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.
For the love of Funk... (16th note groove dance music)
I recognize 3 players from "Stay Human" which typically means NYC studio creme de la creme:
The only people here that tend to channel this genre are @Gravitas and @Daveypoo but as a Tower of Power lover I dig ensembles that can pull this shit off live. It's actually pretty easy to fake it with MIDI Sequencers but most don't bother. The trick is leaving out just the right notes... mostly the "white" ones that could turn it into polka or klezmer.
Comments
I used to play this genre a lot when I was in my twenties alongside many other genres.
I don't as much now.
Good sound all round, I'll give it a full listen over the weekend.
Thanks for the shout out. Cory Wong is doing fine things to further the cause of The Funk.
I disagree that it's easy to fake. You have to understand the pocket to really make any truly groovy/funky music, performed, programmed or both. But it is easier to sequence things than perform them, that's a for sure. For my own edification I've put a lot of effort into performing my recent tunes for that very reason. I love programming too but there's a validity to my own personal musicianship when done live 😎
I was born in the wrong decade and the wrong color
I figured this out when I went to my 1st concert at age 8...Curtis mayfield.
Oh hell yeh! Only 6:50 into it and already you made my day.
SNIP
@Daveypoo : words of wisdom
Sure... this is the critique of the connoisseur. Many can't detect the knock off produced
by quantizing the right 16th note combinations.
When you see it done live it helps clarify the skill level involved. The trumpet player's
bebop solos do tend to fuck up the funk due to some sloppy pocket and articulation details.
But it a solid hour of funk maybe it a welcome diversion from the mechanical precision of
dance music.
Agreed.
Studio writing is one thing, performing is another.
Here's some of my live studio material.
This is utterly fantastic. Rarely have heard a tighter band. Funk is not really on my radar but this grabbed me. Incorporates a lot of other genres into it, I think. The solo sax guy is terrific. Drummer and congas, too. But then, everyone is. Thanks for posting
+100.
That whole brass section is outstanding!
@Gravitas Oooooh, nice! Beautiful session. Thanks for posting 👍🏼
Big fan of that Vulfpeck/Fearless Flyers collective.
I saw 16th note groove and thought, wait the bass ain’t playing 16th’s.
Oh. The horns. This stuff is mental but where’s Joe Dart?
Love the bright percussive tone that Cory uses.
Already shared this video to 3 friends. Thanks for sharing.
@Gravitas. Great work bro. What instrument(s) are you playing? Are you doing vocals as well?
+100
A pleasure. 🙏🏾
Thank you.
All of them.
Yup vocals as well.
I also disagree this is easy to fake with midi. Quite the opposite imho.
The brass section alone is extremely hard, even if you have the right instruments like the swam stuff, you still need to know how to arrange for an ensemble.
Then you have the sometimes extremely intricate bass patterns.
Then the funky drummer with ghost notes and all sorts of crazy patterns.
And there’s the elusive soul element. For starters the guys are not playing to a strict 16th grid, they’re playing with swing, and not that simple swing you can dial with a button, some 16ths are shorter, some are longer, and they’re allways evolving with everyone playing in sync.
Sure, you can fake dry, static, soulless funk, but that’s about it.
I think funk is easier because all the sequencers have 16th note slots. Many have swing and some have humanize. You can also input the notes at a slow BPM and then crank it up
to some scary pockets level funk.
To do jazz, folk and other live performance music in IOS you have to "play it live" like @LinearLineman does. He also cops to recording at 1/2 speed on occasion and the results
are pretty awesome.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Playing an all in one brass sound from a synth or sampler doesn’t cut it.
Playing the parts in individually brings the authenticity
and being able to arrange for an ensemble.
Even if you use the Swam instruments which are some of the most
amazing sounding software instruments I’ve ever heard to date,
you will still need to create the subtle timing differences that
happen when a real horn section plays together.
One always leads.
Yup.
Again programmed/quantised bass doesn’t cut it.
A good keyboardist or bass player that can play keys
can bring the necessary phrases to a track.
It’s an old school way of approaching bass which is it the bass is the bridge between rhythm and melody.
The thing to do again is to switch off quantising and to simply choose the best phrases.
You could do this actually.
It takes time, experience and patience.
Switch off quantise and you’ll get closer to the live feel.
Even when musicians are playing to a click there is a push and pull in the sense of time
that you could emulate using a DAW but again it requires patience.
The push and pull isn’t only within a bar, it’s along the whole timeline from start to finish.
@Gravitas
Push and pull, that’s exactly what I meant is so hard to emulate, I’ve been on a quest for so long, that’s my holy grail! I kind of given up though, I don’t think it’s possible machine-wise. Maybe just my limitation, perhaps with an excruciating attention to detail you can get close, but then why not put that effort into building an actual band. It’s like artificial intelligence, if it takes that much effort then perhaps just plain human intelligence is easier.
But I agree with all you said, it’s just that soul element I find impossible to replicate mechanically.
Of course with a good beat, or for the clubs, all of this is irrelevant, but still
It is possible to a certain degree.
It requires an amazing amount of focus.
From my perspective?
It was simply about affordability.
I constantly make music.
Literally.
After seeing "human intelligence" over the past couple of years?
Maybe we should create another thread to focus solely for that topic. 😏
Agreed.
For today's listeners?
They are very aware of what sounds make them vibe.
It's only the ones in clubs that are totally off their faces
don't care about what they're listening to as long as
it's got a strong beat to keep them on their feet.
@Gravitas hey, are you up to a collab to prove me wrong? Been trying trying to make anything worthwhile on ios since I lost my home studio (divorced, don’t want to talk about it). Everything but playing around is just so harder...
Yeah why not.
I hear you.
Let's talk.
I just purchased the full unlock of animoog z, because I love moog and want to support them, but I have no idea what I unlocked and although I love the graphics, I can’t seem to find the presets I was hoping for. Guess it’s time to rtfm before I make a fool of myself.
@gravitas but I’m game
Cool.
More funk
Methinks you know we all got the funk, the midi got the funk but the funk of a preacher is different from a child, the ladder has different spokes, is a dolphin a whale? Has your laptop gone stale?
All I know for sure is that 1+1 can be “three”, and no matter if some of us think “differently”, we will allways have the funk.
Can I have an Amen Brothers and Sisters?
You could set up an elaborate set of midi triggers to a kit record to a 1/128 midi Daw, put off quantize and see what you end up with.
It’s the humans that makes the funk tho, the iPad is just the recorder
This technique can be done, has been done and still is used.
Do you know of Keith Le Blanc?
Original drummer for Def Jam records?
One of the first drummers to perform solo
using samples from the rest of his band Tackhead.
Another thing to bear in mind is Pro-Tools and drumagog.
Drumagog is used to replace acoustic drum sounds in recordings
and Pro-Tools is used to tighten up the timing of recordings
and not only drum tracks, the rest of the instruments as well.
Agreed.
Wow man, there’s a lot of really good material in this hour and 17 minutes! Good listen!
I agree with @Daveypoo in that “you’ve got to understand the pocket”.
Thank you. 🙏🏾
Agreed.
@BCKeys, the whole GD Album was magic. One of my Idols since 1978.
It was so much fun playing with a few drummers who could put it in the pocket.
2 Years ago i made an an attempt to cover a Cory Wong tune. Everything audio, no midi, you will hear it....