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.
How much have you spent on apps so far? If you could start over what 10 apps are essential to you?
I plan on jumping in with the new Pro soon, spending all that money on the pro I want to keep my app funds under 200$. Hopefully with deals coming up I can get some good ones
So far I'm thinking
Sampletank
Bias
Cubasis
Korg Gadget
Roland Soundcanvas
Can these all work together?"
I'm not sure what else is there, I want to create projects in cubasis. My favorite synths are Trance / Old synths like korgs and rolands, then instrumental stuff like romplers. Any suggestions on stuff that I'll need and that works together with the daw ?
Comments
Sampletank gets a lot of flack, maybe BeatHawk instead. At least try to get some feedback on Sampletank from other forum peeps.
BS 16 might be good for you. It is a soundfont player.
ThumbJam has great solo instruments, and it works really well with Midi input.
Be sure to check out the AudioKit synths. 2 are free, the latest is $5 I believe.
Also, if you get Cubasis, remember it comes with a pretty big assortment of sampled instruments, and a great synth with tons of presets.
GarageBand is another great source for instruments and synths. Free as well. Doesn’t play well with others, but it can be made to work.
Also, around the end of this month there is usually a lot of sales for apps. No guarantee it will happen again this year, but if you are in no hurry, I suggest waiting a week or so. It usually coincides with American Thanksgiving weekend which starts on Nov. 22 this year.
For any suggestions, you have to consider what you like personally. Every app has its fan base on here, but you might not necessarily want to get everything out there. Check out YouTube demos when you can. Then you will know if an app is really what you want or not.
I don't want to know how much I've spent
I think I'd urge you to try all the DAWs available, or at least look into them and read the threads here about them, and see if you can find one that suits you, with a non-DAW alternative being AUM/Xequencer. THEN you can decide where to put your money, as not everything works with everything else. Oh, don't forget GR16 and Electribe Wave as well, for groovebox direction as DAW alternative.
I love Gadget, though I'm a little burnt on it after making several songs (I have quite a bit of money into it) - it's a very limited, walled garden. Beautiful garden. But limited, for sure. You can easily sink $200 into Gadget alone. And some of the ROMplers can easily suck up $50-$100.
Also, will you be "finishing" the music on the iPad or just making music? Because effects and other things that make that process easier will also cost $$.
If you want a good analogue modeled synth then zeeon is great. Both poly and mono.
Wait for NanoStudio 2.....that‘s it!
Oh and i think i have spend over a grand for apps but maybe use not even 10 now.
Start with SunVox.
It might be all you need.
If it isn’t, then start buying some more.
From what you’ve said, Gadget will tick most boxes, and then a DAW to record into. Don’t forget to budget for essentials such as Audioshare though.
Knowing what I know today my 'trinity' is still holding up quite well...
Cubasis+IAPs, Gadget+IAPs & Support Apps, BM3 and a bunch of AUv3's.
Files from all those 3 apps can be accessed using FIles.app under iOS11&12 making bi-directional file-transfer easy.
For web-downloads and general file-management the free Documents from Readle is hard to beat.
+1 honestly
Well over 1k , though I try not to keep track. If I could start over, I'd probably buy most of them again as I'd miss having so many great options. It's endless source of enjoyment and inspiration for me.
If I were forced to limit it to the apps I go back to the most:
AUM, Gadget, Egoist, Grooverider, Electribe Wave, Cubasis 2 (Though, stagelight will likely be my goto DAW for the foreseeable future)
Elastic Drums, Korg iWavestation, FAC & Audio Damage effects
That's a bit over 10, so I'd probably take Grooverider over Electribe, though they're both great. FAC effects bundle + Elastic FX to narrow down the # of effects.
Like all recovering addicts, I’ll recommend that you buy just one app at a time and learn it well before acquiring another. Cubasis is a good example. Knuckle down and become Cubasis ultimate master and you can do it all. It’s full of sounds and effects, has a nice sampler and a decent synth onboard and you can make pretty much anything with it. Demystify all of its knobs and functions. The same goes for pretty much all of the iOS DAWs. It’s down to personal taste which one clicks with you. Or ones. People work in so very many different ways.
SunVox really is excellent, and it would make my top 10 for sure. Samplr and Patterning (now Patterning 2) make my heart sing. I can’t recommend the Sound Canvas app though. It’s not the sounds (I like the sounds), it’s the implementation. There are some SC-55 soundfonts floating around these internets, which would likely serve you better.
