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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.

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Geoshred real-time control of scales for live performance?

I am a bit of a newcomer to making music on iOS but I am enjoying geoshred and the SWAM models, but I am having a few problems working out how to control it for a live performance.

My setup is iPad running geoshred (and audiobus), connected to a Line 6 Helix via USB. I'm mainly a guitarist but we have a few songs where the SWAM instruments are much more suitable for lead.
The audio from geoshred plays out from the Helix as it is an 8 channel USB interface, and then onto personal monitor and FoH for live performance.

MIDI commands from pressing switches on Helix can be received by applications on the iPad and I have used this for years to control OnSong.

Where I am coming unstuck is working out how to control some finer details without an unacceptable lag or fingers tripping over each other... any help would be appreciated.

So the challenge. We have a song that is in D major, and I have supporting parts to play in the Chorus which then goes directly into the dramatic Sax solo (me!) in the scale of E major, the last 2 bars of which are back in D. Without interrupting the sound I need to change the diatonic scale - I just can't work out how to do it? None of the below really work:

Plan A: I have a button on the control surface that can switch the root note of the scale - press it for a drop down list in which I can find D and E... but if you press a note while trying to find the next key the drop down vanishes and then it is too late. If I could set buttons to switch to pre-defined scale without the drop down that would be great.

Plan B: Setup two patches next to each other in the setlist and use the up down patch buttons.... not on my iPad however. The two second dropout while geoshred reloads the SWAM tenor Sax even though the patches are identical apart from root note setting is not going to work mid solo.

Plan C: Switch on Helix to send MIDI to change the root note setting.... except I can't find out how to do this on the geoshred side.

So I am currently left with 2 other options neither of which is ideal...

Plan D : use the pitch shifting capability of Helix to shift the pitch up two semitones for the solo (just thought of this one) but that ties me to always having Helix connected and will sound weird as the delay trail shifts in real time... unless I use Helix delay and reverb too. Might work.

Plan F: yes I know I missed one but somebody is almost certainly going to point out that my problem is only a problem because I am trying to use the diatonic baby mode, and if I just used the normal layout then all of the notes would be there anyway. Which is true, but I have enough trouble hitting wrong notes when they are all in the correct scale!!!

If anybody can point me to options in geoshred that I have missed or otherwise has a great suggestion then it would really be appreciated.

Thanks

Comments

  • Hi @rewolf48 and welcome to the forum.
    I tried to do this a while ago using your plan B so appreciate how frustrating it is.
    I am not an Audiobus user but on AUM a simple solution might be to have two GeoShred instances running as per screenshot below. Using this approach there is no dropout, in fact you can play both keyboards at once without any lost notes etc.
    Also have you used the GS Help system I.e. if you Search for MIDI Learn it brings up some information as to how to do this sort of thing (although a bit outside my comfort zone as I don’t have any hardware controllers)
    Finally I will mention @moForte in my reply as Pat who looks after GeoShred is a visitor to the forum and I am sure there are lots of musicians that use GS in the way you are trying to do so perhaps he could help.
    FYI there is also a GS specific thread for questions at https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/43700/geoshred-questions so may be worth posting there as well.
    All the best and good luck.

  • I think the best is your plan A and you assign your « root note » drop down control to a MIDI CC (#28 by default) which will be driven via an external controller (keyboard, iPhone, etc.).

    Then the easiest solution : your plan D modified. You add a knob linked to the « coarse tune » parameter in the sax model. And you define a range going from 0 to +2 semitones.
    Very easy to activate, although not correct musically speaking.

  • Thank you both for the excellent ideas.

    I always find the simplest "least moving parts" the most reliable when performing live and the one that appeals is Paulo's second option. I hadn't even thought of checking out the tuning options against the instrument - I did add one minor enhancement: set it to quanitize so it only has 3 active states 0, +1 and +2 which is easier to swipe to while playing. 90% doesn't sound so bad

    I did have hope for the Curve option which allowed me to set a "Curve" that jumped from 0 to +2 mid point, but that doesn't appear to connect with the knob position because I just got a smooth range when using it.

    If @moForte is open to a suggestion for enhancement then allow any variable setting on the control surface to be optionally connected to a button a defined an On and Off state: for example Root select of D <=> E, or as I suspect I will need very soon Scale section of Minor <=> Major.

    Our bass player has Prog pretentions...

    Such as button could also toggle other things such as e.g. Delay Feedback between two settings.

    If you want a more extreme suggestion (more work) then suport a "Snapshots" framework. Helix has one, but so do many other systems such as digital mixers: save the state of the controls as a named "picture" and have buttons to jump instantly between the predefined states changing multiple settings at once. A bit like presets inside presets that don't allow components to be swapped but do allow settings and on/off states to change.

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