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.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Work Flow External Looper?

Does anyone use ios just for the instruments and recod them with an external looper. I have been experimenting, finding pros and cons. I do enjoy the work flow, fast and fun. Theres a whole lot less swiping, waiting, screen changing etc. Your thougts/experience......

Comments

  • I use separated devices, being one of them the looper.
    Midi remote control is a must IMHO...

  • edited February 2018

    I'm working on a table setup with a synth, ipad and external looper (505), and it's fun, for sure, but the jury is still out on whether it's better than looping in the box...

    Some things I like about that setup are:
    Faster setup. Flip the power and it's ready to go.
    Stability.
    Hands on controls.
    Built in effects that are always ready to drop in.
    Mic input, 1/4" input, 1/8" input. Sort of a mini mixer.
    Plug in foot control.

    Some things that make me ponder that ios looping isn't necessarily an inferior option:
    More tracks, and ability to bounce tracks..
    Use ios effects, per track if desired.
    Better project management, easier export.
    Midi control with a looper like Loopy HD is quite good, for a foot controller.
    Ableton Link sync. It just works. Midi clock is your only option with the hardware looper, so you can have problems starting the slaves after the clock master has started.

    An issue that presented itself with the hardware looper, that I didn't anticipate, was one of routing. My first go with it, had the ipad plugged in, to the looper. The headscratcher that came up, was if I was running a drum machine on the ipad, but wanted to make a loop of something else. I had to record a loop of the drum machine, stop/mute the drum machine, and play the drum loop recorded on the looper, THEN record the thing I wanted to loop. Otherwise, the drum machine ended up permanently mixed in the loop of the instrument. Even if you didn't care, when you start playing the loop, the recorded drum machine combines with the drum machine app, and flanges/doubles in a weird way, so you have to stop the drum machine anyway.

    Basically, anything that it, itself, loops in ios, like drum machines or sequencers, you don't want going to the looper. This is very easy to do in Audiobus, with separate lanes. On the hardware side I think I will try to puzzle something out with the extra outputs on my audio interface (iCA4+), to have one go into the looper, and one bypass the looper. Then, maybe use Audiobus to have a lane going to the audio outputs connected to the looper, and a second Audiobus lane connected to the outputs going to the speakers.

  • @Processaurus You need a mixer with FX sends and place the looper in it. Then send the proper channel any time you want to loop something. Obviously dedicated groovebox for midi clock is a must too (and gives you the basic rythm tic (with it’s own channel)

    Another workaround it’s pre-record each audio tic (could be a rythm or quantized musical phrase) and fake your first round when you go live. Also GTL structure/features helps a lot on this...

  • @Dubbylabby said:
    @Processaurus You need a mixer with FX sends and place the looper in it. Then send the proper channel any time you want to loop something.

    Yes, that is the simplest solution. Not bad. All but the tiniest mixers have an aux send (post fader) for effects, so the looper is treated just like a reverb, or other bus effect. Like the reverb, though, you need to be able to kill the dry input signal in the looper, you want loops (wet) only. Otherwise you are doubling the channel volume when you send it to the looper, because you are hearing the dry through its own channel, AND the looper.

    One drawback of using the fx aux send, is that you need to get the knob to unity gain quickly. A switch would be better. Another drawback, is the aux sends are mono, unless you use two aux sends, or have a very fancy (and usually large) mixer.

    Ideal would be a mixer with assign switches on each channel, to subgroups or main out. You could insert the looper in a subgroup. Small mixers just don't have subgroups, though, from what I've seen. One exception is mackie mixers, that use the mute button as a 'fake' subgroup, by routing the muted channels to an alternate set of outputs. In that case, you want the dry on, in the looper, since the channel is muted in the main output.

    One other, possible way to do it, would be to hijack the solo buttons, if the mixer has them. Getting demanding for features, but Post fader level (PFL) solo is ideal. If it has control room outs/headphone outs, that you can remove the main mix, and just hear the solo bus, you could use that as a pseudo subgroup. Then kill the dry in the looper, and bring it back in on an aux return.

  • edited February 2018

    Hi @Processaurus!
    Yes I know... feedback and mono are the looping monsters but...
    I forgot to point you to DJ mixers. These usually have all you need but lack in good mic inputs and xlr outputs most of the time. I’m checking this route once again since I gone psuedo hardware route so AFAIR new Behringer NOX or old dj mixers like Ecler/Vestax (some of them like vmc004fxu) have dedicated input/output/bus and so. Take a look and share your thoughts again please. I want to believe I understood all you need but maybe I miss something since I’m more a one man (beatbox/sampling) guy doing the conversion into instrumentalist (with the keytar and so).


    https://es.audiofanzine.com/4-channel/vestax/vmc-004fxu-black/multimedia/imagenes/a.play,m.487254.html

    Edit: Also agreed on bus mixing instead send mono route. These mixers have crossfader assign and some basic “busses” in routing specs. I’m just right now diggin on it so maybe I said something useless BTW... :sweat_smile:

    Edit2: The PMC 37 pro (pricey even second hand) has stereo sends.

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