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.
In praise of Musix Pro & how it can be utilised in multi app Audiobus workflows.
One of the more esoteric apps that got Audiobus support yesterday way Musix Pro, the isomorphic keyboard instrument.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/musix-pro-epic-isomorphic/id585857087?mt=8
Whilst the included instruments are very limited (to say the least), for me it's the perfect midi controller for IPad workflows and it's great to have it's features available directly within Audiobus rather than constantly needing to open up the multi-tasking bar.
Isomorphic layouts may be disorientating at fist glance but they lend themselves perfectly to the tablet environment and once you become occustomed to their layouts, they provide more flexible playability over a greater octave range (even for stubby fingers). So often when using a tablet device I find myself in more relaxed body postures, so having the whole of my devices screen real estate available as a playing surface that's equally playable no matter the angle of my hand in relation to my device really helps with regard to expressive playing. Your playing will of course all be at a single velocity level but you can easily add dynamic expression at a later date (especially once we have an Audiobus compatible DAW application that can capture midi).
I'd love to see more midi applications gain Audiobus support (even if they don't feature their own audio engine). As far as I'm aware the only pure midi app that currently supports Audiobus is Midi Control (so Audiobus apps without their own audio engine must be a possibility). My perfect workflow would see me using something like Musix Pro to play whilst capturing the midi performance in Genome and the audio performance in Loopy HD (syncing multiple takes via midi clock). Captured performances could then be taken into Auria for mixing duties. Having Genomes transport controls available as part of the Audiobus tab system would make the whole experience feel more integrated too.
Hopefully we won't have to wait too long before this scenario becomes a reality.
Comments
I bought this yesterday and really enjoyed playing around with it last night. Was triggering Animoog and Sunrizer together, was fun. Nice alternative to Soundprism Pro in that regard.
I'm not used to isomorphic layouts at all, so I look forward to digging into it more and seeing if it helps me come up with interesting melodies.
@Michael_R_Grant,
I think that's probably the biggest strength for me with regard to isomorphic layouts - it helps you break away from the habitual patterns your find yourself playing on a traditional keyboard layout. And in much the same way that I feel most productive on my guitar when I'm relaxed & slouched out on a massive bean bag or such like, isomorphic layouts really make it easy to just jam with my ipad and see what I come up with.
As you say Soundprism Pro has a similar feel (although I use it far more for exploring chord progressions).
I love apps like Musix Pro. This is what iPad really made for.
But I experience a serious problem here with Multitrack Daw+Sunrizer+Audiobus. Sometime the signal from Sunrizer somehow couldn't reach Multitrack Daw, so it is muted. I have to use multitasking swipe up Musix Pro to solve the problem.
Am I the only one?
I've personally not encountered the problem you're describing but I have multitasking gestures switched off as they're known to play havoc with a number of IOS 'creative' apps such as art & music applications. Your problem doesn't sound like its related to multitasking gestures but I thought it was worth mentioning.
I just picked this up too. Pretty neat. A nice alternative to a midi controller. I did have it lose connection with animoog a couple times while messing around with the scales and the note overlapping. If I switch from midi to the built in instruments and back again the connection works again.
Jon is there a way to slide from note to note like cantor? I only played with it or for about 20 mins and didn't notice anything.
It's a very different type of concept to Cantor but yes you can slide from note to note. A trick that I use is to both disable & darken out of scale notes. You can then slide your finger freely across the interface in much the same manner as Cantor. I personally love the default 'Gerhard' layout but explore some of the others as each accentuates different types of harmonic relationships between the notes. It's fully customisable too so you can configure the layout to your specific needs.
It's a far deeper application than it appears on the surface!
Weird. The problem remains after I switched off the multitasking gestures.
I think it is something wrong with Musix Pro, since Soundprism Pro works great.
@logictree,
Very weird, it works glitch free for me and I've tested it on iPads 3, 4 & mini (all are running IOS 6). It might be worth checking out if there are any recent reviews on the app store that replicate your problem.
Sorry I can't be of more help.
I've had the same with Animoog as well. Going into an instrument then back to MIDI seems to clear it
Never mind. It doesn't bother me anymore. 'Cause this thing is INSANE!!!!!!!
I spent few hours to figure out why it costs $9.99 (I missed the discount for just 1 hour). At first, I thought it was a huge mistaken to buy it. But, OMG, Musix Pro is totally insane. You can make performance that could never be played on a real keyboard.
you guys have totally sold me on this, may have to give it a try tonight. how different is it from soundprism?
Went out and got this tonight, and it is indeed big fun! Had a little jam with my son on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for Animoog and electric piano. I don't play keys, but just set Musix to C# Minor and had him call out the bass line notes. Not sure Beethoven would have been proud, but it sounded like real music in a "Switched on Bach" sort of way. Awesome!
