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
@jwmmakerofmusic : I had/have the exact same experience as you with Loopy Pro. Interested to see that you have overcome it, and are now using it fruitfully in the same sonic space as I try to muddle through in. Any chance of a vid /screen demo / some annotated screen shots showing what you do to make LP ‘dark ambient ready’? The deep dive you mentioned above re sliders etc? Or even an AUM project file I could mess with myself? I feel that LP ought to be great for what I do, but I’m so not an RTFM sort of a person…
Lol. I'm not an RTFM person either. I don't usually get stumped 95% of the time and learn by jumping right in. That's why I don't use Drambo too often as it stumps me a lot even though it's a beautiful app! LP also threw me for a loop (and that's my dad pun of the day).
However, LP is far easier to grasp than Drambo once one overcomes the initial learning curve. I'll be able to give you a far more thoughtful answer tomorrow as it's late over here and I must try to get some sleep lol.
That sounds amazing @jwmmakerofmusic! Thanks for sharing.
How do I make my guitar sound like this? (I don't have any of the apps mentioned.)
I definitely want more storage but I’m weird and like having it all on one device 😂 I have the 256 gb Air and it’s a little less than halfway full now, so the 512 Pro would be perfect I think. I don’t need the 12.9” for sheet music but I would absolutely love it for things like Beatsurfer, AUM, Borderlands, etc.
I’m also wanting to get into making animations and editing video on my iPad, so the extra screen real estate would be great for that.
Thanks for answering my incessant questions 😂 much appreciated 🙏
I'm not sure since I'm not a guitar player.
But, from a producer's standpoint, a couple of questions.
Acoustic or Electric?
What would you like to try to achieve? What effect? Which "sound"? Are you looking for the reverb? The tape effect? Or...?
Anything you can expand upon to help me help you would be awesome.
The more detailed you are about what you want, the better I can help.
Well, when I was at the Apple Store to do my trade-in and buy the 12.9" Pro, I had originally wanted the 256gb capacity as it was $200 less, and I figured "in the future I will buy a USB-C thumbdrive to offload project files to". I originally wanted to purchase a longer USB-C cable and more powerful wall adapter.
However, I didn't complain that they were out of the 256gb capacity. I just went up in size rather than down and simply decided to buy the longer cable and more powerful wall adapter at a later date since the battery on this Pro lasts forever compared to my Mini 5, lol. Since producing and live performing Ambient eats up a lot more space quicker than simple EDM productions do, I figured "fuck it, give me the 512".
Be forewarned however that the 12.9" Pro is very cumbersome for laying back on a sofa to produce music with compared to a smaller screen size like the Mini 5 which I can just hold in my hands no problem. However, let's say you want more loops, sliders, knobs, etc, in Loopy Pro on your screen at once. THAT is where the 12.9" screen shines.
And of course the ability to have more AUv3 windows in AUM open at once in case you want to live perform in that manner.
And the screen itself is gobsmackingly gorgeous! I think this one is an OLED, and the darks are darker and brights brighter! Apple really pulled out all the stops with this device.
Now for my questions. I haven't played with Borderlands in forever! Did they finally update it with AUv3 capacity yet?
If not, can it record your performance within the app to wav?
Also, what is Beatsurfer like? It looks very cool and abstract, but can you record your performance within it to wav?
(And for me, IAA is not what I'm looking for, lol. I prefer to either use an app in standalone mode, or as an AUv3, or both. Koala being an example of both.)
Electric (and maybe acoustic).
I really like the sustain of the main piano melody, the notes just seem to hang there indefinitely - not easy to do on guitar unless you have one of these. Also, at around 4:30 & 7:50 there are the amazing sounds of spaceships taking off - synth or effect?
Have you checked out any of h to be video tutorials? Can you pinpoint a couple of things that were blocks? Maybe there are just a couple of things that would help you get oriented.
I originally expected to use it mostly as an AU, but it is so flexible with recording and playback options and has integrated widgets and x/y pad and retrospective recording that I find myself using it as my main host.
