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
@auxmux & @chandroji
KORG Wavestate is a good point. It's an exciting new synth that has a totally different concept. Unlike the iridium, it has a huge amount of factory sounds and samples and I would describe it as a synth made for layering and evolving sounds. It has lots of natural instruments as well as synth sounds on board, including good classic filters and I would describe its sound as clear, crisp, HiFi, organic and authentic.
After a long time, finally a synth that impresses me by its sound and user interface.
Some people complain about the plasticky build quality but I find it acceptable, more than you could expect from such a low-cost power synth.
Warning: You need time to learn using it. But it's a beast.
Please use your great headphones and close your eyes ☺️
Oh we’ve nailed that but the uhh... I’ve said too much.
I imagine that the potential of mobile devices aren’t just limited by size but that mass market consumer demands will plateau the process power required for them to compete for marketshare. Plus I think people will equate mobile apps with cheap and disposable for a very looooong time, like prime time tv shows. They were the acting ghetto for a good 50+ years. Starting to whiskey ramble now...
You could do most of those sounds with Factory.
But mobile and hardware will always be different. Personally I like to do simple analog in HW and more complex digital on mobile.
But they can write to the chipset and not to iOS. Big difference in performance and limitations based on what iOS is exposing are no longer an impediment.
Yah it is the ingredients that matter.
Inside Iridium is custom FPGA chip which is something very different from ARM. Few orders magnitude more powerfull for DSP audio than ARM... FPGA is basically not "all purpose" chip but chip optimalised for certain type of operaiton.. it's in between of classic "all purpose" chips like intel or arm and hardware operation-speciffic ASIC chips...
Also even if there wouls be just ordinary ARM chip it's very different situation because there is running JUST that synth on that chip, so it can use really full power of chip for DSP code... on iPad there is tons of other cose which CPU needs to handle (including OS itself), and you really don't want single plugin instance east 99% of your CPU... and for using multiple instances together with other apps (another effects, synths, DAWs) you effectively need multiple times more powerfull CPU than iside standalone HW synth
Thanks a lot for your kind words @kinkujin !
Makes me feel happy! 😊
Up to now everything is open, I will let you know how I decide...
Hi @rs2000
Yes, the Wavestate looks like a great Synthesizer especially for Ambient music. I like what I can hear. The Wavestate is also a very unique Synth because of his Wave Sequencing Sounddesign. With the 4 independent Parts in the WS we can create a lot of interesting stuff... 😊
Iridium and Wavestate are very different Synths but I can imagine that they will complement each other very well.
Wavestate is definitely an option!
Thanks a lot for your input! 😊
Great statement! 👍👍
Thanks a lot for this Reminder! 🙏
GAS is a very important aspect when thinking to buy something ...
Thanks to all, have a great day!
Kyra is FPGA, Quantum/Iridium is ARM.
@BroCoast are you 100% sure ? I think i readed somewhere they used same hw platform for Iridium like for Kyra.. but i may be wrong... anyway still there is second part in wrote in that post - just fact it runs on arm doesn't mean such level of quality (with polyphony) is acessible for iOS anytime sooon...
Iirc in an Eventide H9000 rack processor there are 4 dedicated DSP cards (each with an ARM chip) for signal processing only, doing nothing else but audio math.
This is a huge difference to a general purpose OS, but the most significant aspect is cooling in a mobile device.
Hi Chandroji, I know you've been following my Iridium patches over on YouTube so you're familiar with some of them.
I have dozens and dozens of iPad synths, and can say there's no way I could re-create my Iridium patches using any single one of them. To get close I'd have to use an iOS daw in combination with a collection of a few soft synths, I'd use Nave and Aparillo and Factory, and if it were still around Alchemy, some granular synth too and a sample player. Then I'd set up the Daw to trigger them all to play simultaneously on midi input, and route the output from them through a common filter.
I often use samples in my patches, but they don't sound like samples anymore once they become oscillator sources and combined with everything else. I'm not sure it would be possible to re-create that on the iPad easily, a sample player or granular synth wouldn't get the same amount of cohesion that you get with a sample in a particle oscillator on the Iridium.
I guess you've seen these already, both are one patch played and recorded live using Touchscaper (the second and third oscillators don't come in until after a minute or so)
The Iridium is cool, but it is expensive, I think I would personally pick the Wavestate as somebody else mentioned as a hardware alternative if money were an issue, that's quite a remarkable synth for the money, if Korg give it the ability to import user samples I might have to think about if I would keep the Iridium. It doesn't sound like the Iridium but for ambient soundscapes its great (have you heard CO5MA's wavestate patches too?). But your question was about iPad synths so a moot point.
@KMN04 & @chandroji
Agreed, it would definitely require multiple synths on iOS to get close.
That "cohesion" of the particle oscillator is indeed difficult to achieve without resynthesis, the most "cohesive" sounding AUv3 has been SpaceCraft so far.
Still a very different approach.
Hi @KMN04 , happy to see you here! 😊
I’ve expected a feedback like yours from someone who work with IOS apps and a Quantum/Iridium.
No doubt, Apps like Nave, Factory, Aparillo, Infinite and Spacecraft can create great soundscapes but bringing everything together could be a nightmare. I’m also afraid that it could be very CPU intensive...
Yesterday I had an experimental AUM-Session with Factory, Aparillo, Infinite, SynthMaster One and some FX. It was quite interesting...
Your great Iridium patches (love them all) are one reason why I will keep the Iridium. You showed me what Iridium is capable for.
Love to play around with just one single patch. I really enjoy having all the hardware controls under my fingers. Tweaking is so much easier on hardware than on an iPad screen.
