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
It seems people keep talking about the sound quality of the RC202, is there a quality difference in the RC505?
What about the RC30xl or the RC300? Does the floor models have better sound quality? Ditto x4?
I have never used any so just wondering.
One more thought, regardless if you are using hardware, software, etc. something can always break. I mean if you have a guitar, you could break a string on-stage. Not as likely to happen but it could.
That being said, whether you end up with hardware looper, software looper or a combination, test out your setup and know something could always go wrong.
I know some people hate on Mainstage and but I have done several worship sets that lasted a few hours with mainstage. Never missed a beat and I was switching through all sorts of patches with kontakt instruments and other plugins. I would trust it. The main thing is finding the quirks and limitations of your setup and not trying to push the limits live.
Ya know they both actually sound fairly shit, all the boss loopers do. It’s the only bad thing about the lineup. Live performance you can’t tell and it sounds fine, but you’ll know at home.
RE: stability, I’ve pulled off a live set with Quantiloop even screen switching to play other apps and it never went down on me. I wouldnt want to use BM3 live but, knock on wood, Quantiloop has NEVER crashed on me. Neither has the RC202
It's not the worst, Like Gaia Tree said... Nobody is going to care live but it could be better.
Mainstage is solid for live work.
Things can always go wrong in a live scenario sure. iOS is usually stable too, but it's screwed me before when I've put too much faith in it. Good to have a plan B anyway.
A lot of trouble on stage happens through inexperience of the user. At least this is what I found in my case.
We generally talk about the software as the culprit but often it is the hardware that is to blame even when it comes to iOS. I’ve had many times the whole session collapse because the usb cable on the interface would get pulled at the wrong angle and stop supplying power to controllers and bang, I’m blind and back to emergency screen operation and of course the song has stopped obruptly and everyone involved is looking at you like WTF?
Anyway:
Good quality and right length of cables
Cables not just hanging off the usb socket at the interface but actually jammed or strapped in some way (Velcro, bluetac). USB sockets were designed for offices and not rough and tumble of a stage.
Anyone who knows me knows that I like self contained, made to measure DIY plywood boxes. Currently I can easily set up in about the same time as someone would a hardware looper. Especially now with midi session launch in AB3.
Another one is stage lights or outdoors light affecting the visibility of the screen. So sort your angles out, find shade.
...and lastly,
The Audio/Midi interface. Unless you’ve put 100s of hours into your rig you are doubling chances of on stage failiure. (My own science
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I think in general it is really hard to beat a bunch of humans playing dedicated instruments but even there you need plan B’s to make it look like it was supposed to sound like that to the untrained ear of the audience. The drummer’s snare stand’s collapsed we go straight into a quiet bit and somebody takes a solo etc. The vocalist is late, you start with a couple of instrumentals. The bassist doesn’t show up, you’re fucked!
Unless you are in Broadway, we’re big money and proven systems and professional crews are involved the stage craft is a risky business, period. Even then shit happens.
WTF, from loopers comparison to broadway. I think I need a coffee.
Digitech Trio+ is the solution once again lol
I hear ya with IOS being “mentally draining and a source of constant troubleshooting”. It’s just so damn frustrating because the apps are so cheap and so BRILLIANT that we are all trying to find a way to make them work for us. It’s good to hear it’s not just me who is struggling with this......
Great question! Thanks for posting. I too have the same dilema except mine involves ableton live as well.....
Ableton?
Have u tried quantiloop or group the loop? They have pre-and post loop fx!
I do think you could do very similar stuff with loopy and a dedicated midi controller, with a foot switch. The midi implementation of loopy is really impressive, and it slaves like a dream. Michael is a good programmer. There’s lots of cool shit you can do with iOS effects and loopy, because you can send each loop out separately to audiobus, or AUM.
....don’t forget you also need an audio interface, desktop controller, foot controller.....and iPad upgrade if you have an Air 1 like me.....another £800 quid altogether!
