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.

Simple Cubasis2 question

Have been having reasonable success tinkering with CB2. I’ve brought a short sample and then copied it to fill out the track. But they are still separate “regions”. I can’t seem to find a way to select a series of regions and join them so they become one bigger region. There MUST be a tool for that, but I haven’t
Found it yet. 🤪. Any hints?

Comments

  • @seachord said:
    Have been having reasonable success tinkering with CB2. I’ve brought a short sample and then copied it to fill out the track. But they are still separate “regions”. I can’t seem to find a way to select a series of regions and join them so they become one bigger region. There MUST be a tool for that, but I haven’t
    Found it yet. 🤪. Any hints?

    Tap the Select icon on the toolbar and lasso the regions you want to join (tap and drag around the regions). This will select regions. Now tap the Glue icon in the toolbar.

  • I was missing this was well.
    Don't understand programmers today.
    If there is a Split, there should also be a Merge.

  • @MobileMusic said:

    @seachord said:
    Have been having reasonable success tinkering with CB2. I’ve brought a short sample and then copied it to fill out the track. But they are still separate “regions”. I can’t seem to find a way to select a series of regions and join them so they become one bigger region. There MUST be a tool for that, but I haven’t
    Found it yet. 🤪. Any hints?

    Tap the Select icon on the toolbar and lasso the regions you want to join (tap and drag around the regions). This will select regions. Now tap the Glue icon in the toolbar.

    That never worked for me, the button is grayed out:

  • edited July 2018

    @tja said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    @seachord said:
    Have been having reasonable success tinkering with CB2. I’ve brought a short sample and then copied it to fill out the track. But they are still separate “regions”. I can’t seem to find a way to select a series of regions and join them so they become one bigger region. There MUST be a tool for that, but I haven’t
    Found it yet. 🤪. Any hints?

    Tap the Select icon on the toolbar and lasso the regions you want to join (tap and drag around the regions). This will select regions. Now tap the Glue icon in the toolbar.

    That never worked for me, the button is grayed out:

    It works with MIDI tracks. There is no audio glue in Cubasis, yet. What you can do is freeze the track (the snow-flake-looking icon on the track) and it glues the regions into a new audio track as a workaround for now.

  • @MobileMusic Ah, your were referring to MIDI. As the OP asked about samples, I did not come to that idea.

    But you are right, freezing the Audio tracks merges the samples. Never tried that, so thanks for the hint! :)

  • @tja said:
    @MobileMusic Ah, your were referring to MIDI. As the OP asked about samples, I did not come to that idea.

    But you are right, freezing the Audio tracks merges the samples. Never tried that, so thanks for the hint! :)

    Audio glue is on Cubasis' roadmap.

  • @MobileMusic said:

    @tja said:
    @MobileMusic Ah, your were referring to MIDI. As the OP asked about samples, I did not come to that idea.

    But you are right, freezing the Audio tracks merges the samples. Never tried that, so thanks for the hint! :)

    Audio glue is on Cubasis' roadmap.

    Good to hear! :)

  • @tja said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    @tja said:
    @MobileMusic Ah, your were referring to MIDI. As the OP asked about samples, I did not come to that idea.

    But you are right, freezing the Audio tracks merges the samples. Never tried that, so thanks for the hint! :)

    Audio glue is on Cubasis' roadmap.

    Good to hear! :)

    It may be a low-priority for them because there is a workaround for it for now :smiley:

  • @tja said:
    I was missing this was well.
    Don't understand programmers today.
    If there is a Split, there should also be a Merge.

    Boy! It is surprising to find such a logical, basic feature missing from an App as mature as Cubasis 😳

  • edited July 2018

    @seachord said:

    @tja said:
    I was missing this was well.
    Don't understand programmers today.
    If there is a Split, there should also be a Merge.

    Boy! It is surprising to find such a logical, basic feature missing from an App as mature as Cubasis 😳

    It all boils down to priorities. What issues are blockers/critical, what features are absolute must, what features add the most value to the app, what features can wait, what features are nice-to-have, etc. When a project has multiple issues/deficiencies/feature requests, it is impossible to resolve/implement all of them simultaneously, especially when their iOS team size is small - they need to be prioritized. Not to mention, Steinberg is apparently cautious about not pushing boundaries so the app does not end up maxing out on memory or crapping out or crashing. Its a matter of time before most of these mobile DAW apps would have more or less the same features one day as they do now on desktop.

