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
I know very little about the music industry but if you get signed by someone willing to market and distribute your music then do they as a matter of course expect it to also go through their production process? Is that the case even if your "demo" sounds pretty much the same as it would once it has been through their process, whether it had been recorded on a desktop/iPad/4-track/whatever?
Very good point. I believe that’s the advantage of the iOS ecosystem. It’s locked and you cannot use pirated software without jailbreaking your device which has a lot of downsides. I don‘t have a single pirated software on my iPad while everyone I know has at least some copied music plugins on his laptop... 🤔
Maybe it's not the iPad app prices being too low but the laptop software prices being too high because they must compensate the piracy.
Yes, probably, mostly, Partly, I'm sure sometimes possibly not. I mean even the greatest song would fail to achieve their potential if recorded on some really crappy equipment, dictophone type jobby for example. I've heard shit songs recorded well and good songs recorded badly. I prefer the latter but if you listen to popular music I think most people disagree.
There is a big difference between could have and would have. You could say Clerks could have been made on an iPad. By why would you when it is a fiddly environment compared to a desktop one. Like for example I could write and record on my iPad. The drums would be shit, the guitars would be less than I hoped for, and the vocal recording would be lacking. Unless I took the iPad to my studio environment and recorded all the elements using my preferred equipment, drums, amps, vocal recording area etc. But that is hardly following the "iPad is the future" paradigm. And even if I were to record onto the iPad the whole process of editing a minimalist recording of say 7 drum tracks, 9 guitar tracks, bass and 6 vocal tracks would be too much for last year's iPad, fiddly compared to a pair of 32" monitors and a stupid thing to do for no real reason. I can see using when not in that environment but I would never put myself through that just to say it can be done. I could live with a dead ferret hanging from my balls I imagine for at least several years but I'm hardly going to say it is convenient, is the future, recommend it to others or do it just so I can say it, like recording on an iPad, can be done. Also you said come up with an album on an iPad. What does that mean? Written in a notepad app? Demo tracks that give an idea? Recorded tracks that might make it into the final project? Or a complete album the level of recording produced in a decent studio?
Possibly. Usually that means a big price increase which might rule out some people. And to be honest, the size of the device will always be a significant component of the drawbacks list for me. If an iPad had the power of 100 Mac Pro Thanos Gauntlet Series computers we would still be having this conversation.
The only issue I was aware there was the power. I know people that use a laptop to a great extent but it still gets docked at a desk somewhere when serious music is getting made. It is certainly cool to be able to unplug and take a project with you though.
Me too. Although I'm not quite at the point where I'm uncontrollably masticating (or whatever that word is
) over an iPad. I've been making long enough to know what's important to me and an iPad, or even a faster desktop computer certainly isn't it. I'm mush more excited about having a new Amp Head in the next couple of months.
In that video it goes from "iOS Music Production Is The Future" to "an important part" within the first minute. Does one really need a Kaos Pad in a world where iOS music production is the future.
Or are we just saying forget the desktop computer or laptop, throw those away and insert iPad here. You'll still want all the same connectivity you had including large monitors, external storage, typing keyboard, mouse, external instruments etc.
It will still require a massive overhaul of the file management system before that is a reality for me. Although I can see it being a possible way to set up a studio. Sort of modular. Remove iMac, insert super iPad, keep on rolling. But in that context it's no different to buying a new computer. Does anyone say this Mac Pro Tower is the future or do they just upgrade to a more powerful machine and keep working?
Actually, scratch all that, now he is saying "mobile music making is the future". What is he actually saying? "Mobile music making", "the future of music production" and "an important part of". These are all different things. I think I get it now. This guy is a crackpot right?
I'll regret it but I have to ask. Since when were portability, accessibility, processing power and the current peripherals plug being used the most important parts of Music Production? Also, wouldn't it be pretty safe to say anyone that gets attached the port layout on an iDevice is setting themselves up for disappointment?
But that shit song well recorded you will not listen to twice and Robert Johnson crappy recording still gets listen to every day by millions of people.
Recording live instruments will always need a good sounding room and mic. That will never change. But the greatness of the iPad is that you can bring it to that great sounding room + equipment and continue working on your song on the subway ride home.
I am currently trying to learn mixing with some old recording of mine. It as 32 tracks on my iPad pro 2gen and it works very well. I do have to freeze tracks but I also had to do that on my old laptop rig I had when I recorded that music. Btw the recordings are terrible.
The power I crease might come with a price increase but only temporarily because that processing power increase always trickle down to the cheaper models.
The current base model iPad is more powerfull that the first gen iPad Pro.
Great argument for the portability and versatility of the iPad. Thanks 👍
I received a apple pencil for Christmas. I have completely stopped using my mouse with the iPad. It really cure the fat finger on small synth button problem.
