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 the "Amazing Noises" AUv3 "Limiter - Audio Processor" App for $2.99
I had a piano track that just wasn't loud enough in the mix. So, I added compression to raise it up and it colored the sound unnaturally. I bought better Compressor App for $10 than comes standard in Auria Pro and it helped but the joy of the piano's tone was just not the same after raising it up.
So, I kept looking... should I buy an even better compressor? Then I remember the concept of a limiter to normalize audio tracks: an automatic volume knob effect. Turn up the soft's and leave the loud's alone.
I located decent review of the Amazing Noises "Limiter - Audio Processor" AUv3 capable App. Flipping through the presets I quickly found one I liked. Understanding compressor/limiter/expander Apps takes experience and some study. But the App presets quickly show how the settings can turn up a track, drive it into a smooth tube-like saturation or over the edge into gritty distortion. Or just make it frackin' loud (test the presets with reduced headphone volume).
Anyway I wanted to put this App back on the front page to help folks avoid buying a compressor when a limiter is the right tool to normalize audio or pull something up from the noise floor. It also can be that final stage that prevents the input from going into distortion on the audio recording process.
It also runs in a standalone mode and I just ran an electric guitar through the presets. Wow. Dial-a-crunch and beyond. Not quite "Tone Stack Go" quality but for $3 it could help craft some guitar tracks.
Comments
A lot of people also like FAC Maxima for what you are describing, haven't tried it myself.
Im still undecided on how much of these production apps I want to collect for iOS, there are quite a few to catch up on if I want to go for it. Lately I feel I may be better off just doing all that kind of stuff in Ableton on my iMac.
Maxima is great. All of the FAC apps are worth their weight in gold. Very useful and well made.
I tried "FAC Maxima" first based upon reviews of compressors and it's great but for "automatic gain" without too much added coloring I think I prefer the Amazing Noises.
The coloring of Maxima seems to occur when you pull very low level signals out of the noise floor. In this case it just wasn't the same piano tone.
I glad I have both. I can see that I'll build a collection of FX overtime as I'm faced with issues on specific tracks that the standard FX of Cubasis or Auria Pro can't "fix".
Amazing Noises even has an LFO setting that can be applied to saturation and probably more. It's probably a great way to add more dimension to some tired synth patches.
+1
My +1-was for 99476598326
I shall purchase Amazing Noises .i think Doug @ The Soundtestroom did a vid a while back and he like it. You can always do with an other spanner.
Amazing noises as well makes quality apps. I’ve not tried limiter. But Dedalus is incredible..
Without a doubt Limiter is my most used app.
Low CPU hit and easy to dial in. Just wish the text was bigger/easier to read as with all AN apps but I know it by heart now.
@McDtracy I was always interested in making a Limiter comparison.
Originally based on my doubts that Pro-L2 is indeed better than others.
I will write to you about this
@McDtracy , thanks for the interesting post. It made me think of my usage of effects in general and very limited knowledge about limiters! I tend to use only a few of these wondrous applications, and if they have presets they are golden for me. I use reverb, chorus, delay, stereo width, EQ, and the Waves Ultramaximizer. Beyond that it is just fiddling because Even if I can characterize what I am looking for I do not know which effect will address the need. I admire the deep knowledge and usage the veterans on the forum apply to these, for a newbie, somewhat abstruse, sound processors.
Other than the ones I mentioned above, which effects do you think are must haves to create a reasonably "treated" piece of music? Sometimes I find myself looking for something that will add to the "effect" of a track and realize I am doing something
kind of artificial, hoping that I might accidentally improve a track that just doesn't make it. On the other hand, I feel freed when I record a bass track, for instance, that I can enrich the sound later and what sounds incomplete I can rectify.
Amazing Noises Limiter is also probably my most used app.
I’ve been messing with music for years and still feel the same - as my ears get worse as I get older, I hold out little hope for myself lol
Which brings the total to 99476598327
I am the biggest Amazing Noises/apeSoft cheerleader around here. I LOVE these apps and their architecture just works for me. Limiter is very overlooked as it's not a flashy tool, but I don't think there's anything quite like it on iOS. That and when you push up the input gain the digital distortion is wicked on guitars.
I recognize the Cubasis line-up with the IAP from Waves. Those are the standard functions
in a studio channel strip. The Ultramaximizer has "Limiter" capabilities.
I needed this functionality in Auria Pro and $3 hit the spot for my budget vs the FabFilter "pro" FX at $30. You might enjoy adding this Limiter into your Cubasis tools for $3 to use the saturation effect on your tracks to make the sound "softer in tone" in a way that just rolling off the highs in an EQ doesn't. It's like Tube distortion which to the human ear is quite a nice distortion... it can make things sound less "Electronic" and more acoustic.
I haven't played with the Ultramaximizer enough to know if it has saturation capability. Your question might stimulate more informed input here. There are a lot of "pros" here making well crafted audio.
+1
for Limiter's capabilities with guitars
This is one of my secret weapons....
It's one of the AUv3's I use almost all the time
In AUM I usually just slap Virsyn's Bark Filter with the three band compressor before the output and it helps sort everything out but Im going to see if Amazing Noise's Limiter does the trick from now on. Tx
No any longer😆
Just you wait - I may do instructional videos, but I don't give away ALL my secrets.....
ok fine twist my rubber arm, had to get it
Had it ages and forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder
Remember - it's not the most instantly gratifying app but it is mostly a tool. It reveals it's usefulness over time.
Yes that's fine, compression and/or limiting are usually the first thing I do after bouncing iPad audio to my desktop, now I can stay on mobile a little longer. Will come in handy when jamming with AUM too.