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 Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

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Comments

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @Philandering_Bastard said:
    I didn’t get a video game vibe at all. Your loops are atmospheric and, well, loops. Perhaps you are looking to make longer tracks which have a build-up and release?

    Yeah, I certainly need to spend more time thinking about what I am doing. I normally let the sound guide me, and flow wherever. I also have this strange feeling that I should be able to make something beautiful with anything so I accept all sounds without much forethought. I will start strategizing a little from now on.

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @Spidericemidas said:
    I thought these tracks were excellent. I didn’t get an 8bit chiptune vibe from them. And I wouldn’t say the music sounds like videogames. I would say that videogame music especially the likes of final fantasy stands up as good ambient music on its own without the games! And if someone said my music sounded like final fantasy, I’d be pretty chuffed as Nobuo Uematsu is an awesome music composer!
    I would carry on as you are. Nice melodies. Nice chilled vibes. Nice ambient sounds. There is very little difference these days between videogame music and normal commercial music, I find anyway. 👍

    Thanks spider! I never thought about the video game comment this way. I certainly like to create emotion with my pieces so maybe being called a video game is validation that I am moving in the right direction.

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:
    I don't think your loops remind of videogames much, and if they do for some, who cares?

    You gave good ideas, just expand on them, add more variation and continue to do your thing!

    I agree. Make the music you love, not the music others want you to make.

    @LinearLineman said:
    Most important: Do you like it? Can you listen to your best stuff over and over without getting bored or sick of it? If the answer is yes, then you're making the music you want to make. That’s all that matters.

    I think you’re getting the reaction because of your sound palette. Try adding some acoustic sounds from apps like ISymphonic, BeatHawk, PureSynthPlatinum, Korg Module. Or more sophisticated synth sounds from synths like TeraSynth Pro, LaGrange, Continua, DRC and many others.

    Also, I think the drums lead listers in a particular direction. Try making stuff without drums or pick different drum sounds.

    Finally, post your stuff on the forum under Creations and ask for feedback. Keep up the good work.👍🙏

    I do like what I make, and I can listen to it a few times. I actually think I am the person who has watched my YouTube videos the most lol (shameful… I know). The truth is I do music for myself, but sometimes I forget. Thanks for aligning me back in track!

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @espiegel123 said:
    @magnusovi : fwiw, I heard a great talk about composition and arranging by a musician/composer I admire a lot (Michael League). In response to a question about how to get better at composing/arranging, he had some great advice:

    • go into it knowing that you will get better only by trying things...and that for a while they will often not be very good..that's normal..don't be afraid of making choices that do not work...make lots of choices without worrying about good/bad and over time you will get a sense of what works.
    • make notes about how songs you like work..their form/structure..how the parts change.. their structure, how they develop. and then experiment with copying that form. For example, the structure might be verse 1, verse 2 , chorus, verse3, chorus, bridge chorus. You might notice verse 1 has only bass, piano and lead vocal. verse 2 has bass, piano, lead and harmony vocal, a guitar come in the chorus... notice the repetitions of a section change. Notice how transitions between parts change. take some song you wrote and see what happens if you use the structure of some song you liked
    • experiment with the structure. George Martin would sometimes have the Beatles do things to break predictable patterns. There was some song where he told them to use the bridge they had written as the intro..and not have a bridge.
    • give yourself time. don't be in a rush to "be good". a lot of people get stuck by sticking to a formula that worked for them once and miss out on expanding their skill by staying in a safe zone.

    Everyone whose music you like, made a lot of music that wasn't good...you just didn't hear it. Making things that don't work is a necessary part of the process...and even the best after decades still sometimes do not know which is the good stuff and which isn't.

    Arrangement is something I know NOTHING about so I will get to the drawing board on this.

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @Edward_Alexander said:
    I gave some of your stuff a listen. Some of it is really good! If someone tells you it sounds like a video game soundtrack, then take that as a compliment. (I’ve been told the same about mine at times!)

    Video game soundtracks cover such a wide range of styles and genres, from 8-bit chip tunes to full on symphony orchestral masterpieces, so don’t let that discourage you!

    Just keep making music! Try not to dwell on feedback from any particular piece, but rather learn from it, and apply what you’ve learned to the next one.

    I agree with @Poppadocrock in that there’s plenty of learning material on YouTube regarding music theory and production, and that’s all great and everything (those are the tools), but what it really takes is something that will inspire you. Find some inspiration somewhere, wether it takes a walk in the forest, or on the beach. Think of some happy times, or tears of a love once lost… then, armed with your knowledge of the “tools”, use them to convey your happiness, or sadness and pain.

