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.
Comments
Good point, one can use ages to prepare stuff until it's right, I'm doing it by scripts as well, and I wouldn't want to go through it if the samples aren't really good
Loving Audiolayer so far, but still a newbie. I'm trying to replicate the functionality from my old Akai S950 sampler, where I can control the cutoff filter frequency of a sample within a key-zone by using velocity, but where the volume stays the same. I'm currently having to copy a sample multiple times and assign it between different velocities, with each sample having an independant filter cutoff frequency setting, but I'm hoping there's a simpler way to achieve the same effect! Grateful for any tips or pointers in the right direction. Many thanks in advance!
Status on my SynthJacker efforts: SynthJacker even in Loopback Mode (i.e. using the external hardware config but cabling MIDI IN to OUT and Audio In's to OUT's on an audio interface) still has too much latency before the sample plays so hand tweaking of every sample start is required to make a "player's" instrument that's responsive to the timing of the NOTE On and Off events.
So... it anyone has any tips on manually working through samples to trim them, potentially define loop points (does AudioLayer make it's own judgement with you select "Forward" which implements looping of the sample for long plays). I've been making 5 second recordings to get as pure a sound as I can before changing the Mode to "forward" from "one shot". There's some internal magic that knows these "one shot" samples should get pitch shifted to fill in the holes in the keyboard coverage which using name based imports that only define the NOTE NAME and not a precise range.
One quick thing I like to do with harsh (extra high frequencies) is to use the "Phaser" Effect in the app without a lot of depth and a slow rate. That rolls off the highs by making small shifts in "same sample" playback and the highs tend to get cancelled in the summing process. It works to smooth out a sound like a harsh Oboe better than just trying to use the EQ Effect.
This is supported. Check the [Vel: nn ] box on the left bottom in the LAYER and ZONE pages, in the FILTER tab. It will affect the cutoff freq. only.
Works perfectly, thank you so much for your response. This will vastly speed up my workflow. :-)
You're welcome
Beware, if not manually disabled, AudioLayer seems to sync just everything to iCloud!
I filled up my 5 GB without noticing that.
Strange behavior for a Sampler App.
This should only be done when activated by the user, not by default!
@VirSyn
Yeah. Local storage is the way to go, IMHO. Imagine wanting to load a really large instrument
and it's takes minutes to get the files downloaded from the cloud or taking the iPad out and not having any Wi-Fi access when you didn't buy an iPad with Cellular networking.
Too bad iPad's don't work with network shares... oh well. Tradeoffs.
Not sure it has been explained before, but here is the best way to not use AL iCloud storage and how to export/import your instruments on local storage if you have used iCloud at first:
In short, tap on share and choose « create zip for instrument + sample folder, then disable iCloud storage in AL settings, then go in Files app under your device/AudioLayer/export and tap on zip file. All your iCloud instruments are now imported on local storage. This zip file can also be a backup.
I don't get why some developers don't share their app's complete Documents folder over iTunes by default.
Curious to see what Virsyn would come up with for AudioLayers anniversary
Yeah, I downloaded a nice Stratocaster EXS sample and it really sounds amazing! Can’t wait to see if anything is planned.🤗👍🏼
Hmmm.... AudioLayer on sale for $14.99. Not exactly cheap, but sometimes you have to pay for quality.
Anyone want to play the angel on my right shoulder whispering into my ear, or the imp on my left shoulder? (Not sure which would tell me to buy it!) 😁
Buy it! Buy it! Buy it! I use it on all my tracks.
I guess the question is: do you need a velocity-layered multi-sampler like this? Many people don't. If you have Nanostudio 2, Slate is quite capable. If you aren't doing heavy velocity-layering there are other options that might work for you.
I like AudioLayer a lot, but there are those for him it isn't really what they need.
Do the research. If it fits your workflow it's absolutely indispensable. In my top 3 most used apps for sure.
Lol! Very tempting... 😈😄
👍Thanks for the insights. Forgot about Slate. Have NS2, and have yet to give it the attention it deserves.
