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.
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DM1 Drum Machine or something else as Midi Controller?
Hello,
Please bear with me because I'm somewhat of a music newbie.
Recently I discovered how incredibly useful IOS devices are for making music. I've always been a pretty musical person even though I haven't had the ability to play an actual instrument for most of my life. I was paralyzed from the neck down in a high school football game when I was 15. I have very limited use of my arms and no use of my wrists or fingers. A few years ago I discovered I could use IOS devices to a certain extent with styluses. I have one attached to the splint on my right arm that I use with my iPhone 4S, which is mounted on the armrest of my wheelchair, and I use a homemade mouth stick stylus for my iPad 3.
So I started to experiment with IOS music creation apps and it didn't take long for me to discover that I could do this and it's a fantastic way to express myself. But I'm still limited in that I can only use essentially one finger (the stylus) to interact with all these apps. So I've been mostly just experimenting and looking for apps I can do the most with as well as fit best into a workflow.
The other day I purchased DM1 Drum Machine and a lightbulb went off in my head. Since this essentially allows you to "program" any drum beat and pattern you can dream up it obviously really doesn't matter if you're stuck interacting with only a single finger. I absolutely love this app for this reason. It's pretty great for a lot of other reasons as well of course.
So when I started to look into the midi stuff I did a lot of googling and watched a lot of YouTube videos. Once I had a better understanding of midi it started to occur to me that perhaps I could use DM1 Drum Machine as a controller for other apps like Soundprism Pro, Guitarism, Looptical, etc... I was hoping this would allow me to essentially "program" other instrument patterns from apps like those using the DM1 Drum Machine interface via midi. This would allow me to create complex bass or piano patterns, for example, just like I now can with drums. But after messing with it for a while I haven't had much success. It doesn't help that the midi preferences screen for every app looks different. I was able to get Soundprism Pro to act as an output for DM1 Drum Machine but I still hear the drum pattern playing with it. There's no"mute audio" option like there is with Soundprism Pro. I haven't really been able to get anything else that I tried, like the apps mentioned above, to act as an output for DM1 Drum Machine. I have made sure that background audio is on in every app and that they're all set to the same midi channels.
So ultimately I was hoping somebody could tell me if DM1 Drum Machine can truly be used in the manner I spoke of? Or is there something else in the vast selection of musical apps that would serve me better in this regard?
Guitarism, for example, is incredibly awesome but it's kind of a bummer that I can only create really basic one finger sequences with it. Would love to be able to program complex patterns using Guitarism's sounds.
On another note I've been a lurker for a little while here and really love this community. This is such a great resource.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Comments
Glad to have you join us @Paulyboy69. I don't know if DM1 audio can be muted, but I thought you might be interested in looking at Different Drummer. It will allow for muting and works well as a controller, all with a stylus only. It's had a bit of a bad rap on the forum, but it is one of my favorites and the dev is very engaged with his customers and updates often.
Here's a link to give you a better idea of what you can do with it...
http://vimeo.com/user19619601
Have you had a look at step poly arp for triggering your various apps?
Thumbjam is worth a look into. It has many routing options. Dm1, while I like the app, has been finicky with its midi comparability for me.
Chorddion may also serve you well.
You are completely right in your statement about the variations in midi set ups as well as terminology, some say midi in but are out, some say out and they are out. Experimenting is the ticket.
MidiBus may be an option, if you cannot get your apps to connect.
Welcome @Paulyboy69! Check out Electrify NXT. You can sequence each part (both drums and chromatic parts), and then save them as clips, which you can trigger with a single touch and arrange them as desired. There isn't much in the way of manuals or instructions, but it looks like it has the potential to be something useful for you. Basically, unless you are wanting to perform live, any piano-roll-sequencer-type DAW should work for you when it comes to programming your sequences (I like Cubasis the best. :-) ). For performance and/or regular sequence programming, look into clip-type apps like Electrify NXT which I mentioned above. I hope this helps! :-)
@Paulyboy69 Appreciate the kind words on guitarism! The app does not yet have MIDI In capability which is why you can't program it from a controller. It's something I want to add in the future but in the meantime you could drive other guitar apps via MIDI (e.g. Live Guitar, iFretless Guitar, or even GarageBand, SampleTank, ThumbJam).
ThumbJam is excellent as well because its scale lock function and playing interface make it perfect for playing with one finger. You might also consider Figure for its awesomeness and ease of use. FunkBox is another cool drum app, and it's midi is much more user friendly than DM–1 if I recall.
DM-1 can also be muted turning the Master fader down in the Mixing section, FYI. It's midi capabilities are a little hit and miss though. Consider any piano roll editor DAW as @Audiojunkie said, Beatmaker 2 and NanoStudio (not sure of NS's midi out options) are other good options for less money if you're unsure, or just want to experiment with synths in addition to percussion. Little Midi Machine is free and also great for sequencing.
