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.
GarageBand iOS - Exporting Midi is Possible
I now believe it's possible to do this (unless everyone else already knew how to do it and I just couldn't find it).
Here's what's I've found so far:
Exporting midi from GB on iOS is something heard of lots of people wanting to do, including myself. So I ask, why should it be difficult? Why isn’t a feature?
But since it’s not a feature, why can’t we just reach in and take it for ourselves by force if we must?
I may be missing it but I haven't found the technique yet so I've started to crack things open just a bit. Here's what we can see inside...
...continued on a blog page so I could easily upload related files:
https://groundjuggling.wordpress.com/export-midi-from-ios-garage-band-projects
Comments
I use the RouteMidi plugin to get midi out from regular midi tracks in GB. It doesn’t work for the smart instruments or drummers or drum sequencer though.
It basically works on the piano/kb type of tracks. Works good for those.
I don't know much about the smart instruments other than to my ear, the violin sounds horrible and airy compared to apps like ThumbJam.
However, even if they don't rely on midi internally, I wonder if there could be some sort or mapping that could be useful (for the instruments that sound good).
@SevenSystems really has found a niche. Comparing many of the DAWs
Cubasis
GarageBand
Gadget
None of them export Midi!!!
WHY!!!!
Doesn’t Cubasis export MIDI? Are you sure?
Auria Pro does, the option is located in the Menu dialog.
If it does there’s no option in the share menu. So I’m afraid NOT!
Gadget can export midi
Cubasis can too
After creating the mixdown just share it.
Awesome sauce!
This app fucks up Garagebands internal timing... Try and use the Arpeggiator, ba-bow.
Just a FYI for anyone else thinking of buying it!
Just tried it.
What is ba-bow?
Seems to work fine for me, but I am just going by ear.
Haven’t looked closely for jitter and whatnot.
I can’t believe I didn’t see that midi button
My bad humour!
Hmm, I wonder why it messes up GB for me? A few other people have said the same thing.
It was changing 8th notes to triplets!
RouteMIDI plugin is useful. When using it with Gadget for example, midi timing while just playing/monitor is usable. But when you want to record Gadget IAA on an audio track, there will be some important offset and you will find that midi timing is also wrong. So here is the trick: record in real-time GB RouteMIDI output in Gadget sequencer with some quantize, then export to audio from Gadget and import in GarageBand for your mixdowns. Timing will be perfect. This plugin is useful when you want to sequence everything in GB.
Can Midiflow be used to export MIDI out of GB into Cubasis without using a computer? How? I don't see GB as in its lists. There are videos on Midiflow for Audiobus, etc but none on just Midiflow router app.
I've both RouteMIDI and Midiflow but couldn't figure out how to get MIDI out of GB into Cubasis. I tried RouteMIDI as AU in GB:
set BG Audio in both apps => On
GB > Use with Music Apps => On
GB > Send MIDI Clock => On
GB > added RouteMIDI as an AU track
GB > RouteMIDI > set MIDI Out to Cubasis
matched channels in both apps
played back the GB project
tapped Record in Cubasis
It records just empty events in Cubasis with no notes inside them. How did you export MIDI out of GB? There are no videos on how to use these apps.
It is working for me. You should hear Cubasis playing back the midi when GB is playing, even before you record.
Do you have midi data on the track in GB that has RouteMidi loaded on it? I usually record in GB with a piano/kb instrument track to get the midi. Then I make a new track with RouteMidi and copy the midi information to it. It will send that out to your other apps.
LOL, I was thinking it would export the entire project as a single track. I just copied the MIDI data to the RouteMIDI's track and it worked
Thanks!
@MobileMusic
Awesome.
You’re welcome.
I have just emailed the route midi dev about the GB timing issue. I am guessing if it hasn’t been fixed it can’t.
So I don’t really see the use of Route Midi if the timing is all out. #refundtime
It's fixed, at least the last few times I have used it.
This draft is from last year - posted now
Holy crap, Apple! They did it again!!
