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
@blipson Oh yes, I do know very well that CS Translator is a product with features that kinda over-hype themselves but when working with it and comparing it to other tools, it's still ahead for quite a number of conversion tasks. None of the available tools always does what it's supposed to, be it Awave Studio, Extreme Sample Converter, CDXtract, Kontakt or the old but great Redmatica tools that are still unique in what they do.
I've tried Polyphone, yes, and I tried to like it because the guy who wrote it must be good but I didn't get along with it too well. Maybe it's because I'm too used to working with Kontakt, others may have very different experiences.
I still keep an old Kontakt version (V3) on my machine because instruments built with the older version can be converted to other formats fairly easily, and they are compatible with DAWs like Ableton Live too - Current versions aren't. Stuff like this - oh well, you only find out when you actually use them.
I still don't think that one needs more than 16 velocity layers in a drum library but the quality of samples used matters a lot and it is essential to pick the right samples when filling the velocity layers. The transition between velocity layers can make that little difference that is just necessary to make a drum sound come alive but too much of a difference will become too obvious.
I do like to invest some time into doing this when I build a sample library, not only with drums but just as much with piano or other acoustic or mechanical instruments. It's a lot of going back and forth, playing, editing, playing again, exchanging samples, moving velocity ranges...
Which samples have you used to build the instrument that you're not satisfied with?
And which BFD3 library would be your best choice?
And since you still own the TD50, why not sample your favorite instruments by means of AudioLayer's built-in auto sampler?
@rs2000 Polyphone doesn't look like it will do what I want: simply move a zone from one MIDI note to another. That's all I meant when I said Translator wouldn't let me edit an instrument. I have no skills with sampling or making my own sampled instruments. I've only ever worked with samples for acoustic drum kits. Aside from mangling samples as its own technique or sound, for example Jamm Pro.
You're insisting that the quality of the samples determines the sound, not the number of layers beyond 16. Maybe you're right, though I don't have skills to match the quality of the commercial samples I've bought. But I mean more than sound, I mean dynamic response and the way timbre responds to my Zendrum controller, and the way that response feels under my hands playing live. I can only say from experience that BFD3's 64 layers were a noticeable reduction in quality compared to their 128. If you're still saying 16 can be enough if done well, then that would be nice, but my other experience with the Zendrum-purposed Stompblock, a 16-layer stereo sample player limited to two banks of 128 samples each, is that it also is a noticeable reduction in quality of sound and response compared to BFD3's 128 layers. So I've always concluded that the number of layers is the most important fact, all other things equal. That playing feel is only something you can know from hands on experience over a good period of time, but one example is how I can do piano-style two-finger trills to do drum rolls with perfectly smooth crescendo and decrescendo. It's not that 16 layers sounds step-y, but it's just not the same kind of super sensitive response. If 16 layers can be done to an equivalent quality, I'd be all in, but there's no way I could sample my Roland TD-50 myself to get that kind of quality, I don't think.
It's not that the TD-50 sounds so great; I always describe it's sound as "very good," and I mean that. Its kits sound adequate to me, but in addition, the dynamic response via a Zendrum is as good as BFD's. Roland's technology isn't sample-based. A lot of professional drummers find the TD-50's sound to be unacceptable compared to a real kit by the way; I could see their point if I was a lifetime drummer. It's just that that damn TD-50's player features--it's totally engineered to be a workhorse for gigging even if it sacrifices a bit of professional sound--its features are so convenient that I just can't part with it unless I have a real, quality substitute. It's a dedicated, non-computer solutions, but also, for example, it's got a big-ass knob for quickly changing patches, and the 100 user patches all get selected without latency. Patch change with Audio Layer takes up to 10 seconds, and it takes much more cognitive attention to finger the iPad. The TD-50 also has 8 sliders to mix your kit pieces on the fly. It would be crazy to pay this much for just these two features, and the TD-50 has a slew of sound shaping parameters, multi outs per kit piece, and some practice features, all of which I rarely use, but at least may use someday. I'd almost go with the TD-50 and forget about BFD on the laptop, except the TD-50 limit to 12 kit pieces locks out more than two percussion pieces, and its onboard percussion is limited and not the best sounding.
But I leave the TD-50's most important value totally lying on the table by not using it with a Roland electronic kit, which isn't an option due to space, but also the acoustic noise and vibration of even an quality electronic kit. There's no way, in an apartment, to prevent transmitting vibration from a kick to your downstairs neighbor, and Roland's digital cymbals are hard and so there are constant wacking noises--a dealbreaker where I live. I've thought of setting up one (or more!) of Roland's digital snares because they're truly silent, but why bother if I can't have a real kit and when I can do more with a Zendrum? It would be cool, though, to be able to use drumsticks once in a while, but I can't even use sticks with my Nord Drum 3P's due to the acoustic noise.
