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.
MIDI Kaoss Pad style controller App?
Is anyone aware of a MIDI controller App in the style of a Kaoss Pad?
Ideally, with sync options to MIDI clock & Link and a selectable scale/root note with note/gate length on the y/x Axis respectively and possibly some assignable MIDI CC's on another page.
(Like the one in i-DS 10 for example but sending out MIDI data)
The ability to record and recall patterns would also be great (again like the i-DS 10)...
The closest I can find is probably Gestrument but that's actually pretty different in concept.
@brambos 
what do you think of this idea?
(tiny picture of i-DS 10 implementation for reference!)
Comments
Lemur.
Thanks, but :
that's a bit like saying c++ .... unless you know of any templates that have these features?
I have Lemur but never found anything resembling the functionality I'm describing.
XY pad templates aren't really the same thing
Arpeggionome Pro, maybe?
@CracklePot Cheers, I have the iphone version and that's kinda getting closer, but still no recording AFAIK and not able to modify note length within a phrase if I remember correctly.
I'm basically talking about something approaching iKaosillator/i-DS 10 but transmitting MIDI rather than tied to a specific sound engine. Seems like a gap in the market to me and would be perfectly suited to a touchscreen.
Anyone else want this?
Does iKaossilator send midi out?
Sadly not.
If it could pump out multichannel MIDI, It would be pretty powerful albeit with a face only its mother could love...
Try the Beatonal app. It’s wonderful and does most of what you ask for and more. Recording and overdubbing midi patterns is fantastic. Great for live use.
The only thing it might not have is ‘gate length’on the y axis. I think the y axis is just given over to velocity level (or a midi cc).
But it has wonderful gated patterns you can choose from or define yourself.
It’s very much like Figure with midi out.
Another route might be setting up ThumbJam to do some of this, using its arp and it’s highly configurable keyboard.
But I’d go the Beatonal route.
Does Soundprism do things such as described herein, aforementioned?
ikaossilators workflow isn't about an arp though.
there's nothing like it... money in the bank for the dev that does it though
@Matt_Fletcher_2000 Cool I will take a look at that, thanks.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beatonal-easy-music-maker/id1157803880?mt=8
This one?
Also, yeah I considered Thumbjam which could probably get quite close to what I'm imagining.
I never tried the actual internal recording feature though but I assume the internal sequencer can be synced to MIDI.
Still no pattern switching or layers of separate CC automation but a good suggestion I reckon.
@u0421793 Cheers but I believe that is a different kettle of cephalopods. More of a live performance species.
@kobamoto Yeah agreed, there is already some amazing MIDI controller Apps out there but seems like there could be a gap in the market : )
@brambos is it possible (if you like the idea) adding a synced rec motion feature in Rozeta XY ?
Beatonal is really cool, very 'figure' feel to it. Not quite what I'm looking for in some respects but for £2.99 to unlock MIDI looks like a definite purchase for me.
In terms of where it falls a little short of what I was imagining :
It's not quite capturing the Kaoss Pad style and feeling. I think that's mainly due to the different handling of note/gate length as mentioned. Doesn't have quite the same expressive performance potential without that for me.
I wouldn't mind a few more MIDI CC controller lanes to record in, like you get in Figure with the secondary sound pages for example.
Not quite optimised for performance in terms of switching patterns, no dedicated live page for synced pattern switching. (although you might be able to load different projects in realtime, but it would be pretty clumsy).
A bit lacking in Scales (only Minor/Major).
No MIDI clock sync (Link though but I'm a luddite).
Not able to control multiple channels at once which would be a nice touch albeit one you can't do on iDS-10 either. Also, not much potential for poly rhythmic timings between parts as far as I can tell although this is also a limitation with the iKaosillator/iDS-10 I think.
Basic MIDI out functionality. No proper published virtual MIDI port ('promiscuous') makes setup difficult/frustrating.
It is really good though and can actually do more than I need/want in some other respects!
I'm going buy it but the search continues!
(apologies if I've come across as a fussy bastard....)
You can get a miniature version of this in Grooverider. You play it in conjunction with erase mode on the pads and it’s very much like iKaossilator. Midi out and scales but no y axis action.
And yeah devs, straight up iKaossilator with midi out would be money. And holy crap if it could host as little as 4 AU instruments....whew
I bet TC-Data could be setup to do this if there isn't already a preset included. Maybe someone who has that one can confirm this?
Don’t forget you can run any midi out through Rozeta Scaler for different scales.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Grooverider looks a bit complex/overkill and 'paddy' for what I had in mind. I'd like an XY format ala iDS-10.