Loopy doesn’t multiloop like quantiloop and group the loop.....does it? Could I have multiple instances of Loopy HD with AUDIOBUS 3? Now there’s an idea.....
Which of these are missing on QUANTILOOP and GROUP THE LOOP plus foot pedal?
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Not even on quantiloop or Group the loop??
Torn between this and Group the loop wadday think? I wanna do multi section looping using different apps for FX and synths. Oh and controll it with an Alesis Vortex 2 wireless keytar!!! Keytar nit playing nice with Sunrizer synth which is a bit of a bummer
Able what? Sorry, never heard of that one.
Ha! Tried it with an APC mini keys 25 recently! Fab little thing but too many button pushes for live use, not enough keys and bad velocity response. Need a foot xontroller and n the APC40 badass!!
I'm staying true to ios. I'm heavily invested and kinda like it. I have a macbook pro with Live on it but hardly use it, trying to stay focused on one thing.
I did check APC keys but those buttons are tiny and shed loads of them, not enough knobs though and that was the deal breaker. I'm using nanokontrol 1 for effects and synths but have nanopad with its drumpads for triggering loops. I never have more than 6 loops going in one session with circuit and Samplr doing their bits it gets kinda busy.
I can vouch for the 202. I don’t use mine often enough (pangs of guilt every time I look at it). It’s super sturdy and sounds more than good enough for a performance instrument. And it’s a fun hands-on tool.
I'm always interested by this. In my experience, if I keep it simple and rehearse it sufficiently, iOS is rock solid for me. I do get the point that multi app complexity and endless tinkering could create issues.
@supadom point about the interface is really more key to me. You have to be really attentive there because it can become a single point of failure. Go rugged and secure it!
Does anybody own an APC, mini APC or launch control xl? So what about the button sizes? Are they big enough to not have to fumble around?
Thinking about another controller maybe for controlling loopy and quantiloop.
Might get the MPD226, it does have 4 banks of pads and 3 banks of knobs and faders.
Damn apps being so good.
After playing around with this 202 sync'd to MIDI Clock I will say Quantiloop handles that better.
Still Flux:FX does what none of these loopers can do... Play back 4 bars of material without having to press/tap anything to start recording, it just records constantly so you can recall your phrase whenever you want rather than having to hit a button with one hand to start recording a loop while you play with the other hand.
That’s a pretty cool function. I got a refund for Flux because it was horrendously crackly even just with an audio input, but maybe that has changed??
I’m pretty stoked on iOS stability lately since switching to the 6th gen 128gb, me and my wife just had a good long beatboxing and a cappella jam session in Quantiloop and then in AUM and had no crackles and no crashes. Then I pulled out my 202 right after, to see if it was time to let it go, and nope, gotta keep both!
My previous pro/con list still stands. The 202 sounds a bit harsh on my new Minirig 3 (which is a FAB speaker btw) and it’s muffled compared to my iOS setup but it’s infinitely more inspiring to come up with new funky loops and fast changes with. And so it is.
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All the RC Loopers have, objectively, “bad” sound by modern standards. 16 bit, yadda,yadda... But honestly, in 99% of the live situations you’ll realistically encounter (shitty PA, board, speakers, etc) the RC will most likely not be the weakest link.
If you’re looking for the best sound quality, it’s the Pigtronix Infinity.
Ditto X4 is crap. Unreliable crap. I just gave it another try. Upgraded to latest firmware that was supposed to fix midi sync and other issues. Still sucks. Could not maintain loop sync with my TR8S, etc. Believe all the negative forum posts you read about it.
@MonkeyDrummer thanks for the info. yea that ol' 16-bit, horrible sounding stuff that has been making our ears bleed for decades. I don't want to get into a fidelity battle but I am sure most people would not hear much of a sound difference in a live venue.
that is good to know about the Ditto looper. After reading this tread, I am leaning towards finding the perfect midi controller to accompany my iPad for live looping. I am really leaning towards the MPD226 and quantiloop
or Loopy and an akai apc or launch control or novation zero sl if I can find a used one.
