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.
So what is your overall set up....and why?
So what is your overall set up? For me, I have a MacBook, a guitar or bass, and iPad and iPhone, and a Korg nano keyboard. My overall purpose is to practice my real-life instruments , and to find interesting ways to support practice and jamming when I am alone. I also perform live with a worship team, which has recently led to trying out JamUp on the iPad. Ideally, my overall set up makes music-making fun and interesting, and supports both live and home use.
On the MacBook, I currently use Studio Live One, and sometimes Ableton Live. Like a moth to a flame, sometimes I want to wade deep into complicated technology. But then I get frustrated, and just want something simple to make music.
Anyway, what's your overall set up? And what is the story behind why you have what you do?
Cheers,
- Joe
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Comments
I am into the iOS music scene only because I got myself an iPhone & discovered Garageband & AudioBus & everything that comes with it. I'm amazed at the quality of music apps & with watching the iOS music scene literally blow up in front of my eyes.
It's because of the capabilities we have here that I wish to get as far as I can with composing & recording directly with the iPhone/AudioBus/apps combo - I almost see it as being the point of it all! While I might someday move into auxiliary equipment (although I think a good external mic is going to soon be necessary) & even hooking up to my iDevice with my PC, I feel as if I have plenty on my plate within the iOS world. Fifty-four apps & AudioBus... let's get to it!
Ipad running impaktor with Irig audio with impaktor triggered by a piezo powered pan. Parallel to this is a mic running into rc 2 looper. All this blasts out through a battery powered rig comprised of car amp and sub, crate taxi, roland micro cube (for the vocals). I'm hoping to hook up my akai mpk mini simultaneously to trigger some synth to be looped in loopy hd. I'm sure it works but I'm a bit worried my brain may not be able to handle the complexity in a impro situation esp. Because the 3 looping systems would rely on my timing as they are still not synced (impaktor looper has no midi sync to play with loopy).
The idea is to have a improvisational portable live rig to be used busking but also on stage. I'm also planning to bring a guitar or uke into it for more harmonic richness.
Here's an example:
After years of having lots of kit, patch bays, recall sheets etc etc. I stopped writing for a while (still had a lot of kit). Recently I sold the rest of my studio (heartbreaking to part with some of the retro analogue gear) because I was not using it at all. I have been more productive in recent months than in many recent years because my setup is now,
iPad mini retina + akai mini keyboard
That's it
@skoptic said:
When I do electronic my set up is almost the same but with ipad air. Mpk mini is super solid.
@supadom -- nice jam video! Your setup seems to work very well. I agree that the complexity could get overwhelming, but you seem to manage it well. Extra points for the vocal work, it was great.
My setup: I only do recording, not live performance, so it's as follows:
Gear
Apogee ONE interface:
Peavey AmpLink guitar interface (only used for quick jamming since the ONE is so much better)
Guitars
Peavey Classic 50 2x12 guitar amp, largely unused since it's too loud for home play
Microphones (largely unused since acquiring the Apogee ONE)
Keyboard controllers:
Workflow
My workflow depends on the style of song I'm doing. Synth/electronicky stuff is pretty much just the iPad + MPK Mini. If I add vocals they're recorded through the Apogee ONE. If I'm doing guitar-oriented songs (much of my recent stuff is mostly guitar based), the ONE is the essential piece of kit.
I do 90% of my recording on my lunch breaks at work. Basically, every day when I pack my messenger bag before leaving for work, I take my iPad Mini and Apogee ONE (and cables, batteries). If I'm working on something synthy I will bring my MPK Mini too. I leave a guitar and keyboard controller in my office so no matter what I'm working on I can jam/record.
If I'm at the point where I need to record vocals I will do it in my car on lunch, assuming it's not freezing outside (which it has been lately). Not an ideal studio, I know, but I don't have a place at home to do it, because my kids go to bed early and I can't be singing loudly after they're down.
So I have a pretty portable/mobile setup. I wish I had a permanent "studio" space where I could leave stuff set up. As it is, everything I record with is put away after use... guitars go in their stands, cables go in drawers, controllers get packed away, etc. That's my biggest complaint... it takes a few minutes to get everything set up when I do have time to record. On the other hand, I'm pretty mobile and can record just about anywhere by grabbing my messenger bag.
Enjoying the posts, thx!
Cheers @jesse_ohio. I need all of the encouragement I can get. I spent a lot of time recording in the past but simply have no time for it now so my way out are impromptu improvisations. I've always been quite good with coming up with songs on the spot so it suits me ok. I'm kinda aiming at Fat Freddy's Drop type of sound, loop based, soulful and groovy. I'm also thinking of triggering some samples from bm2 through the akai pads. I'll post another video once I've made some upgrades to the set up.
Wow, your list is quite impressive. You're a bit of a gear junkie aren't you?
@supadom said:
Cool. I love the idea of doing live impromptu stuff like this, but man, it would take me a long time to get there. When I record I end up doing a lot of takes to get stuff right. On the other hand, live performances definitely have a soulful quality all their own that is hard to capture in a forced recording. I would like to practice doing more stuff like you.