You app list seems dated:
Sampletank (only 8 midi in's and no AUv3 support)
* BeatHawk, BS-16i with extra SF2's, AudioLayer (after importing which is trivial if you have a Mac and Mainstage)
Bias
* holding up well, I prefer ToneStack and spent a ton on every IAP
Cubasis
* StageLight is free and cheap to unlock (also on Mac, Windows)
Korg Gadget
* walled garden but you can live there or find ways to use portholes with IAA support
Roland Soundcanvas
* OK. 1990 rompler sounds. Persoannly still love the DOH vocal but everything else?
You MUST look into AUM, AB3 and apeMatrix to (virtually) cable anything together and hit "Play". To maximize this approach buy AUv3 supported Apps 1st and IAA when you have to get that sound. AUM, apeMatrix can record any session and play that recording back while you play along or record another session to build a project as a series of performances.
If MIDI is your thing get Xequence. It can drive any think that takes MIDI in like SamplTank, Gadget, SunVox (which is a maze of wonders and runs on everything including the Rasperry Pi).
The developer of Xequence lives here and is more like a forum member than a developer.
Save budget for Effects! Reverb, Filtering... so many excellent products in this space. Buy the top one in each category that has AUv3. Some are multi-effects but AUM, etc can do that too.
I added 3 effects to the synth I regret buying and made a sound that's so good. I hated the "Tines" electric piano app for sounding too thin but with Effects I like it more than the heavy Neo Soul Keys Studio and saving CPU resources is the key to building large projects.
I'd buy a few apps on Black Friday and learn them well. Save budget to fill holes and remember you can get refunds from Apple.
You can’t get refunds just because you didn’t like a thing or it didn’t match the furniture, etc. Refunds are to be used very rarely and with good reason – the app is demonstrably deficient compared to what it claims to do, etc.
Too much to count.
Probably in the four figures to be honest for music apps alone. If I started over today, my essential music apps would be as follows (not in any order)...
-Nanostudio 2 once it's released (and the IAPs).
-Gadget and Gadget-Compatible apps
-Auria Pro and the Fabfilter Plugin IAPs
-Auxy
-Most of Klevgrand (including Wizibel, just not the synths nor anything that isn't AU)
-Anything FAC
-Pro-Q2 AU
-Synthmaster One
-Audioshare
-Audiobus 3
-AUM
Yeah that's more than 10, but it's what I'd consider essential in my toolbox. Also, Art Set 4 for album covers, ProCreate for content to put in Core Animator for lyric videos, and Lumafusion to tie it all together.
Elastic drums is btw the drummachine and groovebox in 1 for me and do the iap of the sampler.
And follow the advice of app-addicts here just buy one app and master it before you buy new stuff.
For me iOS touch apps are about fun and intuitvity, bought all the iOS DAWs but hardly used them because Ableton is for me so much quicker in workflow/
Probably getting close to $1000 range. Last BlackFriday was my first one for iOS and spent about $400 getting almost everything I wanted and that’s at about 50 percent off for most sales.
I feel DAWs/sequencers you have to try them all on iOS and pick your poison. They are so cheap compared to desktop it’s good to have a few options that do certain things better in ways. Then it just comes down to stability and the user interface for me.
I admit I have more than a few apps I have never even used once after purchase
My most used apps as 2018 comes to a end are
Korg Gadget with module and IAPs
Auria Pro with Fabfilters
Audiobus3
Xequence
Aum
AudioShare
Zeeon
Moog model d
Ik Syntronik deluxe
Beathawk with IAPs
I'm offended by this question
I have no idea how much I've spent and kinda don't want to know. Good thing Christmas and birthday often yield iTunes gift cards.
Apps I must have:
Gadget and (most) IAPs
AUM
Audioshare
KQ Dixie
Everything Bram Bos (I know I'm cheating here)
Everything Ice Gear (whoops! cheating again)
Pro Q2 AU
I'll just leave it there, what with the cheating.
You could just buy Gadget to start with. You might like it (many people do) and buy nothing else until you need something in a song that Gadget can’t do. You may find that day never comes. Depends a bit on the type of music you want to make and how you like to work.
The problem / advantage with the other route- hooking different apps together as AUs and inside DAWs etc etc is that it can get very time consuming and distracting dealing with all the hooking and trouble shooting and freezing and unfreezing etc etc. And it can also get expensive and distracting as you buy more and more apps. But of course this gives you many more options. But that’s not always a good thing.
The advantage of buying Gadget first and really getting into it before you buy anything else, is that even if you end up going the multi-app route in the end, Gadget’s a great tool for that kind of workflow too.
