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.
Newbie Question on Correct Procedure and Count-In
I am not sure I understand correct procedure, when and where to press Record, and how to get the beginning of Loopy's loop to sync up with what I am playing or choosing.
Suppose I have Audiobus, Loopy HD and Sampletank (CS) set up for Audio. Sampletank is the input, Loopy the output. I want to either play a phrase on a Sampletalk instrument, or play one of their patterns and have it go into a loop on Loopy HD.
Where do I press Record, in AudioBus, or in Loopy HD? Do I use the REC button in Loopy HD, or just press on a circle to start recording.
Right now I can record the loop. I can start the loop playing in Sampletank, but when I press Record for Loopy HD in AudioBus, there seems to be a count-in (green record button in Audiobus before it turns Red). So my loops record but don't start at the top. Is this a setting in Audiobus? In Loopy HD, by itself, the count-in is one whole loop. This is much shorter. How do I control this?
I tried this same thing with SampBot, but the problem is the same. What is the best practice for recording a line/loop from another app. When do I press Play for the other app, and when/where do I press Record.
If all of this makes no sense, or indicates a lack of basic knowledge, then I am busted. Just point me somewhere that tells me the basic order of how to record a line from a virtual synth into Loopy using AudioBus.
Thanks for any help with this.
Comments
In Loopy you can adjust settings for the loop sync recording. Hit the little triangle and go into Settings. Open the section for Track Management.
In Track Management, check out your Synchroniztion settings. Basically you want all the options enabled, but adjust the Clock Length setting to however feels right for you. The clock length is how long Loopy will wait for the next sync point to start recording. The way I have it shown, Loopy will wait for the length you have your Master Loop length set to, then record the loop of that length and stop recording automatically.
You record a loop by tapping a circle in Loopy at any point before the loop cycle starts over. It will begin recording when the loop repeats. In Audiobus you can adjust your Loop length with the little loop icon. You arm the loop to start recordinding at the next loop point with the record button. It will go green while armed and waiting, red while recording, grey when done.
Thank you for the excellent posts. Sadly, I still can't make sense of what the right procedure is. I just spent another hour and still don't have things in sync.
Thanks for pointing out the synchronization menu. I now have everything set to on. I have tried different clock lengths for the "count in Quantize" setting, but I am still missing something important!
I am very comfortable recording in Loopy in general; it is just this sync between the applications that has me baffled.
So what is the right procedure to record in Loopy using Audiobus? I can start the input app up playing the loop, but I can't seem to get the loop recorded in Loopy such that the start of the loop playing is at the start of the loopy loop.
You said "In Audiobus you can adjust your Loop length with the little loop icon." I assume you mean in the Loopy section of Audiobus. There is no loop length for Audiobus, is there?
I assume this is the right procedure. Somebody please tell me if this is wrong! (I think it is).
(1) Set up Audiobus with Input and Output.
(2) Make sure everybody is on the same time/beats per minute.
(3) Record a loop in the input program, or get a loop playing.
(4) Go into Audiobus and in the Loopy section, press the Record button
OR
(4a) Go into Loopy and while listening to the loop playing, tap a circle to record.
Neither of these gets the loops lined up correctly.
Somehow, I hope(d) that Loopy would detect the length of the loop playing, and figure out where the start of the loop is, and then put it at the start/top of the loop.
Thanks for any help with this!
It is a real shame that there is no one to help here! I am sure what I am doing wrong is minor, but I am unable to find it. There is not a single person who can read the above description and help?
I can only review the product badly.
Wow. Such entitlement. It sounds like you haven't done much research on your own and are unaware that there is an actual Loopy forum. I suggest you go there.
What app are you trying to use to generate your loops? Or what app are you using to play your audio loops?
I don’t think Loopy detects anything about what it is recording as a loop. It gets Clock/sync info from Link or an IAA host (and Midi clock which I haven’t used), and it uses the loop length you set with the master loop length.
It can use link to detect where the link clock is in its cycle, and start recording at the next appropriate time division, but you have to set what this time division is with count-in quantize setting I pointed out on June 11.
If I have the same apps you are using for input, I can try to help you work out what the hang up is.
There are plenty of helpful people on the forum, but if your thread slips past Page 1, it is most likely going to be forgotten. Just add some more info, or ask more questions, and it will return to the top of Page 1 again. Any comment will do this. This forum is very active, so no sense in waiting more than a day or two for an answer/reply. You question is already sinking into the depths by then.
