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
I think its mainly about triggering generation and playback of a new motif (with same rules as those I initially setup). I just want a series of different musical phrases with the same overall rules.
So, I'm just after automation of the generate button if I understand the videos correctly.
(Although not 100% sure what the next button does).
Starting and stopping would be a bonus, but I guess I can choose to when to start or stop listening in a downstream midi processor.
I suppose I could pre-generate a hundred of them, save them as MIDI then load them into Atom2 as patterns, then use Mozaic to pick a random phrase. A lot more time consuming and not quite left to chance as automating 'generate' but it could work...
@McD explained it perfectly. Piano Motifs is different from other apps in which you can program chords, where only chords are produced. In that case it is easy, because you just generate the chord the user inputs blindly. In Piano Motifs the problem with adding non-scale defined chords is that the melody algorithms and some accompaniments (the ones that don’t use chord triads) need a scale to work properly. The parallel scale and the secondary dominant scales can be derived from the programmed scale, so there is no issue for those. I could investigate an approach where you can add chords for a shifted scale from the programmed scale. For example, if the programmed scale is CMaj, then have an option to be able to select chords from shifted semitone scales: C#Maj, DMaj, D#Maj, and so on. This could, of course, result in motifs where musicality is lost, but it would be at the user’s risk. I can’t promise anything right now, but I will investigate it to see what is feasible.
Hi @belldu, unfortunately this isn’t possible in Piano Motifs, there are no parameters that control the Generate, Next, Play, Stop buttons. I don’t know that Piano Motifs would fit in your workflow even if they could be automated. In Sync Mode, 4 steps would need to be automated before you can start playing a new motif: stop the Host transport, activate the Next button, activate the Generate button and then activate play in the Host transport. In non-Sync mode, 3 steps would be needed: activate the Stop button, activate the Next button, and activate the Play button. The caveat is that in non-Sync mode Piano Motifs will be out of sync with the Host.
Thank you Azul for the answer.
While I'm not interested in automation as described by belldu, I have been noodling lately on making Piano Motifs more "immediate" in a live situation. I set up PM with very specific key/chords/settings and then improvise on the fly because, well, it's more fun to do different versions of songs every time I play it. It challenges me as a musician similarly to playing with different live musicians. It causes me to listen and react to the accompaniment and melodies. But, the four steps are clunky in a live situation. If you could expose the AU parameters for the Next and Generate buttons, I could use the host's MIDI Learn options to hit one controller button and have it fire off "stop transport, hit next, hit generate, play transport". Is that even possible to expose those two buttons as AU params?
Even a broken clock is right twice daily. I improve my odds by weighing in on anything.
Oh I hope you do! Music that follows scales is highly predictable and as a result rarely adds much surprise for the listener.
Rule breaking is essential to create something that seems new and fresh. I’m sure you expect it to be unusable but I believe the opposite to be true. I expect random changes of tonal centers create music similar to the genius of Joni Mitchell or jazz composers that looked for rule “violations” that opened doors to new ideas that no one before had mined.
I expect a huge breakthorough in creavity when I hit generate. As it stands, I find about 80% of the resulting music to be unintresetting. It doesn’t break any rules but it’s a bit like flower wall paper… been there, done that.
Now, I’m contrast an app that just uses randomness the results don’t even set you up for prediction. That’s like paint splattered wall coverings. Some like the rejection of painting as representing objects. Hitting generate my produce something but is has the likelihood of the monkeys typing sentences. We now have AI monkeys and they are killing it by giving us the most likely next word so it beats predictions and seems intelligent.
I believe, if your melodies follow the rules against the users chords this app will become really powerful for generating useful music… apps that follow this model are the Session Band apps where the user can input chords and the apps generates musicians to render the Bassline and chords and even a soloist that plays meaningful “licks” against the requested chords.
Good luck. I’m hoping you can find a way to implement this idea in a new update that would deserve an IAP payment to utilize because it will really take some effort to add the changes to the user interface and the apps behavior. I’d play for the effort
And use the app to make more Staffpad orchestrations. I currently do this by running Suggester into @_ki’s Bassline and divisi Mozaic scripts into Cubasis to make a composite MIDI file of the Bassline and chords spread over MIDI channels to assign to strings, horns or brass. It’s tedious but it does let me go for new and interesting chord progressions like chromatic mediants which are really hot for fantasy film scores: Cm, E, Ab minor… the roots change by 3rds (major or minor) and the chords changes on whim from Major to another Major or Minor. After a few chords you really are not sure what key you’re in. Throw on a melody that follows the scales relative to the chords and you’re now a real deal composer. It’s really just a new set of rules but it’s never boring.
