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.
Ask the Artist: @Lady_App_titude
@Lady_App_titude shares "the shortest possible outline covering many decades":
I started way back in the 70s w/ tape. Over the years, I evolved through reel to cassette multitrack to MIDI and digital to DAW to virtual instruments and plugins. Got my first iPad around 2014. I invented the "Lady App-titude" alter ego at that point to distinguish my iPad adventures, because I wasn't sure if the iPad was a serious platform yet. I tried a few projects with just the iPad initially and quickly realized it was never going to be a total replacement for desktop. Now it's just another tool in the studio.
And served up more details on this thread:
The long version could take some time. But in terms of my roots, it all began with what was a life-changing event for so many in the U.S., seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, even though I was just I child. Then my parents took me to the Beatles 2nd movie, Help, which happened to have a plot centered around Ringo, and Ringo happened to play drums, so I became obsessed with wanting to be like Ringo and play drums.
The other early influence was seeing Les Paul on TV demonstrating what they called "Sound On Sound" -- basically overdubbing along with oneself. That set in place my interest in multitrack recording, before it really existed. I was interested in recording, buy mostly as I way of recording myself playing instruments.
All of this came together by the time I was 13-14. I was playing drums in a band, but wanted to learn other instruments so I could compose. It was at that time I learned guitar, keys, bass, sax, etc., and built my first studio in my parent's basement. It included many instruments which today would be considered classic/vintage, including a 60s Rogers drum kit, vintage Fender guitars, bass, and amps, and classic keys like the Fender Rhodes, Wurly 140B, Hohner Pianet, and my first synthesizer, an ARP Odyssey. Also, a Teac 4-track recorder, mixing console, and mics and outboard gear. There was no way to learn this stuff back then, except by teaching yourself, or by watching others at work and asking questions. So that's what I did.
She still has her doubts about the iPad and most of us, I suspect. It's "just another tool", as am I.
Do you have any questions? She's been paid to create in a variety of media so don't waste her time with questions about her favorite "reverb". Ask about work or the creative process and be open to the fact that the iPad is really a toy. But a good toy. Let's not argue about that. It's a GREAT toy. OK?
This is #2 in the "MEET THE ARTIST SERIES"
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/40738/meet-the-artist-the-spidericemidas-origin-story-ama-session-here-on-the-ab#latest
Comments
IT's BANDCAMP FRIDAY.
The artists get 100% of any donations. Pick something up and leave a tip:
https://ladyapp-titude.bandcamp.com/
@Lady_App_titude
Outside of music, what other media do you work on? /paid or for fun/
She's probably at work... she's also a writer for magazines. Mostly on musical topics
I suspect. Is journalism art? When it's about music? That's criticism... is the critic an artist?
Discuss. Cite examples and sources. Do not copy text from Google.
@Lady_App_titude
With everything going on this year, have you been more, or less, productive musically?
Is journalism an art .....No. But a writer who crafts the words can be. Anyhow what is art. Art is really in the eyes of the beholder.
I woke up with some art in my eyes this morning.
I think putting more than 2 words into a sentence is an art.
NOT ART: U OK?
ART: What's going on in your neck of the woods, Tin Man?
NOTE ART:
ART: I see what you did there... brilliant, mate.
My three main vocational areas in life have been music/audio, art/graphic design, and writing. My main day job for 20 years was as a full-time art director in a corporate environment. At the same time, by night I did music/recording, and writing. I wrote for many years for magazines like Home Recording and Electronic Musician (columns, features, reviews) under the byline "Babz".
(Prior to all that I also spent 6-8 years in academia in Philosophy, Psychology, and Anthropology.)
Nowadays, music is the main thing I try to concentrate on (but challenging to monetize). Additionally, I do freelance graphic design and audio work. The audio work is mostly video-related, ( post-production, audio repair, mastering, etc.).
Well, I was already in a "work from home" mode before the pandemic hit, so in some ways that wasn't a big adjustment. But a lot of the paid work depends on film/TV production. At first I had a big boom in that, during the first months, then it quickly dried up.
Musically, I've got more things in the works than ever, but for various reasons, it's taking forever to finish anything. So productive in terms of the creative side, ideas, but less productive in terms of the finishing anything side.
For most of my career it was art-related journalism. Like doing art for magazines, or writing for magazines about art (music technology). Of course, journalism is a dying art in a post-print age.
If you received a "$100K grant" for an art project what would you make? What is your
bliss in other words.