So in terms of building the instrument I'm satisfied with: I'm just a big dummy with that. I'm limited to choosing from pre-fabbed kits, then tweaking by adding on some pre-fabbed bongos, congas, and djembe. I don't construct, I select, and in a rather limited way because BFD's options there sound really good. But if you're asking, I've 17 BFD expansions pretty much all of them sounding and feeling really good to me, but I always go back, rather quickly, to one or two kits in the jazz and funk pack. It's nice having all the options to remind me of what I really like. I've got two volumes of their signature snares, and I still always go back to the ones in the jazz and funk kits. I use their percussion pack for the above bongos, etc. But I haven't used BFD or my Nords in like 3 years due to logistical matters, and now that I've got a few things back in play, I've upgraded my Macs, so I'm locked out of BFD indefinitely. So I'm into the whole iOS thing.
OK @blipson, first if all, BFD seems to work in Catalina with a few tricks:
https://www.fxpansion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8259997&sid=7b23fcc040ae2eff8bf866c8a68dd070&start=180
If you own this many BFD libraries it would be a waste not to be able to use them, as they're generally very high quality.
BFD Jazz & Funk sounds great!!
Next, AudioLayer can sample up to 32 velocity layers automatically when you load it in an AUv3 host like AUM:
And this should not be too much work except setting up the proper MIDI and audio connections and waiting for AL to do its thing.
@rs2000 Thanks! I was down to checking FXpansion's forums only every few months about the Catalina issue. I hadn't yet seen that March update.
I'd still like to get as much as I can out of iOS, so I have a quick question before I delve into this autosampling plan: does it keep adding to the layers persistently as it senses a new layer, or does it overwrite? In other words, do I have to play 32 different layers precisely in a row?
Also, is there a way to load one kit on top of another in AL? What I mean is this: a kit uses, say, 15 MIDI notes. In that case, I could load up one patch with 7 kits and then choose different combinations by remapping my MIDI controller. Using my MIDI hub, MIDI re-mappings are instantaneous. Changing kits in AL takes a long time for the new kit to load, so I'd like to make one big patch. I've been trying to figure out how to do that by editing the SFZ file--which I assume only requires some clever global-search-and-replace--but it's just a little too complex.
You're welcome 😊
AudioLayer sends the necessary MIDI notes at appropriate velocities automatically so all you have to do is connect everything, hit start and wait drinking coffee and a few beers 😉
No problem. What you can do is auto-sample multiple times in separate key ranges.
AL will always extend the latest sampled upper and lower note to the full range (a bug IMHO) but you can manually select groups and move them back. Not too much pain after a bit of practice. It's a good idea to practice editing groups of samples in AL first.
Each time before starting a new sampling round, make sure you reduce the key range of the previous sampling session to one sample per key.
After getting BFD3 downloaded and installed, I'm back to Audio Layer. I moved everything to my 12-inch iPad Pro with Apple Pencil 2 thinking that would make it easier to edit things. I thought I'd be able to select things in the GUI, then copy and paste them or drag them to other MIDI notes. Am I right that there's no way to cut and paste?
Also, I thought the bigger interface would make it easier to select, especially using the Pencil instead of my finger on my iPad Mini. I'd use this kind of select to designate mute groups for hi-hat articulations. But the program's drag-select always automatically selects at least one neighboring column as soon as you start to vertically drag. The much finer Pencil is no different than the finger, so that it's impossible to drag-select a column unless both the columns to the left and the column to the right are empty. Am I right about this?
That looks amazing. And a bit nerdy tbh.
No doubt--I think that's one of the reasons it's not more popular with real drummers.
Here's maybe a less nerdy performance.
Hey, I checked how much they were and had the "if they're under this much then I'm in" conversation with myself. Finger drumming has become quite a thing imo and this instrument looks like the serious end of those skills. It's not a drum kit but it looks like you'd need similar skills to be proficient.
@blipson Yep that's true but with a bit of practice, editing is quite straightforward. Other iOS apps don't have this kind of editing at all so on iOS, you'll have to live with it.
Drag-selecting is possible if you select one zone and move its border out of the way so you have a free area to start selecting from. Selecting and moving a group of zones is no problem, also you can add more zones to the same instrument by auto-sampling again. Nothing that really keeps you from building a great drum instrument with many velocity layers.