Thanks for the detailed reply @azul3D_Apps
I was intrigued enough to buy Piano Motifs anyway and while it doesn't match my original intention I now have a folder called 'Snippets to develop' containing loads of ideas that I can work with :-)
I'm only just getting started with it but it feels more powerful as an accompaniment generating tool.
Melodically I was hoping for something that could (with some prompting) produce a musical phrase like you might find in a folk melody or hymn, through usage of 'stepwise motion', suspensions, and small jumps. I'm going to think more on that and see if I can do something in Mozaic. If nothing else, its about time I learned the theory behind writing a melody.
Looking forward to exploring more with Piano Motifs...
I agree that this extra feature should be a paid in app purchase
Is the app no longer working in AUM? I’m using as usual, have it connected to the app I want to sequence but as soon as I hit play everything grays out and no midi is sent. Just silence. Doesn’t even look like the app is running despite transport being on. Seems to work fine in Audiobus.
Edit: if I close out of aum completely and reload it, it will work the first time but the second I generate another it’s back to doing the same thing. What a bummer. @azul3D_Apps any ideas?
Seems like it has to do with host sync issues. If I take sync off it works fine. But when I sync to AUMs transport it will no longer play.
Hi @lukesleepwalker, I couldn't find in the AU params types one-shot parameters which is what the Next and Generate buttons are. The closest would be for them to be Boolean value parameters, that will only have an effect when set to true and would be forced by the app to go back to false automatically. The problem I see here is that these wouldn't work as the user would expect because they are disabled/enabled depending on the state of the Host transport. For example when the Host transport is playing, they are disabled. Because of this I don't think I want to expose these as parameters.
Hi @belldu, it’s probably not exactly what you’re looking for but you might want to give the Melody Seq option in the More Settings screen a try. When you select this option you can determine the cadence of the Melody. You have the option of setting on which beats of a bar you will be playing a melody note, how long that note would be, if it is randomly played or not, and which beats of the bar are accented. You can combine this with the Melody Constraints to direct the melody a little more to what you want.
@HotStrange, I haven't seen any issues with running Piano Motifs as a MIDI AUv3 plug-in in AUM. I will send you a DM with some questions so that we can get to the bottom of the problem you're having.
A new version of Piano Motifs (v4.31) is now available. What’s new in this version:
• Added Alternate Scale Chords in the Program Chord Progression Screen. This adds the ability to select chords from any of the available keys and scales for a programmed chord progression.
• Fixed bugs.
If you’re enjoying the music generated by Piano Motifs and all the new features added please consider leaving a review in the App Store.
Enjoy!
Wowza, this is a big one! Thanks, @azul3D_Apps !
Master of understatement … slipped into an x.nn release , well done @azul3D_Apps 😊
Here is a quick demo with a Howard Shore LOTR vibe…
Thanks @lukesleepwalker and @GeoTony 🙏!
@GeoTony you already put the new functionality to great use! Wonderful chord progression, intense and epic!
Thank you so much @azul3D_Apps
Just updated! Thanks for all the work you put in @azul3D_Apps
Piano Motifs has just quietly been becoming possibly the best generative app on the App Store. Amazing.
I’ve been meaning to share my excitement about this update. Really great addition to a top notch app. Thanks @azul3D_Apps
Thank you!
Has anyone worked out how to record the midi-out from Piano Motifs in Logic for iPad?
Are you just wanting to record the midi notes to load into a track? Or the built in sounds of piano motifs? Or another synth being sequences by PM?
@HotStrange I’m putting Piano Motifs on a midiFX slot in front of a synth, and trying to get Logic to record the midi it generates to a midi region on that track.
I’m not sure. I didn’t renew my trial so I can’t test but you can also just export the midi directly from the app
Curious. In NS2 I have to put MidiRoute in the chain, but that doesn't seem to work with Logic.
Hi @FastGhost,
It seems that if you long press on Piano Motifs an option to "Record Midi to track here" can be selected:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/55813/record-midi-generated-by-a-midi-auv3-is-it-possible
Oooh, interesting, thanks @azul3D_Apps