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 Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Looking for specific sequencer (like Moog Sub37)

There has been a thread on sequencer recommendations by @ThinAirX recently, but rather than 'hijacking' that thread I thought I'd rather come up with a new one.
I am looking for a sequencer that can work as brain/node/hub for my Sub37, Model D and Rev2 and works as a jack of all trades (what we in German call the 'eierlegende Wollmichsau'). The Sub 37 has the best ARP/Sequencer unit I know, so I'm probably looking for an app that can do the same but control more than one sequence at the same time.

What I'm looking for should be able to do the following things:

  1. Receive and record note input from external synths. In my dream, it has some sort of 'listening' function like Ableton Live's capture mode which can recall midi entries even though no 'record' button had been pressed (I think that's a market niche on IOS, imagine some midi app that constantly functions as a sort of midi input clipboard in AUM).
  2. Being able to see and edit the recorded notes (this is where Rozeta Cells fails for me, even though I like its simplicity).
  3. Ability to see at least 32 steps at the same time (like Xynthesizr; or as a piano roll, Drambo is less intuitive in this regard).
  4. Ability to record different sequences which I'd like to send to different synths at the same time, and, if possible, in the same key.
  5. Ability to choose scales, possibility of quantisation.

The next two points are extremely important to me:

  1. Ability to globally transpose entire sequences on different tracks (i.e. different Midi channels) at the same time (like Fugue Machine BUT) by pressing a single note on a Midi keyboard.
  2. This last point is the one that has bugged me for quite some time, and it has to do with the centre transposition pitch: If I record a sequence starting with, say, the note A, I'd like to playback that sequence as recorded by pressing note A. This is where my Moog Sub 37 excels, because it does precisely that. In contrast, for the OP1 (if I remember correctly), and my Keystep, I would have to press the note C for the sequence to play exactly as recorded.

Here are some thoughts on what I have tried with the apps I have:

a) Drambo: quite complex, couldn't quite figure out how to transpose more than one sequence simultaneously by pressing a note on a midi keyboard. I know that someone will probably say that "Drambo can do this" (please tell me how!).
b) Fugue Machine: great, but cannot transpose via Midi input (that slider on the right). It would have been cool to edit the individual notes for the individual playheads (i.e. I don't want to have my bassline or pads play those higher notes in an Arp-like arrangement, which is why I'm looking for another app)
c) Xynthesizr: Very close to what I'm looking for (receives midi input from external synth and transposes correspondingly), but only has 32 steps and allows for only one sequence. I'm currently compensating for this by latching bass notes on the Moog that would trigger the sequence on the Prophet.
d) Rozeta Cells: great simplicity but editing notes is probably not what it was made for.
e) Touchscaper: I love this app, but as far as I understand, I cannot record notes into the sequencer from an external keyboard.

Is there an app that can do these things or am I possibly not experienced enough with the apps that I have? I was looking at Xequence 2 but I couldn't find out much about transposition options. I greatly appreciate your help!

Comments

  • edited July 2020

    @justice86 : I share your pain. The nearest thing to it for me was a brilliant app called Koushion, which used a grid metaphor rather than piano roll, but made it very easy to set up multiple layers of mono or polyphonic sequences on multiple midi channels of running patterns constrained to various scales at multiple time signatures and beat divisions. It was elegant, intuitive, but only IAA, and has now vanished from the store, and no response from the dev’s email. It lives on as a zombie app on my old iPad, only for as long as that holds up.

    I would love it if some inspired dev out there (@brambos would be my choice) could take a look at some of the vids that show it, eg

    and come up with an AU version fit for the modern age, maybe by adding per-note envelopes to the original pretty extensive feature set. See beyond the early-era GUI of the original and it is a really very flexible Tenari-On adjacent concept that really requires very little updating or adding to function wise to make a killer new app, and it is so easy to get something good going with it.

  • man just buy one of elektron devices. Its heaven

  • Maybe MidiSteps or Step Poly Arp would be worth a look.
    Quantum is super deep, but maybe not the right interface. It can do most of those tricks, though.

  • wimwim
    edited July 2020

    @justice86 said:
    There has been a thread on sequencer recommendations by @ThinAirX recently, but rather than 'hijacking' that thread I thought I'd rather come up with a new one.
    I am looking for a sequencer that can work as brain/node/hub for my Sub37, Model D and Rev2 and works as a jack of all trades (what we in German call the 'eierlegende Wollmichsau'). The Sub 37 has the best ARP/Sequencer unit I know, so I'm probably looking for an app that can do the same but control more than one sequence at the same time.

    What I'm looking for should be able to do the following things:

    1. Receive and record note input from external synths. In my dream, it has some sort of 'listening' function like Ableton Live's capture mode which can recall midi entries even though no 'record' button had been pressed (I think that's a market niche on IOS, imagine some midi app that constantly functions as a sort of midi input clipboard in AUM).
    2. Being able to see and edit the recorded notes (this is where Rozeta Cells fails for me, even though I like its simplicity).
    3. Ability to see at least 32 steps at the same time (like Xynthesizr; or as a piano roll, Drambo is less intuitive in this regard).
    4. Ability to record different sequences which I'd like to send to different synths at the same time, and, if possible, in the same key.
    5. Ability to choose scales, possibility of quantisation.