I was curious about if it was cumbersome or not. I don’t think that’s a dealbreaker to me as I never owned a mini, so I’ve always been use to larger screens. I think the trade off is worth it, imo. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it mate 😃
As far as Borderlands, no AUV3 and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming any time soon, but I just can’t let go of it. It’s my favorite app on the store and it’s uniqueness makes it something special, imo. I use it all the time for experimental drones and found sound type stuff. You can definitely record and export your performances though! And you can record directly in via Audiobus or an audio interface.
I’m maybe not the best person to inform you on Beatsurfer as I’ve only tried the free version but man it’s fun as hell. There’s so much going on that it felt like it was gonna be overwhelming, but the interface is so good that it never becomes too much. If you like loopy pro you’d probably love it as you can entirely customize your interface to fit your exact needs. My next big purchase will probably be between that and Loopy Pro. Jakob Haq just released a great video on it.
Totally get your feelings on IAA though. I don’t really buy any new IAA only apps anymore, but I’m also not letting go of my old faves. Patterning, Samplr, Borderlands, and Thumbjam are still some of my most used apps. And the Korg stuff of course.
2a. That's true.
Or using a sampled guitar that has a sustain loop and getting results by adjusting the ADSR envelope. Beathawk is one such example with serviceable guitar samples. Or sampling a guitar riff and using PaulXStretch to stretch 'em out. I used Ivory Grand in Korg Module for the piano sounds in this case. The piano riffs were recorded into Gauss (a tape loop effect) and slowed down to 62%.
2b. Me tweaking the Pitch 1 knob in Alteza (my goto reverb plugin for Ambient by @FredAntonCorvest ).
While many built-in reverbs are serviceable for most genres (such as the internal reverb in NS2 being perfect for Trance), you'll want a specialty reverb for Ambient. Alteza's "Northern Lights" preset is a great preset that doesn't really need much tweaking at all to get that long, glorious reverb tail, but of course experimentation often leads to great, unique results. 
So far, so good. I can prop the 12.9" on my lap no problemo! I just can't lay on my back and hold it in the air while typing or fiddling with knobs. Not a dealbreaker for me either, lol.
Or AUM? Okay, I will need to revisit Borderlands tomorrow! Might become the basis of my next piece of Ambient to be performed in AUM. I love Loopy Pro a lot, but after that weird squeak sound in "Haunted Marimbas" from one of the filters, I am hesitant to perform my next Ambient piece within it. 😅
I will definitely check @jakoB_haQ 's video tomorrow as well! His videos are cream of the crop as well as @thesoundtestroom 's videos! They let us know so well what to expect and what the general workflow will be in each app they test.
Tomorrow I'm downloading Thumbjam to my iPad Pro to create some audio to play around with in Borderlands then.
Let the spirit of musical experimentation soar!
Thanks for the breakdown @jwmmakerofmusic, most informative. I’ll definitely be checking out Gauss.
Really great stuff here JWM. The mix is well laid out and the tune is just lovely. Great to hear something like this on mobile platform. Big kudos!!!
Of course mate.
Best of luck in learning Gauss! The learning curve isn't really all that steep, but it is good to watch a YT video or two to get acquainted with the logistics of how it works. And who better than @Hainbach himself to teach you how?
Cheers and happy looping!
Bloody hell I am absolutely humbled by your kind words. 😳 Really, the magic of the sound comes from Gauss and a few tweaks of Alteza's Northern Lights preset. And a bit of Reelbus' cassette preset. That's really it mate. Honestly the amazing audio makes itself, lol.
I’d love to know your thoughts on it! I have a track I’m working on in Borderlands right now. Kind of a sound collage type thing with mutilated samples from a ukulele, Melodica, and a weird percussion thing I own. Thumbjam and Borderlands are both desert island apps for me.
Gauss is another good one if you haven’t tried it.
Hmmm, well I had a couple of plays with Borderlands, and I like it a lot, but I haven't created anything really substantial with it yet. Mostly just puttering about in it.
