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
Yes, the PB number is the number of internal micro-intervals within a two-semitone range. Mismatched PB settings can be used to multiply or halve that range if desired, but if you're sliding you'll want to set them both to the highest setting available to both, which in this case is the I1's maximum of 48.
To let MPEi instruments function within the limits of MIDI 1.0 concepts they use pitch bend in a new way... slide your finger up an octave and they use pitch bend of 50% of the 48 1/2 step range. 12 steps per octave and + or - 24 steps up or down. Then to let one “voice” bend/glide they use 1 MIDI channel per voice starting at channel 2.
So the pitch bend controller could wiggle but most sound weird doing it for vibrato due to the spring back to 0 mechanics. What I love is a set delay that turns on a gentle vibrato on long held notes. That the best option for me with out any after touch controllers. That works well with auto-generators like Fugue Machine. Does swam have a vibrato onset/delay parameter?
Asking for a friend...
There also the option where glide gets linked to low velocity touch events. That’s easy to learn. But changing PB from the defaults can break MPE behaviors since 2 octave glides can be very cool too. It can be like a theramin sliding between notes like a cellist might do on a single string while bowing. Or a trombone slide.
You can create any sort of curve for any parameter you choose. I tried one for both vibrato and expression that made vibrato a bit less sensitive. May not have copied it over for each instrument as I had limited time and wanted to do more playing (36 takes?) and less menu diving. Expression I usually go a bit of an exponential curve but that is more due to the nature that Artiphon will utilize the tilt of the instrument.
May not be what you’re looking for with a vibrato delay…
There is a parameter called “vibrato fade in” which is grayed out for me. I assume this means that this parameter is not available on iOS.
I will look into the curves and link one to a knob I think and do the onset delay manually. I’d like a pure iPad solution so I’ll look for a good XY surface solution... maybe Mozaic or Rosetta. I can see why SWAM can’t make this just be a simple default. How are people using Pen2Bow with this app? I tried a couple solutions using Network MIDI and AUM as targets but got nowhere. Any clues appreciated. Too bad Pen2Bow isn’t IAA, AUv3 or Universal so I could bow on my iPhone assuming my phone adders the 1.0 Apple Pen. Help... I want to hold the iPad under my chin and emote or put it between my knees since I have invested in the Cello... “look... I’m Yo-Yo-in’ Ma”.
It may be reserved for a (future?) IAP – I'm still on the beta while I wait for the bundle, so don't know what's happening with IAPs in the single instruments as released.
Universal SWAM would be nice but that GUI is so dense. Still ... $20 for iPad for only. It’s really not that much better than the $15 GeoShred version which comes up with 6 or so useable presets that just sing without needing MIDI CC skills. Be advised. Someone will declare SWAM better but they will have the knowledge.
I’d guess that only 5% would accept a Mozaic script when it’s really just a more complicated Preset and requires little tech skill but the cost for a preset engine seems too high and fear of programming trumps the benefits. Of course most scripts are just complex undocumented puzzles. I should talk... I rarely finish a script to the level of a documented product because 5% is not much feedback.
Little bit worrying that the swam brass have still never got the IAP option to unlock things, I am wondering if this will ever come
“Waiting for SWAM” has been a thing on the ABF fr a long time...
I’m waiting for SWAM autoharp with a menu of folk song chord charts for elementary school music lessons. Total game changer for EDU market.
The Farmer in the Dell...
What is a dell? Said no one.
B-I GMO
Ring around the red necks.
@McD
Ok I spent a little time tinkering today with the violin (which is lovely). Not perfect, but as much as I could get done in one sitting.
Nice Michael Giacchino nostalgic tune. Reminiscent of "And the Band Played On" a bit.
Very nice violin and piano rendering... now I think you use a standard MIDI keyboard controller.
How do you approach the control of violin vibrato? Do you set up a CC controller or use the SWAM vibrato setting and accept a somewhat fixed rendering of vibrato and loose some extra control?
I know GeoShred SWAM offers the "map low velocity to glissando (pitch bends)" and you use that to great effect. Is any other setting at work here?
I'm considering picking some X-Y parameters and using Rozeta X-Y to control bow position (to be able to bow effectively on the X axis and maybe map Vibrato depth to Y axis at a fixed rate... a slow one for my tastes.
The hang time on that piano is sumthin' else... which piano is it? If recent threads are helpful it's Ravenscroft which reportedly has the longest decay...
which probably means they have crafted a great "ending loop" to keep overall sample set size reasonable.
Violin vibrato mapped to aftertouch on my Keystep 37. Feels really good to play. Expression mapped to mod wheel. Low velocity portamento is automatic in swam I think.
I used atom 2 for sequencing. As soon as automation update is available, programming these strings will be a cinch.
I used the pure piano just because it’s new. Overall I still like ravenscroft.
That hang time is Pure Piano? Did you put it through a compressor or any extra processing
to add sustain? The first time I played it I thought the piano took in a gulp of air and got a little louder near the end. But maybe you were riding the gain and bumping it at the end.
Thank you for sharing your secrets... Arturia with Aftertouch. Maybe I should invest and
get a real controller that has all the bells and whistles like Aftertouch and "Smell-o-vision"
or the competitive "Stink-a-round". Apple's iSmell never got past legal and most think it was an April Fool's Joke on Jobs... who used a natural deodorant and smelled a bit skunky.