    The next two points are extremely important to me:

    1. Ability to globally transpose entire sequences on different tracks (i.e. different Midi channels) at the same time (like Fugue Machine BUT) by pressing a single note on a Midi keyboard.
    2. This last point is the one that has bugged me for quite some time, and it has to do with the centre transposition pitch: If I record a sequence starting with, say, the note A, I'd like to playback that sequence as recorded by pressing note A. This is where my Moog Sub 37 excels, because it does precisely that. In contrast, for the OP1 (if I remember correctly), and my Keystep, I would have to press the note C for the sequence to play exactly as recorded.

    Here are some thoughts on what I have tried with the apps I have:

    a) Drambo: quite complex, couldn't quite figure out how to transpose more than one sequence simultaneously by pressing a note on a midi keyboard. I know that someone will probably say that "Drambo can do this" (please tell me how!).
    b) Fugue Machine: great, but cannot transpose via Midi input (that slider on the right). It would have been cool to edit the individual notes for the individual playheads (i.e. I don't want to have my bassline or pads play those higher notes in an Arp-like arrangement, which is why I'm looking for another app)
    c) Xynthesizr: Very close to what I'm looking for (receives midi input from external synth and transposes correspondingly), but only has 32 steps and allows for only one sequence. I'm currently compensating for this by latching bass notes on the Moog that would trigger the sequence on the Prophet.
    d) Rozeta Cells: great simplicity but editing notes is probably not what it was made for.
    e) Touchscaper: I love this app, but as far as I understand, I cannot record notes into the sequencer from an external keyboard.

    Is there an app that can do these things or am I possibly not experienced enough with the apps that I have? I was looking at Xequence 2 but I couldn't find out much about transposition options. I greatly appreciate your help!

    You probably won't be crazy about this answer, but Quantum Sequencer seems to tick the most feature boxes.

    It's a standalone app, and pretty rough to get your head around, but amazingly powerful. The manual is a big read, but should be able to help decide if the app is worth trying.

    Step recording only though - no live capture.

  • wimwim
    edited July 2020

    Another idea, scaled way back from Quantum, and an AU is StepBud. It's only one sequence per instance but you can save snapshots and change between them with midi. I don't think it has transpose. For that you'd need to use something like Rozeta Scaler after it in the chain.

  • @justice86 said:
    4. Ability to record different sequences which I'd like to send to different synths at the same time, and, if possible, in the same key.

    You already mentioned that Xynthesizr was close except for this..^^^
    Xynthesizr can do this.. each octave can be sent to a different sound source on a different midi channel.. or 2 or 3 octaves to the same source (for a larger range sequence).. this means each octave is it’s own sequence (notes wise).. Key + Transposition , Velocity, step + pattern length, shift + flip and morphing (randomness) will be common between all of them..
    It’s all in the MIDI tab -> Output Channel Mapping section..
    Check this video @ around the 1:53 mark..

  • edited July 2020

    Have you checked the Genome MIDI sequencer yet?
    It doesn't tick all marks but it has a nice note grid, MIDI control for clip launching (and you could have clips with different transpositions on different tracks), scales and groove quantize support and that live manipulator that lets you pitch up/down each track live by +/- 7 semitones, change the velocity and choose any section of the MIDI clip with two fingers to loop that area.

    If you have previously set a scale for this clip, live transposition will respect it!

  • Thank you for all your comments and suggestions, which I'll definitely look into! Some of your suggestions I already had on my list.
    @royor: you're right! I just tried this and it works!

  • @rs2000 said:
    Have you checked the Genome MIDI sequencer yet?
    It doesn't tick all marks but it has a nice note grid, MIDI control for clip launching (and you could have clips with different transpositions on different tracks), scales and groove quantize support and that live manipulator that lets you pitch up/down each track live by +/- 7 semitones, change the velocity and choose any section of the MIDI clip with two fingers to loop that area.

    If you have previously set a scale for this clip, live transposition will respect it!

    @rs2000 are you still using this? Anybody? Is it stable or a crash fest?

  • @despego said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Have you checked the Genome MIDI sequencer yet?
    It doesn't tick all marks but it has a nice note grid, MIDI control for clip launching (and you could have clips with different transpositions on different tracks), scales and groove quantize support and that live manipulator that lets you pitch up/down each track live by +/- 7 semitones, change the velocity and choose any section of the MIDI clip with two fingers to loop that area.

    If you have previously set a scale for this clip, live transposition will respect it!

    @rs2000 are you still using this? Anybody? Is it stable or a crash fest?

    Yes, it's very stable. I can't remenber any crashes outside the beta phase years ago.

  • @rs2000 said:

    @despego said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Have you checked the Genome MIDI sequencer yet?
    It doesn't tick all marks but it has a nice note grid, MIDI control for clip launching (and you could have clips with different transpositions on different tracks), scales and groove quantize support and that live manipulator that lets you pitch up/down each track live by +/- 7 semitones, change the velocity and choose any section of the MIDI clip with two fingers to loop that area.

    If you have previously set a scale for this clip, live transposition will respect it!

    @rs2000 are you still using this? Anybody? Is it stable or a crash fest?

    Yes, it's very stable. I can't remenber any crashes outside the beta phase years ago.

    Thanks, @rs2000

Sign In or Register to comment.