    Thank you for the kind words and the like on my video man! I always read your comments since you sound like a wise producer so I am stoked you listened to my stuff and gave me your opinion. Thanks!

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @AudioGus said:
    I dig the vibe and the melodies. For me iPad synths now for the most part just sound retro or video gamey, unless a lot of skilled production work is done. I got similar feedback on my ipad tunes (mainly from folks who don't make music) that my stuff sounded retro or video gamey but with my Maschine tunes just preset flipping NI synths the feedback is much different. Same music by me more or less, just different better sexy sounds that I think land better with people.

    @Gavinski said:

    @AudioGus said:
    I dig the vibe and the melodies. For me iPad synths now for the most part just sound retro or video gamey, unless a lot of skilled production work is done. I got similar feedback on my ipad tunes (mainly from folks who don't make music) that my stuff sounded retro or video gamey but with my Maschine tunes just preset flipping NI synths the feedback is much different. Same music by me more or less, just different better sexy sounds that I think land better with people.

    I can't agree with this. There's a wealth of variety in terms of iOS synths Sure there are niche things on desktop, Aalto, Kaivo, Plasmonic, to name a few, that we don't have on iOS. I would love to see ports of these. But we have an amazing array of synths at our disposal nevertheless and the forum is awash with examples of tracks people have made that don't sound remotely video-gamey. If you want to get away from classic analogue subtractive synth sounds, there are tons of unashamably digital options like Fundamental2, Thermo, StarWaves, CubeSynth Pro etc

    I can’t believe the famous Gavinski commented on my post! Wooot! Now the next step is to win an app on one of your videos lol!

    What are your favorite iPad synths Audiogus?

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @StudioES said:
    And to @magnusovi, I listened to you here https://youtube.com/user/ovidiusmagnus. Try playing more parts polyphonically, rather than monophonically. And let your chords ring out a bit more, with each note in chords not all the same length. Use less arpeggios. Old video games used those truncated chords, arps, and mostly monophonic parts.

    Also try to make your drums more dynamic by varying the velocity and decay, plus slightly varying panning helps. Use more realistic drum samples too. Using more automation is a big one.

    My music has been called 'videogame-ish but with modern sounds' so maybe these suggestions may not work either.

    I am going to get beathawk once I get the bread situation straight, you think that would hold me up well for a little? Or what do you recommend I do for drum samples. I got FAC Drumkit, sitala, and playbeat3

  • espiegel123espiegel123

    @magnusovi said:

    Arrangement is something I know NOTHING about so I will get to the drawing board on this.

    Arrangement/structure might be 90% of what composing/recording is about. One doesn’t need to know about in an intellectual way… but you will notice that even with simple single instrument music there are differences in repeated sections.

    There are so many things one can change. To name a few: simple dynamic (how loud or soft the music is) changes, which instruments are playing, how “dense” the played notes are (lots or a few),

    To be a good composer, you need to first be a good listener. One needs to be able to listen and notice how the music changes. Some come by that naturally. Some don’t. Trying to recreate music you like or slavishly imitate it, is a good way to pick up these skills.

    Music is about setting up expectations and sometimes satisfying and sometimes undermining those expectations.

  • jwmmakerofmusicjwmmakerofmusic

    @magnusovi said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:
    All you had to say was "Ambient soundscapes", and you caught my attention. 😆

    First of all, but some of your tracks do have a little bit of a chiptune vibe to them, but so what? The tracks are cleanly mixed and polished and sound great! I'm digging the vibe you bring. The tracks are not lame, boring, slow, loud, unmixed, etc. That's bullshit. They're excellent.

    Second of all, the FLSM examples sound decent enough, and I can tell you put your heart into them, but your AUM examples are far superior in terms of sound quality. I'd stick with AUM as you'll get better results (and have gotten better results). FLSM sounds cheaper overall.

    Third of all, a little about me. I dove into live Ambient/Soundscape creation a little over two months ago after lusting after the OP-1 Field. I've listened to the likes of Brian Eno, David Lynch, Tangerine Dream, etc. I've posted a lot of Ambient to here since then (although I've taken a week off to avoid creative burnout), and a couple users have attributed the recent wave of Ambient soundscapes others have posted in creations to my neverending thirst and drive. If you need further help/have further questions, I'm here to answer them.

    What is "live Ambient/Soundscape creation" you may ask? Well, I set up some stuff in AUM in advance such as synths, long loops in AUM's File Player, etc. Then I hit "record" and live perform the piece, including tweaking volumes, filters, reverbs, etc.

