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Felted Piano for IOS

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Comments

  • edited August 2022

    @Stuntman_mike said:

    @Thelast27 said:
    Scaler 2 has a great felted piano

    +1

    yes, Felt Piano in Scaler 2 - it's very good and plays nicely with my DAW of choice, GB. In fact it was the first sound I used when I created my first track using scaler 2, for chord inspiration. Only posting this video here so the original OP can hear what it sounds like :)

  • @Gavinski said:
    Problem is with Objeq though that its pitch is a not going to change.

    Did you listen to the demo I uploaded. Pitch is not affected over a sampling of dozens of piano sources. The Bach shines threw as if played on a mutilated piano. Objeb just works on transient envelopes and spectral content (Fourier imagery). Does the uploaded demo sound like a muted/felted piano?

    I like to use Objeq to imitate Gamelon instruments from a variety of sources and FAC Transient to make notes more percussive. Pitch is NOT impacted.

    Drambo has physical modeler modules that can approximate what Objeq does so I suspect
    they might help get closer to the felt piano impact transients and spectral content. But no one took my $10 bet so I'll spend my money of the new @Virsyn synth to complete my set.

    The DecentSampler is probably the best solution for decent felt piano. Pullig piano book samples into AudioLayer requires more steps but also provides more felt piano instances to
    work with.

    I crafted my FX appraoch using earbuds so it sounds convincing to me but not ideal. I listened using headphones and realized my headphones are really bad... the Apple AirPods and AirPods Pros sound much better.

    So, I'll be looking into finally buying a rugged headphone product. I tend to go cheap and they just fall apart with daily use.

  • edited August 2022

    Love felted pianos too. I’m now recording my first piano solo album.
    Experimented with lots of different textiles in my upright until I got the sound I was looking for. It’s 100 years old and the original felt in the sordino pedal was too thick. I’m using a thin gamut that sound lovely. In my girlfriend upright mini piano I used a strip of cotton fabric, a bit different sound but works best than felt in that piano.
    I also have mid sized grand that I felted too, but its a pain to held the felt. Now I’m designing a mechanism to easily put the felt strip.
    In IOS land I also use felted piano sounds for Live performance. Decent sampler is not enough to stable in my system so I use Audiolayer. Some converted libs from pianobook and some of my own sampled piano. Is not difficult to make audiolayer programs from the pianobook Soundfonts or kontakt samples .

    About using FX for imitate the sound I think is not possible as others has pointed.

    Edit: you can hear some sounds in my Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/josueariasmusic/

  • edited August 2022
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @Synthi said:
    Love felted pianos too. I’m now recording my first piano solo album.
    Experimented with lots of different textiles in my upright until I got the sound I was looking for. It’s 100 years old and the original felt in the sordino pedal was too thick. I’m using a thin gamut that sound lovely. In my girlfriend upright mini piano I used a strip of cotton fabric, a bit different sound but works best than felt in that piano.
    I also have mid sized grand that I felted too, but its a pain to held the felt. Now I’m designing a mechanism to easily put the felt strip.
    In IOS land I also use felted piano sounds for Live performance. Decent sampler is not enough to stable in my system so I use Audiolayer. Some converted libs from pianobook and some of my own sampled piano. Is not difficult to make audiolayer programs from the pianobook Soundfonts or kontakt samples .

    About using FX for imitate the sound I think is not possible as others has pointed.

    Edit: you heard some sounds in my Instagram : @josueariasmusic

    Very cool ! Keeps us updated when you release your piano solo album !

  • @ReflectiveHaze said:
    I've found Decent Sampler easy to use to load pianobook libraries, but I agree with the instability. Sometime, the AU will "error out" and I'll have to reload it. Also, it seems some of the larger libraries don't work - around 1GB or larger tend to be hit and miss if they function in iOS or not.
    I'd like to try Audiolayer to load some SFZ or EXS24 Pianobook libraries, in hopes of increasing stability.

    You might also try using AuioLayer’s auto-sampling to resample the DS instrument if there isn’t an SFZ or EXS24 version.

  • @Synthi sai

    @ReflectiveHaze said:
    I'd like to try Audiolayer to load some SFZ or EXS24 Pianobook libraries, in hopes of increasing stability.

    Try also kontakt libraries! I bit of work but sometimes audiolayer detect the names/notes and do some work for you. Also some good pianobook librarie are not available as SFZ or ESX....

    @JanKun said:
    Very cool ! Keeps us updated when you release your piano solo album !

    Yes of course! It will be my first release as a kind of "pianist". coming from the electronics and synth world its something very special: I don´t have formal studies as a pianist and all that mental stuctures comes sometimes.
    There are some tracks with felted piano in my lastest album too: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/50577/bocetos-y-paisajes-scketches-landscapes

  • edited August 2022

    Something in the making here...

  • @rs2000 said:
    Something in the making here...

    You have something good in the works! Don´t know how much can aproximate the "real" felted piano but seems like an awesome timbral tool! Eager to try it! thanks!

  • @Synthi said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Something in the making here...