Thanks! Oh, surveys and polls are only a part of the research. I also have a lab with guinea pigs using VSTs and doing DJ sets. 🐹🤓
OK, I'll play the good angel this time...
Even though I think it's a great app, I honestly have difficulty finding things to use it for.
I don't have hardware to sample. I could sample my IAA apps so that I can use them in non IAA hosts. But more and more often I have an AU app that gets close enough anyway. Now subtract out long sustaining patches like strings and pads because those aren't going to sustain forever unless you set loop points.
Next there are the patches that get their character from interacting with LFO's, modulations, glide, etc. because it bugs me that those dynamics become static once you sample - especially if they're tempo related. Then I'm bugged because I can't make most of the adjustments I can in a synth patch.
I'm not inclined to use it for drum samples because I have way more drum apps for that than I need. I don't have hardware I want to sample. I'm not going to try to create some huge piano or orchestral sound set because too much effort and storage for likely less quality result.
Maybe if it could import sfz or sf2 (don't care about ESX, not being a Mac guy). Maybe occasionally now because it's so easy and effective importing with Synthjacker. That's the only way I'll use it since the interface is too frustrating IMO to do anything complex with.
That all sounds terribly negative toward a great app. I don't mean it that way. I'm very, very impressed with AudioLayer. I'm just not the kind of guy that has much use for such a thing.
OK, back to you, Tempters...
@Virsyn sales happen yearly at this time. Some great discounts.
AudioLayer? It has capabilities most haven't mastered:
Layering based on MIDI velcocity. We use it in Ravenscroft but do we configure it manually?
Internal FX
ADSR and Filtering of instruments (also by layer) like when Neo Soul Rhodes adds a gritty sample if you smack a key?
Sampling AUv3 app using it as an FX in AUM or AB3?
Making hybrid instruments that mix multiple sample set for a single input stream... soft=string, loud=brass and blended between?
Bulk auto-loads of cloned AUv3 or external hardware using the SynthJacker app?
Instrument import/export to share with fellow forum members. Some exchange their work product here using "Quid Pro Quo" barter.
It's like the disk streaming sample playback engine in Auria Pro called Lyra but it's an AUv3 container so it works in any DAW or as a standalone ROM-player.
$15 on sale? Your call. I use it more than any other AUv3 because I made clones of many heavy weight synths with massive storage foot prints and deleted them from local storage.
I can restore these apps from the store. Apple keeps them safe for me.
Ok, so @wim and @McD : I have yet to purchase Audio Layer. I haven't needed it urgently, but have been thinking loosely I should purchase it at next sale (which is now then I guess). The last couple of posts in here has made me think though:
Pretty much all that @wim writes a post or two up applies to me too. I don't have hardware to sample etc. I am currently using Auria for most things. I have been happy to find, and use, SynthJacker to create .sfz instruments for Lyra (which, thanks to @richardyot's thread on speeding that up is really quite handy now), and have sampled some of my current fave instruments from elsewhere into very playable Lyra instruments that use a fraction of CPU compared to loading the synths in question into Auria.
I guess I am starting to doubt my need for AudioLayer...so...as long as I stay in Auria, using Lyra, there isn't really a great use case for me to purchase AudioLayer...is that a correct assessment? Even though the price right now is low, it is rather high for something if I will never use it, and I could perhaps spend that money on something else that I would put into more use...
Opinions? Thoughts?
@hellquist based on your post I'd say pass.
I love a challenge.
You should consider getting out of Auria and go crazy buying the best apps.
Ideally consider the HyperDaw Combo (with Super Sized Fries).
Inside AUM you can cram almost anything. If it won't fit Go to #1 or #2.
If you want to roll back to 2015... then stay there. AP is the best DAW available in your frozen universe. We'll be busy buying more apps and asking for feature updates and writing in the forum and something else, I keep forgetting to do. "Producing music?" No. It will come to me. Who actually produces music? Sounds like work. I play.
All the cool kids are going HyperDaw or using and waiting for NS2 to get Audio Tracks, Side-chaining, Send/Recv Busses and all the amazing stuff Auria Pro used to have.
It still does? OK. Go produce some more music.
