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.
Android refugee seeking advice on external MIDI synths
Hello
I hope Audiobus forum is the right place for this question?
As per title I'm an Android Caustic user. Love Caustic but really want to start using my hardware synths (MS2000, volca keys, super bass station). Essential for me is something that at least resembles Caustic in its workflow and sequencer grid (and good built in synths etc).
So far my hopeless research skills have got me as far as iPad, cubasis 2 or auria pro. From here on I'm a bit lost in world of camera kits (?), and audio / midi interfaces.
Do I understand this right? I can sequence my external gear and have it sent straight back into the iPad DAW where its recorded alongside the internal instruments? Witchcraft!
Would I therefore need an audio interface with more than 2 inputs? I'm guessing one with 2 inputs would just take the stereo out from my ms2000 and none of my other synths? Or could I just do my synths one at time? Or could I just use my 8:2 mixer to put all 3 synths back into the iPad, obviously losing the ability to mix it any further.
Sorry for the rambling post but my head is spinning as this all new to me: had an Atari cubase set up in the early 90s and my knowledge/interest only really got rekindled with Caustic so I've got I lot catching up to do. Thanks in advance.
Comments
How many inputs is dependant on how many channels of audio you want to record. From what I see it seems to be you need at least 4 channels if you want to record them all in real-time. That being said you can definitely record them one at a time into cubasis,Auria etc so even a 2in soundcard should do for that. You will need a camera connection kit to connect most audio interfaces but some like the iconnectivity ones have a lightning port to connect directly to the iPad.
This is a decent one for your uses:- https://www.iconnectivity.com/products/audio/iconnectaudio2plus/
But iconnectivity interfaces come with one caveat. You need a PC/Mac to configure their routing since the iOS app is still in development. Do you have either ?
OK thanks for your reply. Yes I've got a windows 10 laptop so configuration wouldn't be an issue - I'll have good look at this one...hmmmmm 4 audio outputs, surely ideally 4 (or more) inputs would be better for simultaneously recording my 3 hardware synths?
With my Android tablet I just connect a (midimate 2) USB midi interface cable to the micro USB port on my tablet via a USB OTG adapter. I've never had an apple device before so is a camera kit some kind of lightning to USB adapter?
Again any help is much appreciated. Does anyone here actually run a similar set up to the one described?
Yes. It is exactly that:
Lightning male connector in the iPad/iPhone
USB rectangle female
optional: external lightning female port to enable power charging while in use. Doesn't pass any other signals through... just power.
GET THIS ONE. An iPad/iPhone doing a lot drains the battery quickly.
https://apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-adapter
If you like old school MIDI cables (5-pin) the Korg PlugKey gives you:
https://amazon.com/Korg-PLUGKEYBK-Channel-Audio-Plug-In/dp/B01HG292GW
Awesome thank you.
The Korg PlugKey looks good. Thinking about it, it wouldn't matter if I couldn't record all of my external synths parts in one take. Its not a hardship to do them individually.
One more quick question about camera kit / ios if I may?
I'm keen to still be Caustic user too (I love it) so would be anxious to copy over my 1000s of presets and samples which are currently backed up to my laptop to iPad. With the camera kit could I just drag and drop like Android? I've heard horror stories about having to use Dropbox etc but I'm not sure if this just Android user propaganda!
actually. im pretty sure you can just drop them into the ipad via itunes file sharing using your normal lightning cable. the camera conection kit is only for using audio interfaces and midi controllers. Personally dropbox is the best option. i've actually opened projects i've made on my android phone both on the windows and ios versions of caustic with no issues. saving to dropbox means you can access them across devices.
@FPC Caustic has an internal FTP server. All you should need to do is go to "Tools" where it will list the FTP server info, and then on your laptop just put that info into an FTP program and then you should be able to drag and drop the stuff over wirelessly. (iOS puts a strong emphasis on wireless so you transfer stuff over the wire only in exceptional circumstances
)
(Windows 10 might be able to connect to an FTP server even without an extra FTP client but I'm not sure)
(if Caustic were a "good iOS citizen"
its content would appear in the iOS Files app and everything would be even more straightforward)
Thanks everyone help appreciated. I'd forgotten about Caustic's Ftp server.
I guess I'm set on iPad 2018 128gb, Korg plugkey, a charging camera adapter and, probably, Cubasis.
I'll then discover what audiobus can do and decide that I don't actually need any hardware synths!