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.
using an apple pencil would this help making adjustments within our apps
How many of you guys use an apple pencil?
I was thinking of getting one hoping that making adjustments in our synths, would make it easier....I also thought when it came it audio editing it would also be easier
What do you think? would this be a good choice?
Comments
For apps with very detailed interfaces it helps, but it’s not a necessity
I have an Apple Pencil.
I find that it's actually more awkward using an
Apple Pencil when trying to do stuff on the iPad.
If you're using visual apps such as Photoshop or Affinity Photo
for instance, then it's a perfect tool for the job,
Why not get a midi controller? even a generic midi controller will
give much more satisfaction and feedback when using music apps.
Bear in mind this is personal preference but they give more of a
tactile feel when editing synths and mixing.
Zenbeats, Thesys and more apps - mostly in AUM small windows I recommend first to buy a cheap one - some Stylus pencils are for about 30$ and works good. then check if it will be helpful.
I often use the pencil in BeatMaker 3. Also helps in some non-music apps.
I use my Logitech Crayon or a regular stylus about 70-75% of the time.
Can anyone recommend a (much) cheaper option than an Apple Pencil?
(Edit: Based on Poppadocrock’s comment below a rubber tip type for piano rolls)
Make sure your device model works with whatever pen you go with... compatibly.
Yea the Apple Pencil is amazing but the only difference between that and the Logitech Crayon is pressure sensitivity, which is mostly geared toward drawing. If I play an onscreen keyboard or mpe app I usually use fingers.
Stylus or Pencil or Crayon are best for me for all the little tweaking of knobs, etc.. sound designing, file mgmt, it’s especially great for editing midi in any piano roll, and apps with slightly crammed interfaces.
A simple stylus with a small rubber tip is usually good enough for most situations (in terms of music apps) but if you’re talking about note taking, graphic design, artwork, etc... something a little more sophisticated would be a better option. I use my Crayon to take notes and convert my handwriting to text which is cool. It has the palm rejection technology so you can rest your hand on screen while using it.
There are so many 3rd party Bluetooth pens available these days on Amazon or wherever it’s often hard to make sure you get something good. That’s why I went Logitech Crayon, with proven compatibility with my device, plus I got it 1/2 off 2 Black Fridays ago.
I bought one by Ursico from Amazon a few weeks ago which works fine. I find it is the only way I can use things like Atom Pianoroll (the original without fat fingers mode).
I did a video about it at the time
It was on offer when I got it and is Apple Pencil 2 compatible which was the version I needed for the Air 4
Using Auria on a 10.5 iPad Pro, Apple Pencil is a must have tool.
While I don’t think the pen is a must have, I have used 3 different Apple Pencil models and I can share my thoughts.
I started out with the Logitech Crayon because I needed it for school, and recently picked up the 1st generation Apple Pencil. While I like the 1st Generation Pencil, the Logitech crayon is an excellent alternative as it allows you to use it between multiple devices at once without needing to repair it to each iPad.
The 1st generation (or the second - which I also tested ) is great when working with specific apps. GarageBand for instance, which is my main DAW, allows you to do trims using the pencil without needing to long press the audio stems. The second gen and the first gen only work with specific models, while the Logitech crayon (and similar) work with a lot more iPads, and has the same technology except for pressure sensitivity.
I believe Cubasis works well with the Logitech Crayon, so this would be the one I’d recommend if you want to get a lot out of it.
To summarize, start with the Logitech Crayon if you need a pencil. You could even start with a pen which has a capacitive head (the pens with the black rubber). The pencil is a cool accessory, but is not a must have (as a musician).
I bought a zagg pro stylus for ipad and am very happy with it.
Great for precise tweaking of knobs in apps. Prefer a midi controller but just try mapping every knob you might want to control.
It’s half the price of an Apple pencil,
has a rubber head on the other end so can be used without charge which is very useful,
magnetically connects to top of iPad (but doesnt charge)
The Apple Pencil is fantastic for a lot of things but I don’t find I use it much for audio apps. I could see how it would be useful for Piano rolls or midi editors though.
I use it a lot, especially in Cubasis it works particularly well (e.g. drawing automation). Added bonus is getting less fingerprints on my screen.
But I originally bought it for graphics apps (Tayusi Sketchs, Affinity designer), not sure I would buy it just for the music apps (at least not the Genuine Apple version which is very expensive for what it is).
Thanks bro! I just took your advice and looked up the zagg pro pencil and then I did some research on it and watched some YouTube videos on the zagg and ended up ordering it. It seemed to me, to be the best bet for a middle of the road pencil under the Apple Pencil, from what I found out it will be great for working with apps, as well as drawing. I appreciate everyone’s input
@jdolecek49 Cool. I hope it works out well for you. I have been very happy with mine.
I love the Apple Pencil- as much as the company bothers me and “fanboy-ism” bothers me too- this is definitely one thing they got very right. I tried a bunch of other Bluetooth styli and when I finally got my iPad 2018 and the gen 1 pencil, it was a “game changer.” Really. I have ADHD, so I lose papers constantly, but using good notes on iPad has really made life better and the pencil is really easy to write with, it feels very natural. Now I don’t lose papers and I take lots of notes for all sorts of things.
With all that being said, I don’t have any visual art talent, so I don’t use it for that, and I haven’t really felt the need to use it with music apps, so I don’t think it’s essential. But if you need the pencil for other things, it’s definitely better than any other stylus for the iPad, so don’t bother with a cheaper option, it will pay for itself quickly. If you don’t need pressure sensitivity, then the crayon does sound like a good option. I don’t need pressure sensitivity but the crayon wasn’t out when I got my 2018 iPad, or if it was, I hadn’t heard of it. When I lost my original Apple Pencil (that sucked) just before the pandemic, I thought about getting the crayon instead but the price was back up at that point so I just decided to get the pencil.
Anyway, hopefully that was helpful.
Owning the pencil but hardly using it. And was only using it once in music related apps (because of small interface elements).
Just FYI (if you don't know this already), I've updated Atom 2 a couple of weeks ago to include full support for any stylus (including Apple Pencil). Works out of the box.
Yeah, that's apple. Hate it or love it.
But from a graphic designer perspective I can tell you that there is nothing better than apple pencil for art related tasks. Samsung with its s-pen on Android does not match.
Get the Logitech crayon if you search for precision in music related apps but don't care about drawing too much.