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
Funny, I still think the OG Minilogue is an all time great and one of my favorites. The metallic, icy sound mixed with the instability and warmth of analog gives it a very unique flavor. And the layout is just perfect.
The grandmother isn’t really meant to have the Moog bite like the Sub/Phatty line. I personally loved mine and the weird alien noises it made.
For me, it was probably the Elektron Analog Four. Its a deep machine for sure, but I found that everything I made sounded like it was covered in dirt. And I like analog gear, distortion pedals, feedback routing, etc. I didn't like the Analog Heat for the same reason, I thought the filters were just junk (the distortion part was fine). I have heard a few good jams with these two, but overall I find them underwhelming.
I also kinda wish I had never gotten an Octatrack. I learned a lot from it and its definitely useful (especially as a looper imo), but the fx are bad, the midi buggy and its super easy to accidentally erase hours of work. There weren't other good options at the time (now I'm 100% drambo
) but i struggled so much to get anything good out of it.
p.s. in spite of this I really do like the elektronauts community
For me it was Roland MC-50 mkII Sequencer.
It was really weird using it. Exchanged it and a Boss DR-550 mkII for an MC-303, Roland PMA-5 and something else I can't recall... Was way happier with them
Later I got a Yamaha QY-70 which is even cooler
Roland SE-02. Sounds great, but not class compliant? Come on…
Isn’t that also the only boutique that’s not class compliant?
The one wish I have for the otherwise fabulous (ok still very flawed but still fabulous) JD-XI is that it’s not.class compliant.
It’s a blast in the Mac. It would be nice to be just as much of a blast on iOS.
It’s awful. And brilliant.
I love bad hardware. I admit it.
You should watch AudioPilz’s series about “bad gear”. It’s great. And I agree with you. The weird, obscure, niche stuff is my favorite. I had a JD-Xi for a couple years and really enjoyed it. I miss it occasionally but really didn’t like the menu system. I have a 707 that I love but I’m not a big fan of its menu system either. If it was any less optimized I woulda sold it long ago.
Edit. I mentioned the bad audio gear channel in my precious post on p1 :-) recommended watching. I have quite a bit of the bad gear he talks about :- MT-32, FB-01 and 3630 were some Of my first gear in the 90s for example! Also have circuit, jd-XI, deumbrute impact and other stuff i can’t remember
Ha ha. Yes I do. He is stalking me and making videos on all my gear! Even early stuff like my 3630!!
The menus are rubbish on the jd-xi but if you choose a sound palette on the 2 digi synths; the drums and the analogue synth and then allow yourself not to worry about the details it’s a fantAdtic song scratch pad.
We get so Hooked up on details these days we sometimes (I’m talking about myself here) can’t see the wood for the trees.
When you write a song on acoustic guitar you get one sound. Same for the piano.
The JD-XI is a gem.
Sometimes people get far too wrapped up in the minutiae to see the big picture and enjoy it for what it is.
the small details don’t matter. If you write a song on an acoustic guitar it doesn’t matter what that guitar sounds like. Same with boxes like the circuit and JD-XI.
It’s about the notes not the sounds. Just enjoy jamming, stop worrying about what an instrument can’t do and embrace what it’s good at and you’ll be rewarded.
PS. RiP Sarge. Love you man.
I didn’t think any were class compliant.
Ok, if we’re all doing synths I’ll change my answer.
The Sequential Pro3.
On paper it just seems amazing, but there were a lot of build quality issues when mine arrived. Even once those got sorted, I just could never bond with the sound of it.
I once owned an Emax 2, which I got second hand in the mid 90s (I think). Sounded beautiful, but interface from hell, particularly if you actually wanted to sample stuff into it. Tiny two line alphanumeric display. I managed to buy a second hand copy of a librarian editor package for it for my Atari, only to find it wouldn’t run on an STE. It just ended up gathering dust.
I let my JD-XI go not long ago and HATED it by the time it left. As is usually the case, it was bc it was soooo close to perfect but had just a few things that made it so I never wanted to touch it - the biggest being the fact that you change most parameters with 2 inc/Dec buttons rather than a knob. I could forgive the menu diving, but not the button nonsense. Otherwise I was in love.
That’s how it tends to go, though, right? The stuff that’s ALMOST great if not for some seemingly arbitrary design fault is the stuff that I can’t bear to have around. The stuff that’s just trash is never worth the time or emotional energy to get miffed about (assuming you can resell it!
)
Since it's about high expectations and hardware that didn't deliver, I have to name many Roland synths from the 90s and 2000s that claimed to deliver 64 or 128 notes polyphony that were only available on paper.
The point of polyphony is being able to play this many notes either in a multi-timbral setup or by layering different sounds to get a massive sound.
For years, Roland had been very "economic" with the CPU power in their gear and if you really used that polyphony to some serious extent, timing of notes (i.e. latency) was so bad to the point that it was simply unusable.
Not just a few milliseconds but really off.
This is basically true for most incarnations of the JV, XP and XV series.
i don’t have a big disappointment but I did buy a sampler around ‘97 or so only to realize that I was way better off just editing samples on a timeline in a daw.
