was as helpful to me as figuring out why the roll button didn't seem to work. I was hearing the example of the rapid-fire short loop stutter, and knew I could do that just by continually halving the loop, but didn't know the "roll" means that the loop basically keepings "rolling" while the stutter is going on... and that it fades, or "slips" you right back into the loop when you let go. I was doing the same thing that Wim initially did, roll wasn't short enough and my sample was too short to notice it as well.
Though, I wish I could make a sample just keep looping, ie. a 30 second loop that continually loops, but that I can "roll" within it, but when I let go the sample keeps the overall loop.
Mmmm slip in some softwares works like that but you need to trigger cued loop after rolling. Idk if this is possible in Soda but Serato has Flip function which let “record” the cue performing as routine. Since soda is made with perform in mind maybe it’s possible to add it.
Meanwhile midi sequencer could do the trick...
uh, sorry that I didnt get the question either. respectfully I add some other perspective explanation:
Loop: Repeat a cycle always coming back to the point you've started the loop. When you release it, it playsback right after the cycle you've selected. This is a good technique for mixing with another song, link freezing a loop and adding fx and eq while starting a new song.
Roll: also repeat a cycle coming back to the start point loop, but the timeline isnt freeze to the loop, it keeps rolling. This means that when you release the roll, the music will playbacks from the point the track should be. This is great for breaks techniques like, use roll + cue you can create turnarounds that doesnt exist in the song.
Note that the behavior of the spectrogram is different in loop and roll. "Loop" it is orange and the you're freezed to this part of the song. "Roll" the song keeps playing, although what we are hearing is the same as if we've pressed "loop". I see like freezing the track vs. freezing the sound.
Hope that helps too
That will br a new post in the group, hehe.
Yesyes we are! We have a build that includes a single deck AU, but unfortunately it's not possible to run multiple instances of it just yet.. we are working on that though
Hey everyone
really happy to read loop roll being discussed!
You guys actually explained it really well already, but i thought i share a few not so obvious quirks about it:
exactly!
The loop roll sounds the same as a normal loop, but is independent of the decks playhead.
That means while loop roll is pressed, you are free to move the tracks playhead to wherever you please without changing the sound - via cue points, touching the overview or beatjump.
As soon as you stop touching loop roll, it fades in the decks normal playhead.
There is one more thing that is quite useful: you can switch between normal loops and loop rolls on the fly, so if you have a normal loop running, you can press loop roll to change the loop to a roll and move freely within the track.
Or the other way around: you had a loop roll running and want to keep it - press loop and it will switch to a stationary loop.
And last but not least: the loop size buttons react to Loop as well as loop rolls - depending on which of the two was last used.
So you can create a grid and fill it with loop size buttons of your choice. If loop roll was used last, the loop size buttons will activate a loop roll with the set length - as long as at least one of them is pressed.
If a second size button is pressed, it will switch to that size. If the second press ends, it will switch back to the first, etc pp.
Or: Open the grids properties and enable 'Sliding enabled' to slide through the loop sizes with one finger.
Once i'm in the office tomorrow i'll upload a quick screencast showing these points
Ah Rafael: we are working on the issue with the failed imports - it's about the special characters that are not in the ascii set. It's not an issue with iTunes tracks, but imported ones are troublesome right now. We'll work on it.. same with displaying these special characters.
Oh wow great
@cblomert Hey, thanks for clarification!
One question... if I have a sample track playing... let's say it's 30-60secs long. Is there a way to set the playhead to continually loop playback of that track even if I'm using the roll function? So, that after my short track gets to the end, it will automatically loop back and play the track again, even after I've hit a few loop cues and rolls? ie. if I just play a track it can be set to continually loop no matter what?
+1 on this. With short clips it's tough to release the loop-roll and hit loop, adjust the loop length, etc before hitting dead air.
Cool to know about the slide option. I will have to try that out.
I'll never be a DJ, but it sure is fun learning a bit about a whole new world. There's no way I'd have access to hardware decks to get into it, so this feels like "flight simulator" type experience.
Did you get what he meant about the slide option? I've just been trying it out for the last half hour and don't know what it's doing. I went to "edit" longpress on grid and selected "slidable", then back to the decks. Doesn't seem to make any difference one way or another whether "slidable" is selected or not. If it's clear to you after trying, please share.