    Fourth of all, I forgot to pay attention to what AUv3s you used when closing my eyes to listen to each track. (Yes, I do listen to people's music with my eyes closed, lol.) But, some AUv3s you can purchase that won't break the bank (if you don't have them already) are:

    -FAC Alteza (for a really insane long-ass reverb perfect for Ambient)
    -ChowTapeModel (which is a free tape effect, but has an optional tip jar to help fund further development)
    -Klevgrand DAW Cassette (which is a less-complicated tape effect, but does cost a little money)
    -Bleass Monolit (which is a really amazing free synth)
    -Bleass Granulizer (for some sweet granular effects)
    -Bleass Reverb (for an all-rounder reverb that also has ducking capabilities)
    -Bleass Compressor (for a clean compression)
    -Bleass Samplewiz 2 (an amazing sampler synth, and in fact, all of Bleass' synths and effects are amazing and worthy of purchase)
    -RoughRider 3 (for compression with character, and it's free)
    -FAC Bandit (for multiband distortion since FabFilter Saturn costs a pretty penny)
    -FAC WooTT (which is like OTT on Desktop, and usually used on Dubstep basses, but can really add some timbral interest to your sounds in unconventional ways)
    -Velvet Machine (which sounds like a reverb when tweaked as such, or a sound blurring effect when tweaked a different way, and can get even more creative with it)
    -PanFlow (for automated panning)
    -FluxPro (can be used not only as an audio effect but can also be used to automate knobs in other synths/effects)
    -Rymdigare (funny name, seriously fucking amazing effect that's difficult to describe)
    -Koala Sampler (can be used as a standalone, an AUv3, can extract audio from video captures on your iDevice, can use the spleeter algorithm to split apart full tracks into separate parts, etc)
    -PaulXStretch Beta ( https://sonosaurus.com/paulxstretch/ free, and will be released as free in the future, but in the meantime, get TestFlight from the appstore (also free), and sign up using that link to download PaulXStretch and stretch your audio to infinity and beyond!)

    And when you have some serious money to invest, I also suggest Beathawk and its IAPs, and Korg Module Pro and its IAPs. Both UVI Soft and Korg have occasional sales (especially around Thanksgiving), so be on the lookout for those in order to get your best bang for your buck. Beathawk can be used as a standalone beat creation app, but it can also be loaded as an AUv3 and used as a rompler. Korg's Module Pro is also a rompler. Both have great sounds in them.

    Fifth of all, most soundscapes/Ambient pieces don't have drums in them, at least in the traditional sense. The examples you provided are more like Chillout pieces, which I also love. Soundscapes sound a bit more like this...

    ...where not much in the way of variety/tension and release happens, where the point is to create a sonic realm to exist in for a little while, to evoke a certain emotion. Ambient pieces sound a bit more like this...

    ...where there are more musical elements and more variety and tension/release, but it still evolves slowly over time.

    Although, now this has got me thinking that for my next piece of Ambient (which will be an Ambient diss track against a backstabbing narcissist I considered a friend who then blocked me on Facebook messenger), I may add some super slow distorted drums just for fun, lol. I mean, in a way, Ambient and soundscaping really don't have any rules and can be anything you wish them to be.

    And yes mate, I have created an Ambient diss track in the past to poke fun of another friend who's a massive crybaby...

    😂

    Okay, I think I rambled on long enough. Time for me to get creating Ambient!

    It means a lot to me that you took the time to post such a comprehensive response man. You are a top dog for sure! I’m going to listen to you music tonight with my eyes closed as well to make sure I learn from a real pro. Thanks!!!

    Of course mate! 🤩

    Hey, question mate. Which AUv3 apps do you currently use on a regular basis?

  • StudioESStudioES

    @magnusovi said:

    @StudioES said:
    And to @magnusovi, I listened to you here https://youtube.com/user/ovidiusmagnus. Try playing more parts polyphonically, rather than monophonically. And let your chords ring out a bit more, with each note in chords not all the same length. Use less arpeggios. Old video games used those truncated chords, arps, and mostly monophonic parts.

    Also try to make your drums more dynamic by varying the velocity and decay, plus slightly varying panning helps. Use more realistic drum samples too. Using more automation is a big one.

    My music has been called 'videogame-ish but with modern sounds' so maybe these suggestions may not work either.