    The major issue is the limits and limitations of iOS and iDevices (iPad is not a full-blown computer like Surface). After squeezing every drop of performance with proprietary hardware and software, Apple offers minimal RAM, processor, etc. which are good when the device is new or a couple of years old - unless you buy the iPad Pro, iPhone X models. I used my old MacBook (2007) for 8 years, my current MacBook (2013) is 5+ years old and going good but cannot imagine using my Air 2 for more than 4 years. Sure, it will work beyond 4 years for normal use with productivity apps such as watching videos, browsing, etc - but not processor-intensive DAW apps. Maybe, if iOS 12 brings back some lost performance (from iOS 11), I can use it for another year or two. Strange - MacBook lasts for just 3 hours on a charge while iPad lasts 10 hours kicking Mac (when new) and yet, MacBook outlives an iPad :neutral: If someone asks you why we need high-performance devices when most others are doing fine with basic/old devices, just tell them its because we are abnormal professionals :smile:

  • edited July 2018

    Also worth understanding that the more features an app has (and iOS DAWs nowadays are all generously spec’ed), the more complex it is and therefore the greater the risk when introducing new features. To mitigate that risk regression testing needs to be performed - this testing ensures new features don’t break existing ones. So the more features you already have, the more things can go wrong, the more testing needs to be done. It takes time to get it all right, especially with a small team. Rushing a release does nobody any favours so prioritisation is the only way and as @MobileMusic rightly says, Steinberg seem conscious of not wanting to overwhelm the platform. They are all about the user experience and making things simple and stable, which I think is great.

  • I’m happy to use freeze and spend the dev effort somewhere else.

    • insert track
    • add sample and duplicate
    • freeze and drag the new clip to another track
    • delete the two unneeded tracks
    • Dance like no one’s watching
  • Another work-around for the missing 'Audio Glue' would be to freeze the track but that will freeze the entire track since there is no option to 'Freeze Selection / Freeze Between Locators'.

  • I see that slighteley different to some.
    If I implement a Split feature, I would automatically implement a Merge feature.
    Just because it is logical and expected.

    Anyway, we have a somewhat working workaround ;)

    @Samu You could always first put the 2 samples on a new track, freeze it and use it from there, so no freeze of a real track would be needed. Workaround for the Workaround :)

  • It seems that the feature is there, but without a dedicated button labeled ‘merge’.

  • edited July 2018

    @tja said:
    I see that slighteley different to some.
    If I implement a Split feature, I would automatically implement a Merge feature.
    Just because it is logical and expected.
    Anyway, we have a somewhat working workaround ;)

    Apparently, it is more complex than MIDI glue, which they nailed it out of the box (MIDI is just data as you know and may be simpler to glue).

    @Samu You could always first put the 2 samples on a new track, freeze it and use it from there, so no freeze of a real track would be needed. Workaround for the Workaround :)

    I was gonna suggest that :smile:

    Or solo the track, mix down between locators and the insert the exported audio file into the track?

    Now we see why audio glue is low-priority for Steinberg.

  • So I found the ‘freeze’ function, but I cannot find the ‘melt’ function.
    No dedicated ‘melt’ button? WTF?
    ;)

  • @MobileMusic said:

    Apparently, it is more complex than MIDI glue, which they nailed it out of the box (MIDI is just data as you know).

    I do feel I have a 'clue' as to why AudioGlue might trickier to do...

    The 'split' function doesn't create new files, it just creates a new 'window' to the same audio-file (this is why the edges of an audio event can be extended to reveal more of the original file after a split).

    The 'Glue' function would almost always have to create a new audio file unless the two events that are next to each other belong to the same file at precisely the same position prior to the split.

    I due time we'll get this feature in Cubasis, no doubts about that.

    But I'd rather see the Cubasis team focus on bringing the Cubase 'Sampler Track' to Cubasis :)

  • edited July 2018

    @Samu said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    Apparently, it is more complex than MIDI glue, which they nailed it out of the box (MIDI is just data as you know).

    I do feel I have a 'clue' as to why AudioGlue might trickier to do...

    The 'split' function doesn't create new files, it just creates a new 'window' to the same audio-file (this is why the edges of an audio event can be extended to reveal more of the original file after a split).

    The 'Glue' function would almost always have to create a new audio file unless the two events that are next to each other belong to the same file at precisely the same position prior to the split.

    I due time we'll get this feature in Cubasis, no doubts about that.

    But I'd rather see the Cubasis team focus on bringing the Cubase 'Sampler Track' to Cubasis :)

    Correct! Even video clips work the same way with trim/split in video editors such as Luma Fusion - we can extend the clips to reveal more content on either sides.

    (edit) Inserting small portions of an audio/video clip may consume the entire size of the audio/video file for each event in the project even though just a portion of it is rendered.

    Not so with MIDI events - we cannot extend them to reveal more content as it is blank if we do.

  • @CracklePot said:
    So I found the ‘freeze’ function, but I cannot find the ‘melt’ function.
    No dedicated ‘melt’ button? WTF?
    ;)

    In this case, it's just the same button, pressed again, you funny guy ;)

  • edited July 2018

    @MobileMusic said:

    @Samu said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    Apparently, it is more complex than MIDI glue, which they nailed it out of the box (MIDI is just data as you know).