@ion677 , very nice and (to me) very realistic violin… might have to open the wallet!
But, in latest update they unlock another parameter (that earlier was locked), or, do I misunderstanding the new features in the update?
It doesn't worry me. The public statement that I saw from them was that they were considering an IAP to unlock them...not a guarantee that such an IAP was coming. If they are planning on doing it, they may have reasons not to have released it yet.
I’m thinking of getting the Artiphone Orba, anyone have it? I mean technically I could just use an iPhone with an appropriate controller app, right? But the Orba seems so fun tho, what to do?
Yes, it's a lovely little device as an MPE controller, though with only eight notes you can't really play tunes; I like it most with drones and drums, where it's actually a really impressive entrant to the underpopulated MPE drum space. (It's very good with the drums in Noise.) I don't use the looper much, and some features are still waiting to be implemented; there's no quantisation yet, and editing the (very good) internal MPE synth is currently a mad DIY hackfest on the raw XML files. But the number of expressive dimensions you can access through gestures is extraordinary.
I'd be cautious about using it with the SWAM instruments, though; these are so finely designed to emulate the playing of natural instruments that I find it really hard to get anything that sounds convincingly like a real instrument sound out of them with the Orba (in contrast to the Artiphon Instrument 1, which is ideal for SWAM use), though I've only so far tried it with the brass and something like the SWAM cello may be more forgiving. I find the Orba works best with well-designed, complex MPE synth and hybrid sounds – I particularly love it with Equator 2 – but for the SWAM instruments I'd prefer something more melody-oriented. @mjcouche has one as well and may be able to report on his own experiences.
I will have a giveaway demo vid in a few days
I’ve been looking at the Instrument 1 as well, but that would also mean that I kinda have to learn a new instrument (I’m horrible at guitars, they don’t get along with me). Although for strings and brass you’d be holding it differently which would make things easier I guess.
Though one way of thinking about the Instrument 1 is as a way into the best things about guitar (compact, transposable, vividly visualisable and muscle-learnable note layout; intimate fingertip control of sound) without the things that non-guitarists hate (finger pain, hand coordination, frustrations of physical strings). But it's absolutely true that the attempt to present it as a multi-instrument is a bit misleading; it's far and away first and foremost a one-handed MPE keyboard for guitarists, and if you're less rubbish on keyboards than me you may as well just use a Seaboard.
@ChrisG I’ve had both the Orba and the Instrument 1 for a few weeks now. My main interest was in the I1, and so that’s what I have been playing in my free time the most. It is amazing. To me it takes the concept of GeoShred even further down the neck (though not quite the same), and I got it mainly for MPE instruments. I admit I’ve been playing guitar for 22 years.
I posted earlier in this thread a SoundCloud link to a quick “quartet” of these SWAM strings, but I’m still getting the hang of what sounds “correct” and realistic for each stringed instrument, and then how to elicit that both from SWAM and the I1.
The Orba is fun. Hands down recommend it for drums. Of course there are plenty of apps for drums - I’m not sure how many apps are MPE, and how many people still have iPhones that are 3D Touch capable (XS Max was the last one), which is required for MPE.
I would watch the tutorial videos on the Orba that Artiphon offers on their website, and also any user videos they link to on their Instagram etc. See if it works for your workflow. It has quite a bit of depth to it, but mostly my 4yo will pick it up throughout the day to try making some sounds.
Very nice!
First impressions:
A)These sound amazing - if they don’t it is because you need to tweak your mpe controller’s pressure settings etc to suit
B)Hell no, sorry to say that GeoSwam does not remotely compare. Bow Polyphony, pizzicato etc make these far more versatile.
If you are following me on insta you will have seen some recent posts showing a few of these possibilities, I’ll hopefully get a youtube vid out in the next week or so
@Masanga @mjcouche
Thanks. I’m gonna have to…meditate on this one:-)
So happy I never bought those GeoSwam apps. Seemed like such a scam, never got a convincing answer from them why I should invest in those, or why I would want them after their own apps come out.
I mean think about it, those GeoSwam presets were $15 a piece, and now they are essentially worthless and obsolete after like, what, 8 months or something? That's fucked. Fingers crossed I can still use these (unquestionably amazing) new apps for more than a few years
The GeoSWAM sax and woodwinds are still brilliant, though; SWAM haven't brought out their own versions of those yet. And GeoShred's pitch rounding is a killer feature for many users of continuous controllers.
Yeah c geoswam is great for the GeoShred controller. The integration is very well done. I can play Irish jigs, and other fast things on the geoflute that I wouldn’t be able to dream of playing with SWaM flutter on my Seaboard. On the other hand, the Seaboard with SWAM flute is far superior for other styles of music. GeoShred is an app for people who play GeoShred. So the reason to buy GeoSWAM is that tight integration with the GeoShred controller.
Also, calling GeoSWAM a scam is a bit harsh since everyone was clear from the beginning that Audio Modeling was not far from releasing their instruments on iOS.
Strings bundle should be $64.99 USD as intro price, and $94.99 full price.
I received an email from Audio Modeling this morning describing a strings bundle, but it’s still not in the App Store.