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.
Why IceGear synths....
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Besides sounding great I find Icegear synths supreme on ios.
Functionality is never a problem, midi learn is a breeze, file management quick and straight forward, never hunted for the init patch, easy on cpu, same layout in standalone and au, text requires no squinting, etc.....these apps are just so on point!
I know they may not have all the options you desire, but they operate in such a user friendly manner I think other developers miss and should take notice.
Comments
Some people complain about the horizontal scrolling AU interfaces. I love it that way.
Great sounds. I do find though that the program change functionality of their synths to be awkward. You have to specifically assign it to a program bank but I don’t think you can change the order there. So if you add a new sound, previous PC messages assigned are then out of sync and incorrect. This is because they’re listed alphabetically. New sounds should ideally be appended to the end of the list so that previous program change numbers persist.
Happy to be shown otherwise for sure.
Lagrange is awesome.
Ha I hated it too, recent update allows full view option
Having a different view from standalone to au is a workflow disaster
I never used it in that way but you may want to email the dev. He’s very responsive and helpful 👍🏼
I have previously with no response. Just tried again. Fingers crossed.
Not for me. If there’s an AU then that’s all I ever use. I open the standalone on first install and on updates to be sure all the app housekeeping is done, then close it an never look back.
My only complaint is the presets folder structure that make you start with an empty folder, not convenient for right out of the bat presets scrolling and make it impossible to switch presets by midi in AUM without having to copy and paste presets one by one to the usable folder.
I’ve been very impressed with Lagrange, how much overlap does it have with the rest?
Satoshi replied overnight. Had a decent solution for the PC order.... as well as being sorted alphabetically, it’s also sorted numerically, so can rename presets in the program folder with a prefix 005, 006 etc. It’s not ideal as the prefix isn’t ‘read’ as such and so the prefix will still need to match the current order.
Sample prog change issue in Moog Model D. @MoogMusicInc
Lagrange is quite a unique synth with a sonic palette unlike anything else. It has its limits but its strengths give it a unique sound and I’m loving it now.
The only thing I find irritating with Ice Gear synths is that the AUv3s don’t recall the preset name (always calling it by the name of the synth when reloading the set, though the other synth parameters seem to be recalled correctly). Dev did respond but said it was because of adding AUv3 later on and he couldn’t promise it would be fixed.
But it’s a minor thing.
I haven't bought Lagrange yet.
But I'm sure I will; Lorentz is probably my favourite iOS synth of all, and I also really like Kronecker.
They both have a real character to them.
The more stable, consistent synths on iOS to be
sure. He’s a great developer. What’s everybody’s favorite out of all of the IceGear Synthesizers?
I own the whole catalog but my personal favorite is, Legrange. Coming in a close second would be Lorentz. Each synth is pretty special in its own way but the newest marks high for usability and fun factor for me. Any thought on your favorites?
Lorentz is one of my very favorites too! I started a discussion earlier this year about how I love the “Resonator” section in the ice gear synths. I think the resonator and drive together can produce some really magical tones.
BTW, Lagrange is a must buy at some point. It’s probably their best app yet. It’s kind of like a best of album, but with new songs 😉
I have Kronecker Mersenne and Lagrange and love them all. Honestly these synths kill my op1 ⛽️ more than anything, they have that lovely lofi indie leaning sound that no one else on iOS does
Yes! In terms of just pure taste, and finding what floats your boat soundwise, the ice gear synths are pretty much top of the pile for me.
Unique set of gadgets ... all a bit similar but each seriously different... sort of cumulative. The common elements and logic make the time spent learning an Icegear synth much more "cost-effective". I'm hooked on the arp/sequencer myself.
That said, they take some serious house-training - at least to fit with my musical inclinations... and the packaged presets really don't help ... tend to restrict rather than expand the options on offer ... don't give folks a full view of what's possible. Brilliant engineering, but sounds chosen by limited ears... not musical enough!
It would greatly enhance these apps if the devs packed presets from a few musical tweakers - the likes of Spidericemidas, Gavinski, Red Sky Lullaby et al that demonstrate the truly enormous power, sophistication and musicality of these synths. Top of the pile indeed.
I don’t understand all the hype myself...they are ok, there are many iOS synths that sound better to me
I find the sound palette mostly limited, and they are not a go to for me on any occasion thus far.
That being said, they aren’t my least favorite synthesizers...kinda just that mid ground....
But you have to understand, I have owned a great deal of synths...both hardware and software, so I’m probably going to always go with what I know is good for MY sound. These wouldn’t be in my top 20 by any stretch.
If I did pick my favorite ice gear offering (I have erased the others off my iPad) I would go with Lagrange.
For comparison I’ll list my top ten synths of all times:
1. Apple Alchemy (Mac OS X)
2. Roland Vsynth (hardware)
3. Izotope Iris2 (mac OS X)
4. Erica synths Black SystemII (hardware)
5. Moog One (hardware)
6. Moog Subharminicon (hardware)
7. Serum (mac OS X)
8. Moog model 15 (ios)
9. Europa (mac OS X)
10. Sculpture (mac OS X)
Ios mentions:
Drambo
Sunrizer
Drc
Zeeon
Model15
Model D
Animoog
Thor
Aparillo
Synthmaster One
Honorable mentions:
Cyclop
Spacecraft
tardigrain
Shockwave
Wavemapper
@Soundscaper please don't bundle me in with such august company 😂. I'm good with fx but still have a lot to learn about patching synths. But definitely I'd love to see more guest preset patches from people like Spider and Red coming bundled with the ice gear synths.
I just bought Laplace as well since it was on sale. These synths are all kinda similar but cover such perfect ground for my kind of lofi tunes that I gotta have at least 4 ice gear synths. Warm digital loveliness
Modest humility duly noted, @Gavinski ... laudable but ill-founded.
One of the things I enjoy about your vids is the way you are able to keelhaul melody and musicality out of what is a ratchetty gadget in my hands. Means you've got a good set of ears as well as a grasp of the gadgetry. Not actually common you know.
It's what is missing in IceGear's marketing approach - brilliant engineering but a limited idea of what to do with it and how to show it off. It determines the "spread" of an app in the market - the range of genres, timbres and tones it straddles.
There's a career in that.
@Soundscaper thnx!
@MrSmileZ great list of synths there, thanks for that. Apart from versatility, I'm wondering what you look for in terms of sound and what styles of music you are into making. Cheers
Lagrange is absolutely in my top 5 synths. I just recently got Kronecker but haven’t put time into exploring it too much.
All I can say, is when I try out a new effects app, I usually choose an Ice Gear synth to be my source sound.
I love Lagrange. It can be my tiny sprinkle Fairytale and the old dirty beast mother. Took me a while but it will probably never leave my iPad.
If I would pick only one IceGear synth it would definitely be Lagrange!
It's one of the few synths with proper bit-shift noise and the different oscillators produce an insane range of sounds.
Considering it's complexity it's fairly easy to tweak too.
Lagrange is the only one I haven’t got I think, love the others but haven’t seen the need for this one as well...
I tend to do rather dark experimental Hiphop, so I love experimental synths and sample manipulators. I do enjoy synths that sound way different than the mainstream. Nothing against ice gear offerings, they just never really sound fat or warm in the way I like. Many other folks seem to love them...I don’t know why, I go back and fiddle around and just scratch me head and think...what is everyone hearing that I am not hahaha
I’m kinda the same, except for maybe RedShrike. With that resonator I can really get some sounds I just can’t get any other way.
Im still glad I have the ones I do, but they don’t get much regular use other than RedShrike.