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.
The Ipad sound module
Comming from mac and mainstage i recently found my way to ios for music making
So far the journey was great, and i had lots of fun..
But now its time for something bigger..
As a keyboardist, i want to change the ipad in a sound module..
Controlling it from my keyboards..
I want to be able to send bank and program changes to select sounds..
Where sounds are layers consisting of different apps and different efx (both audio and midi)
But also controlling sounds (routing) to other midi hardware in my live setup.
So far, i have been toying with AUM and Keystage..
Haven’t found a way for calling multiple AUM sets by program/bank changes..
But in keystage i found a way to call up songs(presets) in the setlist by sending program changes(no bank changes)
But that would leave me at a total of 128 preset songs..
i would also be able to switch sections trough midi..
Maybe... audiobus could help me out here... due to my late entry in the ios scene, i am not wellknown with audiobus
But then i might be on the wrong track and there might be other solutions more appropriate..
I hope to find some help here..
I am probably not the only one trying to archieve this..
Oh, and using the ipad to controll the keyboard is not the easiest option..
This would require a lot of research as there is huge amounts of sysex happening..
Comments
Changing sound presets using program changes is one thing, but how much loading time will be OK for you on stage? Combining several sound generators and effects will likely cause noticeable delays until you can start playing.
Maybe this would do it?
https://camelotpro.com
One other option is apeMatrix which can change sessions with program changes, sends and receives midi clock, has Link etc so is also super useful.
Coupled with Streambyter AU which can send program changes on load to hardware or other apps etc, this is a great option.
It doesn't have as many audio outs as AUM/AB. Currently 6 (or 8 if you include the 2 IAA outs). But I personally don't find that an issue and will use AUM or AB if I need more.
I'm hoping the that AUM gets midi PC support eventually as well (I'm guessing it's on the list)
That's a common complaint from keyboarders and according to what I've read on other forums most just stay away from the iPad's sound generators and only use it for sheet display and performance control by the apps mentioned above.
(which is strange for such a high sound quality at very affordable prices)
Part of this is natural because most IOS developers don't have a stage keyboarder background - and many others consider midi control an outdated obstacle.
Even if they fully jump on midi (like the Lemur and Alesis folks) they release software (and hardware) with buffers way too small to handle sysex properly... unbelievable.
Anyway - (not shure if it's sufficient for your specific needs) I'd forget about controlling an IOS setup from keys, but check out Audiobus remote to control your 'sound iPad' from a lesser (maybe 2nd hand) iPad mounted to your stage equipment.
It doesnt support auv3 effects (yet) also no IAA..
And no support for audiobus..
That leaves a lot to be wished for
If there was a trial version i would try it for sure
But i have a lot of wishes for apps,
I set myself on a tight budget (as that is thr reason i am trying to figure out if this is a payable a;ternative to my mac)
Just don’t want to spend to much budget just to try things
Seems they are however being serious about further development
You are certainly not alone! There are other threads here on the forums that explore some of the options available to you. Camelot is interesting and may eventually do what you are looking to do (without bugs, with AUfx, etc). I'm putting my money on AudioBus getting to the finish line first as the recent release gets close and Michael says he is readying more features. It is true that we will have some load time issues etc. I think these can be mitigated through a number of possible solutions. Some will come from the developers--Michael has hinted at "scenes" that would help. But performers will also need to be creative and realistic as iOS evolves. I personally have found that using a sampler like AudioLayer to make my live setup more streamlined has drastically improved performance and stability. Only you know how much time you have in your live set to load presets between songs, whether you need to swap a bunch of sounds in the middle of a song etc. That's the wildcard that makes it impossible for anyone here on the forum to predict accurately what will work for you.
Actually, i plan to be using mostly hardware sounds, and only use ipad sounds where the hardware lacks and does not provide.. thats some piano/dp/organ related... but mostly synth sounds.. even tough i have an ipad pro, its obvious that computing power is allways and will allways be a Limitation...
I haven’t even looked into this.. but probably preloading is a must.. the only reliable way to do this for live situations is a program with a setlist that supports this...
However in studio situations, loading times are not really an issue for me...
@Bachus, let me try to understand what you are trying to accomplish:
You have a midi keyboard which sends progmam change/bank select messages, and you want to assign any pair (prg,bank select) a set of layered sounds consists of selected sounds on ipad synths and hardware synths. Is that right?
Thats exactly what i want to do...
i am still here ..
I have a midi keyboard which sends progmam change/bank select messages, and i want to assign any pair (prg,bank select) a set of layered sounds and effects which consists of selected sounds on ipad synths and hardware synths(probably assigned trough bank and program changes maybe combined with instrument definition files for added comfort)
this would require a host That supports atleast AUv3.. it would turn the ipad in the most flexible sound module possible..
And i wanna be able to do this for 16 midi channels... the only program that can do this for me on my mac, is mainstage, but that supports only program changes for full patches, one patch at a time.
Still any advice is welcome...
Audiobus would be excellent for this purpose. Its midi learn IAP allows you to do all kinds of things in response to any midi message. You should be able to take those program change messages and have them do any number of things, including loading full Audiobus sessions (combinations of apps and settings) or for changing presets of individual apps that have been saved in Audiobus' preset system.
AUM can do these things too.
However, I don't think Bank Select is supported in either app. This would limit things to only 127 Program Change messages.
So, no bank select means they can’t do this..
Also what you can do with program changes in AUMis severely limited, and you can not load any new presets using this..
It doesn't mean you can't do it, it just means you're limited to 127 PC messages. But yes, you're right, that's a big limitation.
Yes, you can load presets, but you will need to save them in AUM's preset system for those synths that don't communicate their presets to AUM's preset system.
Same applies to Audiobus. Both will work. Just not with Bank Select.
To load an app preset in AUM: