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
So this is like an old school midi sequencer like Atari ST Cubase or Creator, and with AUM (for example) standing in for the old hardware studio then? Like we used to do in the 90s, just on an iPad?
Yes this threw me off when I was moving files. I guess when I’m done I will get rid of Xequence Ver 1
@SevenSystems will you have a name change for this in some future update? Xequence2 or something?
It overlays one take on the other. With Xequence you would simply hit the + button on the track as many times as you need to, then drag clips down onto those tracks. You can also select all and hit “join” to merge them into one take.
This is if you’re recording in the timeline view, with loop enabled. If you’re inside a clip, it adds new notes into the clip like Atom does.
Actually, recorded events are currently always merged, both in the arranger and pianoroll.
However, automatic creation of additional track lanes with separate recording of each take has almost made it into this release -- it will be available shortly in a free update.
No name change planned - but you can safely uninstall Xequence 1 once you copied your files to Xequence 2 -- there's really nothing there to hold on to. It was a great ride, but the future is 2! 🙂
Yes, that actually sums it up quite nicely 🙂 Xequence is actually used by a lot of hardware guys too.
@SevenSystems What no Xequencinator 5,000,000 name? 😁
No, unfortunately MPE is not compatible with some of the main ways Xequence is designed to be used, because MPE abuses the "MIDI channel" concept for its per-note controller data -- so for example it would be impossible to control more than one synth in AUM or over any single MIDI connection.
It's an unfortunate design decision in MPE and sadly nothing that Xequence can fix.
I wonder if anyone got the reference though? 😉
Oops. Please tell me it was in one of the beta releases and I’m not hallucinating (again).
I think it was a hallucination, or a bug 😉
But yes, that's definitely one of the first things I want to add in an update, it should be quite straightforward.
That was a stellar presentation of X2 in your OP, @SevenSystems!
And the immense documentation reflects how many thoughts and how much work have gone into this!
Congrats!
Anybody reading this and being unclear about getting Xequence 2 or not?
Just erase any hesitation and buy it!
Now!
Yes, do it now!
Out of curiosity: does X/X2 create one virtual MIDI port per track (or instrument?) that I can freely assign in, say AUM? Or do I have to work around it with MIDI channels on both ends?
As central as it should be:
@SevenSystems nice update. Just picked it up and it’s a lot nicer than version 1. As with all software, was wondering about an improvement to the keyboard section. Would it be possible to support the following at some point:
. A Pad layout which respects the scales and octave as in BM3. I’m a push 2 user and love the grid keyboard layout for playing and entering notes
. Or...just allow the user to change Octaves in the BM3 drum pad and respect the Scale I’ve set on the instrument
. Allow the user to lock a project/scene to a scale. I don’t like having to set the Scale each time i go into a new instrument.
I am sure i will have a few more requests, but wanted to say thanks and congrats on Xequence 2...looks and feels top-notch 👊🏼™️
Thanks for the reply! It looks like I can draw CC automation, is that correct? If so, I'm buying this thing before my long flight tomorrow. Haha.
Another thing I appreciate so much: AudioBus + Xequence (+AUM) is terrific for super-quickly transferring stuff started on the iPhone while waiting for the wife to finish shopping. Just save the AB3 session (save the Xequence project file just in case the preset save doesn’t go well), then airdrop up to the iPad.
I’ve been looking for this kind of seamless jumping back and forth forever. It’s neutralized just about the final source of frustration with my lovely bride too.
Wim do you have an AB3 project of how I would setup X2 in AB3 with iBassist, Rock drummer or Drum Session, sending the midi to X2 and recording the audio to AUM? I’m trying to wrap my head around the new way. Thanks brother 😌
Sweet! Timestretching! ...hmmm...
Is there a way to transfer AB3/xeq1 preset to Xeq2
Since AB handles the state save for xeq?
Would you have to manually copy the midi files to new xeq2 project and change out xeq1 to xeq2 in the AB3 midi section and the resave AB3 preset?
Can you explain what this means? I get that audio timestretching is quite involved, involving pitch algorithms and other things I am not qualified to talk about. But isn't midi timestretching just...changing the tempo?
Just realised what you meant with this one - I didn't quite grasp what you were getting at at first, I now realise. Yes, perfect solution you've implemented there - I just didn't know of that little trick. Cheers - I'm spending a pleasant evening working my way around it, marvelling at its subtle genius. This is now, for me, the perfect accompaniment to AUM, and a great way of dividing concept (Xequencer) and execution (AUM).
Yup. It is not a technical breakthrough by any... stretch (
!) but rather a damn nice feature and as far as I know the first on iOS to do it!
So say you are in Cubasis or NS2 and you have some clips that you would like to be twice or half the length. No way to do it. Now you should be able to export them to here, stretch them and reimport. Whoot!
Even just for working in Xequence 2 I imagine it should be pretty nice.
I'll chime in about my intended primary use for Xequence2....
For me it will primarily be my "musical idea extraction toolkit, Midi editing, and archiving machine".
My intended workflow:
I set up a track, hit record with no metronome running, and jam on an instrument while exploring many different musical ideas and melodies. Once I'm finished, I replay the track, find the parts I'd like to keep, split them out of the track, and save them to a new track that contains just the "good ideas". Then I save my "good ideas tracks" to MIDI files to work with later.
Later when I work with my "good ideas" tracks. Now that Xequence2 does MIDI time stretching. I can build a song by pulling out selections from various "good ideas" tracks, then arrange them end to end while using the MIDI time stretching feature to adjust each section so the entire new song will be in the same tempo, regardless of the original tempo that I recorded it in.
The other MIDI editing tools can then be used for making fine adjustments, until I have my "single instrument song track" just the way I want it.
For me, the beauty of working in MIDI this way, is I can apply any instrument I want to be played using the same MIDI track. I'm not stuck with any serendipitous musical ideas being forever in an audio track made using an instrument I just happened to be playing.
Once I'm happy with a song idea. I can then import the song track I made using Xequence2 into an iOS DAW. Then add additional instrument tracks that I'll play, to build a finished piece of music.
I'm sure I'll find plenty of other ways to use Xequence2, once I understand how to use all of it's features.
I'm glad you asked because I felt too stupid to.
Having a good time with it. Here’s a little 4 bar loop using 3 of my favorite instruments to enjoy if you want to get a snapshot of my brain as of 3pm PST 🤪
http://preset.audiob.us/MYZwqT7Ia4vejr8
Just a heads up for everyone: We're experiencing server issues due to the high load (who would have expected THAT!), so please be patient with our web site!
No midi data is in Xequence when I open this. ?
Thanks. Out of curiosity, what's the advantage of using it with AB3 over AUM? I know it's easier to switch between apps with AB3 - but you seem to suggest above that 'Xequence and your chord apps [can be] loaded inside AB3'. Hmm, not used AB3 in quite some time - off to have a little look. Thanks.