Ha... well, I guess so, I never really thought about it that way, but looking at that list it does seem true. Really, I had a lot of the stuff to begin with before I ever started recording.
Almost all the guitars I've had for years, one since high school. I used to play with a few guys in a basement band, so the guitars, amp and a mic were already in my arsenal. Besides, they were all pretty cheap. I don't own a guitar worth over $400 new-retail price. A lot of people go out and buy $2000 Gibsons, I just buy 5 cheap guitars instead
And I had an iPad before I ever started recording... Once I found Audiobus and got the itch to record, though, I did have to pick up some gear -- the Apogee ONE was my BIG splurge, but it's the most important tool aside from the iPad itself.
The keyboard controllers were both cheap (one was open-box clearance for like $20). So it's not like I rushed out and went nuts buying stuff -- this was mostly a slow acquisition of gear over time.
STILL, it is a big investment to get into recording, even doing it on the cheap with an iPad. It is hard not to fall in the trap that "if I only buy THIS next thing I will be a better musician!". Same is true with iOS music apps, instruments, gear, etc. But I'm good at justifying anything
@jesse_ohio I know what you mean. Being a gear junkie is one thing, being a collector not quite the same
. The same here, I've had several guitars/basses/amps (all sub $400) in my career but possibly due to moving a lot around I couldn't accumulate. Now, even though I own a house and won't be moving as much I have a family so priorities have changed a bit. Still, I have the loft with all my gear (drums, amps and guitars) ready to roll whenever one of my old mates shows up. That doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like though!
@jesse_ohio:
Funny you mentioning doing vocals in your car at lunch because I have found that my Honda Element seems to make a quiet enough 'studio' in which to record vocals! However, I should make some other arrangements, mostly because I think I ought to be standing (in order to breathe better while singing - need a good portable mic setup, too)!
I've tried recording vocals in my civic but wasn't overly impressed.
A couple of follow-up questions… Do you believe that practically speaking, you don't need a desktop DAW? And if you do use both iOS and a desktop DAW, do you use one after another, or do you ever use both at the same time?
In my case, I found I could go a few weeks without using my desktop at all. But when I got back to it, I found there were indeed a few things that I missed.
And now I'm trying to see if it is worth it to use wifi MIDI to play something on iOS and have it appear on the desktop.
Thanks again, Joe
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I don't have a desktop DAW. Never have. I've always relied on the XP-50 for all my past big projects and sniffed about for a desktop DAW for gits & shiggles, but once I discovered this iOS music world I realized that for my purposes AudioBus and all these inexpensive apps provide everything I might need to do what I like to do. I probably have more apps than I really need. As I posted somewhere before: Isn't that the point?
What we are able to accomplish on an ipad/iphone is just incredible. Ios music has fully captivated me. I'm guessing mainly because of the portability, but also the community. Ios music has come such a long way in a short period of time. With that being said, I have korg: emx1, rmk11, monotribe, microkorg, kaossilator pro and all 3 volcas. I also own a blofeld, microbrute and a maschine/komplete 9. My main daw is reason 7 and I have used reaper as well. I'm so immersed in ios music making that I haven't really touched any of that stuff. I would like to incorporate my ipad with my pc, just been waiting for the iconnectmidi 4.
I went from having a lot of synths, drum machines, and samplers to being a bit more of a gear minimalist over the years. Mainly focusing on a few software tools on the laptop and some quality outboard here and there for IO and what not. Over the years with careful trading and selling of my gear, I've managed to upgrade everything to a pretty respectable setup. Currently using:
Over the years as my job became working with music every day (mastering engineer), I started getting less and less interested in working on the laptop for my own music making. Just like the day job in bio tech used to do when it came time to make music on my home computer, after staring at one all day for work, just wasn't the same when it was time to have fun.
I've always been interested in mobile music making ever since I had Bhajis Loops on a Palm TX back in the day. As soon as Auria and Audiobus came to the iPad, I felt like I finally had the means to make complete tracks that were the same quality as my computer based songs. Before that I was just sketching out song ideas and quick riffs.
Also, it feels to me like the iOS developers are really the ones pushing the boundaries of music apps these days. The desktop side of things still seems too focused on emulating vintage gear it seems like
So, despite having some nice software tools on the laptop, these days when I want to write my own music I find myself turning more and more to the iPad. It reminds me of working with hardware since you're focused on a single piece of gear with one display. But you get all the flexibility of having a much more powerful CPU and lots of storage too.
Now if only there was a ncie and easy way to sync all these apps to a common tempo, then I'll be truly happy!
Allow me to add: Before iOS I never had a simple way of recording vocals for any projects I've entertained doing in the past, what with the hardware needs - I always felt that buying mics & mixers & boards that weren't going to be used that much a bad idea (not to mention being a newbie about audio engineering); now I have about the easiest way imaginable to bring together my music easily and (hopefully) competently, without more junk laying around the house!