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.
DAWless DAW / Modular DAW / AUM + Xequence workflows
Hello!
After a year of attempting to get Cubasis and Zenbeats to work for my purposes I have decided to return to AUM as my primary host and I couldn't be happier. Rock solid mixing + bus routing + midi assignment + multi out + sidechain routing ~ I've always loved AUM but held onto a DAW for the convenience of integrated automation + seeing audio + midi tracks on the same linear timeline
What I have found is that for my workflow, relying on a DAW has been a bigger source of frustration than it is actually helpful~ this is largely because of 2 factors
zenbeats and cubasis are both wonderful pieces of software that I look forward to using in a more developed state, however both are 90% complete, everything is going fab in zenbeats you're doing elegant automation + dropping in tempo synced loops without thinking about it, then you want to do some bus routing and you simply can't or something is buggy with the pre/post freeze tracks, Cubasis is also awesome, you can do limited single stage bus routing, semi-automatic time stretching of loops (although you must manually import each loop and there is no searching of your loop library like zenbeats) AUV3s load rapidly and are stable, but there is 0 midi learn- most of this is workable or you can at least come up with some alternative way of working compared to how you would in a desktop DAW, although you won't be able to do multistage bus routing, proper sidechaining etc
this was the real killer for me, AUM handles AUV3s beautifully, Zenbeats..... not so much, some work great, some act completely buggy, Cubasis, appears to handle most AUV3s fine~ BUT the real downside of both of these apps is that compared to AUM there are many phantoms in however they handle AUV3s, I have projects in Cubasis and Zenbeats that are static midi gen projects with a fixed number of sounds/processes that do not increase load in any way as the tracks progress, when I open these tracks they take up 40% of the CPU load, after 5 minutes of playing they ratchet up to 70, then past 100 into the crackle zone, none of this behavior is linear or predictable, you stop the playhead, let it sit for a minute, start it up again and you're immediately hovering between 90-106% bursting with crackles, only quitting and restarting will save you, but even then only for a couple minutes~ try emailing support about anything like this and good luck finding someone willing to take the time to test the intricacies of your 15+ plugin project~~~** the same exact configurations load gorgeously in AUM consistently hovering at 30-40% at the exact same buffer size as Cubasis/Zenbeats **
Earlier this week I decided to attempt the switch to the DAWless /Modular DAW workflow I've seen described here working between AUM and Xequence and so far I couldn't be happier~ for someone who learned music on MAX/MSP and ableton, AUM is such a joy to use in it's stability and ability to be infinitely reconfigured~ I love Xequence too~ super gorgeous +clean + EFFECTIVE TOOLS + very stable feeling
WARNING: this setup will not work for everyone, my productions are basically techno tracks with a single vocal track laid ontop + a couple of loops and a few FX, if you are trying to do multilayered vocal tracks or anything with a lot of samples/loops on a timeline I would imagine this would be living hell~ but for the way I lay out my productions it's reaaaaaaaalllly nice
4pockets multitrack in theory would make this much more open to other ways of working that are more timeline dependent, however I have found it to be quite buggy inside of AUM, often losing it's track or crashing after it completes the first cycle of a loop- perhaps this will be improved and open up a modular daw workflow to people with more diverse workflows/working in other genres
**I wanted to post my current workflow here to help anyone who might be considering a similar transition as well as create a thread where others could post their Modular DAW setups
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After a tip from @onerez I have been using Xequence 2 + AUM with ableton link + EG Pulse as my sample/loop hub and then trigger the loops using notes within Xequence ~ this is a very elegant solution as EG Pulse has multiout routing within AUM + does automatic time stretching for loops.
For the vocal track I either record to enso or to an audio file and bounce to AUM's file player
Comments
@annahahn Was using multitrack last night and found the audio pool to be buggy. If you save tracks in AU they don’t show up in standalone. I cleared down the pool in AU opened up the AU in a different DAW all the tracks I cleared out were showing again! Couldn’t get my head around it. Also not be able to record when host sync just stupid.
Xequence + AUM has been working great for me too. Only “tough” thing is when you need to add those audio tracks and, like you’ve said, it may start later in the song. I did this recently and I really got to know my song inside and out because I would just listen all over the again until the time to record. Another way to do this is to record either in a separate AUM session, or, drag to the point in the song in Xequence and start recording there. Then reload the AUM file using the File Player. You’ll have to do some math for the beat offset, so it certainly takes some time but the frustration is the lesser of the two evils when talking about DAW crackles.