Hi @Lady_App_titude What typically gets you inspired and started on a track? E.g. a beat?, a bassline?, a sample?, a chord riff? etc.
What would iOS need to have for you to want to make it the only environment you produce music in?
Not really a bio. Just the shortest possible outline covering many decades, and I didn't realized it would be used as a "bio", but I guess that covers the bare basics.
The long version could take some time. But in terms of my roots, it all began with what was a life-changing event for so many in the U.S., seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, even though I was just I child. Then my parents took me to the Beatles 2nd movie, Help, which happened to have a plot centered around Ringo, and Ringo happened to play drums, so I became obsessed with wanting to be like Ringo and play drums.
The other early influence was seeing Les Paul on TV demonstrating what they called "Sound On Sound" -- basically overdubbing along with oneself. That set in place my interest in multitrack recording, before it really existed. I was interested in recording, but mostly as I way of recording myself playing instruments.
All of this came together by the time I was 13-14. I was playing drums in a band, but wanted to learn other instruments so I could compose. It was at that time I learned guitar, keys, bass, sax, etc., and built my first studio in my parent's basement. It included many instruments which today would be considered classic/vintage, including a 60s Rogers drum kit, vintage Fender guitars, bass, and amps, and classic keys like the Fender Rhodes, Wurly 140B, Hohner Pianet, and my first synthesizer, an ARP Odyssey. Also, a Teac 4-track recorder, mixing console, and mics and outboard gear. There was no way to learn this stuff back then, except by teaching yourself, or by watching others at work and asking questions. So that's what I did.
But my two earliest influences from as far back as I can remember were drums and a general interest in audio and combining sounds.
I moved this additional description of your 'origin story' to the lead post here because some will only read that much and not wade through the longer thread. TL;DR in a very hectic world many will not spend hours reading the forum when they really just want information they value. Go figure. I want community and learning about who people are in a deeper way is essential.
We could apply this process overtime to most of the main contributors because we are all interesting and have a story to relate.
It really varies. Certainly, sitting at a keyboard with a new app or synth and stepping through the presets always generates ideas. I usually don't get through more than the first 10 presets before I'm off in some direction. Often several.
Other times, it could be some lyric or melody that pops into your head, often when doing something else. I once wrote a whole song on a bus ride through Brooklyn, just scribbling on a piece of paper. (That song existed in only that form, and in my head, for over 20 years, before I finally got around to recording and finishing it.) I also have things come to me in dreams and try to wake up and remember it all.
Sometimes bits of things that have existed in different forms come together. A recent example from about a week ago. I was auditioning presets and found a synth bass patch I liked. That suggested a certain riff. I decided to record that riff so I wouldn't forget it. I needed something to play along with to keep my playing in steady time, so I dragged in a drum loop. (Much better than trying to record with a simple metronome click). Next thing I know, I had about 16-24 bars of a bass and drum line, Gm, shuffle beat. I then suddenly realized that this would go perfectly with a melody and lyrics I wrote like 15 years ago... Suddenly, I'm finishing this song that was just a chorus melody that I came up with years ago, something that had never seemed worth developing further back then. Next, I added an organ part. Now I've got chords, bass, drums, and a melody and lyrics for a chorus. Now comes the hard part... Now I need to come up with the verses, the story... Fill in the details, connect the dots.
But, to answer your question directly, it most often starts with chord changes of some kind. That can really varying depending on what instrument I'm playing, guitar (electric, acoustic, classical) or keyboards (piano, electric piano, organ, synth)... each of those suggests a very different kind of music. But usually it starts with a chord progression or riff. More often that, than a melody or drum beat.
But sometimes I might just start a loop going and build from there.. That tends to be more the model for dance/funk/groove-type music.
The main thing for me, I never have trouble coming up with beginning of things. I can sit down at an instrument and just start noodling, and within a few minutes I'll have something. And if it's worth remembering, I'll record it. But finishing anything... Developing it into a full blown track. That's the hard part.
'
Well, basically everything that a desktop studio offers. A big thing is just the size of the screen, especially if you're working to picture, you need as much screen real estate as possible.
An iPad is basically just a computer, a tool. The hard part is what you are actually producing, coming up with the idea and making it sound as good as possible. That in itself is hard enough. You want whatever tool or technology makes that as easy as possible.
The main advantages of iOS is that it's portable and the apps are cheaper. Also, the touchscreen offers certain expressive possibilities -- like GeoShred! That's where the touch screen really shines.