We are in a instant gratification world.
When talking about the future of iPad recording look 3 to 5 years forward not next couple of months. Maybe by then we will be talking about the future of iPhone recording with 15'' projected virtual display. 😁
I think anyone would be a fool to argue that an iPad is not versatile a portable.
iPhone
Apologies for the confusion but iOS being the future of music production and the ipad being part of every musicians studio is virtually the same thing, again, whether they're using it as a midi controller, sound module, full on workstation or something we can't even foresee yet, it still is the future. Of course everything isn't perfect yet, which is why I used the word "future".
If these were not true then laptops would never have been invented or used in music production. Ports will be apart of the ipad pros for many years to come, iphones and regular ipads probably not.
Not sure how such an obvious statement helps the conversation at all.
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By that logic, CHAIRS are already the present and future of music production by virtue of them being part of every musician's studio. It's "virtually the same thing"
Alternatively, this argument doesn't appear to be a very strong one.
Yah no one is "uncontrollably masticating" over the ipad, it's a short video with 5 easy points, relax a little and then ask yourself why you got so upset over this video.
Not even close as we're clearly discussing computing technology like ipads and laptops. The argument is plenty strong with 5 main points each with at least a couple sub points. If you don't think it's a good argument then explain why.
Everything to do with music production tech (software, desktops, hardware, other brands of tablet) will be better in the future. No real need to claim anything ‘is the future’, but vague hyperbole does make for good thread bait.
There is no bating here, we're simply having a discussion as some folks think the ipad is just a fad or a toy and will not widely used by musicians anytime soon, I make the argument here why that's not the case.
I think you are preaching to the choir on that front here. It is the interpretation of the phrase ‘is the future’ that mostly seems at play here.
"I think you are preaching to the quire here" - Yes, that's why I posted it here instead of lawn mower weekly.
Astroturf is the future.
No, astroturfing is a nefarious practice that usually involves paying people off. This is simply posting in a like minded forum with the only goal of having a conversation.
j> @Ailerom said:
Certainly the quality of music production on iOS devices is good enough that, if I don't want to listen to a song more than once, I would tend to blame the musician's lack of talent more than some deficiency in iOS as a music production platform. IMO, the difference in production quality between iOS and desktop, to the extent it exists at all, isn't something the average listener would even notice.
Fantastically well said, I challenge anyone here to show any sonic difference between Synthmaster, MixBox, Fabfilter (and all the other countless iOS ports that have come along) with their desktop counterparts.
If you're a producer signed by a label there are no requirements for how you make your music or what platform you create it on however you will usually be assigned a mandatory mixing engineer and/or and a mastering engineer to complete the product once you've finished with production.
I love the ipad for music - it came out of the blue and enabled me to learn so much about production and synthesis at a time when I'd given up trying to produce music on my computer.
First used it ten years ago. I'm fairly sure I'll still be using it in another ten years.
But the future of music production?
Nah. It'll be part of it, for sure.
Discussions like this always make me think of the MPC vs Maschine vs Elektron threads that crop up from time to time.
They're musical tools, that's all. The ipad's been one of my favourites. Long may it continue to be so.
I clearly commented on that one specific statement from you, which I even quoted verbatim, not your video (which I haven't watched so it wouldn't have been fair to comment on it). You are trying to move the goalpost now.
Once again, to claim, as you literally did, that something is the future of music production simply because it is "part of every musician's studio" is kind of silly, no? As for explanation, I attempted to explain your (IMHO) faulty logic by way of that silly chair analogy. What else would you need? Happy to oblige if I can (as long as I don't have to watch the video
)
In any case, good luck with the ios future, I can say that without any sarcasm. 👍
It's more than just being apart of everybody's studio which you would know if you could be bothered to spend 15 min to watch a video but we understand that you don't care enough about the subject to do so and so we wish you all the best.
I think it will be relatively trivial in a few years time for hardware manufacturers to simply throw fully multitouch screens on their products, as good as any iPad. I imagine something with pads and dials like the size of a new Circuit with a screen the size of an ipad mini. The iPad to me is simply a sign of things to come in terms of having shown the potential for multitouch. However all of this will be basic interactivity for others to do just as well in no time... ie. the future.
Yep, exactly this. The future of music production is hardware with builtin custom OS's running specialized applications. It is so much easier now to build the hardware and develop the software for embedded systems that this is going to become the way forward for many applications.
One reason why iOS music is in the past: portless devices.
The new Akai MPC’s are a perfect example of this. The touchscreen on the MPC X is HUGE. Lots of manufacturers are doing it now. In fact, I’m currently waiting for my Cirklon 2.0 upgrade board that has a custom touchscreen. There’s quite a few synths with touchscreens, like the 1010 Music stuff, Waldorf Iridium, etc.
Apple really needs to up their game as far as connectivity.