    I do feel I have a 'clue' as to why AudioGlue might trickier to do...

    The 'split' function doesn't create new files, it just creates a new 'window' to the same audio-file (this is why the edges of an audio event can be extended to reveal more of the original file after a split).

    The 'Glue' function would almost always have to create a new audio file unless the two events that are next to each other belong to the same file at precisely the same position prior to the split.

    I due time we'll get this feature in Cubasis, no doubts about that.

    But I'd rather see the Cubasis team focus on bringing the Cubase 'Sampler Track' to Cubasis :)

    Correct! Even video clips work the same way with trim/split in video editors such as Luma Fusion - we can extend the clips to reveal more content on either sides.

    (edit) Inserting small portions of an audio/video clip may consume the entire size of the audio/video file for each event in the project even though just a portion of it is rendered.

    Not so with MIDI events - we cannot extend them to reveal more content as it is blank if we do.

    On another note, audio glue may not work perfectly if related events are adjacent to each other - to create a flawless transition between them - as it was in the original file. Try adding an MP3 song file, split the event and play from one event to its next split event - you would hear some pops/stalls while the playhead passes over the split (which were not there before the split) and so, these flaws may be audible in the frozen track too. This may be another reason why it is more complex to glue audio.

  • @MobileMusic said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    @Samu said:

    @MobileMusic said:

    Apparently, it is more complex than MIDI glue, which they nailed it out of the box (MIDI is just data as you know).

    I do feel I have a 'clue' as to why AudioGlue might trickier to do...

    The 'split' function doesn't create new files, it just creates a new 'window' to the same audio-file (this is why the edges of an audio event can be extended to reveal more of the original file after a split).

    The 'Glue' function would almost always have to create a new audio file unless the two events that are next to each other belong to the same file at precisely the same position prior to the split.

    I due time we'll get this feature in Cubasis, no doubts about that.

    But I'd rather see the Cubasis team focus on bringing the Cubase 'Sampler Track' to Cubasis :)

    Correct! Even video clips work the same way with trim/split in video editors such as Luma Fusion - we can extend the clips to reveal more content on either sides. Not so with MIDI events - we cannot extend them to reveal more content as it is blank if we do.

    On another note, audio glue may not work perfectly if related events are adjacent to each other - to create a flawless transition between them - as it was in the original file. Try adding an MP3 song file, split the event and play from one event to its next split event - you would hear some pops/stalls while the playhead passes over the split (which were not there before the split) and so, these flaws may be audible in the frozen track too. This may be another reason why it is more complex to glue audio.

    I can see potential problems with MP3 files, but WAV should consist of separate samples, or?

  • @tja said:

    I can see potential problems with MP3 files, but WAV should consist of separate samples, or?

    When you split an audio-event in Cubasis it's still the same file on disk, just different 'start/end' points.
    (It's a real pita to 'trim' clips that have been split since the events start/end are not reflected in the audio-editor).

    So in order to avoid 'clicks' when glueing two separate wav-files together one would need to do some form of cross-fade prior to gluing them together.

  • @CracklePot said:
    It seems that the feature is there, but without a dedicated button labeled ‘merge’.

    Heck, they could enable the Glue button for audio events and automate all of these workaround actions behind the scenes (freeze, delete events, move frozen event, delete frozen track - OR - solo track, mixdown between selected event locators, delete events, insert exported file, delete exported file) - but it won't be a perfect solution due to the flaws discussed and maybe a few other issues :neutral:

  • Maybe simply linking audio files in the interface, without all the actual merging going on, moving tracks automatically, deleting original clips, etc. would be easier, and basically accomplish the same thing.
    The audio files link to act as a single block, but can be unlinked at a later stage if necessary. No processing or merging, just interface trickery.
    Seems way easier to code this, too, but I don’t really know.

  • @CracklePot said:
    So I found the ‘freeze’ function, but I cannot find the ‘melt’ function.
    No dedicated ‘melt’ button? WTF?
    ;)

    Did you try the microwave button?

  • @u0421793 said:

    @CracklePot said:
    So I found the ‘freeze’ function, but I cannot find the ‘melt’ function.
    No dedicated ‘melt’ button? WTF?
    ;)

    Did you try the microwave button?

    Dang it! My whole iPad melted!
    Not what I wanted, at all.
    :s

  • edited July 2018

    @CracklePot said:

    @u0421793 said:

    @CracklePot said:
    So I found the ‘freeze’ function, but I cannot find the ‘melt’ function.
    No dedicated ‘melt’ button? WTF?
    ;)

    Did you try the microwave button?

    Dang it! My whole iPad melted!
    Not what I wanted, at all.
    :s

    Now, here is the final step - put it in the blender :smiley:

    Well, that was one TOUGH PAD :neutral:

    They'll blend anything (including diamonds!) - https://www.youtube.com/c/willitblend

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