I really want Lyra for my HyperDaw. I'd pay $30 for it.
Would you be okay sharing with me a Xequence, AudioBus preset?
I've slowly getting out of the DAW workflow (granted I'll still use Beatmaker and GarageBand to do some sampling) but I was looking for inspiration. I thought of making a Xequence row element for each instrument I make but that's bound to get messy, especially when I use Gadget.
Also, do I need AUM if I plan on getting 4Pockets Multi DAW?
Good. And just to pre-face my reply to your reply, I'm typing all of this smiling. I just wanted to clarify that, as my default mode to most things in life, apart from being a "realistic optimist" is to use lots and lots of irony and sarcasm as my way of using humour, but it could be misconstrued when it lands in typing (so I usually try to avoid typing it, but it slips through now and then).
I spent the better part of 2 years spending $200-300/month on music apps. Wife was really "impressed" by my "crazy". The last 2 years I have cut down my app spending to $5-20/month. I have "all the apps" I think, with just a few odd gaps (AudioLayer being one). How crazy do I need to go?
Oh, indeed I have. For years. I have all the major DAWs, which I own fully including all IAP's, but I think they have been lacking in one way or the other. Back in early 2017, when ModStep was the only viable advanced stand-alone midi sequencer, before the birth of Xequence, we had threads about it too, so I would have a guess at that I am possibly one of those in this fine forum who has tried pushing that path in my explorations the furthest.
So yeah. I have all of them, of course, bought on the day of their respective releases. The main problem is that they will not play together in a recording situation that suits me. They are great in combination, especially for playing live (which I don't do), but for fine grained control of every aspect of recording advanced song structures, it simply doesn't work, for one reason or another.
Xequence for example, which I love and which I consider (along with NS2) has the best piano roll on iOS, doesn't let me mix time signatures in a tune. Also it does not sync to any external host, which is a topic we have covered in quite some depth in several recent threads. I even suspect I might have pushed SevenSystems too hard on it, but it at least can't be said I haven't tried to influence developments.
It isn't that I want to be there, and as can be seen from the linked posts (above) it isn't that I haven't tried asking for feature updates.
I wish to create my tunes, preferably in tools that I love. That involves being able to play my guitar, with the sounds I require, which means Bias Amp/FX, which means I need to be able to host IAA somewhere. Another absolute must right now for me is to have multi-velocity sampled drums. The best app for that is DrumPerfect Pro, which also is IAA. As noted above another absolute must is to be able to mix/change time signatures in the same tune.
As you might notice we have now ruled out Xequence, Cubasis, BM3 and a few others (can't mix time signatures), but also Zenbeats, ModStep and the "AU only" hosts (as they can't host IAA, apart from not being able to mix time signatures). It should also be noted that of all the listed options here, only BM3 can sync to an external source, and even that is a brand-new feature addition for it (which I appreciate as it is getting closer, but I utterly hate its piano roll).
So...to fit the requirements I currently have (IAA capable, multiple time sigs) I have come to the conclusion that Auria right now is the only tool that actually fits that bill. Even though I would prefer using Xequence for midi, it is now clear that will not happen (as I can't sync the two in any sensible way).
Ah right, well I literally turned 50 yesterday, so I doubt I'll be a cool kid again any time soon. I still would like an awesome music production environment for iOS though, and I've been fighting for it for years, so the cool kids can be happy with the tools they have today. I still need more though.
It could however be noted that my music creation process is divided into different parts, where "sketching" and "compiling" are two steps that can happen in one set-up whereas "mixing" and "mastering" (quite likely) will happen in another set-up. This is also the reason why I still pursue the search for my ultimate set-up for the various steps in my music creation process.
On that note I can't understand they never lifted it out of Auria, which was sort of a half-promise when Auria Pro was launched. I also feel a bit uneasy about the fact Virsyn does not appear to take in/on any type of user requirements, or tweak functionality past the second week of an apps existance. This very thread is filled with comments going back years, asking for .sfz/.sf2 compatibility and better file handling. Not a Virsyn comment past page 2 though. I guess this is the downside with small development teams, and which also is the reason I am, these days, wary of going "all in" on for example 4Pockets apps, as they seem to steam ahead in such a pace they leave a trail of "almost-perfect-but-not-really" apps behind them as they head for the new shiny thing.
