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.
Results of a Forum Sabbatical
I forced myself to take a 10 day Sabbatical from reading and posting on the Forum. I also did it as penance for a particularly douchy comment on someone's musical effort. As many tell me "Everything is NOT about you." Still wrestling with that one because everything is about me. I just need to remember to treat others as I would like to be treated: Model the right behaviors.
I effectively broke the addiction of searching for new IOS products and commenting on them as they get the spotlight.
But I also visited my Akai Force using nephew and helped him evaluate NanoStudio 2. He checked it out and took advantage of the sale price for NS2 and the IAP's. I jammed with him as he discovered the workings of NS2 and "raved" about the quality of the Obsidian Synth for his musical style. I also mentioned how Obsidian can import samples of all the great IOS AUv3's using SynthJacker and he can sample his collection of analog synths hardware that's being sold.
Going forward I'd like to have a better balance between Forum time and actual musical practice and musical construction. It's just a trap to spend too much time here so I'll probably enforce a rating scheme to control myself from over use. If you break the addiction a lot of the threads here start to seem less important in the larger scheme of IOS music making. Especially if you have limited time to dedicate and should use that most precious resource wisely. It's not money in my case... it's time.
Not sure yet if it's good to be back.
Comments
You were gone? ....
Just kidding. Now you can buy the TB bundle and update FMP2!
Sorry you're struggling with this place - I see where you're coming from. I have to ignore all the "BEST PRICE EVER!" threads entirely as well.
Let us know if there's anything we can do to help, either here or offline.
I find easy distractions from what is truly important. Less virtual community and more tangible community and existence with real people.
I love the forum. I don’t always post, but I read it every day. The only time I’ve ever been discouraged enough to take a break from this place is when politics come up.
@McD glad you were able to be productive during your time away. You are certainly not alone in trying to strike a good balance between saying what’s on your mind versus keeping it to yourself. It’s a very personal matter which is only made easier for me by recognizing that my opinions are largely without justifiable merit so there’s not much point in me trying to defend or insist upon them. Those who have put more effort into what informs their opinions would have more of a challenge I would think.
Sometimes its fun to dig into a pov (the shits n giggles) but it seems to be an actual emotional investment that does some folks in. I found a few times I may have just been waxing devils advocate or thinking out loud only to realise too late that there is a seething adversary on the other end. Uhh-whoops...
But yah as far as time spent I am just on the forum while making tunes and maybe 5% of threads have what I want.
Ya’ll know me I’m only hear for the LOLs
Well, tips on how to use (effectively) the millions of apps I bought over the years. I think I’m mostly done with that now
the buying part that is.
I guess, for me, it’s a question of why do I have to fight myself to be better than I am? I want and wanted a lot of sex. Can I make that a problem? Of course. Firstly it drains my chi! Secondly STDs, Thirdly, quantity over quality. Fourthly, I should do something better with my limited time. Fifthly, people will criticize me for the sin of lust. In the end I still want a lot of sex.
My mom used to always say, “save some for tomorrow”. What a ridiculous, desire starving recipe for misery. Every one has a choice ( maybe). Nibble at life in polite bites or gobble it like a ravenous beast, the time still passes in a flash. I have always wondered why Buddha was so interested in ending his personal pain. I mean, he just could have waited it out and enjoyed himself for a few decades. Take the pleasure and pain as the life experience it might be meant to be. But no, he had to fight it till he was “Tathagata” the one who came and left. Why bother to be here if all you want to do is leave?
Meanwhile, the Enlightened One did the authorities a great favor. What better than a population without desire for material possessions or ambition? So @McD, go for it. Wrestle with your human nature. Balance it, put a cork in it, whatever makes you (un) happy. If you think you will look back at the road you travelled ten years from now and will say, God, it sure was so much better doing what I did than what I didn’t, then steam on, my friend. But, if you are anything like me, you will still be you after that decade. What you did will be a memory and you will not have left your cravings behind.
I tried to be an Orthodox Jew for four years. The ultimate “leave the forum” move! Well, I tried and tried
(In my own hypocritical way.... couldn’t leave the sex behind). God never encouraged or discouraged me.
