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
@SevenSystems no problem at all, thanks for such a cool X2 already !
I had the chance to let you know clearly what I need the most, so on this perspective, this is already huge !
Then I embrace leaving time to time
The current options:
Double tap home, select app
Swipe 4 fingers on the screen
Assertive touch menu.
Swipe dock up, select app
These are all not fun and ergonomic
There has to be way.
2.Split screen AUM and Xequence
3, Track groups to collapse all those awesome midi CC tracks.
Delete multiple tracks using select before delete
Or a dedicated single tap add or remove track button.
Also for those awesome midi cc tracks
Save Presets for polyhymnia
AUM doesn’t support split screen, so that’s a no-go. But AudioBus does, and that would be awesome.
+1
What about a way to route MIDI directly from a DAW (looking at GarageBand) into Xequence, similar to RouteMIDI (which is AuV3)?
Currently using RouteMIDI to send into Xequence, but it would save a lot of setup if Xequence does it directly.
Unfortunately that’s beyond Xequence’s control. The problem is with GarageBand - it doesn’t send midi out. No app can receive what isn’t being sent. RouteMidi takes the midi being sent to it inside GarageBand and sends it to the outside. That’s why X2 can receive it.
You’d need to convince apple Apple to enable MIDI out from GarageBand for that to happen.
Would it be possible to make multiple AUv3 for Xequence similar to how Spectrum Synthesizer has six of them?
One of them could be Xequence Auv3 sender, which works similarly to RouteMIDI, except it sends the data exclusively to Xequence.
It's something that I would even like to make work, but the problem is that I didn't create Xequence and I don't own the code. Which brings me to a question- if you want to make a modification of a code but you have no access to the source code, what do you do? @SevenSystems created an entire app because he was unsatisfied with Korg Gadget, but would there be another way you would recommend?
I don’t get this. How is this significantly easier than just using RouteMidi? I mean sure, you have to choose the output but that is like one screen touch on setup. But a dedicate app just to avoid that? I can’t see it. Maybe I’m misunderstanding you. Anyway, no need to answer since I’m not the developer anyway.
Nothing. Writing your own app from scratch is the only way.
I can’t really say since I don’t understand what you’re trying to do that’s any different than the RouteMidi ... er... route.
Not trying to reinvent the wheel. I think I'll have to look into making templates and using "Shortcuts" for iOS a bit more. I'm trying to cut back on repetitions since if I'm using RouteMIDI and Xequence, it'll just be the same sequence of actions.
One Suggestion is to create “template” projects. For instance, in GarageBand, set up a song the way you would, but with nothing recorded or sequenced. Save it with a name like _Template - Xequence” or something. Then when you want to start a new song duplicate the template song and work on the copy, always leaving the original empty. You can do the same in Xequence. With creativity, you can be up and running in just a few steps in each app.
Yeah. I'm going to take it a step further and upload a copy of the template to the cloud, so that I can download it. I've also already made AudioBus layouts for the MIDI.
Now the question is, do I directly feed the MIDI from Xequence into apps like Gadget, or do I use AudioBus?
I'm still trying to figure out my Modular workflow. I know so far the apps I really like. I'm just trying to find a way to make them all work.
Also, do you make use of Ableton Lite? I'm trying to incorporate it somehow (as a fail safe DAW, but also to make it easy to collaborate with other producers).
It doesn’t matter really. I lean toward AudioBus because I tend to switch out instruments often, and that way I don’t need to change anything in X2. But it could be the opposite for you.
You’re not alone!
Only as far as tinkering around to get it working. I have an unreasonable resistance toward using my PC for making music.
@Samflash3 One other advantage you get when you route the MIDI through Audiobus is that you can further filter / modify it by inserting other plug-ins into the Audiobus MIDI lanes.
And regarding modifying the app: I'm generally open to make Xequence open source, in exchange for a tiny one-off "license fee" that should be in the upper 5-digits (in Euro 😁😉)
@SevenSystems crowdfund is taking a new dimension....
I have a question regarding AUv3 into X2... (please don't go there
)
I wonder if your AUv3 vision includes an internal sampler and/or proper audio tracks ?
I guess you don't want to add an AUv3 sampler with live timestretching (so like all other DAWS except BM3 ) and I guess you won't integrate audio tracks with real time timestretching (like all other DAWS except maybe Auria ? Cubasis you have to render stuffs, very boring and unergonomic)
But in case you'd integrate simple audio tracks (with live timestretching, like AUM does, unfortunately with no possibilities of sequencing as it just an audio player...) could you add an option to link 2 audio tracks (to assign them as a stereo pair) so we'd not have to assign twice each AUv3 effects, and also using pan would automatically recreate stereo ( for instance channel audio 1 linked to channel 2, we put Left -20 for channel 1, the channel 2 would be directly set to right +20)
Thanks for any answers
@crony, for any kind of reasonable timestretching, an existing algorithm would probably need to be licensed, so it would depend on the cost of that in comparison to the sales... but simple varispeed would definitely be possible (the corresponding audio file(s) would simply be played faster or slower).