In that sense Auria is pretty stable. These days I also have most of the IAP's in Auria (all the FF's for example), I have every preset ever made to Twin2, I have started loading up Lyra with lots of great instruments, and the piano roll, which is quite far from being as nice as Xequence/NS2, is still workable.
But I guess I'll pass on AudioLayer for now then (thanks @lukesleepwalker )
As stated in the beginning: all of the above written with a smile on my face over a proverbial pint of beer in a proverbial pub, whilst watching people passing by.
Another pint?
EDIT: adding another pic I made a few years ago.
@McD @hellquist
👍 Epic posts, guys! I laughed, I cried, I learned. Mostly laughed. 😂 ABF at its best, looking at the larger picture in terms of the thread topic. Going “meta-topic”, if you will. Carry on...
@hellquist - you can use nanostudio as a sequencer for Auria if that's helpful? Obviously it has time signature and tempo ramping, and as you say the sequencer is very nice and you can use Ableton Link to sync them.
Not ideal, but if you were thinking of using Xequence (which I agree - is sort of half baked at the moment), then why not?
That way you could probably also use Nanostudio's internal instruments/routing in combination with Auria. Obviously it's a little clunky, but compared to other solutions it's not terrible.
Just for the record, i am completely with you, that those features for X2 would be the best!!!
X2 just misses some more ways to interact with other Apps.
And this is by far more important than adding hosting capabilties, @SevenSystems
I've now created multi-velocity instruments both in Obsidian (NS2) and AudioLayer.
They're so different that I have a hard time comparing them.
Obsidian: Loads all samples into memory, only has up to 24 key ranges by three velocity layers for a total of 72 samples. Also, inside one layer, you cannot freely choose the key range per sample, so overlapping ranges for mixing samples inside one layer is impossible except with zone crossfade but that's not really a solution. Then, if you think about sustain-looping samples, mind you that Obsidian won't play a sample at all if the loop is too short which can cause higher-pitched samples to be un-loopable.
On the other hand, Obsidian is a modulation monster, an oscillator paradise and a filter workhorse. In so many regards it just hits the sweet spot so I'll definitely continue to build instruments for it because it's plain fun.
AudioLayer: I would call this the workhorse for huge natural samples. Its modulation possibilities are very limited and the lack of ModWheel support for vibrato (pitch modulation) is a real joke, not to mention that the developer has refused to add it until today.
But there is one feature that, from my knowledge, only the Lyra sampler inside Auria features as well: Streaming samples directly from disk. In fact, the only sampler with disk streaming and proper ModWheel support on iOS today seems to be Lyra.
AudioLayer is the only AUv3 sampler that I was able to create a 2.2GB sized grand piano for, and that one doesn't need a ModWheel
I'm sometimes using it as a standalone app on an iPhone 5 strapped on a Roland AX-1 remote keyboard, it's fun to have a grand piano keytar.
So if you specifically want a large piano, vibraphone, guitar or large orchestral instrument, AudioLayer does its job, otherwise there's a number of alternatives.
I seems to me like there's no reason you need AudioLayer. I would buy it in a second for $15 for fun and learning. Lots of the things I've bought I don't end up using practically all that often. But can I get $15 of fun and learning out of an app as advanced and powerful as AudioLayer? Absolutely!
It has helped me to understand all samplers better. It has helped me to understand better what they can be used for, what works and doesn't work, and the comparative strengths and weaknesses and mechanics of other samplers like Obsidian, 4Pockets, and Lyra. It's kept me entertained for hours. As with a lot of apps, sometimes that knowledge sits on the shelf for a long time until some post here, a video, or something fires the right synapse, and then I'm off to explore again, somtimes with a practical result, usually not.
So yeh, totally worth it for me for fun, not for any practical reason. But it sounds fun for you is more in having a practical and productive setup. I think you'll get more joy by spending your money elsewhere.
You’re really an interesting and important part of this forum, @wim
Thanks