My take is, it doesn't seem to create a steady drone (or at least I haven't figured out how to yet lol, must experiment more), but Borderlands definitely works wonders for other tonal layers and timbres. I really hope to god it gets updated. It would suck if it were discontinued by Apple due to it not being updated in two years.
Thumbjam obviously is an amazing app that @sonosaurus created! Not much to say other than it's perfect for live performance. I just wish it were AUv3. (But since @sonosaurus is working on PaulXStretch currently, I can be a good boy and wait patiently for the Thumbjam AUv3 since I absolutely cannot live without PaulXStretch.)
And, I hate to be the one to break the news to you mate, but I already used Gauss in "The Dreams of Eno".
And I love the hell out of Gauss! It's exactly the type of "commit to tape" workflow I was seeking from the OP-1 Field if I'm being at all honest here.
Anyways, for "The Dreams of Eno", I recorded Module and Zeeon into two separate instances of Gauss, offloaded the AUv3s (since I was using an iPad Mini 5, and disabling the nodes didn't stop Module and Zeeon from eating up the limited CPU due to not having the latest version of AUM released yet), and performed the piece using the two instances of Gauss as my main sound source.
I also used Gauss in "Haunted Marimbas", but where I recorded some random notes from Module into Gauss, slowed down the tape speed, and recorded Gauss' output to export into Loopy Pro.
And being honest here, I love Loopy Pro a lot because of how I can build a customisable control panel! But, I think I'm a lot more "at home" in AUM, especially due to its integration with Audioshare and ease of use connecting MIDI AUv3s to synths and effects! (Now if only I could build a customisable control panel within AUM.
)
Glad to hear you liked it! I’ve been able to get some steady drones from Borderlands with careful sample manipulation. Running Mononoke into it always makes for a lot of fun!
Seconded on Thumbjam and PaulXStretch. Both are phenomenal but I’ve been very into PaulXStretch lately.
Also my apologies, I remember you saying you used Gauss now that you mention it 😂 it’s another one of those top apps of all time for me. Actually running Thumbjam into Gauss makes for a lot of fun, especially with the slide mode in Thumbjam.
I’m tempted to agree about AUM, though I still haven’t tried Loopy Pro again yet. I think it’s gonna be hard for to switch away from AUM, GarageBand, and C3. Or standalone apps like Samplr and Koala. I’ve actually been using Flip Sampler lately and it’s a whole lot of fun.
Well even though I haven't gotten steady drones from Borderlands yet, I love how fun it is to experiment in it. I haven't created anything of substance to use in my next Ambient piece yet, but sometimes mucking about is more fulfilling to the soul than constantly churning out finished products.
Me too. I have a decent understanding of most of the parameters of PaulXStretch, some elude me, but I couldn't care less about what I understand or don't understand. I just tweak the sliders and stuff until I either get the result I'm after, or I get a result that sounds better to me than what I heard in my head.
I will say this. When you dive into Loopy Pro, it's handy to know exactly how you want to use it in order to adjust the settings to taste. For instance, I don't want the first loop to set the length of all the loops to follow, so I had to adjust a couple of things to prevent that from happening. (The first loop still dictates what the BPM is, but when I live produce Ambient, it doesn't matter what the BPM is in LP as I just do things by feel and ignore the BPM entirely). The main advantage Loopy Pro has over AUM is its customisable interface! I can make my projects look as wonky and funky and interesting as I damn well please and assign sliders and knobs to adjust whatever I wish (both internal effect and AUv3 effect parameters).
Look here...
However, AUM is a beast in of itself, and I currently prefer it to LP. The disadvantage of AUM is having to dive into the AUv3 windows themselves in order to adjust various parameters, but that's one of the main reasons I got the 12.9" Pro. Easier to flip through AUv3 windows on a larger screen in AUM.
CB3 is a great app for laying out audio when I can't be arsed to live perform something. "Bruno Walks on Eggshells" was one such piece. Over 40 minutes long of slowly evolving timbres (including a small 3-second riff sampled from me playing "We Don't Talk About Bruno" on the piano stretched to 11 minutes long in PaulXStretch).