The MC-707 I just sold was awful when it came to voice stealing. Apparently the new fantom flagships are as well.
Straight trash. I get irritated at the thought of other people even using it.
Man are you kidding ? Just week ago bought A4 mk1 and i'm absolutely amazed. I had a LOT of HW synths in recent 20 years - but this one is (just in terms of synth engine, apart of amazing elektron sequencer) probably BEST synth i ever had. Absolutely amazing. Deep and beautiful sound.
Made quickly this soundcheck, totally satisfied. It's mind blowing how vast range of sounds it's capabable of.
Definitely the Op-z. It sounded like crap, had ridiculously small storage and the hardware started falling apart.
The sequencer is awesome but the QC doesn't make it justice
This is a nice track
I think in retrospect I didn't know how to fully utilize my Analog 4. I was trying to make it sound like what it isn't. I still don't miss it at all but my memory/opinion of it is just my own 
no problem :-) my reaction was just motivated by my giga-excitement since it arrived in my hands
) of course 10 people 10 different opinions on same synth, nothing strange about that 
Totally agree
especially if I look at its price tag. More than 1k€. It's ridiculous.
I know, I know, I'm stupid. It's super capable...
That's an odd differentiation to make. Does only hardware deserve slamming? Or can we slam software on the desktop? Is it only the hallowed territory of iOS apps that are saved from slamming. I know all those fanboys are fragile sorts and as for the developers, they're like the most precious of luvvie actors, we wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Or maybe it's just products that we perceive to be created by employees of 'da man', you know, companies with shareholders and all that shiz.
(I'm obviously being flippant for comic effect - before a rain of hate is let loose upon my poor soul).
Sorry Dom, not picking a fight, I only happened across your comment as this was a thread I'd never read before. My general point is that the OP's main idea was that it might be fun to talk about hardware that turned out to be a disappointment, which is fairly different from 'slamming' a product.
But I really do think it's arbitrary to suggest hardware music products are okay to criticize whilst iOS apps aren't. Surely it's fair to talk about any music purchase that led to disappointment? Hardware, desktop software, acoustic instrument, or iOS software?
I think it would be quite possible to have a thread focused on disappointing app experiences without it turning into a theatre of hate. And weirdly, I think it would be useful for developers too. I think it's fair to say that the AB forum is something of an echo chamber when it comes to broad brush stroke opinions regarding music apps. We're generally all favorable and in general, don't talk dirty about apps without good reason. With that in mind, a thread focused on app disappointments could be a good place to highlight where an app hasn't met expectations. For developers, it's a form of feedback removed from the echo chamber. And for customers, it might help highlight the expectation gap between hope and reality. And in many cases, perceived disappointment may be because the customer isn't using their app correctly and the community can help.
The AB forum isn't a sales platform, it's a community of folk interested in the mobile music ecosystem (and music-making in general). Aspects of software will meet expectations whilst others will disappoint expectations and anything which helps highlight possible future disappointment before one has parted with their hard-earned seems a positive thing to me. Altering our behavior to positively discriminate with the aim of helping app developers (due to the small returns for the majority of app developers) may be well-intentioned but it also leads to hyped expectations and purchase disappointment.
My synths - no Talent knob/fader
My guitars - no Talent knob
My violins/viola - no Talent knob
I’m in no way disappointed by the synth but I really wish behringer included a pitch out for the Model D since they made it eurorack ready. Thankfully the board is really easy to jump out of with mods but that one seemed like an oversight
The ultimate in hipster chic. They deserved the OP-1!
To flip the switch. I'd like to highlight one piece of hardware which surpassed my expectations so much that I still grin whenever I use one of the multitude I now own. The humble Novation Launch Control Mk2.
I own a shed load of MIDI controllers but none have proved as durable and useful as the Launch Control Mk2. Whilst it doesn't have endless encoders it's so well built that I often wonder how they can afford to retail it so cheaply. And once you use them with decent control scripts in Ableton they're pure hands-on heaven.
But to honor the thread title, a purchase I was less impressed with was the Novation Nocturne. And more to the point, not only was it useless, it was fugly to boot! I sold that one almost as soon as I'd unboxed it.
Ok, just some thoughts:
1. I don’t think Michael is keeping this place for fun or charity with no adverts or other money making stuff. This is a place where people get exposed to apps etc. Still, yes, it is sorta app glorifying pl
2. I do not thing app s> @jonmoore said:
The only reason I’ve suggested that is because these sort of threads invariably turned ugly in the past. Mostly towards developers many of whom we know are part of this forum.
If you’re not happy with an app, contact them etc.
Most of us already know who are the controversial devs, no need for a specific thread.
It was just a suggestion though. Feel free to slam apps if you wish
Well, as the OP, I am new to this forum and I don´t know the ethics of this forum yet. So no problem to step back.
Skipping the app part is no problem, maybe better to keep it separated. And bashing of gear or apps is not the main goal, I think the psychological aspect is interesting. What did you think on front, for example because of the reputation of a brand, an advertisement, a romantic idea, etc, and why it ended it in a dissapointment, and you want to smash that POS.
For apps I think that´s not so black or white as with hardware stuff.
Biggest hardware disappointment for me is that I can’t afford enough of it.