But the portable part is not that important to me. I work mostly in a studio. I want as few distractions around as possible. Of course, sometimes you find yourself in circumstances with time to kill while traveling, the train is stuck on the tracks. I would probably first want to watch a movie or read or listen to music. But, if I've got a REALLY long time to kill, I might pull out Korg Gadget. But in that situation, if the idea becomes serious, the people and distractions around me become really annoying. And of course, just as your idea starts to develop, the train starts moving again and it's your stop, and time to get off! But I need to keep working.. That's why I try to avoid creating on the go!
So, like any tool, I use the iPad for what it HELPS ME do, what it makes easier. If a slab form factor can do all the things my studio DAW can do, including all the memory, storage space, screen real estate, apps, plugins, outboard gear, etc., then I suppose the iPad will become my ONLY environment, it will simply be a thinner more portable, touchy-feely version of my studio computer. But I've got decades of experience and thousands of dollars invested in that workflow, so why would I want to abandon all that? For now, the iPad is great to use for what it makes better or easier or cheaper, along side all my studio software and hardware.
Jeez.. Something to think about for sure. Paying off the mortgage would be nice! I guess the main thing money would help with is being able to hire other people, especially singers.. to be able to work with live players (a full band, drummers, etc.) in a great studio would open up a lot of options. I've got a couple of unfinished Broadway musicals.. Of course, $100k would be a tiny budget by those standards, but maybe a regional production... Or maybe a film?
I think a film project would have the most commercial potential with all the streaming outlets as a potential way to monetize the effort. People are making films on iPhones
and there are so many people starting out that will participate without expecting a huge
paycheck.
But I'm sure you're always open to every opportunity that presents itself while desperately hoping to retain creative control and not become someone's tool.
There's nice thread about @Lady_App_titude's recently return to the soldering iron to re-capture the
controls of a lost synth here:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/41168/introducing-the-es-1-expression-slider-demo-video#latest
@Lady_App_titude Is your name a play on the word "attitude" or "aptitude," or both?
First time caller. The only reason she's here is because she spends about 3% of her musical
budget on IOS apps. That's not a slight... she's just hooked on the pure drugs: a life-long, dedicated musical junkie.
Ha! Yeah, it's one of those things that seemed funny at the time, and then you end up stuck with it. Basically, when I first got the iPad, it was a time back when "app" was still kind of a hip new buzzword. "There's an app for that" was actually still a fairly recent slogan back then. I wanted something with the word "app" in it. I was also very new to the iPad, so I was still getting up to speed on things. I also wasn't sure what kind of attitude to have about making music with an oversized cellphone.. So, all of that fits into the mix. "I'm working on my aptitude, and my attitude" was my catchphrase ca. 2014.. Ha! I also kinda like the fact that with the hyphen, App-titude almost contains the words "tit dude" -- and if you're a hip chick who hangs out with a buncha musician friends who are almost all male, and everybody is referred to as "dude", one could sometimes feel like a "tit dude" -- like an honorary "dude" who happens to have tits... If that's a thing?
I'm thinking of dropping the "Lady" part and rebranding as just "App-titude." And then maybe eventually just "tude". Much like the progression from Puff Daddy, to P Diddy, to just Diddy. That seems to be the de rigueur thing to do.
It's a thing for sure. I worked with a bass player that had a nice rack and a decent beard
to go with a decent baritone voice but he could also do a decent Johnny Cash... who also
had one hell of a profile... even in total black.
I do think people make a huge mistake mixing gender and music. Talent does not seem to require testosterone or estrogen and sexual attraction is orthogonal to capability... but I have lost sigh of the path again... frequently. We are all animals after all and nature will out.
this just made my day, I love the way you think about every small detail of something
That answer exceeded my every expectation! 😂
She's a real caution, right? We could learn alot if we ask the right questions.
@Lady_App_titude - which guitar players stand out for you? The new crop of kids is
amazing technically but I suspect you'd prefer someone that brings something more than
chops to the studio. I'm enjoying this young talent, Melanie Faye:
Highly technical but I sense she has a vision for what to do with her chops. One to watch.
I don't do a whole lotta "keeping up" with younger players of today, but certainly tons of amazing talent out there on Youtube. In terms of my own guitar playing, my influences were formed and cemented many ages ago, Hendrix, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, Van Halen... In jazz, cats like Django, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Di Meola.. The usual suspects, I guess.
Ha! Like almost zero thought put into choosing the name initially, then an eternity of OCD multiple-facets, overanalyzing, second guessing ...