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
May be I interpreted it wrong. I thought @McD is trying to play other MPE synth using Steel Guitar Pro as midi controller.
I want to do exactly the reverse.. I like the guitar tones of Steel Guitar Pro (much better than Geoshred). Hence I want to play these guitar sounds using Velocity Keyboard.
I think if you 'crack the code' going in one direction, it should be somewhat similar going in the other direction?
I believe so... Just now, I tried to play Steel Guitar Pro using velocity keyboard app after setting the pitch bend range to '12' on both the apps. Sometimes slide works and sometimes not... I think it needs some "midi channel magic" that @McD is working on.. It will be really awesome to play real slide guitar tones using isomorphic MPE controllers like Linnstrument/VKB/Geoshred etc.
I agree. More flexibility in the use of this app makes it more invaluable for musicians.
2 finger mute is DONE, it'll be in the first update.
Digging into some other stuff tonight.
Thanks!
Excellent. Thanks!
@yonac is it possible to make necessary changes so that musicians can play the beautiful sound of these guitars using MPE midi controllers like Linnstrument ?
Here is one of the reviews I saw in app store (I am requesting the same) -
"Why doesn’t it allow pitch bending on every midi channel? Only channels 1-4 does pitch bends. So setting up more instances in AUM to use it with my mpe controller doesn’t allow me to bend the notes triggering on the high channels. Please enable pitch bends to be able to be triggered from all 16 midi channels. (I need it for at least 8 though). Then I can do more authentic guitar playing from my mpe controllers like iFretless bass."
It accepts MIDI in so I'll check that out... I suspect MIDI on channel 0 is treated as old ol' MIDI 1.0. but I need to be sure.
Yonac created a protocol that allows it to be recorded in a DAW so that it plays back all the
details allowed in it's own User Interface with slides, pedal actions, muting, Slide Bar tilting,
finger events for both hands...
I'm working on a script that accepts this MIDI out and allows you to switch these events into
standard MIDI for another synth or sampler app. It's critical for the app to support pitch bends +12 semitones to be able to slide a complete scale on the GUI fretboard and hear
those notes coming out of the other synth. I just started working on scaling the pitch bends to match the fretboard. It's working but it's not strictly linear to say 24 frets but it's close.
It depends on the target app.
I think I'll push out what I have and get some feedback and feature requests. I added @wim's
Bank/Program Change code to the script so it can change presets. Its kind of pointless since the Preset are open right in the SGP app. But maybe I'll add the PAD's to toggle the 7 pedals
like some did in their script. But again they are exposed in the SGP...
I need to shore up the transpose knob... I haven't tested it yet. I have all the Tunings and all the usual scales implemented and switchable via 1 knob. With scales it's makes a nice "harp" strumming app. The tunings too are fun to strum and use the bar for chord changes.
The apps that support 12 semitone pitch bends I'm testing with include AudioLayer, World Synth, Zeeon, KQ Sampei, Continua.
MPE Input? MPE is designed to allow for each string to have independent pitch bends. If this app supported that is would be "Steel Guitar Pro ++" because you could bend any string independent of the "slide bar" metaphor. Don't hold your breath but we'll see if they take the bait.
As for it's pitch bend out on 4 channels only, I think they did that to convey the slide bar tilting status... providing pitch bend for 4 points on the slide controller. I'm not working on that because frankly I don't see the value but I'm not a real pedal steel player. Someone guessed it was to get extra chords but I just see it as a way of making the instrument's tuning go haywire... it messes up those perfect intervals which is why I wanted 2 finger no tilting damping. I still need to test the CC 64 sustain functionality.
I think I can just put all the MIDI out on a single channel because it's NOT MPE. It doesn't need pitch bend per string... just a global pitch bends without any tilting... but pitch bend greater than the default 2 is the only way to get to the 12th fret.
OK... I uploaded a script for testing.
In AUM or any DAW that allows MIDI FX, point "Steel Guitar Pro" at a Moziac instance with this script loaded and point the output of the script at AudioLayer, or Zeeon, or World Synth, or Continua with the target app configure to use PB of 12.
Let me know if you have questions or requests.
https://patchstorage.com/sgp-midi-filter/
Bought the app last night @McD , mainly for the sounds. Not sure that chords are tricky in GeoShred… just practice 😊
Need a bit of time to look into the other things…
@sujoybose77 you can defiantly play SGP with GS in AUM but I haven’t got the midi settings right yet I get slightly odd results possibly linked to what @McD is investigating.
I was able to play SGP using velocity keyboard (in poly mode) with proper pitch bend (12) and smooth slide and glides. There are some tricks involved in the settings of SGP. Also once the sustain CC64 issue is fixed it may produce more realism. Here is a demo -
However, supporting more than 4 channels will be very much desired to achieve different slides in different strings using an external MPE midi controller.
I’m using SGP as a MIDI controller to drive MIDI 1.0 synths on channel 1
(or any channel really by changing 1 variable) using a Mozaic script.
The SGP slide works on synths that offer 12 pitch radius KASPAR and Magellan 2 do i just discovered.
Yonac would need to add that input functionality. They listen for 5 channels of pitch bend but it’s not logically connected to any particular
String… its there way of playing back a tilting BAR encoded into 4 PB’s,
I think.
Does AudioLayer accept MPE or any good sampler app that could be loaded with SGP wave files?
Adding MPE will be a lot of work and the market is small. Maybe they could consider making an MPE “Rompler” with these and other sounds.