Oh? Does Flip Sampler do anything that Koala can't mate?
Genuinely curious here. I've kinda disregarded it as a "novelty app" by Andrew Huang given it only has 9 pads and never bought it. I'm interested to hear your take on it mate. 
Totally feel you on that Field. I have the OG OP-1 and I absolutely adore it, despite the current negative opinion on it. There’s just something special about it that I can’t quite put my finger on. I was very tempted to upgrade but I think my iPad + the original is more than enough for now. Maybe a year or so down the road though. Who knows? 😂
I gotta say though, that interface you designed does look awfully good. I’m bad about getting stuck in my ways though and I am pretty comfortable with my current workflow. For right now, I’m eyeballing the full version of Beatsurfer first, as far as big purchases go. Or perhaps the main IAP for Pure Synth.
Gauss does a good job replicated a lot of that OP-1 feel on the iPad, so I think you made the right call there 👍🏻
As far as Flip goes, the interface is a big positive. It’s very easy to work with. And the drag and drop song mode is so quick and convenient. I can see myself using it often just for that. It also has automation of every parameter, and some really cool performance controls. You can automate all the way down to small individual parts and do some polyrhythmic stuff that way. Huang has a 12-13 minute overview about it if you wanna check it out. That’s what sold me on it, and overall I’m happy with it so far. I think I prefer koala, but is definitely earned it’s place on my iPad
The only problem is the OP-1 Field does not hook up to the iPad for transferring files (and could possibly fuck up my iPad Pro or vice versa). The only way I know this is I asked Teenage Engineering themselves. So in order to get an OP-1 Field, I'd have to buy myself a cheap Windows laptop for the sole purpose of accessing the OP-1 Field's files.
So in essence it would cost me even more money.
I have a feeling I made the right call. Unless you were able to access the OG OP-1's file system using a camera connector kit and the Files app?
Thanks mate.
Yep, I like designing strange interfaces unique to each piece I make (or attempt to make, haha). I have to watch an overview video about Beatsurfer first before I consider buying it. I probably will get it, but "can it make Ambient music" is the question. 
Good. After years of lusting on and off over the OP-1, I had a feeling Gauss was the app to come very close to it. @Hainbach and @brambos know their stuff!
I'll have to watch Andrew Huang's video on it again. (I haven't seen that overview video since it was first released.) But, I don't know. Only 9 pads and only 4 bars per section. Then again...Flip DOES have a song mode! I don't know if Koala has a song mode per se. I did write Marek of @elf_audio an email asking exactly that just now. I would like a way to arrange Koala sequences in an order. Would be neat.
When you say access the files to you mean transferring the stems from the op-1 to the iPad? IIRC there’s an app just for that. But I use the lightening cable to send audio and midi back and forth from my op-1 and iPad all the time. Has worked like a charm for me! It’s perfect for those apps with no iOS connectivity. Just sample them into the op-1 haha.
Also keep in mind there’s a free version of Beatsurfer that actually comes with a fair amount of features if you wanna give it a shot. I haven’t tried it for ambient but with all the functionality, I feel like it could do it.
Totally see your points about Flip though. I try to approach each app as it’s own thing, but that is a bit of a limitation. But with how quickly you can chain patterns together, I overlook that aspect. However strictly for ambient, it may not be the best. It can do some ambient stuff though. I hop around genres so often, so I’ll use anything
I think that app was for the OP-Z rather than the OP-1/OP-1 Field.
And not to go offtopic, but doesn't it suck that Teenage Engineering released a pocket operator app for Android and not iOS? That is just, ugh.
Wait, you can use a lightning cable to record audio from the OP-1 into, like, CB3?! 😲
I'll have to check it out then.
Or I'll just see what videos on Youtube exist and just buy it outright tomorrow. Either way, this sounds promising!
Anyways, I checked Andrew's video, and Flip does look fun for creating basic foley beats and such, but honestly Koala blows Flip out of the water in most aspects. However, that said, I think I'm going to take on the challenge to produce Ambient in Flip.
