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.
Best way for iOS integration with Windows
Hello,
I ask myself about iOS integration with Windows.
I want to have the possibility to produce again on laptop, even after iOS only production for 8 months.
I use Ableton Live, Reason and various plugins on W10, and Gadget, AUM, Blocs wave, and various AU on iOS.
I’ve tested Studiomux, without great succes. On my setup, I can’t load more than one Studiomux instance without getting pops and crackles whatever buffer latency I use, this forces me to use AUM with various apps loaded in one Studiomux slot. And I’ve this issue with delay compensation, no settings on both Ableton and Studiomux sides allow to fix that problem, I have to correct audio clips in Ableton manually for proper sync. Too bad as using just a lightning wire is the best for mobility.
I’ve read iConnect audio 4+ can have some issues too, as iOS 11 lacks stability and reliability. But this should be ideal except I want mobility, and this interface is big and needs wall power plug. Any iConnect audio 2+ users? This one is usb powered, so mobility is better.
I think also about mini passive mixer, like Rolls Mx41b, which is compact and needs no battery nor power plug. Considering workflow, I can always record in AUM or export in apps and use AudioShare WiFi to import audio in Ableton. But how to use midi, is there a way to use Apollo midi over BT app to control iOS midi apps with Bluetooth over LE? Or perhaps I can use together mini mixer for audio with good sync and stability and Studiomux for midi only? As an iPhone 7 Plus user I’ve to test my double lighting adapter and see if that works. This setup should not create any latency compensation nor audio stability issues, and Link sync is reliable enough.
http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=MX41b
Let me know what you think about that.
Comments
Both Gadget and Blocs Wave have Ableton project export, I send the project to Dropbox and can easily continue in Live. A simple way is to use Link enabled apps and just record straight into Ableton. Sometimes Ableton will guess the tempo incorrectly so I turn off auto-warping and everything lines up perfectly.
I have had limited success using studiomux and other solutions since a windows or Ableton update can break the setup and often does.
If iconnect doesent work, you might want to get two audio interfaces, one for ipad one for pc. They should both have midi ports if you want to use midi. Connect the midi ports and send audio from ipads interface to PCs interface.
Triqtraq, ElasticDrums and Groovebox also have Ableton export. Personally I treat the iPad as a tool for generating content that gets imported into Ableton for further manipulation and finishing
You will need a decent external audio interface with it's latest drivers installed onto your laptop for Studiomux to work well with Ableton. If you are using the internal sound card with mme drivers it will never work properly. Once set up correctly, Studiomux should work without problem and consistently with great results.I have never had a problem with windows 10 updates breaking Studiomux on the PC side, however, updates to Studiomux on the IOS side have occasionally caused problems . The latest update just before Xmas did cause some issues, but these have all been addressed now, and it is working as it should . I use it every day and it works without issues on my iPhone 5c, iPad 4, & iPad air 2. Ableton will even recognize and record audio from all three devices if i have them all plugged in simultaneously. If you persevere with it , and make sure that, both your ios device, and your PC/Mac is optimally configured for audio production, Studiomux is by far the easiest way to integrate IOS & Ableton Live.
Can anybody suggest a 2in 2 out basic audio interface with solid drivers? I have an iRig Pro io but asio4all can be an explanation for my issue. I need an ultra compact form factor as mobility is one of my priority.
The latest Focusrite interfaces are great value, with good drivers. I have used the 1st generation, and the drivers were good, but the 2nd generation (latest) have improved drivers, and other small improvements as well. Also they are class compliant, so can be used directly with ios devices if need be. I would recommend any of the 2nd (or 1st) generation Focusrite audio interfaces as a solid choice.
http://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i2
Must agree with iso here.. Keep plugging at Studiomux, it works flawlessly on my Win 10 Maschine System And I do have iConnect2+ sitting here ( now, that is problems)::
fwiw, my windows 10 machine works flawlessly with asio4all and studiomux, but i had to change/update the soundcard driver.
can someon tell me how midi routing works in the ios studiomux app, in particular how do i get midi to a hosted AU? cheers
If only Parallels would invent an IOS virtual machine, and the equivalent of Coherence Mode for Windows, problems would be solved. Not much chance of Apple allowing that, though.
If your using Ableton, just arm the midi track for the relevant studiomux generator midi track. Any other DAW, sorry, can't help.......
i mean in if i host an AU in slot 1 in the studiomux ios app, what is it listening to? i thought it might be ch 1 on the studiomux port, but it seems this is not so...
Yeah, i see what you mean.........just tried various permutations trying to send midi on different channels to two different instruments hosted in studiomux, via Ableton (IAA & AU )............couldn't work out how to do it.......clear as mud to me i'm afraid........ this is where my brain turns to mush concerning midi! We will have to send out an APB for a bona fide midi guru to explain it.............It's not me i'm afraid.........
I just looked in the, "ahem", manual.........still none the wiser...............anyone out there got mystical skills with studiomux midi implementation?