Just don’t ask me how much money I’ve spent on apps... many of us don’t like to think about it
Oh and if you go the Gadget route, I’d recommend maybe Module and some of it’s ‘real instrument’ packs (based on what you say above about wanting real instruments), and maybe Mono Poly as a beefed up Gadget compatible synth. Maybe also Bilbao if you like triggering drum samples etc. You really don’t need any of the other Gadget extra synths either to be honest. Certainly not to start with.
Audioshare is pretty much essential if you want to manage audio files / samples.
Good to know. I rarely use it but appreciated the refund(s) when the app didn't live up to expectations. Some refunds were refused.
Very good suggestions.
I would add AB3, AUM, and Audioshare.
They are like air and water AND air and water.
Audiobus
Loopy
Korg gadget
Audioshare
Elastic drums
Turnado
Groovebox
Egoist
Seekbeats
Replicant 2
...and Nanostudio 2 next month 😀
I've done a similar experiment. I wiped my ipad, and started over. This was my initial list for re-installs:
That was how I started my re-install. I also added AUM, Midiflow (old one, +IAP's) and later re-added a fully speced Gadget (just in case, and great for hammering out ideas, and it includes lots of other apps for IAP's), BM3, the Moog synths (because, well, Moog...) etc, all the way down to "helper apps" like Senode, Quantum, a bunch of effects etc.
My point is, making that initial plan made me prioritise how/when I create music, what my first options should be, which has been really quite helpful in locking things down (which actually increase my creativity instead of the opposite).
Soon I'll probably be back to having "it all" installed again. This time around though I have to plan to start new songs from, even though I allow myself to deviate from that plan if it moves the song forward.
You could save yourself a lot of money by spending your time learning and creating music with a single DAW or music studio type app first, then adding pieces you know you need. I think anyone who is asking themselves the questions, what do I need? and what works with what? is at a stage where learning and doing is going to take them much farther and faster than buying apps. You can overwhelm yourself with possibilities so easily, and once you've exhausted your budget, there's still going to be new stuff you'll want to get.
I know many of us fell into the trap of liking everything we saw and ending up with scores of apps we don't use because they turned out to not be that useful for the music we make or, similar enough to other apps, to be redundant. I'm not saying it wasn't fun to play with all these inexpensive variations, but if you're on a tight budget, it's best to go slow, watch videos and read user manuals before you buy. I could list a hundred cool iOS music-making apps, but can't possibly know which ones are essential or even useful to you.
Auria with all IAPs, AudioBus, Hokusai, DPP and Garageband are the iOS music essentials for me. Of course I have many, many more apps.
I enjoy trying out new apps and see them as I would a collection of books or records. Figuring out what I prefer, exploring, accumulating knowledge about music theory, and sound design would never have happened without affordable access to apps. In the past I spent thousands on PC based software and hardware that were rarely used. I use iOS daily. As iOS continues to mature my purchases will be informed by those countless hours spent learning and playing those apps. Even if iOS should reach a point where it no longer meets my needs, I will value the opportunities I was given on the platform.
My app budget is counterbalanced by deductions from my entertainment/dining out budget. It’s simple to keep in check as long as I don’t go on a binge on either. Didn’t go out for lunch this week, got Auria Pro on sale, could still order some takeout this weekend or get a couple filters and raid the fridge.
If I could turn back time I’d have gotten an iPad about 8 years ago, loaded it with Nanostudio, Audiobus 2, AudioShare, and HarmonicDog MultiTrackDAW and never updated that device after iOS 9 or so. Those are my desert island apps.
After this December my essentials could be Nanostudio 2, AudioShare, Audiobus 3, Brusfri, and HarmonicDog MultiTrackDAW...maybe Group The Loop.
I’ve spent a lot more on hardware than on apps. If I could start over, I’d still mainly stick to hardware & Ableton on a Mac, but keep a few essential apps on my iPhone for when inspiration hits away from the studio.
AudioShare + all AUFX
Grand Finale
Audio Evolution + all Toneboosters FX
Poison-202
Groovebox
Stagelight
Caustic
BassLine
iShred
Transient
Perforator
Replicant 2
I've spent way too much on a lot I don't use. If I could start from scratch my 10 would be:
Animoog
Model 15
M3000HD
Rozeta
FM Player
Spacecraft
FLUX:FX
iVCS3
PPG infinite
Beatmaker 3
But I personally think it's best to start with just Garageband and explore every part of it. No crashes, no frustration.