So i drew the obvious conclusion... god could care less if I was an Orthodox this or that. I mean, I was doing it to be closer to Him... to be a better Jew (person). And it was insignificant, inconsequential and meaningless. I wasn't any different and certainly no better. I was just rule bound and, forgive the incongruity, hogtied by someone else’s idea of how I should be.
So, if you think trying to regulate your life or conform to a norm will change things, I wish you luck. It just didn’t work for me. Lastly, I don’t make a big distinction between “virtual” and “real” friends. I have disappointed and been disappointed by that “reality”. You are one of three “virtuals” I have made here that are just as good as any I have encountered in the real world. Perhaps better, because we don’t have expectations of each other. Just friendship.
Party on, Garth!
This forum is a great group of people, and a very well behaved forum in general.
I'm glad it's here and that it keeps going when im away and when others are..
I wrestle with time management often... There are many distractions from making music , the entire internet and all of its content deff can be a distraction... From forums to video streams... To offline distractions like laying on the couch staring into space to watching tv or even hanging out with friends and family...
The thing is, being present when you do anything, whether it be making music or reading and posting here... Just be present, don't regret it or think it's taking away from something else... Then each thing you do will be more productive and a better aspect of your life.
When you're making music...make it #1
If you're posting here, enjoy the company..
When we multi task it all at once to fit it all in, that's when it becomes burdensome..
Separate it out...
If you want to make music then do it, if you need a distraction find it...
This forum is great help and great conversation... It's a part of my music making life, but when I open AUM, audio bus, stagelight, gadget, whatever it may be, I turn the rest off and focus...
I'll never take a break from the forum but I may go a couple days without keeping up... It's a part of my day now, but so is making music, and working, and having a family... Just be present and enjoy what you're doing
Speaking of forum sabatticals ... has anyone heard from @Fruitbat1919 ?
Fifthly, people will criticize me for the sin of lust. In the end I still want a lot of sex.
It’s not Fifthly people you are looking for...... it’s Filthy people 😻
Where are those filthies? Maybe a selfie with a filthie? @robosardine .... sabbatical time?
I don’t see why not captain.......... can I pull my trousers up now?
@McD
Impressed that this was self-imposed. It's a good idea. With most self-regulation, I have had some success: knocking off alcohol for a while, cutting out gluten, avoiding sugar for a period.
But removing yourself from online addictions is much harder. I know for a fact that Twitter has a deleterious effect on my life. And when I delete the app, I don't miss it at all. And I keep it off my phone until the next mass shooting/public outrage/etc happens and I NEED to be up-to-date. (The cycle repeats.)
It's harder to do here, since most of this interaction is positive. But also find I'm ignoring music-making to check on new sales coming up. Should I really finish that Gadget track when there's a new update RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER? Should I wait till the update, when everything will be perfect?
Earlier this summer, I went on a long bikepacking trip — eight days of cycling and camping. On Day One, my phone died. By the end, I had become a complete Zen master. I was listening to people I met on the trail without distraction. I woke up and attended to the day and never interrupted myself to check email or updates on the forum or sports scores.
It didn't last, of course. I got a new screen and the Zen master went away.
Not sure what the solution is, but you're not alone. Make music!
I'll admit that without the distractions the forum I quickly found other places to peruse. My YouTube viewing went up, for example. Stopping all iPhone, iPad and Laptop use would be a better test of re-wiring the addict's patterns in a digital life. I think I'll give that a shot sometime in the next few weeks but maybe for a shorter period of time than 10 days.
Not being a part of the working world in retirement and re-locating, I get very little communication that requires an urgent response. So, putting online back into a well defined box makes a lot of sense for me.
This is not real life and most casual relationships in meatspace are not either. But they do distract and sometimes that's what we seem to crave. Small bursts of brain activity to fill some gaping internal void.
I heard a really good band yesterday and what I learned was to reconsider the adage: less is more. Most bands paint songs in primary colors using aerosol spray paint and this one was making music with the techniques of the watercolorists: drop color into wet areas and the colors mix, swirl and become so much more than strictly applied paint every conveys. No one in the band seemed to be asking for attention... they listened to each other and did scan the audience for feedback.
I think I'd like to make some music that is something like the subtle use of a watercolor box with a focused brush. I'm going to go slow and find the joy in the making and not someone's feedback. Re-learn to listen and hear layers and color mixing.