Roland Duo-Capture EX? (can run on batteries if required)
Excellent audio quality and MIDI sync and capable of ~128 samples latency without issues.
Alternatively, one of the newer Rubix Roland Audio/MIDI interfaces?
https://www.roland.com/us/categories/production/audio_midi_interfaces/
Studiomux is also excellent but inherently more complicated to setup for audio.
IMO a great option for MIDI, but not as reliable or as low latency as a hardware interface in my experience.
i finally got IAA instruments to receive on different channels from Ableton in studiomux, a bit of a faff at the Ableton end,......( the reason why i had forgotten how to do it ) , but no joy with AU. I thought maybe if i set the midi in channels on the IAA version, the AU version would remember ithem, but no dice, the AU's are still all on omni, as far as i can tell. Maybe it's not implemented yet? Oh well, it's not something i particularly need, i just hate being beaten by a midi problem. Anyway, it dosn't appear to be a fault of studiomux, but as far as i can work out, just something not possible to do in AU as yet...........I gave it my best shot.........or maybe i missed something really simple?
Thanks for all answers. I should try Focusrite or Roland audio interface, but really hope it will be possible to load properly several iaa/au instances in Studiomux, as it’s not possible without audio problems with my actual setup. I’ve tested with internal Thinkpad t440p Asio4all, iRig Pro io asio4all, old M-Audio Transit with proprietary M-Audio drivers on windows 7 desktop: in all cases, if I load a second instrument in studiomux, sound is distorded in whole studiomux output.
@Janosax I've been using my ica4+ pretty much exclusively on my windows system. its a fantastic low latency sound card even if you don't use IOS integration at all. but coupled with AUM it works fantastically as a 16 channel send to Ableton on my Desktop. I've tested with 8 stereo pairs and even 16 seperate mono sends and it works with no issue. Its not noob friendly at all but once you learn how the config app works you really can't go back to a normal soundcard anymore. And i say this as a user that owns multiple interfaces like the Traktor Audio 2, Traktor Audio 4 DJ, Novation Audiohub and a couple older lesser known interfaces....
The ICA4+ has replaced them all. don't underestimate its usb host ability. it lets you do things that a standard usb hub does not. like. i own 2 identical Midifighter twisters. IOS has issues with detecting multiple identical midi controllers and usually only shows you a single unit. But using a hub on the usb host port of the ICA4+ both of them work perfectly on IOS.
The host port lets you connect upto 7 different midi device ports. (something like the launchpad pro with multiple ports shows up as multiple devices) plus all midi controllers connected to the interface can be used on both the pc and the ios device simultaneously. another thing windows doesn't usually let you do.
I have to think about my personal needs first, this will helps me to choose:
My workflow is based on creating sound materials in real time for later arrangement: choosing, tweaking, modifying them with slices, midi, effects. Ableton Live is nice for that, you can create your audio and midi loops, with several variations per instrument easily and quickly without stopping yourself. iOS production is able to do that thanks to AB/AUM/Link, but there is always a stage when "export to another app" is needed. This is the advantage of iOS/laptop integration for more complex projects. I want to be able to produce using that Blocs wave loop, that iOS AU synth or FX, sequencing Gadget in Live session view, with Reason synths and Sampletank VST instruments, shaping sound with Live FX's, and refined them with T-racks VST's, etc. All in real time, so Ableton Live set exports from apps are perhaps not the best way to do things for me.
An iOS FX that I need all the time for pitching my sax in real time is Voice Rack FX, no equivalent on PC Platform. I don't want to buy a pedal, but I need low latency. Studiomux adds latency as audio is sofware monitored in Live, so latencies adds to themselves. How is latency when using iOS effect as a VST in DAW with a good interface like Focusrite? For sax recording I need no more than 10ms RTL to have proper playing timing.
Does iConnect interfaces will allow for direct monitoring? You choose the iConnect stereo OUT in AUM/apps, listen to them without added latency though hardware and route them to laptop DAW for recording, or alternatively choose sofware monitoring to add VST fx to iOS signals in DAW? I imagine too I can record sax loops in loopy and record output in single Live clips, in realtime?
iConnect2+ is truly mobile, iConnect4+ allow for more connections which is nice for collabs, but wall plug is required. Hard to choose, even if I still have my iRig Pro IO for true mobility, so 4+ is perhaps a better choice.
EDIT: seems that iConnect have issues too........ thanks to iOS11.
https://iconnectivity.supportbee.com/53-iconnectivity-knowledge-base/536-audio/1064-ios11-stuttering-audio-fix
Changing clock, increasing buffers... what about latency?
https://iconnectivity.supportbee.com/53-iconnectivity-knowledge-base/536-audio/839-distortion-issues-when-trying-to-use-multi-channel-input-into-iPad
Distorsion with more than an output pair, just like with what I have with Studiomux... no fix yet. Nice!!