Geez--no copy and paste and workarounds for drag-select? that's out-and-out weird in the post-mid-1980s world of Apple--I don't regret saying the thing has an alpha- or early beta-feel, but I'll just do without this editing. It was only for the convenience of MIDI mapping all my kits the same way so that one controller patch has them covered. Of course, I can also re-map the controller patches, but in my setup that adds an undesirable layer of complication even once the maps are created (don't ask). But since drum kit re-loads on the iPad have so much latency, I guess I'll have time to do the controller-side patch change while I'm waiting. At this point, though--especially with BFD back--it's clear the iOS multisampled drum kits will only be my backup for ultraportable situations, and not even my first ultraportable kits. Other than that, I'll find one iOS kit I like best and probably leave settings permanently on that. I've already gravitated to Drum Drops's Tony Allen and Vintage Motown. Too bad I had to purchase so much extra stuff to zero in on what I like the best, but it always goes that way.
So did you have sticker-shock on Zendrum's prices? Each one is, basically, a custom job, and with such a small market for such a boutique item...well, there's no other way to get functionality of this quality--he has exactly zero competition. He'd have to sell his patents to Yamaha or Roland, who I think could generate enough promotion so that they could mass produce an acceptable one-size-fits-all for $500-$800. Otherwise, you're looking at around $2000 for the package. I've bought five of them, and four are lifetime keepers.
@blipson That's the way it is on iOS. It's a touch-enabled app world that even fits in your pocket but it's not really mature audio platform, just like Windows in the 90s needed lots of hacks and workarounds to be used as a replacement for 20x more expensive studio gear.
I'm sure that's part of the charm that has attracted us to iOS.
But it's so close to professional now. The very competitive sonic quality and sophisticated things iOS can do make the things it can't do seem unnecessary, even bizarre. For example, the file management restrictions due to sandboxing, the difficulty of DIN MIDI in (my Zendrums!), which I simply can't do on my USB-C iPad Pro, which also can't easily run audio out to my mixer and recharge at the same time. On my iPad Mini, I have a Korg plugKEY, and it's yet another weird blindspot that there's nothing similar for USB-C.
4-5 years ago, everything sounded like crap. In the past few months, I've pretty much decided to dump my entire modular and half my semi-modulars because I have to admit to myself that you sacrifice very little--if anything--by going all-iOS.
Not shock, more hope that turned to understanding, if that makes sense? I can see why the top model is that price. They're clearly very well evolved, from a design perspective. The materials and the build look rock solid. The cross-body one and the lap one are both new percussion instruments. Just a pity that they aren't mass-produced in terms of that bringing a cheaper price.
Here's a discovery that people who helped in this thread might find interesting: my Roland TD-50 drum brain sounds and plays every bit as well as 128-layer BFD3. I perceive them as basically identical, though of course the kits differ. So it just comes down to the tradtional differences between a computer and a dedicated hardware synth. I might have thought the immediacy advantages of a box wouldn't matter so much with a drum kit synth because there's so much less to tweak, but the Roland has those 8 nifty sliders for instant mixing, and does swap between 100 kits instantly with that Big Freakin Knob. I expect I'll eventually use it less and less in favor of BFD on the laptop, but it makes such a fantastic-sounding backup--and I do work in two locations far apart, which makes it so practical I fear I'll never be able to cash out.
Back to Audio Layer: to overcome the lesser flexibility with iOS, I'm next going to try multiple instances of as @gosnote suggested above to be able to manipulate individual Drum Drops and Voxengo kit pieces separately. I figure iOS's advantage is that it will be easier to access varied configurations of effects via apps that I'd have to have a full DAW and suites of expensive plug-ins to do with BFD on the laptop, and I don't want to start going down that rabbit hole--yet. Multiple instances of AL in apeMatrix or AUM, I expect, will make it easy to MIDI-map each channel on the fly. My only question is: how many instances of AL are feasible? I figure it should load without limit, then it's up to the DSP capacity for how well it plays in real time. With percussion, though, there's a lot less polyphony, so I'm hoping 15 instances of AL will work far better than 15 instances of, say, PPG Infinite.
There are limits to the total amount of ram all instances of an AU can use. You may run into that. On the other hand, AudioLayer claims to optimize that by only loading what it need from "disk" (inaccurate term, but you know what I mean), but I dunno ... with the large-scale kits you've been talking about, it could be problematic. Also, there's a CPU cost to transferring from disk to ram that could cause glitchiness as well.