@gmslayton I’m gonna be getting the Launch Control XL to control
Quantiloop. It’ll be great to have 8 knobs for Turnado and volume sliders for every track, plus extra knobs for whatever else I need.
I don't think I'll keep the 202. It's a fun toy but I have a better time with Quantiloop for what it does. Lesson learned, appreciate what we have in apps more!
Understandable. For me it’s best to have both but if I wasn’t strictly beatbox a capella it’d be a different story
I had a similar crisis recently, and I solved it with the Octatrack. I too was fed up with the fragility of iOS when trying to hook stuff up together. I haven’t learned the OT yet — it still confuses me sometimes, but for live looping and mangling I love it. I’ve also found it great for composing, which surprised me.
The iPad is a now used for providing loops and sounds to the OT, although I mostly play guitar into it. And with the latest MIDI clock additions to AudioBus, the OT and the iPad are a flawless match. Recording a groove from Patterning or BlocsWave into the OT is as perfectly synced as recording into AUM.
One thing worth mentioning is the hardware vs. software. For me, hardware is generally nicer to use in the generative phase — playing, jamming, improvising, etc. — because it is more single-minded, and has knobs and switches designed for a specific purpose, you can forget the hardware and just focus on creating music. Even an iPad with a midi controller brings too much cognitive load.
When it comes to editing, I prefer software. It’s way more flexible, and the iPad’s Touch-Screen is a lot faster. Renaming files on the OT is like inputting your high score name on an arcade machine from the 1970s. In this case, it’s the hardware that gets in the way of the creative process.
Ideally you can use both. It’s a pain getting audio off the OT into an iOS DAW, but that’s the cost of an otherwise incredible setup.
There is a third path in the form of hiring someone to do these task for you and keep yourself just playing. Lots of educated musicians who don't know nothing about DAW recording get ready more material than usual all-in-one craftman musician (like us).
Maybe it's more expensive than buy the gear and do it by ourselves but when we add learning the task (like trying to live looping in iOS) then price skyrocket itself in effort/hour expend (and I'm not taking in consideration frustration or boring factor which also goes against creativity sometimes)
These days, though, the tools are a part of the creative process. If you’re a guitarist, or other musician, and you just want to record the verse-chorus-verse songs you wrote, then hiring an engineer is probably cost effective, and certainly a great way to get a good result.
But for me, the tools are another instrument. A looper is another instrument, for sure. The Octatrack is, too. And even the recording process, and the subsequent arrangement in a DAW is just another part of creating the song.
Now, if you are lucky enough to find a producer that you can partner with, then that seems like an ideal situation. That way, your studio engineer is another member of the band.
One more point since I had a live emulation session last night:
BIG (glowing) BUTTONS!
This is a massive pro when it comes to rc 500. Also because sometimes the audience want to see what you're doing.
Nanopad just about cuts it... Barely
Yup but I was talking also about cutting costs hiring someone. It could seem more expensive but when you consider hire instead buy (also applicable for gear) then numbers become different dimension.
Most of the time what makes the difference between being pro or stay amateur is trying to buy/handle all the gear before starting doing music but reality works opposite... first we have the music (or skill training) and later we search for resources to make it happen.
In addition is this falls over perfectionism (also usual in artists) then we have starving people dreaming (wishful thinking) and searching for the perfect tool which in essence is any tool that let you do your actual job not the tool that avoids you to do the job.
Things should be easier and probably are but we don't let ourselves get them ready since it requires reflection, analysis and responsibility. Obviously not talking again about you @mistercharlie, just a self-reflection of my own locks over the years often reflected in so many posts at AB forums (and others).
Said that, as artists, we need to pursue new boundaries and break some standards to bring improvement from our disappointment but if it gets to high (stress and deception) I will love to point that another easy way to maybe help others in their struggles.
The most valuable asset we have isn't money, it's time. Nobody can buy from iUniverse store an extra living hour every day but you can pay other an hour for do the task you can't or don't want to and keep focusing in your goal (or joy).