Is there an MPE app list somewhere that’s up to date?
@McD when they had Steel Guitar (not Pro) version, I sampled one of their guitars (3-4 notes of each string) and loaded in AudioLayer and tried to play with MPE controller. But was not satisfied with the result, especially when performing fast sliding complex articulations involving multiple notes (solo play) The sound became thinny in between slid notes.
Pro version is much better - at least I am getting much more realistic pitch bending (even during complex articulations) - listen to the demo above. The sound is not becoming thinny/chipmunky between notes now.
Only multiple slides across different notes are not possible. It will be a perfect 10 if that is supported.
I wonder if multiple instances of SGP being fed by multiple Mozaic scripts
(Or MIDI FX apps that can route channels) would give you a solution.
I think external MIDI must come in on Channel 1. AUM can feed each instance it’s own unique channel 1. Your MPE controller wouldbe routed into Mozaic or MIDI FX apps that only pass though one MIDI channel. AT some point the iPad runs out of DSP but this might work.
Can I experiment with KB-1 and get a MPE stream similar to what you generate to test the theory or AUM as an MPE
“Splitter” to some number SGP targets? I don’t think we’ll get to 16 channels but I have the 8GB iPad Pro M1 to see where the hardware limit is. AUv3’s have a shared RAM limit of 340 MB. IPadOS 16 might increase this for the M1’s.
I just loaded 30 instances of Steel Guitar Pro on my iPad Pro M1. (The earlier text with crashing at 6 was my older iPad 3027 with 2GB of RAM). I just figured 30 was a reasonable place to stop… DSP shows 50% at idle for 30 instances.
Can you put a MIDI monitor like MIDI Spy on your MPE controller stream and count the Channels needed for NOTEs and Pitch Bends?
I agree with @Agatha_aga re this one ‘ 1. Problem with re-opening saved sessions in AUM. SGP instances become silent. This issue appears clearly if there are 2 or more instances in a session. I noticed that “Guitar volume” fader acts weird in those silent instances. It is set to 0 value and if I try to rise the fader it begins glitching.’… have had exactly the same.
Only fix was to remove SGP and reload it which given I had 8 instances is a bit of a pain 🤕
Midi Spy shows me 8 channels (CH2 to CH9) and PBR 12 if I use MPE4 (i.e. 1 channel per string) mode in Velocity Keyboard.
One observation - if I restrict to only one channel (other than CH1 to CH4) using AUM midi filer then pitch bend stops working even though Velocity Keyboard is sending proper PBR data. You probably already know pitch bend does not work if the input not coming via these four channels.
I have velocity keyboard... So, I can use it with an MPE target and see if I can emulate an MPE target with a "cluster of Steel Guitar Pro" instances. Logically, it makes sense but I'm may learn that it's not possible. I will start by reading more about the MPE specs.
How Pitch Bend functions in MPE is still confusing to me. I think there must be PB's on multiple channels and not the "Global" pitch bend of MIDI 1.0.
Wouldn't it be great if Yonac makes a "tapping" guitar product where you can tap on various frets and produce chords without strumming. And then making this tapping approach work with MIDI input and MPE pitch bend control of per string bends or slides. I will ask on their forum for a companion product that works in this way.
Yes that would be very much welcome and make it easy to play. This is why I like Garage Band guitar interface (not slide guitar though) it allows strumming chord by tapping one fret. Strumming on a large iPad surface is not user-friendly.
It should have a pitch-bend range of 48, so that it can be used with external controllers.
I have not tried, but my understanding is that the pitch bend range is only 12. This suggests that it will not work well with external controllers for long meends/portamentos.
@mcd: the way MPE works is that each note is on a different channel. PB for a note needs to be on the same channel as the note as do any other per-voice controls.
Thanks for the language lesson today. I was not familiar with the term "meend" until now.
That's what I thought. If you slide a finger in a chord only that note should glide as controlled via a pitch bend. I will look at the Velocity Keyboard stream to see how they treat individual notes. KB-1 has MPE presets too to study.
The SGP chart indicates it listens on channel 16 (i.e 15 for coders) for CC 64 (i.e. Sustain in the MIDI 1.0 specs). for people using MIDI keyboards notes are going out on channel 1 and sustain would default to this channel too so a Streambyter command is needed for keyboards to sustain with SGP, right? Streambyter is free so that would make an easy workaround.
I need to check that out. One fret? Does the fret provide a chord clue to trigger? or is it just a
trigger and the chord is defined via another mechanism like a time-based/sync'ed progression?
Those guys in India have a different word for everything. (Plus all the great food and music and movies.)
@Yonac, I found an issue with the presets browsing window: To escape from the patch view, one should be able to tap on the background, away from the patch browser window. Having to go up to the upper left every time after selecting a patch becomes quite tedious, especially since this tapping on the background to get out of the current view works in other windows.
Thanks.
Incidentally, anyone who created their own presets in the previous version of Steel Guitar, it is trivially easy to export all of your old presets and bring them over to the new Steel Guitar Pro app. I just did it and it all translated perfectly.
Just export your individual presets or your own folder of presets to email and send them to yourself. Then open the email and tap on the attached compressed file, then tap on the "Share Sheet" icon in the upper right of the screen and specify Steel Guitar Pro app so it will send to that app. Bingo! It will ask if you want to import the patches, then tap OK.
There are many interesting ornamentations/articulations in Indian Classical music - Meend, Khatka, Gamaka, Murki.. Search YT videos... I am sure it will enrich your musical journey..