I hope it works for you though.
Hi,
Sorry if this has been answered before.
Is there a way to import multiple samples into velocity zones?. Every option I try maps it to consecutive notes, but I need the same note (kick, for example) but velocity samples.
See the wiki. It will auto AP to velocity zones if you choose that option and your files are named like myDrum_C2_65.wav where the number is a velocity it should be mapped to.
Thanks!. I was not aware of the wiki.
I still can’t get it to work. I was actually working on a shortcut to rename files as velocity layers, I see there’s an “Rename octaves” script in the wiki, very useful,
I can’t see what I’m doing wrong. I’m naming files like “Kick-C1-1” and it crashes. If I just import one it maps it across the whole keyboard...
I’ve tried all these naming, (I’ve seen a few options, unclear which are the working ones).
I made a video of the crash...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hy6x8yj7s7pwrxe/AudioLayer rash.MP4?dl=0
Thank u for your help!. I’m totally lost as to what I’m doing wrong.
Maybe post a zip file with your samples. Btw, I use underscores between the parts of the name.
I can’t see what options you are tapping in the video. I have created a bunch of auto mapped instruments with velocity layers this week. Btw, if the numbers are 1, 2, 3,4 that means you will have zones that ONLY play for velocity 1, velocity 2, velocity 3 and one that plays velocity 4-127.
Also if you import a bunch of samples and all have the same pitch, the range for the whole layer will be the full note range. It won’t restrict the note range unless there are other notes.
Thanks for your help @espiegel123 , appreciate it!.
I made a liitle zip of 5 files I’m trying to map. I’ve tried underscores and all kind of variations I could think of.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ato1gxrvsl2tsp/KickMap.zip?dl=0
I know the way I had it it would only have a “single” velocity, but since I’m doing a ShortCuts script I thought I’d work on that later. I’m using the “Automap Filename” option, it’s makes it crash like in the video I posted before. I can’t see what’s wrong, and why it would crash.
I’m trying to build quite a few kits and would like to automate it, otherwise I’m not gonna have the patience...
Thanks again!.
Did you try changing the names so that the sample name before the note name is identical? Your samples are like this
1960's Kick1 (51)_C1_100
1960's Kick1 (45)_C1_60
They should be something like kick1_C1_100
The (45) and (51) may confuse things. You want the names identical for the sample name until you get to the note name...otherwise it won’t know they are for the same sample series.
The velocities need to be 3 digits also. Just did a test. If you get rid of the parenthesis Ed numbers and convert all velocities to three digits it works.
I have tried all kind of names, just did again per your suggestion. Crash.
Maybe I should reinstall, the crashing doesn’t make sense.
Edit: cross-post, will check your solution!. Thanks!.
I couldn’t find docs with the exact naming conventions.
I tried the AUV3 and that’s working. Hadn’t tried before.
There’s something wrong with the (my) standalone.
Velocity values are still not under control, but without the crashes I hope to move on... Will try reinstalling or something. Thanks!!
Did you try changing the velocities to being three digits? I just tried your originals and making all velocities three digits solved the import problem in standalone. I've added a note about this to the wiki.
I did, as you can in the screenshot. In standalone, the animation of the mapping seems correct but as soon as it reaches the end of the screen it crashes. Auv3 is ok. The 3 digit thing doesn’t seem related to the crashing.
Maybe I should email VirSyn support?.
I guess so. I had 0 crashes when importing your files in standalone. IPad 6, iOS 13.7.
hi guys,
still trying to figure this out. i wanna import about 30 snare samples and distribute them all over C1 with different velocities.
i renamed them all like C1 001-004,
C1 005-008 and so on.
no matter what import options i try, audiolayer don't put them only on C1 and the corresponding vel layer.
doing it by hand is almost impossible, it's getting too small to move properly.
any tips?
thanks
Per the manual, the naming schemes are:
1) xxxx-050.wav xxxx-051.wav ...
Key range is one note with midi note number 50, 51, ... Root key is same note
Velocity range is from 0-127
2) xxxx-000-127-C1.wav xxxx-000-127-C#1.wav ... Key range is one note C0, C#1, ...
Root key is same note
Velocity range (optional) is from 0-127
3) xxxx-000-127-C1-C2.wav...
Key range is from note C1 to note C2 Root key is C1
Velocity range (optional) is from 0-127
4) xxxx-000-127-D1-C1-C2.wav ...
Key range is from note C1 to note C2 Root key is D1
Velocity range (optional) is from 0-127