    I am going to get beathawk once I get the bread situation straight, you think that would hold me up well for a little? Or what do you recommend I do for drum samples. I got FAC Drumkit, sitala, and playbeat3

    Beathawk is a good all-around rompler. Are you going to use its internal sequencer? Have you decided what your master sequencer will be? You may not enjoy juggling multiple sequencers at first. And I would like the flexiblity of FAC Drumkit over using Beathawk.

  • StudioESStudioES

    @AudioGus said:

    @StudioES said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @StudioES said:
    For preset-surfing it's hard to beat NI Komplete Kontrol, Maschine, or Arturia Analog Lab.

    I use an external hardware sequencer and recently swapped my iPad and AUM for a Windows laptop and Komplete Kontrol and the difference in finding decent presets to use is night and day.

    Yah I thought I was cranking out a lot on iPad but with Maschine/Komplete in one year I had more/better than I did in six years on iOS. It sure made a difference for me. At first I thought 'oh no I am abandoning all that work' but now I listen back to that stuff and am like 'who cares?'. I still use ipad for couch sample fodder and Endlesss but it is far lower on the list now.

    And iOS could use an AI-powered sample finder like XO, Atlas, or COSMOS as well.
    After using COSMOS for several months, I'm never going back to manually wading through hundreds of thousands of samples ever again. It's a huge time-saver. So is Komplete Kontrol for synth patches.

    Ahh right, I have been sleeping on the sample finders. Used to primarily be a sample dude but I think I burned out on it for that very reason, thanks for the reminder, will check them out.

    COSMOS' initial scan takes a few days with my ~150GB sample library. It's not bug-free - I've had to reinstall it twice already since it occasionally wants to rescan when no changes were made - and that takes...days...and the scanning eats up the CPU. But when it's working proper - it's super useful - a tool I wouldn't want to be without. It sort of spoils me and makes life too easy.

  • AudioGusAudioGus

    @StudioES said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @StudioES said:

    @AudioGus said:

    @StudioES said:
    For preset-surfing it's hard to beat NI Komplete Kontrol, Maschine, or Arturia Analog Lab.

    I use an external hardware sequencer and recently swapped my iPad and AUM for a Windows laptop and Komplete Kontrol and the difference in finding decent presets to use is night and day.

    Yah I thought I was cranking out a lot on iPad but with Maschine/Komplete in one year I had more/better than I did in six years on iOS. It sure made a difference for me. At first I thought 'oh no I am abandoning all that work' but now I listen back to that stuff and am like 'who cares?'. I still use ipad for couch sample fodder and Endlesss but it is far lower on the list now.

    And iOS could use an AI-powered sample finder like XO, Atlas, or COSMOS as well.
    After using COSMOS for several months, I'm never going back to manually wading through hundreds of thousands of samples ever again. It's a huge time-saver. So is Komplete Kontrol for synth patches.

    Ahh right, I have been sleeping on the sample finders. Used to primarily be a sample dude but I think I burned out on it for that very reason, thanks for the reminder, will check them out.

    COSMOS' initial scan takes a few days with my ~150GB sample library. It's not bug-free - I've had to reinstall it twice already since it occasionally wants to rescan when no changes were made - and that takes...days...and the scanning eats up the CPU. But when it's working proper - it's super useful - a tool I wouldn't want to be without. It sort of spoils me and makes life too easy.

    Ahh good to know, I may just clean things up first as there is a lot of old clutter in mine for sure.

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @jwmmakerofmusic I normally use LK, DRC, playbeat3, hosted by AUM.

  • magnusovimagnusovi

    @StudioES said:

    @magnusovi said:

    @StudioES said:
    And to @magnusovi, I listened to you here https://youtube.com/user/ovidiusmagnus. Try playing more parts polyphonically, rather than monophonically. And let your chords ring out a bit more, with each note in chords not all the same length. Use less arpeggios. Old video games used those truncated chords, arps, and mostly monophonic parts.

    Also try to make your drums more dynamic by varying the velocity and decay, plus slightly varying panning helps. Use more realistic drum samples too. Using more automation is a big one.

    My music has been called 'videogame-ish but with modern sounds' so maybe these suggestions may not work either.

    I am going to get beathawk once I get the bread situation straight, you think that would hold me up well for a little? Or what do you recommend I do for drum samples. I got FAC Drumkit, sitala, and playbeat3

    Beathawk is a good all-around rompler. Are you going to use its internal sequencer? Have you decided what your master sequencer will be? You may not enjoy juggling multiple sequencers at first. And I would like the flexiblity of FAC Drumkit over using Beathawk.

    I use LK to do the sequencing for the most part and now I got Playbeat3 which I’m not 100% sure how to use yet.

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