Regarding linking two audio tracks: I would rather have "normal" stereo tracks that can take stereo audio files, and then just feed a "normal" stereo feed through their inserts, and have a balance and/or pan (probably switchable per track) control in the mixer? If you want to narrow or widen the stereo field, you could use a plugin in an insert slot for that...
@SevenSystems ok, I'm not sure what is used into AUM, maybe it's just indeed a varispeed...That would make it for testing some loops...
Problem is that with my Allen & Heath QU-SB I can link channels, then it reacts as a stereo pair (so moving one fader is moving both, pan doing what I've described...)
But exported, and reimported (into Cubasis for instance) for mastering, I have two mono tracks that I'd like to stick...
Here it's about not to have twice loaded the same effect, so prevent and reduce CPU.
I'm not sure to understand your statement here.
Anyway, to get rid of Cubasis, and masterize into X2 I'd love such ergonomic stuffs...
)
I don't know if recording into X2 (to freeze some track) would be on the road map, but that would interest me...(even if I prefer midi but I guess you already know that
@crony if both the sound's pitch AND speed change, then it's Varispeed. That would be extremely easy. If only the speed changes, then it's Timestretching (extremely hard to do well).
It doesn't matter if you use two copies of the same effect on two mono channels, or one copy that processes one stereo signal, it will use the same amount of CPU as in both cases, two separate audio streams must be processed.
Yes if Xequence had audio tracks, they would support stereo files so you would only have to load one instance of an effect (if it supports stereo processing, which I assume most do).
I'm not sure if track freezing would be in the first version, but of course mixdown functionality would be there, so you could at least fake that using Solo.
But it's all poking in the mud for now anyway, as there's not even AUv3 hosting yet
I wouldn't care if there was no track stretching, varispeed or otherwise. I'm happy to do that offline and import back to X2 if needed. If I could drop fixed length audio tracks into X2 and arrange them like other tracks, that'd be all I need. But, I understand your feeling that would be a half-baked solution, and your reluctance to do it.
It sure would fill a big need though.
Gadget works that way. You import audio and whatever bpm you're running on, Gadget gives a heck about touching the audio.
Using Stockholm is a different story but it needs preparation...
I agree that being able to load an audio file and play it as-is would be fair enough.
We'd probably need a warpable grid then (like in Ableton), otherwise we could not use real-life recordings with varying tempo.
That would be utterly terrific!
I get the sense X2 isn't architected to handle tempo changes smoothly at this point, so a lot of work there, I imagine. But it would be totally unique on iOS with that feature.
I remember days and days of shifting notes with quantize off to add tracks to live recordings before Ableton's warping timeline was available.
@SevenSystems I know I know, just sharing some thoughts.
So I guess a way to merge 2 mono tracks to make it a stereo one (or to split into 2 monos) would be a feature request ?
Yes that makes total sense! 🙂
Havent used it much but then I havent used other apps much, so comment might not be good. Maybe a longer or infinate timeline mode. Sure theres a reason why DAWS loop, maybe because you can mute or know better where you are but I guess some midi generators can generate stuff well and be used to practically jam for longer than xequence. It might be good for audio input users when layering, plus midi users when layering. You could use xequence to indicate where you are by the notation rather than remember a 20 minute track. If IOS Daws have the same sort of timeline as xequence now, then xequence will offer something different.
It used to be limited to 64 bars without a small workaround, but that limitation has been removed, I believe.
Still, we’re talking about devices that are limited in memory compared to desktop PCs. There is only so much an iOS device can manage.
Alright wim. Do you think a longer timeline is good? Was using midi generators and didnt realise I was re-writing over the midi data in xequence. I use hardware which is non midi out. I guess it might remind me of the time at the beach at night. A chick said' how do you see the stars? I was like, sort of like the superman logo, where it travels from a point then expands to the viewer. So the stars seemed like they were distant. She said you dont see them as a curved bubble? Changed my perspective.
@sigma79 did you score ?
wim said:
+1 as above + this also would be great for vocals and live playing too
would that make it a DAW? or a MAW? (Midicomposer Audio Workstation)
I don’t follow you. All I said is there isn’t a restriction for track length in Xequence. There used to be but there isn’t. Maybe I confused you when I said there are limits to what the device can handle. But that’s beyond Xequence’s control. You probably wouldn’t run into them anyway.
If you were overwriting data then you may have had a loop set. That has nothing to do with track length.
Or, you were working with an older version of Xequence. Are you talking about Xequence or Xequence 2?
MPE! You’re so close anyway...
@papertiger 🙂 the biggest thing would be implementing the editor so that each note's controller data could be edited separately... and in a sensible and efficient way.
RECORDING and PLAYBACK is rather easy, true...
Really? So if I was sending midi notes without loop. It could record for more than 20 minutes per track?