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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Actually that was my first thought when I read the clickbait title 😉
Audio to MIDI works really well in Live. Better than most other apps I've tried, except Melodyne of course. I also appreciate the physical modeling synths and the remote control support.
Don't worry, Ableton will figure out how to make an Ios version of ableton as soon as they get comping and MPE added. So.... sometime in about the next century, surly we'll have it.
Boy oh boy do I love spending ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS on a program that is missing industry standard features from over a decade ago.
Most things I disliked in ableton, got fixed in Bitwig. The browser for plugins en presets is awesome. Also I use it with a maschine jam controller, I can control bitwig just like push is used for ableton.
+1
In case there's any ambiguity here, they don’t hobble your functionality when your year’s up, or anything like that. You still have what you bought (plus 12 months of extra features) and you can continue to use it into the future. Personally, I avoid subscriptions if I can, and resent having to connect to the internet to use software that I've paid for etc., but the Bitwig model isn’t like that at all. They simply draw a line as to how far they‘re willing to carry you for a one-off payment, which seems fair to me.
Anyway, I've used both of them. Ableton a lot more than Bitwig (18 months or so vs. 3) but at this point I prefer Bitwig. They're so close on so many things, but for me the big 2 are that Bitwig is lighter on resources (it's much better optimised) and the modulators are spectacular. I prefer it for sound design. Also it doesn’t clutter up your sample library with metadata files.
@tk32 to assist you in making your 20 hours as productive as possible check this dude out:
https://www.youtube.com/c/PolarityMusic
There are some really nice highlights around Bitwig workflow in these vids.
I’ve used and use Bitwig, Live, REAPER, Studio One and Logic.
I like the Bitwig workflow compared to Live and I think the Grid holds an amazing amount of potential. Oh yeah, and those modulator options...
I really think we’ve already got all of these tools on iOS although a Bitwig sampler module would be nice.
I tried out Bigwig on the Mac recently. It doesn’t have mac menus in the menubar — all the menus are inside the window itself. It was like using a Java app. I deleted it immediately.
Ableton might lack some features, but it’s so much faster and easier to use than Logic or GarageBand (the other DAWs I know fairly well) that it doesn’t matter. It’s a bit like Auria vs Nanostudio in this regard. UI and design is harder to quantify than a feature list, but it’s way more important day to day.
Also, if I need to comp a part, I just use Logic and copy the result.
Thanks for this tip @arktek - Polarity has been a great source of Bitwig knowledge
I decided to buy Bitwig in the end, about 3 weeks ago, and I think it's FANTASTIC. Although I am still keeping Reaper around for mastering duties.
That's exactly how I handle it too. Too satisfied with Suite 10 and LPX to feel any need to switch but who knows, I might give Bitwig a try in 5 years or so.
It’s worth noting that when both these DAWs are recompiled for ARM / ‘Apple Silicon’ they could natively run on iOS with minimal work
I own both but i always go back to Ableton because of the Push2. I’ve tried the BitWig Push integration but it isn’t the same.
I think one more release and BitWig will be something even greater than it is right now.
I didn’t get on with either Bitwig or Ableton. I’ve moved entirely to Studio One, and was a long-time Cubase / Pro Tools / Reaper / Logic user. I try them all out again every year or so, and nothing has everything in the right place like Studio One. I’d recommend giving the free version a go.
I've used both and It feels like Bitwig's developers focus on developing the software and that's it. Yeah, I know, devs who dev. Who'd a thunk it?
What I mean is that you will see Ableton everywhere. All over other hardware, all over other software, all over Youtube etc. Want to know how to use that thing with Ableton? Beat the tutorials off with a shitty stick. Want to know how to use Bitwig with them? Get ready for a long old search.
Control surface integration? Ableton, yup! Bitwig? Kind of. Always, it's kind of.
What's better about Bitwig? Well, it seems to me that Ableton has been through a lot of iterations and some of the functions feel a bit tacked on. Bitwig doesn't feel like that. It's shiny and new. Also, I prefer how BW implements modular into it's workflow. Ableton has Max4Live with loads of interesting modules. BW has made a space in their DAW, integrated it into the only version there is of it and it looks like they will be focusing on that in future updates.
Basically, Ableton has been around much longer and has the kind of depth that you want with a DAW. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Bitwig is like once it gets to version 10.
Very hit and miss. For very simple sources (drums, single note dry signals) it works fairly well, but as soon as you add reverb for example, it’s a complete mess. Even the best case scenario requires a lot of cleanup afterwards. Usually quicker to just play it by ear.
My biggest hangup with Bitwig is that the UI looks really cramped, there’s a lot going on all the time. I get the sense that Bitwig was designed by a programmer and not a graphic designer. I need space to breathe and clarity when I’m working. It’s keeping me from giving it a proper shot.
I felt like I was crawlin' through a box o' Legos, yarr. But will try again.
Thumbjam will convert audio input to midi. It works pretty well for monophonic input.
That was always my biggest issue with Bitwig. There's a lot of really cool ideas they have, but it's just so busy feeling for me in terms of UI. It's mostly laid out logically, but there's a lot going on visually that I found distracting overall.
Though obviously I'm admittedly a little biased too.
Wow.. Conditional triggers? Bitwig 4..
https://www.bitwig.com/whats-new/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=cb034e012e-Newsletter_2105_Announcing_4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eb766b27c5-cb034e012e-276702213&mc_cid=cb034e012e&mc_eid=0d6048928d
I use Ableton Live Set exports from iPadOS (Korg Gadget, Ampify Groovebox and Blocs Wave, Grooverider GR-16) in Ableton, so I'm curious how well it works in Bitwig.
Could you tell us a bit about your ipad + Ableton workflow please? I’m iPad only but I recently installed Ableton Live lite that was bundled with my new Launchpad and now I wonder what I could do with it.
Is this more a "fantasy" survey or inquiry for possible development of an iOS DAW a la Live or Bitwig ?
Btw I voted LIVE but I have used Bitwig and found it just as powerful and flexible
Logic does it as well the crazy thing is that has been a function available with early DAW's like Opcode's Studio Vision ( now defunct ) Thanks Gibson !
I struggled a little with Ableton but felt at home with Bitwig. Not sure why.
as a long time ableton user ( ten + years) ive always sworn by it. I use it every day professionally, and its workflow is very intuitive.
that being said, i recently tried out Bitwig, and its pretty epic for sound design. The modular aspect blows ableton out of the water. I dont see it replacing my day to day work, but do see myself incorporating it into my workflow here and there.
I have been trying bigwig again as I now have a touchscreen monitor and it seems like the multi touch is nice but I have a concern that to learn Bitwig using only touch to begin with may be frustrating as there seem to be some features that only work with a mouse or stylus. But i am looking at older videos so maybe that has improved.
Maybe inspired by Elektron?
New Operators for audio and MIDI: Chance, Repeats (ratchets with timing and velocity curves), Occurrence (trig conditions like Fill button ON, NOT ON, Neighbor event), Recurrence (More trig conditions i.e. only play 2:4).
Just a little fun fact. Both companies are my neighbors. Ableton is located just a few steps from my house and Bitwig is just opposite of my kid’s school. Not that it helped me in any way but funny. BTW and Sugar Bytes office is in walking distance as well. I wonder if the devs have lunch together sometimes.