Today it’s my 30. day with the Iridium and I can say that this is the most interesting and inspiring Synthesizer I ever had under my fingers.
I believe that Iridium is a Sounddesigner’s dream. It could be also my perfect Synth to learn and experiment with different synthesis, modulations and so on. I want to go deeper in Sounddesign and learn more...
I will keep the Iridium and will happily let go one other Synth for it. I think it’s a good choice and decision.
Thanks a lot @KMN04 for your opinions! Very appreciated! 🙏
P.S.
You offered me to send me one or some patches. Would be great to learn from you!
I will send you a private message with my email. Thanks a lot! 😊
Sure not problem if I can find the patch you'd like (I'm not very good at keeping notes of what patch is used in what video). That's a nice looking desktop setup you have. I see you have the Blofeld, it should be interesting to feed that into Iridium and mix the two together (I tried doing that with my Blofeld desktop but wasn't able to get them connected together for both midi and audio simultaneously, but the Blofeld keys has more connections at the back so could be possible).
I've had my Iridium over 2 months and used it everyday, but there's still lots of areas I haven't learned yet, so still lots of untapped potential to explore. I'm going to experiment with some sample "stretching", and live granular next. If you use a particle oscillator and set the playback pitch you can get a lesser version of Paulstretch going on.
@rs2000 @KMN04
By the way, even if I’m embarrassed to say...
I already own a Wavestate! 😎
Iridium and Wavestate are very different in terms of programming but both are great for Ambient stuff.
Love to play around and experimenting with CO5MA’s Performances on WS, very atmospheric...
With the 4 Layers and running up to 6 independent Sequencer-Lines in each of the layer a lot of movement in sound is possible. Very interesting... WS sounds really good! Sadly the Keyboard have no Aftertouch.
I’m not sure I will keep the Wavestate because of the Iridium but it can be possible that they complement each other very well. I really love atmospheric Ambient music and both Synthesizer seems to be build for this kind of music...
😊
🤷♂️
You can hear the difference even on the iPad speakers.
This has been a great thread for appreciating actual hardware but also making it clear that
great actual hardware is very expensive... like (EDITED FOR ACCURACY) $2,500 expensive for Iridium and $800 for a Korg Wavestate.
I think I'll bring up several of the apps @SpiderIceMidas has made presets for and make a massively morphable "pseudo synth" and call it a day. I might even use a @echoopera Drambo sequencer. Cost $0.00... Value Priceless.
Oh yes!
To enter the hardware route is a big experiment for me and is compared to iPad only instruments quite costly. By the way, Iridium is half of the money you mentioned.
Anyway, I want to give it a try. Possible I will change my mind soon, then I will sell the stuff and loose some money but I got my own experience. Life is short, why not trying something different?
I really love SOUND that’s why I’ll give hardware a Chance. I’m playing with software since 20 years but what I’ve heard with some hardware Synthesizers this year was different in a positive way. I’ve heard some amazing stuff!
Tomorrow ist the very last day I could return the Iridium.
I was hoping a bit that the community can talk me out the Iridium to skip this experiment. I was hoping for some good arguments Pro or Cons and maybe some good examples for IOS only Ambient/Soundscape performances.
I’ve searched on YouTube for outstanding IOS performances but I couldn’t find great stuff which really impressed me. Sadly good sounding IOS Ambient/Soundscape Performances seem very rare on YT but you can find a lot where people using hardware.
Honestly, I would welcome to save the money for expensive hardware and i really love to make music with my iPad.
That’s why my question was: Can the iPad do what an Iridium/Quantum can do?
Audiobus forum is the right place for this question much better than gearslutz or other forums. I would be more than happy if you convince me to stay just with my iPad using Drambo and all the other great Apps. 😊
By the way, I love the patches from @Spidericemidas ! 👍
//edit
I’m very much interested in Sounds like @KMN04 created with the Iridium. Just take a listen...
But as he said...
Seems complicated to get something similar with the iPad... 😩
Instead, the videos posted above made me want an Iridium. I will sell my Pulsar 23 and buy one.
For Wavestate on iPad, check out EvolverFX by 4pockets. It replicates almost the entire architecture of the Wavestate, plus has multi-out and user import for samples.
It depends on what type of patch you're interested in making. If using just waveforms for all the oscillators for example then there's plenty of analog iOS synths that you could use to get a similar outcome, if using just wavetables there's Nave, if using just kernels then there's few iOS FM synths, etc.
In the first several weeks of having the Iridium most of my patches were using similar oscillator types and the result was soundscapes or drones that while interesting could probably be recreated using another synth or an iPad synth, for example this one is using 3 standard oscillator types (its triangle, saw, and pink noise) so could probably be done maybe with some capable analog iOS synth.
(Not a very good quality recording, was using a cheap rubbish Behringer audio interface)
But the Iridium starts to become unique when you start to mix the oscillator types up, and with 6 oscillators (and don't forget you can do live granular or route an external synth into the Iridium) then its up to 7 sound sources to work with. Often I find myself using the Iridium a bit like a mixing desk almost. Then you combine that with the humungous 40 slot mix matrix (or 80 slots if using two layers) and the wonderful Komplexer, then that's what makes it unique and also what makes it very difficult to replicate with an iPad.
Hehe! 👍
I’ve also traded two of my guitars to get the Iridium! It was a good exchange for me. My fingers feels more comfortable on a synth than on a fretboard these days... 😊
Life is short. I hope this gives you great joy as you have given us with your photography.
@chandroji I think you've already got the free patch I posted on YouTube, but there's also another one here on the same site: https://www.presetpatch.com/synth/Waldorf-Quantum. But its a more basic FM drone.
As you said you like the couple posted here earlier I'll post those too on that site.