And if I don't get entirely the results I want...I'll just pop the rendered wav file into AUM and slap on Alteza and Reelbus. 😏
There’s actually a third party app for the OP-1 that is supposed to be for that. I haven’t used it yet myself though.
And yeah what’s up with that Android only app? I’m hoping something will eventually come to iOS, because for all their faults, I do still love and TE does. And yes! You can send audio and midi back and forth over USB. The iPad and op-1 combo is my favorite thing. Insanely fun.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you end up doing with Beatsurfer and Flip. I’m working on a noisy/industrial piece and Flip right now and it’s been a ton of fun. I will say, it definitely won’t too Koala for me (then again few apps do), but it is fun. Which is pretty important imo.
I’ve actually never used NS2. It’s been on my to-buy list for months and months now and I still haven’t done it. There are a couple of pricier apps I have ahead of it on the list, but will most likely buy it before the summer is over.
Ah, now I see.
Me too. I want a pocket operator or two or five on iOS. I'll pay 100 quid for the whole bundle!
Holy shit. If you ever get the Field, you may have to demonstrate that an iPad can access the internal files of said Field! This sounds very intriguing.
If the OP-1 Field can hook up to the iPad Pro via USB-C and I can access stems and load samples and such without requiring a (ugh) Windows laptop, I may consider buying an OP-1 Field sometime next year. (I made my big-ticket purchase this year with the iPad Pro 12.9", which is why I'm holding off).
Yes, fun is a major factor in music creation. I did build something in Flip yesterday and did as I said I would by putting the recording of the live performance into AUM's File Player and ran it through Alteza and Reelbus.
I had fun with making it, and I will post the results tomorrow to Soundcloud.
Anyways, I checked @jakoB_haQ 's video about Beatsurfing 2, and it looks like a top notch app. However, it seems very much geared towards beat making only (its name is a dead giveaway lol) rather than Ambient creation, so I think I'll hold off dropping 30 quid on it.
What I am going to do tomorrow is drop some dinero on a couple of apps. First of all, Fundamental. Not gonna lie, I slept on this app as it had confused me. However during supper, I watched @jakoB_haQ 's video about it featuring @Hainbach , and I nearly shat my pants in awe. (This was a recommended video after I watched Jakob's Beatsurfing 2 video.) I've been looking for something exactly like this! OMG mate, imagine recording the output of Fundamental into Gauss and slowing down the tape and then adding Bleass' Shimmer and then Reelbus after it! 🤤 Christsake!
Then comes MiRack. I also slept on this amazing app. The last time I took a look at MiRack was sometime during the summer of last year, and I figured "this is too complicated for producing EDM with. I'm sticking with Gadget." Okay, granted it's still a complicated app that seems to have a bit of a learning curve (I mean, not so much for building a simple subtractive synth from scratch, lol, but learning all of the modules inside and out will take a lifetime), but just imagine the drones and sounds I can produce using this monster! Over 700 modules! God!
Finally, I'm going to bite after all these years and subscribe to Wotja Pro despite having been vehemently against it. 4 quid/month is nothing. Netflix is more expensive and has less entertainment value for me.
(In fact I just cancelled Netflix just now while in the midst of writing this reply.) I'm also going $4/month instead of $3/month despite not having any laptops or desktops just to support Intermophic a bit more. Now that I see that Wotja can host AUv3s, I'm all in!
The point of these three apps is to produce more interesting pieces of music with them!
That sounds like a good plan! Be forewarned that the developer is only releasing maintenance updates currently, and NS2 currently lacks audio tracks. (It didn't stop me from producing many vocal EDM tracks and a few Ambient pieces in it on my Mini 5 however, lol. Where there's a will, there's a way.)
@HotStrange I've purchased MiRack, which is even more confusing than I anticipated, so hopefully there are Youtube tutorials out there to watch later on this evening.
I purchased Fundamental, which is everything I'd hoped it would be! Much easier to grasp and perfect for Ambient!
And I purchased Flux Pro (as I already have LFOH) and will have a play with that later on in AUM.
Will probably subscribe to Wotja later on and play with that.