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.
A plea to any bored devs looking for something to do: PLEASE do an AU version of Mutable’s Grids
Considering the code is open source, it should be possible, right?
It seems to me it would be an awesome AU drum sequencer for jamming in the iOS universe...
If there’s a dev that is interested, I’m sure we could whip up a gofundme or something as an enticement... he’ll, I’d pay the same for an AU version as the actual module if that would get you started. 🤪
Comments
Happy to tell you that this already exists as Valley Topograph in MiRack.
Oh man.. That's such a endless rabbit hole I really need to keep myself out of... But thanks for the head's up!
Maybe @burns_audio, considering the experience porting other MI modules? I don't know if that helps in this case, though
Any chance you could direct me how to wire Topograph up? I've got the three trigs going into a mixer and then to the output, but all I'm getting is pops instead of kick, snare, and hihat. Thank you.
I tried this yesterday after seeing this discussion - you need to trigger some sounds as the module only produces the timing and accents - one of the module folders has a load of simple drum synths that work nicely, trigger those and then mix them...
In my brain is something missing with the idea and concept of modular. Bummer looks funny :-)
And I admire what people can do with modular synthesis though
Mutable Instruments' manuals are great:
https://www.mutable-instruments.net/modules/grids/manual/
Got ya, thanks.
👌😇
Can we share MiRack configs in AUM.projects?
thank you, I didn't know that one. To run and stop Topograph, one has to input a high value, a switch. I used the standard Twelve-Key which works fine, but is there a smaller switch available in MiRack? I guess so, but where?
You can also just tap on the little light next to the "Run" input to start it without any using any other module.
There is also Buttons from the "mental" module collection, which ought to have a "Controller" tag but doesn't.
You could also use an external clock source like Impromptu's "Clocked" module, connecting its "Run" output to Topograph's "Run" input, which would allow you to use Clocked's "Run" button to start and stop both Topograph, Clocked, and any other sequencers you might want to drive with Clocked. That also gives you access to all of Clocked's nice tempo division, multiplication, swing, and delay capabilities.
To use an external clock with Topograph, turn the tempo knob all the way to the left until the BPM reads "Ext." and send it a clock signal at 24x your desired tempo. You can change from 24PPQN (pulses per quarter note) to 8 or 4 via the module's contextual menu accessed by tapping with two fingers, but the manual warns that these modes can distort certain patterns.
thank you @mogue. Very helpful.
A note to myself, and possibly also worth mentioning to some others: when connecting a 'run' output with a 'run' input, it may happen that both run states are inverted, so when module a is running, the other module is stopped, and vice-versa. Tapping the run button on the receiving module should bring back both run states correctly.
Such things may also happen in hardware, but mostly they don't happen. A run command is always a positive voltage, a stop message is always a zero voltage. There are almost never unexpected inverted states.
Some modules play while steady high levels are present, some evaluate Low>High and/or High>Low transitions, some are configurable. The software counterparts of existing hardware modules should behave consistently, otherwise it would be worth mentioning that to the developer.
that's true. The Valley Topograph developer should add such a low-high evaluation into the run input section. But I somehow hesitate to contact the developer for a tiny bug report like this. I am too glad to have such a good rhythm module in MiRack.
There's two things to consider here: the nature of the "button", and the nature of how it's being pushed.
Imagine a button in real life that has a latching mechanism. If you quickly tap and release it, which is equivalent to a CV trigger, it will remain pressed down. If you instead press and hold on it for a while, which is equivalent to a CV gate, after you release (close the gate) it will also remain pressed down. It will only deactivate after a second pressing: another trigger, or a gate being opened again which in terms of CV is equivalent to a trigger.
Now imagine a button that has no latching mechanism. If you quickly tap and release it (trigger), it will correspondingly activate and deactivate rapidly. To keep it active, you need to press and hold (gate).
In default configuration, Topograph's Run CV input is latching. If it is off, it will only turn on from a trigger (or the beginning of a gate, which looks like a trigger to it). If it's on, it will also only turn off from a trigger or the beginning of a gate.
If you tap Topograph with two fingers to open its contextual menu, you will find it has a setting to change the input to Momentary. Now the Run CV input will only keep things running if there is an active gate being received.
However! Impromptu's "Clocked" module only outputs triggers from its Run output. So, if there's any developer that you should contact, I think it should actually be Impromptu in order to request that they offer a setting which changes Clocked's Run output to a gate rather than a trigger.
correct. And if two modules don't play well together (which they usually do, but just in case), then there are logic modules to help with on/off states and such.