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.
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Okay in preparation for this change I've created a soundfont discussion page. If you guys have come across any you particularly like feel free to post them there!
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tonalityforum/soundfonts-f11/
seems to be on sale atm, 4,49 € (here) or $3,99 .. grabbed
Yup on sale until Sunday! The update with ear training and more should be out after that.
Hi @Tonality, recently picked up the app and really like what you’ve made! The pace you’ve been adding features is remarkable; in fact it was partly that that inspired me to buy this.
So, I feel a bit like an ungrateful child, but I do have a request: the Chord Identification AU is great, but it would be fantastic to have a Scale Identification AU as well!
I could see this as having two modes:
Cumulative - here every note added whittles down the scale options; best for when you have a melody and want to figure what you’re playing in. A reset button would clear the buffer.
Immediate - here you play a chord and while the chord is held you see the scales that chord belongs to. Useful for when you have the harmony, but want to figure what to play on top. A lock button, like in the Chord Identification AU would be useful.
That said, I do think the Scale section of the app could be tweaked a little.
For example, if I select C, D, E, F, G, Ab, B, the top result is “A Melodic Minor”. While those notes are technically in that scale considering the ascending and descending lines, the one note that I didn’t select was A, so it seems odd that would be the top result (you would typically know your tonic as the starting point when trying to figure out a scale)
These notes are exactly the C Harmonic Major scale, but that result doesn’t show up.
If I select C, E, G, Ab I see C Melodic Major, but no C Augmented scale. Other, more esoteric scales like Prometheus, Neopolitan, etc. also seem to be missing.
Finally, it would be useful to be able to tailor the results. While I understand the theory of why you might refer to C Major as B# Major, that's based on the context of the whole piece that isn't in the scope of this app. Personally, I would rather forgo that technical accuracy for a more streamlined result list.
Also, I would love to block Chromatic results; everything you play is part of a chromatic scale, so I don't need that result! And the subtleties of C Chromatic vs F Chromatic are too subtle for me!
Thanks again for this app. Your hard work is greatly appreciated.
@aplourde good spot, looks like the Harmonic major scale is not in the library. Maybe just have one chromatic scale shown rather than all of them when searching under any key signature. Choosing a specific key signature when searching gives chromatic result which works ok.
Thank you for the useful feedback! A scale AU would be extremely cool – I’ll add it to my feature list.
As far as the scale section:
I’m working on making the scale results better match the bottom note of the keys entered in the keyboard – for now however if you select the desired root note (C in your example) the results will be filtered in this way as well and your desired result will show (once I add the harmonic major that is - you can also add that as a custom scale until I do). More esoteric scales are definitely coming in future updates.
So-called “theoretical” keys like B# can be blocked from the settings. I completely understand this problem (the fact that other apps don’t is actually what made me start this app in the first place) and have tried very hard to make this option work well. Additionally, if you click on something like B# Major it will display a warning icon in the top right, which when clicked will give you more options (turning it off forever, viewing its enharmonic equivalent, etc.). Let me know if this is what you wanted!
Good idea with the chromatic scales - I’ll add that as a setting.
That would be amazing thank you!
Great! Somehow I missed that you can add your own scales, that solves my immediate ask, but it will be great when it's in the box.
Ok, here's a wacky idea: maybe when the Scale AU comes out it could keep a count of the notes coming in as well as what the lowest notes are. Then it could order the results based on some weighting of most frequent, lowest notes assuming those to be the tonic. No idea if it would really work, but could be interesting....
Completely missed that setting! You're one step ahead!
Yes, that solves that issue for me.
Great! Thanks again!
That’s basically what the grand staff AU does! Great idea.
@TonalityApp
So quick bug report and a question:
In the standalone version, if I select the (e.g.) B# Major and then select the red exclamation mark, I have the option to "Help! Get rid of this pesky theoretical nonsense..." This takes me to settings and automatically turns the setting off. Or rather, it appears to turn it off. B# Major is still there. I have to manually toggle the setting to actually make it go away.
In the AU version I don't see at setting for turning this off. If I select (e.g.) B# Major I see the red exclamation mark, but there's no option for "Help! Get rid of this pesky theoretical nonsense..."
Is there a way to turn this off in the AU?
Thanks again!
Thanks for letting me know. The setting takes a bit to refresh everything after it is automatically set (so even if you don’t manually turn it off restarting the app should fix it) but I’ll work on making it instantaneous.
There is currently no way to do this in the AU as I haven’t decided whether to share preferences across all the AUs and the main app or not (which Apple makes way harder than it should be), but I’m definitely working on it!
Please do consider this! Using the AU is the primary way I'd like to interface with this app. Correct me if I'm wrong but the standalone doesn't have MIDI, right?
This also plays into custom chords and scales - right now they only live in the standalone app
Definitely. Once I can figure out a robust solution I’ll release it.
Just so you all know – classes will start soon after I release this next update. I’ll definitely still respond to requests and provide updates but not at quite the speed I have been up to now.
This forum is chock-full of friendly developers, many of whom have had to deal with this silly issue. Reaching out here or on the Dev forum might provide solutions and/or pitfalls to avoid to help your efforts.
Thanks again for your work!
Good idea! I'll definitely consult the dev forum when I get around to this.
I've just added the scales you requested and made it so that chromatic scales don't clutter the search. This will be available in the next update!
Version 4.0 is out now! It features ear training, a musical terms dictionary, improvements to the circle of fifths, and more.
👍
Ace!
Quick note about iOS 12.4:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tonalityforum/ios-12-4-t7.html
Well, it looks like ios 12.4 wont be around long due to the hack. Maybe wait for 12.4.1 which must be out pretty soon.
True. Just wanted to let everyone know.
Can someone try the sustain pedal on AU chord identification please. Its not working for me but i’m on iospad. It was working on earlier builds of tonality.
About to push a beta with the fix. Let me know how it works.
Can Tonality analyse a song, work out the chords, then throw out a basic chord sheet? If not...please?
great thanks :-)
Definitely something I’m working on. It’s just difficult to do well so I don’t want to release anything until I’m satisfied.
@TonalityApp i just got this app. and it’s already my go to theory app when writing music. one question. can it analyze a song and find its scale, and or mode?
Another thing I’m working on! As I told @Fitz I just want to make all of these features as robust as possible before releasing them.
That’s fair enough. Thanks for the reply. If you’re still looking for beta testers let me know.
Yeah if you’re interested just send your Apple ID email to [email protected]. The transcription features aren’t even ready for beta testing yet, but you’ll be notified when they are.
Guitar/Uke chord charts (with customizable string tunings) coming soon!