Since it doesn't work with Smart Instruments, Live Loops, Drummer, etc to export MIDI - I thought I was smart -
I went into the Piano Roll of a Smart Instrument
)
selected all MIDI notes and copied to clipboard
went into the Piano Roll of an empty region on the RouteMIDI AU track
and Pasted the MIDI notes !!!!! (not
WHERE IS THE PASTE OPTION, Apple??? Did they forget it? They are just MIDI data right - just notes and length - how does it matter if I want to paste them into any instrument's MIDI region using "Piano Roll"? If I just want to yank out the performance part of it (MIDI data), I could apply any instrument to the track but there is no Paste option in the Piano Roll.
This should work even with Drummer, etc - they are all just MIDI data - I should be able to copy/paste that data into any other track - it's just data, right? Paste option is available only for the same track's copied MIDI notes.
Yeah I found the same a year ago.
That’s why I specifically recommended using the piano/keyboard instrument to create the Midi data, and not a Smart Instrument.
It seems that only the piano in GB is using general Midi, and everything else uses some GB data format or Audio.
Sorry if I caused you any confusion.
It doesn’t seem like a proprietary data format but just that the Paste option is missing! They look like any other MIDI data - editable, drawable, deletable, copy-able but not paste-able across instruments
I tried Smart Instrument to Piano and Piano to Smart instrument - Paste option is missing either way even though it is allowing to copy data. Paste is possible only within the same instrument. This is dumb on Apple’s part. If I can copy paste data from one instrument into another, what is Apple going to lose? Maybe it would sound different based on target instrument (that’s how MIDI data works) but that’s my problem.
Nope, timing is still way off and state not saved.
Hmm, well I was able to get MIDI out of Garageband via MIDI clock sync to Xequence 2 with RouteMIDI a few weeks ago.
I do remember RouteMIDI breaking the timing in Garageband a few times back when I first bought it, but since I last uninstalled/reinstalled it's been fine.
Yeah, I totally agree with you here.
I was just giving Apple the benefit of the doubt, but it just as likely that they are just being weirdly restrictive.
To make it more confusing, most of the Smart Instruments can be selected as the sound presets on the Piano, and sound pretty much the same when played with Midi data.
Just tried again after reinstall, timing is way out.
I did a little testing as well.
I find that the main problem is everything is early when you record the audio back into GB, but even when you try to line up the audio with the original midi, there seems to be jitter in the timing in the recorded audio.
If you aren’t using any external Midi FX processing, but just playing an instrument in AUM and recording audio back into GB, you could just load the instrument directly in GB, copy the Midi to its track, and use the merge tracks function to freeze the instrument track.
Will test but it would be nice if the dev could fix the save state as well as some kind of offset.
For the smart instrument, all you need to do is always use the keyboard section, instead of the others for your instruments. All the sounds are there, so you can reuse the MIDI information if you create another keyboard layer.
This discussion made me really hopeful, because I tried this and read the definitive statement from a senior forum moderator or wotnot in 2014… https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6748545
Of course, they would be speaking of GB iOS itself. So I obtained this routemidi app, and pursued the business with some vigour. Not a peep. So I set about making sure my method worked…
Midiwrench was set up to run in the background, and watch GB for what midi was sent out…nothing except if the MIDI clock of GB was set to transmit out, it did. A ‘stop’ of the cursor line that sweeps along triggering note getting played inside of the GB song editor, was the only single other MIDI event that got listed.
I set about testing the method worked at all - trained midiwrench on Cubasis 3, and saw notes, modulation wheel settings, pitch bend etc, the whole nine yards spewed out perfectly.
Back to GarageBand iOS on my ipad pro 2 - nothing again except a wash of clock pulses.
I conclude, that Apple have shut this down. I am able to see MIDI data coming out of the GB app, but crucially, this happens whether or not Routemidi is installed or used. In other words, it’s as if Routemidi is only able to throw words up onto the AU image, from scanning for other apps. IE it does FIND Cubasis 3, like it found Midiwrench. But, neither of those apps could get anything from Routemidi.
Keen to hear differently, but my experience says no, this does not work and cannot be done as of 2021. Some pics would be useful, of your working setup, so I could make sure I am replicating exactly.
My best, keep safe.
irm/rg