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.

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Blue Mangoo Compressor.

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Comments

  • @McD said:
    The Blue Mangoo Parametric Equalizer is really good and the UI design on the iPhone is so good.
    No one mentions it. It's got a permanent home in my AUM guitar rig line up now.
    For $3 everyone should own it... I wonder if it exposes AU parameters so it could be a target for LFO
    manipulations using Mosaic or Rosetta MIDI FX.

    Wouldn't it be fun to see Blue Mangoo enter the scriptable app... maybe create a DSL for scripting Audio?
    How many programmers are there behind these tools?

    Blue Mangoo EQ would not modulate well because it uses a machine language optimised filter function in apple’s signal processing SDK to make it faster and lighter on the CPU. That filter function makes between 2 and 10 times faster (lighter on cpu usage) than it would be if we filtered using a filter designed to modulate nicely. But it’s not very smooth when changing the cutoff frequencies of the filters. So Blue MAngoo EQ works best for plain old EQing, not for modulated effects.

    Incidentally, yesterday we just spotted an error in the way it exposes parameters to the host app for modulation so please give us a few days to fix that before you try modulating it. When we get that fixed it will modulate and we have tried to make it as smooth as possible but FabFilter is much smoother.

  • McDMcD
    edited June 2019

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @McD said:
    The Blue Mangoo Parametric Equalizer is really good and the UI design on the iPhone is so good.
    No one mentions it. It's got a permanent home in my AUM guitar rig line up now.
    For $3 everyone should own it... I wonder if it exposes AU parameters so it could be a target for LFO
    manipulations using Mosaic or Rosetta MIDI FX.

    Wouldn't it be fun to see Blue Mangoo enter the scriptable app... maybe create a DSL for scripting Audio?
    How many programmers are there behind these tools?

    Blue Mangoo EQ would not modulate well because it uses a machine language optimised filter function in apple’s signal processing SDK to make it faster and lighter on the CPU. That filter function makes between 2 and 10 times faster (lighter on cpu usage) than it would be if we filtered using a filter designed to modulate nicely. But it’s not very smooth when changing the cutoff frequencies of the filters. So Blue MAngoo EQ works best for plain old EQing, not for modulated effects.

    It's an EQ where I change the UI controls and can hear huge changes in the character of the signal out.

    I tended to like Graphic EQ's because the analogy of the frequency sliders was so obvious versus most parametric EQ's that gave me a few buttons and targeted some frequency and a sloping tent around that frequency tent pole. I felt like I was not sure where to set the target and couldn't always hear the subtle changes by nudging the knobs.

    But this EQ shows me this graph and I can boost lows, mids or highs and create High Pass or Low Pass cutoffs in the curves and I hear immediate results: even on an iPhone which takes most AUv3 to new levels of confusion or pain in the derrière.

    Really a wonderful implementation. For LFO EQ effects I'll keep using the "Gee Whiz" FX like ApeFilter that use these DSP routines with programmable LFO's to rhythmically turn the controls creating Wah's and Washes.

    You don't charge enough for it (from a value prespective) but it's really priced to be in everyone's toolkit. It consumes very little resource doing it's precise "cosmetic surgery" frequency facelifts.

  • @Blue_Mangoo : I am working on a video demonstrating a few things with the compressor. I just want to say that I am really impressed at how well it works with the attack set to 0. I am taming a hi-hat loop where there is too much dynamic range (there is one hit every measure that is way too loud). I am able to have it reduce the gain on that hit without adversely affecting the transients.

    I tried this with a well-respected compressor that I generally love, and it struggled to do this so cleanly without messing with the hi-hat's attack.

    Re: the FabFilter EQ which you mentioned up-thread. A couple of great things about it (besides how transparent it is) are its EQ match feature where it will read an audio signal and profile it and then build EQ settings to match that profile when you loud in another signal. Also, its realtime spectroscopic display is very handy.

    About a year ago, I recorded a guitar part and there was some problematic hum. I was able to easily fine-tune the eq to reduce the hum to virtual inaudibility (in the mix) without adversely affecting the guitar tone. I tried another well-considered EQ and was not able to achieve the same results.

  • @espiegel123 said:
    Re: the FabFilter EQ which you mentioned up-thread.

    I keep hi-jacking this thread towards the EQ App but it keeps the thread on the front page so
    that's a good thing to help a developer out with a bigger launch.

    @espiegel123: Could you check out their Parametric Equalizer and weigh in on it's effectiveness for basic needs? I'll hope some of the Pro features get added to this product overtime to get more visibility as a must have for the "under $10 crowd". Yes. That's an IOS buying pattern.

    I do like the concept of an EQ that treats spectrum like Brusfri treats noise: feed it something
    you like and it makes a profile you could save. Then load those profiles and apply them to new input signals. Analogous to an Impulse Response for room reverbs.

    I'm hoping the boffins at Blue Mangoo will consider this some pretty trivial use case for their existing DSP routines.

  • @Blue_Mangoo Thank you very much for the update!
    Now it’s much easier to compensate the output gain thanks to the readout of the input and gain reduction values.
    Great compressor, I’m experimenting with it at the moment in a couple of projects I’m working on in Auria Pro. The results -to my ears- are pretty similar to the PSP compressor available on the AP channel strip, but the interface of your compressor is easier to use because of much larger and cleaner controls.

  • @tja said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @tja said:

    Would like to see this as spectral comparison in the time domain.

    The video I made was using Izotope RX6 on a Mac. RX6 has a free demo version that works fine for this.

    This page has the download link to the trial versions of RX7:
    https://www.izotope.com/en/support/product-downloads.html?tagFilter=products:product-family/rx

    You can record the compressed (or limited) sound in AUM and then airdrop it to Mac and open it in RX.

    I hate Macs and prefer Windows PC.
    But finally, I search something for iOS, as this is what I mostly use.

    There is

    SpectrumView by Oxford Wave Research Ltd.
    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spectrumview/id472662922?l=en

    Which is great, but requires a file for the analysis, or the mic.
    It cannot be used as filter in AudioBus or AUM.

    Example:

    So, this can show the time domain.
    Only looks different because my source is just a steady sinus from an Oscillator (piped through Rough Rider)

    How do you get a file into it?

    Did you end up finding aliasing in Audulus’ oscillator?

  • @espiegel123 Just by "Open In" from whatever source App.
    The problem is, that it is not dynamic, you need to create a file first.
    Also, those files get accumulated over time and you need to delete them again, in several places.

    I did test Audulus with a sine wave where the volume was modulated by an LFO.
    This resulted in stripes of aliases.
    But I don't know if this may be normal, when changing the volume - and I cannot compare to other Apps.

  • @tja said:
    @espiegel123 Just by "Open In" from whatever source App.
    The problem is, that it is not dynamic, you need to create a file first.
    Also, those files get accumulated over time and you need to delete them again, in several places.

    I did test Audulus with a sine wave where the volume was modulated by an LFO.
    This resulted in stripes of aliases.
    But I don't know if this may be normal, when changing the volume - and I cannot compare to other Apps.

    Thanks.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

    I didn't find it at all negative ... just clearly demonstrated the effects of various forms of compression - they add to the sound in ways we have become accustomed to.

    I think your video made it very clear that they can all have uses and applications ... depends what you're mimicking what colours and flavours you want to add. But unlike the usual copied analog models - yours is designed to be utterly transparent - a very different critter and I find it behaves very differently to the warm and fuzzy analog compressors I'm used to. It's brilliantly clear and works most delicately when coupled with a decent eq.

    So I actually found your video to be one of the most instructive and accessible explanations of a very complex and often misunderstood set of notions.

    You make very interesting and useful apps. And a decent video too. I think it's an excellent idea to explain what you're trying to achieve with a particular app.

  • @Soundscaper said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

    I didn't find it at all negative ... just clearly demonstrated the effects of various forms of compression - they add to the sound in ways we have become accustomed to.

    I think your video made it very clear that they can all have uses and applications ... depends what you're mimicking what colours and flavours you want to add. But unlike the usual copied analog models - yours is designed to be utterly transparent - a very different critter and I find it behaves very differently to the warm and fuzzy analog compressors I'm used to. It's brilliantly clear and works most delicately when coupled with a decent eq.

    So I actually found your video to be one of the most instructive and accessible explanations of a very complex and often misunderstood set of notions.

    You make very interesting and useful apps. And a decent video too. I think it's an excellent idea to explain what you're trying to achieve with a particular app.

    I think, this was already the mentioned second video.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @tja said:

    Would like to see this as spectral comparison in the time domain.

    The video I made was using Izotope RX6 on a Mac. RX6 has a free demo version that works fine for this.

    This page has the download link to the trial versions of RX7:
    https://www.izotope.com/en/support/product-downloads.html?tagFilter=products:product-family/rx

    You can record the compressed (or limited) sound in AUM and then airdrop it to Mac and open it in RX.

    What settings did you use in izotope for the spectrogram? Thanks!

  • I really like this compressor. It is super transparent and doesn’t have extraneous controls and distractions. I’ve posted a quick look at it

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @tja said:

    Would like to see this as spectral comparison in the time domain.

    The video I made was using Izotope RX6 on a Mac. RX6 has a free demo version that works fine for this.

    This page has the download link to the trial versions of RX7:
    https://www.izotope.com/en/support/product-downloads.html?tagFilter=products:product-family/rx

    You can record the compressed (or limited) sound in AUM and then airdrop it to Mac and open it in RX.

    What settings did you use in izotope for the spectrogram? Thanks!

    Just the default settings. For some reason I had to zoom in and the zoom back out again on each file to kick the automatic FFT length setting to something that gave me a smoother appearance.

  • Hmmm...
    Looking closely on one of the more recent videos from @Blue_Mangoo I noticed a AUv3 called 'Gain Stage' which is not out yet?

    Could this be the gain related channel strip we've been waiting for?

  • I spent all morning reading this thread,
    and all I got to show for it is a fat headache.
    :D

    Really tho, thanks for the great, informative discussion.
    And especially for the comparison video demos.
    :)

  • that could be very useful. i hope it is> @Samu said:

    Hmmm...
    Looking closely on one of the more recent videos from @Blue_Mangoo I noticed a AUv3 called 'Gain Stage' which is not out yet?

    Could this be the gain related channel strip we've been waiting for?

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