Lemur/Kraft could probably do something close but not without some serious programming.
I've made a mixer in Lemur but the idea of integrating the features of this project and recording/sync/options fills me with fear.
I don't think Kraft has an XY pad with note triggering AFAIK but I've only dabbled briefly with it. I
I doubt TC-Data can record the movements and switch between sections. The lack of MIDI clock has always been a bugbear with TC-11/Data too.
Sadly I'm kinda stuck on iOS 10 so that rules out Rozeta, although that idea can be emulated by sending the MIDI through Thumbjam and restricting the output to a certain scale/range. Perhaps making a template in something and feeding it through TJ could be workable : )
Thumbjam is seriously the swiss army knife of Apps ~ so many uses!
I'd prefer a single app solution though of course, particularly if it was purpose built for this kind of workflow like a multi-part MIDI synced iKaossilator/i-DS10.
I can contribute some design ideas for a collaboration it if someone fancies coding it : )
Gestrument Pro? (Coming soon)
And what about external midi xy pad (nanopad or similar) and some mapping to the best app of your choose (with automation record)?
Yep. That’s the one.
@Dubbylabby yeah thanks that's a pretty good idea.
However, I already have a nanopad 2 that has the functionality but it's pretty fiddly to operate as to change settings for the XY pad you have to hold different buttons to change scale, root and range and then press the corresponding pads that have tiny embossed legends for the functions. (white on white too but even with red permanent marker used on them they are still hard to read). >_<
Also due to the lack of display you can't see the settings.
Plus finding a suitable host to record the MIDI Loops wouldn't be that easy (Pro MIDI or Genome I guess).
Then there's the need for a CCK and wires and MIDI clock from iPad to the Nanopad....Yadayadayada : )
So yeah I would still prefer a dedicated App as it would reduce the complexity and could offer more functionality.
Thanks all for the input though, sorry for being so picky. Maybe I need to learn to program JUCE or try and prototype something using MAX/MSP/Lemur/Kraft or whatever...
Or convince someone to help me make it ?!??!
Legit?!?
Probably in maxforlive with some native plugs from ableton (and beap) you can prototype something in that way but since I don’t undestand the full specs I can’t be more helpful. I still think Lemur is easier than all of that but a bit step up anways...
Yep maybe, I've made some things in Max/MSP 'standalone' as part of my studies in the past although nothing involving complex MIDI and recording/sync.
Also,FWIW I'm not using Ableton because it doesn't really click with me.
I did find a lemur template with notes chromatically mapped to the X axis but nothing assigned to the Y-axis so that wasn't especially helpful in terms of varying the note lengths or keeping things in a scale.
Also heard some mention of TouchOSC being able to do something similar but I'm not really keen to learn yet another standard after my experiences with Lemur/TB MIDI stuff etc... : )
Maybe someone will see my little mock up and get Clive Sinclair to team up with Korg to make it happen.
https://www.freelancer.com/
You can hire some coders (eastern seems cheaper) to make it happen.
For free of course...
I could make a patch in PureData (xy for sending CCs) and run it thru PdParty or MobMuPlat apps, but the problem is they don’t support Ableton Link to sync .
There’s midi clock ,so if anyone successfully used clock and start stop messages in any of those 2 apps post here or pm me
I know it works in PureData on desktops, but not all features run on iOS .
@Korakios Very kind of you to offer some help, thanks.
As it happens I think Touchosc can also host/support/import Puredata coding.
However, to get Kaossilator/iDS-10 style functionality it would be mostly about about sending and recording MIDI notes rather than just controllers (ideally both but on separate pages/switched), so the challenge would be about quantising the lengths to match the tempo on the Y axis and notes within a scale on the X axis. (preferably to MIDI clock sync)
Hope that makes sense : ) Tired Reply !
@iamspoon
Oh, so the the Y axis should generate midi note (on a scale) intervals, based on tempo ?
Or I miss something else ?
I will try to check if in MobMuPlat or PdParty midi clock is received properly. But would help if someone has already tried it
@Korakios I think the X-axis should generate a MIDI note (ideally based on a scale and with options for octave range, etc.) while the Y-axis would control note length (aka gate) relative to the master MIDI clock tempo.
So any movement on the X-axis generates a new MIDI note and the length of the note is controlled by the position on the Y-axis. It's quite intuitive to use but harder to explain : )
This is how it works on the Korg Nanopad 2 which I think is essentially the same principle as the iDS-10 App's X/Y:
