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
@sinosoidal
About that Shift Button mechanic...
How about keeping the 2-tap lock, but change the tap/hold mechanic to a 1-tap temporary lock.
So if you tap Shift, you see the ... menus appear, and when you enter one of these menus the Shift unlocks automatically.
So 1 tap is single use, no hold required.
2 taps is locked Shift. Do all your settings. Then 2 taps to unlock Shift.
Hmm - regarding my earlier question:
I think @tahiche does what you want in this video:
@sinosoidal that looks like EXACTLY what I'm wanting to do!
Right - so if I download LK and buy all the IAPs I'll be able to use it in exactly the same way? SOLD!
My mind is truly blown! This is entirely what I've been looking for since I first started making music on iPad!
@tahiche your workflow here is perfect for what I'm trying to achieve! Also, regarding the way you're using iDensity: is that controlled via MIDI also? i.e. to move the playhead forwards and backwards etc? It gives me very strong Make Noise Morphagene feels (which is a piece of hardware I've been very much attracted to since it first appeared!)
Am I understanding here that you are using Drambo to play audio loops? I find Drambo to be very "sledgehammer to crack a walnut" so far (I don't doubt the power of it but I just want to achieve the simple thing I want to do in the most straight forward manner) which is why I was thinking of using EG Pulse to serve that purpose.
LK is on a 50% sale until the end of November. It is a good time to get all the modules. However, you can try everything without purchasing. Purchase only when you are sure it will fit your workflow.
If it can do this, it can do precisely what I have been trying to achieve for years! Is there an option to buy everything all in one go (like as a "pro" version, as some apps/developers seem to offer) or do I download the free version and then buy all the IAPs?
Having trouble trying to figure out how to record the LK controllers within the same instance to record into the matrix. I tried the manual and still can’t figure out the routing within the same LK instance. I’m sure it’s in this thread, but do I really have to read through 39 pages of thread to find it? I’m sure it’s some very simple that I’m overlooking.
I’m trying to evaluate whether there’s any benefit to buying the LK controllers to record into the matrix vs the other au controllers I already have. But, I can’t figure out the routing of LK controller to LK matrix within the same LK instance.
On the track, select the controller you want to record from.
Arm the track for recording and arm LK for recording.
Oh geez! Thank you! I knew it was something simple. I’d figured this out a couple months ago but forgot the controller selection drop down part.
I have the matrix, x/y, and midi controller IAPs, but I’m hesitant to get the keyboard, chords, and pads since I have other apps like KB1 that fill those needs.
Are there benefits to also getting the keyboard, chords, and pads IAPs that I may be overlooking? The only one I can think of is if you’re using LK in standalone to control external synths, but if it’s hosted and you already have various keyboards and controllers, I’m wondering what extra benefits there are.
I don’t have KB1 so I’m not sure how LK’s keyboard compares feature-wise, but there is the convenience of having it just one tap away when working in Matrix and then another tap to come back.
I cannot arm the track. What am I doing wrong? Ableton is like this for me as well. The most simple stuff doesn’t work easily. I’m sure I will figure it out with your help. Thanks
FIGURED IT OUT — I needed to press the M button on the bottom whatever that is
I like the Chorder because I like the layout, and use it often and as said above, it’s just there without loading and switching to another app. The keyboard I don’t use often, and when I’m in an app I find myself using the AUM keyboard for sound testing. The pads I don’t use at all, and usually go for Xequence aum pads or the kb1 pads because you can define your layout.
The good thing about LK is you can keep testing the functionality of all the IAP’s indefinitely and if you find yourself using them you can buy them!
I get this to record notes when using Chorder, but no automation is recorded if I try the same using XY pad. I tried with both XY pad and LK input as the clip input.
If you want to record some from LK controller, some from LK XY, some from LK chorder, and go back and forth between these, isn't it a bit inconvenient if you need to modify that clip input drop-down every time? There should be one option to just record any midi from all internal LK modules.
What does it mean if a track is armed for recording but LK is not? Or, put in other words, could LK remove the "arm LK" ui part and just say that LK is armed for recording if any of the tracks are armed? Is this double arming business common standard elsewhere?
Can LK record multiple MIDI channels in a single clip (and send the midi out to the original channel) or are clips restricted to a single MIDI channel on output?
I have been trying to figure out the Chord preset making routine. Here are some things I found.
The presets create a single row of chords. This row contains a single chord type. The chords are not tied to a specific key.
In the preset builder, you select the roots you would like to use in the first row, then select the chord type for the row. You can also shift the root octave up and down by tapping the little +/- buttons just above/below the root buttons.
When you are selecting the chord type for the preset row, you can pick from available chord types, or you can select the intervals directly using the second row of buttons (the row of intervals).
You get a little preview of your row (the third row of buttons in the preset builder).
I think there is a bug with the octave # here, and the order of roots. It shows the value 2 lower than what you actually get, and the root order changes when you save and load the preset in the main Chorder interface. Kind of confusing for me at first.
So if you want to have chords for B minor triads, you need 3 preset rows collected as a layout.
One row has your minor chords, one row has your Major chords, and one row has your diminished chords.
Activate all 3 new preset rows (and deactivate any others), then save your new Layout.
If a track is armed for recording, but LK is not, MIDI that goes into that track is forwarded to the assigned instrument, but it is not recorded. It's useful if you just want to play that instrument live along the sequenced tracks. I don't think there is a standard way software deal with it, but this way is not uncommon
I agree that this is not unusual.
In Cubasis, you have to arm the midi track and the transport, too.
I see. I guess a red dot on a track could be more aptly thought of as “armed for receiving and transmitting midi”, whereas the transport red dot indicates “armed for recording” for tracks that are armed to receive/transmit. Thanks for the use case clarifications.
I think I'll end up grabbing the keyboards, chorder, and pads before the sale is over.
I've got other apps like KB1 that I really like. As well as the Velocity keyboard, etc. But, I got to thinking about my own question and the prospect of ONLY working in LK without needing to host in anything. Or, I can have my synths, fx, etc. all hosted in the background, then switch over to the standalone LK with all the control I need in one place without having to switch between different apps.
Hi @PeteSasqwax!. I’m happy to try and help you in any way. It is nice yo see something that sort of resembles what you want to achieve.
IDensity - I recorded the playhead movement within iDensity but you can automate it with LK. There’s loads of automation in that track handled by LK, specially noticeable is the feedback delay from RE-1
LK is great, really. Much needed, there’s all these sequencers and piano rolls, and generators... but LK really brings the functionality to actually put together songs.
Regarding “workflow is perfect”. No, not really, not at all 😂. You can say I stubbornly managed to get together a system that allowed me to do the dawless song thing.
I’ll go more in depth tomorrow if you want, it might help you avoid the dead ends I encountered.
Yes, Drambo is overkill, but believe me, the audio side of things can be nightmarish... If only LK could launch audio clips ( @sinosoidal 🙏). Midi, synths, drum machines... all that is pretty solid, audio stems (guitars, vocals,..) not so much, quirky workarounds.
Btw. My few months old iPad died suddenly. Had no backups. All my projects including this one mentioned here are gone. Only that screen capture exists.
As said, I’ll gladly try to answer any doubts or comments you might have.
Cheers!
Ha! Well if the workflow isn't as perfect as it seems, you do an excellent job of covering up the issues in that video
I've been playing with it for the last few hours and despite watching a load of great videos on the Imaginando channel to get a head start there are a great many things for me to learn.
I've been using Koala to trigger one shot samples (single hits) for now but I'll do more experimentation with loops and see how it handles those too. Likewise I'll try the other sampler apps I have and see how I fare with those. If Koala was AUv3 I could use multiple instances to have one per track but that isn't the case. Actually just being multi-output would be very handy for this use-case, but "what if?" isn't getting anyone anywhere!
Also, I'm wondering if it's possible to use file players and simple automate them within clips (three file players on one bus, each clip disabling play on two of them and enabling play on one - like a manual choke group)
Lots of questions!
I'm really enjoying this. I need to work through some tutorials perhaps as I don't know how things that I'm sure are easy (how to scale the piano roll editor to the octave I'm working at for example) but it's great.
Is it possible to connect other MIDI apps to it and feed their MIDI into it (by recording their output perhaps?) so that I can sequence the clips within LK rather than using more than one MIDI app?
Yes, here is how to record midi from Riffer:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/826244/#Comment_826244
Thanks @White - much appreciated!
OK, I've been having a play around with LK and EG Pulse this evening and this is where I am with it. Essentially I achieved what I set out to do in a relatively short time (thanks to @Lil_Stu07 for the nudge in the right direction!)
This is the first video where I worked out the proof of concept:
And this is the second, where I built upon that and took it further:
I'll do proper videos when I've finished with where I'm trying to go with this setup (including integrating a Launchpad Mini to toggle clips and a Launchcontrol XL for handling the mixing desk elements) but for now I'm very, very happy to have finally achieved this (which I attempted to do in iOS for literally years!)
We have just published a new build of LK 1.8.5 (build 165) which aims to improve playing and recording timings. There is still working in progress and some bugs around but we think it is important to have your feedback to see if are significant improvements:
Beta 3:
Beta 2:
Beta 1:
Recording time seems to have definitely improved, but 'walks away slowly' Restarting the transport from start it's all good, but for me it starts to loose sync over time.
Importing midi while playing is not resulting in crash anymore.
Haven't had any problems with that before, still works fine with internal midi, don't have external devices.
Probability works fine.
The shift button on the left hand side is actually pretty handy! Didn't think I'd need it but great addition!
Latest beta crashes all time now in AUM. It happens when I move a fader on my launch control XL. Acutely it happens when ever I touch any controller that I have hooked up.
Here is link to video to show.
FWIW, over on the Auria Pro forum there were reports of people with crashes when using external controllers with iOS 14.2 and users of iOS 14.3 beta say that the issue doesn't happen -- and RIM gave the impression that there is a known iOS bug relating to external midi controllers. Maybe that isn't relevant but maybe it is