I'll actually recommend switching out Xequence in favour of Nanostudio 2.
Here's a video I did a while back showing the concept.
Ahhhhhhhh NO.
I prefer NS2 + AUM as well. It's not significantly better or worse than X2 for the task, in my opinion. Since the X2 dev plans to add vector-based CC editing, and different color options, I may switch at some point. But I do like NS2 + AUM!
X2 seems more streamlined for the task than NS2 to me. I don't care for the idea of loading up a full-fledged DAW just to do some external midi sequencing.
On the other hand NS2 does have that wonderful tempo track.
For me X2 has that sweet midi timestretching but NS2 has those nifty macro knobs and X/Y pad and automation editing and etc. If NS2 had midi timestretching and midi clock it would win but as it is I use X2 for sequencing desktop vsts instead.
X2, Audiobus & AUM. With the right apps, can do everything a DAW can, with more flexibility and less in the box sound. IMHO.
Yeah, I do have both. Reason I like NanoStudio 2 is because I can run AUV3s directly in it, and use it for its automation. AUM or Audiobus allows me to use more IAAs.
Xequence is really powerful at recording multiple instruments. I’m still using it for live recordings, and Polyhymnia is great.
TL:DR - Xequence for live performances, NanoStudio 2 for production.
Xequence can automate any parameters that are exposed in AUM as well..... to each his own taste.
Great post @annahahn. Love reading this kind of personal workflow exploration/explanation type stuff. Thanks.
Not suggesting NS is better or worse for the task at hand but it’s no doubt a faster workflow to select the AU param in the NS UI and move a knob to automate it than it is to assign the parameter to a CC via AUM’s MIDI Control subsubmenu and correctly route the MIDI Control port in AUM and then switch to X2, create a track and select the same CC and then finally get to automating it. For. Each. Parameter.
For sure, to each his own taste. Just not sure it’s a fair comparison to say “x2 can do that too”.
This might be the best @annahahn thread of the year. I'm sure it took the whole year to get here. Lot's of dead ends and frustrations and finally a happy place to make music and not just seek workarounds. Congratulations on your journey and this resting place. The road continues onward but it's nice when you hit a pleasant stretch of highway, huh?
Yes yes..... maybe I am confusing 5 different threads. I’m sorry. @syrupcore are you talking about automating AU’s in AUM with NS2? Or ones that are hosted in NS2?
Sorry......
NS2 has it's share of struggles with AUv3's and I think that's what the OP was about trying to avoid. So, as much as I love me some NS2, it seems a step away from the goal.
100% agree. Hence my opening caveat
:
@onerez only meant to say: automating an AUv3 hosted in NS vs automating an AUv3 hosted in AUM (from an external MIDI sequencer like X2) aren't the same experience—it's much smoother in NS. But I'm really only replying to that very specific thing. Whether or not to host an AUv3 in NS is a totally different question. Indeed, as much as I use NS, I most often find myself using AUM or AB3 to mess around with (jam with) AUv3s.
Use reaper on the desktop and treat aum as a kind of external mixbus...
I was reading this post and felt frustrated, once again, about the problem with audio-relevant projects for a dawless song capable setup.
Multitrack is buggy. L7 or other loopers are also buggy and are a dodgy workaround. There’s no good midi control of what plays or not.
Having to record somewhere (AUM) to load the file somewhere else (EG pulse) is a pain and very limiting...
so here’s the answer!!
All in AUM. Just reuse what’s already there. File player and file recorder.
Don’t thank me. I just drew some scribbles on a screenshot, it doesn’t actually work 💩😳
But it’s a good one. Eh?
You say “Other loopers are buggy” and “there’s no good midi control..” . While , Loopy is not an AUv3, it is reliable and offers excellent MIDI control...but as it is geared towards loops (which can be long) it would be a pain to use to replicate a time line. The loops can be started/stopped independently anD can by synched or not. So y could puppet string it from a MIDI sequencer. It also has time stretching. It would be a hassle compared to a real timeline-based DAW, but recording and playing is straightforward.
I just wanted to mention this because the implication that all loopers are buggy and provide poor MIDI control is not correct. Group the Loop from what I understand is also reliable. It has the advantage of being geared towards song structures. I am not sure how extensive it’s MIDI control is.
I meant AUV3 loopers. And it was indeed a very general and probably unfair and inaccurate comment.
Loopy HD is solid. But I was sticking to AUV3 options, since adding more external apps would make a very convulted workflow. Maybe a new Loopy,,,,