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
Thank you, v kind!
Great Psytrance! Very nice to see an old Electribe in use too.
Thank you so kindly
yeah I make no secret of the fact anything I’ve ever done with vocals is from Blocs Wave, for now at least lol..
I love Blocs Wave and Launchpad as sources for vocals and samples in my own stuff too. I had been playing with those particular ones myself, trying to get them into a track, they’re really good. I can’t sing a note! And I don’t know anyone else who could sing a note for me either! So Blocs Wave and Launchpad are very handy sometimes.
Hello Mister R. Thought it was time I wandered back in to make sure you chaps were still breathing. Not certain I'll be writing anything this month, but perhaps tapping my toes to the work of others will help push me on out of this trough.
Your sound is very polished at this point, beginning, middle and end. I think the 'trick' in this song (to me) was the space/radio voice effect being first, because by the time you've sung the first bit like that one is thinking the rest will be similar, but then the 'normal' voice comes in...upon a second listen I'm not convinced by the melody (or maybe it's the speed?) of the 'Scanning the waves in the atmosphere/Frequencies swell but they’re not that clear' and its fellow couplet. It might benefit from something else, a harmony maybe?
Having said all that, the effect itself is one I've struggled with a number of times and not managed to produce to my satisfaction but it sounds spot on here. I think folks should sell patches of their vocal set-ups just like they do synth presets
I dunno, maybe they do already...keep up the good work.
Hey thanks! The vocal effect is mostly down to a preset in Pro-Q2 called "phone". I did try and roll my own initially but wasn't doing too well, so I had a poke in those presets and this one worked better than anything I could come up with. I think it partly works because the whole track has a slight dusting of lo-fi about it.
I've also always struggled to get saturation/lo-fi effects to work, but I think it's working here because it's all part of a homogenous aesthetic that permeates the whole track. There's a balancing act to applying the effects with just the right amount of weight/taste. It's like a colour correction in Photoshop or grading a video, you have to dial in just the right amount so that it works, without it being so heavy-handed that it's cheesy.
@LostBoy85 sorry it's taken me so long to get around to reviewing this, you posted it seconds after I finished my last batch of reviews.
The vocals are gorgeous as usual, the production is also very polished, I think the thing that's really improved in your work is the whole musicianship and production side of things: there's a really solid bass line here, a nice synth solo, and overall the production is very polished and musical.
The vocals in the final third are really outstanding, the falsetto parts work really well. And all the little background parts and harmonies are really excellent. The vibe isn't really my cup of tea (I would prefer something with a bit more of an edge to it) but I can only admire the craft that has gone into this, it's a really well put together song.
@ph8aerror I enjoyed that. Nice choice of sounds, pretty melodic, chilled vibe, all in all a nice laid-back track. It could be cut down to about half the length though, but even so it flows pretty nicely for such a long trune.
@trackedout your effort this month gets off to a great start, I really dig the first minute or so, but then after that it does feel like it's meandering without ever really getting anywhere - it could have done with another vocal melody or a change of gear somewhere. The duelling guitars at the end are cool though, I liked them.
@Spidericemidas There's a lot to like here: nice choice of sounds, lovely textures, great atmosphere, and also musically I really enjoyed all the different melodic content. Really great palette of sounds, presumably not all from Gadget (the guitar and the female voice for example are not sounds I've heard in Gadget, I assume they are imported samples).
It's really well arranged and produced, with some nice shifts in gear along the way to keep it interesting. The percussion feels really clear and punchy. So many well-crafted sounds. the only crit is that it's too long, it would really benefit from being trimmed a little so that it's more focused.
Great feedback, thanks very much. Tried to be more melodic this time, so thanks for spotting that! Yes I’m still struggling to keep the track lengths down. This is the shortest track I’ve managed to write yet, so I’m keeping it in mind and working towards shorter pieces each time ;-) The guitar came from Blocs Wave imported into Zurich. The vocals were from a Holly Drummond pack from Loopmasters chopped and imported into Bilbao. All other sounds from Gadget. A lot of my own sound design with Vancouver for pads and atmos. Thanks for listening!
This was awesome! Totally my kind of thing. Beautiful swirling sounds. Nice to have a live jam as a contribution here, and to see it being performed too! Thanks for listing the apps used. Great combination. Really enjoyed!
Good solid funky stuff. Love the bassline. I simply wouldn’t know how to deploy brass in any music I make, it’s such a distinct and upfront sound. So, big respect to you for knowing how to handle and implement brass sounds, it works really well.
Someone get a Circa '87 Madonna on this asap. Lol
Hey, I too love older sounds. I'm a sucker for any app that @brice makes preset for, although he's more John Carpenter than pop.
Anyway, really like this uptempo clean "piece" that you have made. Cheers.
That was badass man!! I really enjoyed it, some very nice sounds you’ve got playing there. Excellent jam session. 😄🎶👊🏻🎶
Man!! I loved that one too. I’ve gotta say I’m not usually into these gadget instrumentals...or instrumentals in general, but you and @ph8aerror absolutely crushed it! Great variety, lovely sounds and a great mix. Well done mate!🎶👊🏻🎶😄
Hey hey! Thanks very much, man, glad you enjoyed it. On instrumentals, I’m a big Ozrics fan, so I tend to be all instrumental, but also because I just can’t find enough suitable royalty free vocal samples. I’d really like to get more vocals going with my stuff for sure, I think vocals make a huge difference and really give focus to a piece. But in the meantime I try to compensate the lack of vocals with melodies and interesting varied sounds and atmos. 🙂👊👍
Ah man! Beautiful vocals and lovely lyrics. I’m not an expert by any means, but the mix sounds great to me, very clear and crisp. A really nice tight and compact song with a dreamy atmosphere. Awesome stuff, mate, really impressed. 😁👊👍
I enjoyed this. Without being derivative it put me in mind of the titles to The 4400. I like that you’re quite concise with your ideas and also the contrast between the vocal treatments.
I agree with those who said this could be a soundtrack, however I would not feel the need for other more tense harmonies. Instead, I would match it up with something along the lines of Twin Peaks and let the peaceful tranquility of the music juxtapose in the viewers’ minds with the slightly sinister and off kilter subject matter of the series.
Brave move, submitting a track for comment and calling it ‘I Prefer Silence’...
In spite of all the synths, there’s actually quite a cool mediaeval vibe going on here that makes the track more interesting. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it works.
Thank u v much. Didn’t think of that, probably subliminal thing 😉
Nice. You have the smooth and floaty thing nailed down. Highly professional sounding production.
Nice synth sounds, but a little too much relentless pounding for my taste. Perfectly representative of the stye I guess. At least you kept it developing...
@TheOriginalPaulB Thanks man I appreciate it
I’m not really into disco drumming, so I loved the way you introduced some swing around the 6 minute mark. As usual, you have good production ears...
Great lyric.
Fine bit of singing and melody writing. I like the wobbly instrumental passage, but I’m not sure it’s in keeping with the slightly vintage pop ballad style of the rest of it. Probably settles in on repeated listens though.
Competently done, just not my thing.
Hmmm, what can I say? Faust meets The Rolling Stones. I enjoyed the enthusiasm.
Not really to my taste, but I can imagine it pairing well with an arcade game.