Wow that was fast! So many great suggestions here so I'm now in full-fledged research mode checking all of these out. Some of these are a bit pricey so I'll want to thoroughly look into them before purchasing because I don't want to pay for something that I can't physically use that well. But at first glance it looks like a number of these might be what I'm looking for. I will report back my findings when possible. If anybody else has anything else to add I would be happy to hear it.
@Rhism said:
Thanks for your suggestions @Rhism! I do have GarageBand and SampleTank installed so I will give that a try. Whenever Guitarism gains this capability I will be really interested because it's among the best sounding apps I've seen so far. So that's great to know!
Hey paulyboy69
If you want to use dm1 as your controller, you can mute it by simply turning down the master volume in the 'mixer' page. And then you can control whatever app that supports midi in. Happy music making
Korg Gadget is very much a one finger is all you need app, offers a great variety of sounds, very versatile sequencer and is still on its initial sale price until Feb 23. I think you'll get a lot out of it.
@TedBPhx said:
Yeah I noticed this when it was released but it doesn't appear to have A landscape mode which is important to me. Unless I'm missing something?
The portrait mode for this works great actually! Just use the stylus to enter the notes ect. It should be fine. And no, there is no landscape mode.
No MIDI out from nanostudio yet.
So far StepPolyArp and/or Thunbjam seem like the best options for me. Although Thunbjam doesn't seem like it has a sequencer like DM1 does unless I'm missing something? But what does seem possible is using StepPolyArp as a MIDI input and Thunbjam, with all of its great sounding instruments, as a Midi output. If I can easily build patterns in StepPolyArp as easily as I can in DM1 it would seem like I could build a pattern for all kinds of different Instruments (not just synthesizers) using Thunbjam as a MIDI output?
So does this seem correct? I don't want to drop $20 on both of these apps and find out that's not the case. Although I suppose I could just get Ste0PolyArp first and try using it as a controller for some of the apps I already have which have a fair amount of instruments and sounds of their own.
Thanks again everybody for all of your help.
Hey Pauly,
The upcoming version of Jam Maestro might have all you want (will be able to midi sequence). Even still though, the current version might still provide you with some entertainment if you like writing guitars. I got loads of promo codes left anyway so I sent you one via your private messages. Hope you enjoy.
@jamMaestro Nice gesture. It made me go and check out the app again. Been a while since I dabbled in there. Wow, you've been busy!
some very nice additions. I'm sure Pauly will have fun.
Hi Pauly , Yes I have run most of my midi apps through step poly arp with no problems. It works like a charm.
@spookyzoo hehe, thanks
if you like that you might like what I've got cooking next... !
@JamMaestro said:
I'm not familiar with your app, but that is quite a tease....
Bit more info please? C'mon just a bit more....you know you want too................c'mon
@thinds hehe. Well, features relevant to this thread would be add up to 16 midi/IAA instruments as you would ordinary in built instruments and sequence them (so midi in/out, IAA host/node/effects support). Plus iPad/universal support. Plus more.
See, I knew you wanted to:-)
Well, it wasn't a secret, I announced a bunch of that on the JM fb page last month
Ah, Facebook that's why I missed it then.
High five @JamMaestro. Nice gesture indeed.
fist bumps @syrupcore
@thinds said:
Nice to find another non Facebook person. Seems like the whole world is displaying its self, warts and all, on here!
@JamMaestro said:
@JamMaestro thank you so much! That is an incredibly awesome gesture on your part! I will report back my experiences with it when I can and I look forward to the big update!. Thanks again! :-)
@Tritonman2 said:
That's good to know. Thanks so much for the suggestion. Even if another app, like Jam Maestro, works out I may get this anyways because it looks so darn cool!
If you like StepPolyArp you might enjoy its sister app ChordPolyPad. Let's you load chords and play them via virtual midi on other synths. Extensive chord library or build your own. Easy to use with a stylus.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chordpolypad-midi-chords-player/id694599930?mt=8
Update:
Hi folks. I just wanted to let everybody know that I found a solution for the time being with Xynthesizr. It's reminiscent of the way you can sequence drums in DM1 but it actually seems to work as a MIDI controller for a lot more apps. I'm keeping a close eye on the excellent Jam Maestro though. I like the way you can sequence guitar patterns in that so once full Midi support is added it's going to be very useful for me. Both of these apps should benefit greatly from full iPad support which is coming and should be awesome!
It's really something how much freedom these combinations offer to somebody that can essentially only use one finger. Thanks again everybody for the suggestions?