@gmpolin I must endorse what @CracklePot is saying. This is perhaps the most helpful forum around. I am also a neophyte and a newcomer. Every question has been answered with patience and generosity. I am sure there is something you are missing, though I am sorry to say I can't help you. But Loopy is a pretty popular app, there must be an answer. Try posting in the general forum. And the loopy forum for sure. But if you have more questions in the future you have the best shot to answer them here.
Curious why you would give the app a bad review. I only hear raves about it. Be persistent. There is an answer. After all you've been trying to figure this out since June 11. Seems like you really want this to work. As you say it may be a simple oversight no one is pointing out.
I don't think this is a Loopy problem, which is why I brought it here. Some apps seem to work and some don't seem to work as well.
With Patterning as the input, it works as expected. I set up Patterning as input and loopy as output. The link is established, Audiobus picks up the tempo, and when I press Record, the recording is perfectly synchronized.
With DM1, for example, it loads play and records fine through Audiobus, but it didn't synchronize. I finally realized that Audiobus does not seem to automatically pick up the DM1 tempo. I had to manually set the tempo in Audiobus. Then the recording is synchronized.
Then I went back into DM1 and I see that Link (Ableton Link) is not on by default, by IAA is.
When I set DM1 to enable Link, and already have a tempo set in Audiobus, I can no longer set tempo in DM1; it goes by the Audiobus tempo.
I thought the tempo was coming from the input. I thought DM1 would set the tempo, Audiobus would pick it up, and then the output (Loopy) would get it.
So, questions:
(1) If I am working with Audiobus, does it matter if IAA is on in appls like DM1?
(2) Should Ableton Link be enabled in all apps? (That was my problem, I think, at least in DM1, that it was off).
(3) What is correct procedure for setting tempo on a new session? Will Audiobus read the tempo from my input, or does the input program receive it from Audiobus? It seems like I have seen it work both ways!
Thanks for any help with this.
Here is one more app I had trouble with that is on the AudioBus compatible list. Music Studio, listed as AB3 optimized.
I notice that Ableton Link does not seem to be there in the options for Music Studio. At least I can't find an option to turn it on.
So how to use this. Am I doing this right? I clear the tempo in Audiobus (clear session), and then set tempo manually to the correct tempo for the Music Studio loop. Then it seems Loopy, as the output, gets the tempo information from Audiobus, and the recording goes smoothly and is synchronized.
I thought that if it was Audiobus compatible, then the tempo information would automatically pass. But it seems that is dependent on Ableton Link?
Thanks for any help in confirming this or straightening me out!
Audiobus will only change tempo if the app innwhich you are setting the tempo in has Link enabled. Audiobus would also need Link enabled. It is Link that allows any Linked app to set the session tempo.
Audiobus is a host app. Usually, the host app controls the session tempo. It is only through Link that Audiobus will change its tempo, so Link is really a special case. If Audiobus is syncing with an app through IAA host sync, Audiobus will control the tempo and transport. IAA sync is reportedly tighter than Link, also I suggest using it whenever possible. One good reason I have been using Link instead of IAA sync lately is that Audiobus can send transport control to apps it is hosting, using the latest version of Link.
You can sync with IAA in some apps and Link with others in the same Audiobus Session.
I have Patterning and DM1, so I will see what I can cook up. The other app, I don’t know that one.
Ok, here’s what I have going.
Make sure you have all of these on in the Link Settings in Audiobus.
In DM1, I disabled IAA sync and enabled Link. I was then able to set the Session tempo from DM1.
In Patterning, I have Link enabled. Weirdly, Patterning didn’t want to recognize Audiobus as an IAA host. No worries, we don’t need it for this anyway. So no IAA for Patterning.
In Loopy, I also enable Link and disable IAA. In the Loopy Link Settings, turn all the options on, like you did for Audiobus.
Control your session easily from Audiobus. Audiobus will start/stop and set tempo for everything here. The tiny Loopy control panel lets you enable record, as well as set the loop length for the next loop you record. If you set your Count-in quantize to ‘clock length’ then Loopy will wait to start recording until the tiny loop icon reaches reaches the top position. It will record the loop length you have set, and stop when the indicator reaches the top again. You can use the Audiobus mixer to mute/solo or balance the two separate apps’ inputs into Loopy.
I greatly appreciate this overview and suggestions. So very helpful to have these ideas defined here!
I am new to this
and hadn't paid any attention to IAA and little enough to Link. I will keep referring back to this as I keep trying new apps and to develop a good workflow for making music!