Soundprism has a big problem--flat and sharp. Musix doesn't. It is much more flexible than Soundprism. As a keyboard layout system, Soundprism is almost fixed, but Musix is customizable. You can define interval between two hexagons in any degree to fit your needs.
But it is not customizability that attracts me. Musix is very easy to play any chords, which is almost impossible in Soundprism.
logictree, in Soundprism Pro you can use the Pitch Class Shifter to achieve sharps and flats.
As for Midi controllers getting Audiobus support, I would love to see TB MIDI Stuff get on the bus. I love building custom controllers there for specific app combinations, like controlling Magellan and NLog at the same time.
@jonmoore I can't make sliding work in the manner you described. I can slide my finger but it doesn't do anything till i'm over the next playable note, then it just plays that note. In cantor it actually sends bend information. No vibrato? Boo-fricken-urns.
I know Soundprism can do flats and sharps, but I found it is not that practicable.
I bought this last night, had musix pro sending midi to animoog ok, but when I put them both in the input slot of audiobus and loopy in the record slot, I had problems with the record button for loopy staying red all the time, and no recording happening in loopy. Anyone know if I'm doing anything wrong? Basically I was hoping to play animoog from musix pro with the audio being recorded in loopy.
Hi Folks,
It's Brett from Shiverware. Thanks for all the great comments, it helps motivate our work!
As for the problem with using MIDI and Audibus; this is a bug that slipped through and will be fixed ASAP. If your using Musix Pro as a MIDI controller in Audiobus you do have to quickly go to an internal instrument, then switch back to MIDI and things should work.
I'm still trying to figure out what is going on with the Loopy record problem, but will also try to fix it ASAP.
@BrettThePark
Great to see a responsive developer here on the Audiobus forum.
@jonmoore A bit off topic, but are you currently able to record midi from other apps or a keyboard in Genome? If you are, how would audio-bus compatibility for Genome help? The sound that comes out of genome is synthesised in other apps, so wouldn't you just put those in the audiobus input slot and control the whole thing with Genome? You seem like you know your music apps, so I thought I'd ask.
@nielsjansendk
Not to worry. Having Genome within Audiobus would be great from a workflow perspective because it would enable me to view the Genome play & record buttons on the Audiobus tab. That way I could for example trigger a Genome sequence whilst in Animoog and record my Animoog midi performance onto a seperate track within Genome (all without leaving the Animoog interface).
Genome is by far the most powerful IOS midi sequencer available and I'm glad that it focuses on midi as there are other applications that do a better job of working with audio (Auria, Loopy HD & Mutitrack DAW spring to mind). I find that Cubasis and Beatmaker makes too many compromises to both their audio & midi spec to excel in either perspective and so they're unfulfilling on both counts. The great thing about Genome is that the user experience has been designed specifically for IOS workflows without the need for massive compromises. Cubasis, Auria, Multitrack DAW, FL Studio or Beatmaker may in time improve their midi spec but I can't speculate on features that don't yet exist.
In many ways Audiobus does away with need for IOS DAW's to try and be all encompassing, it enables us to work with specific 'best of breed' apps and joins the workflow dots between them.
@BrettThePark FYI It does that when used as a midi controller outside of audiobus also and if used stand alone and switching tile size. And since i got you here, can you make a guitar note setup preset please? I tried to arrange the tiles in the same manor as a guitar. Perfect fifths is close.. but not quite. Also if there could be an option to send bend information when sliding from note to note or vibrato.. That would make me feel a lot better. Thanks :-)
Many thanks Brett.
Can anyone lint to any good tutorial videos for genome - I find it an infuriating product to use but its probably me just not knowing how to use it properly.
This tutorial written by David Webb from Discchord is a very good place to start:
http://www.whitenoiseaudio.com/apps/genome-midi-sequencer/general-tutorial/
After that there are various videos across all of David's posting about Genome on the Discchord site that are worth checking out:
http://discchord.com/display/Search?moduleId=18847140&searchQuery=Genome&x=19&y=6
That should be enough to be getting on with!
Thanks Jon
@trackwerker,
A pleasure fella.
And just in case you were wondering why I rate Genome so highly it's mainly to do with it's unrestricted implementation of midi control changes (CC's). This really opens up the expressive possibilities of sequencing synth apps such as Animoog. Plus because the UI isn't trying to replicate a desktop piano roll it functions far better via the limited screen real estate of a touch screen device (that's operated via 'fat fingers' rather than with the precision of a mouse).
Not to nit-pick, but his name is Tim Webb, not David.
@uglykidmoe, freudian slip me thinks. One of my best friends is called David Webb! Apologies to Tim...
David Webb is also Jason Bourne
@PhoenixOne4, did I mention I used to be a CIA hitman.