    You have something good in the works! Don´t know how much can aproximate the "real" felted piano but seems like an awesome timbral tool! Eager to try it! thanks!

    Thanks!
    It is a real felted piano, I'm only adding more control because that's what most felted pianos lack IMHO.

  • @rs2000 said:
    It is a real felted piano, I'm only adding more control because that's what most felted pianos lack IMHO.

    Even Better! did you tried using a plain piano sample?

  • @McD said:

    @Gavinski said:
    Problem is with Objeq though that its pitch is a not going to change.

    Did you listen to the demo I uploaded. Pitch is not affected over a sampling of dozens of piano sources. The Bach shines threw as if played on a mutilated piano. Objeb just works on transient envelopes and spectral content (Fourier imagery). Does the uploaded demo sound like a muted/felted piano?

    I like to use Objeq to imitate Gamelon instruments from a variety of sources and FAC Transient to make notes more percussive. Pitch is NOT impacted.

    Drambo has physical modeler modules that can approximate what Objeq does so I suspect
    they might help get closer to the felt piano impact transients and spectral content. But no one took my $10 bet so I'll spend my money of the new @Virsyn synth to complete my set.

    The DecentSampler is probably the best solution for decent felt piano. Pullig piano book samples into AudioLayer requires more steps but also provides more felt piano instances to
    work with.

    I crafted my FX appraoch using earbuds so it sounds convincing to me but not ideal. I listened using headphones and realized my headphones are really bad... the Apple AirPods and AirPods Pros sound much better.

    So, I'll be looking into finally buying a rugged headphone product. I tend to go cheap and they just fall apart with daily use.

    It sounds great McD! My point about Objeq remains true though:

  • @Synthi said:

    @rs2000 said:
    It is a real felted piano, I'm only adding more control because that's what most felted pianos lack IMHO.

    Even Better! did you tried using a plain piano sample?

    Yes but it didn't work out well.
    Neither the "felty" attack could be reproduced with any of the many available physical models nor did I get the typical organic variation between different samples.

    I don't say it's impossible though! It's just that I haven't heard a processed acoustic piano sound like a felt piano yet.
    And I was too impatient to try every imaginable processing trick 😉

  • @rs2000 thank you for taking a valiant effort to create a suitable effect.

    I’ll keep using the sample sets from PianoBook and hope DecentSampler continues to mature on IOS. Apps that span Mac, Windows, IOS and (maybe) Android see to focus where the users are which is likely Mac but the worm turns.

    The expectation of a PianoTeq product will give me a reason to live… it will open more doors and take me deeper into IOS sunk costs.

    We found something Drambo just can’t seem to do snd writing apps that could do it are also not in our stars.

    But cranking out recordings is one way to scratch an urgent itch.

    We need to get a core group of Audiolayer sound designers working using their own IP recorded samples like PianoBook makers do. And share in the riches of free stuff.

  • @gavinski
    It sounds great McD! My point about Objeq remains true though:

    That’s just one set of Objeq settings that behaves around some pitch center in a rather ugly way. You can set it up to be less frequency dependent. Try the settings I posted in the graphic.

    I’m using Objeq to try and make the piano attack more percussive and it’s pretty good at doing that. Objeq tries to make a synth input sound like wooden bars, metal pans or metal bars. To get something like a felt piano I like the metal pan timbre shift. I was hoping @rs2000!could dial in the physical modules for a similar effect. I find knob tweaking in Drambo to be rather painful with good sounds being the exception and not the rule. Objeq is good sounds as the ruke but you can set it up to sound pretty bad.

    FAC transient can wipe out the sustain portion of the envelope in a controlled/selectable fashion.

    Then massive shaping of the spectrum with a parametric visual EQ can help get closer to the felt sound but no one has said they like it and after trying headphone I do find the result to be like a bad piano jammed into a closet. Worth a shot.

    I think we have beat this horse across the line out of the money.

    I have some sonic frustrations with the PianoBook felters… the WinterPiano has an out of control pedal noise on every note in DecentSampler for example. It makes me want to give in and invest in Kontakt to get full advantage of the sites riches. That’s probably a $300-500 buyin fee and then you get addicted and start using the rent money to buy more libraries like a Pro without any gigs.

  • @McD said:
    ...
    I’m using Objeq to try and make the piano attack more percussive and it’s pretty good at doing that. Objeq tries to make a synth input sound like wooden bars, metal pans or metal bars. To get something like a felt piano I like the metal pan timbre shift. I was hoping @rs2000!could dial in the physical modules for a similar effect. I find knob tweaking in Drambo to be rather painful with good sounds being the exception and not the rule. Objeq is good sounds as the ruke but you can set it up to sound pretty bad.
    ...

    You made me think about more possible sound mangling directions.
    I guess that after the felt piano project, I'll go back to my little grand piano and get my hands dirty in order to achieve something new - who says it has to sound like any of the many piano mistreatments? 😅

  • @McD said:

    @gavinski
    It sounds great McD! My point about Objeq remains true though:

    That’s just one set of Objeq settings that behaves around some pitch center in a rather ugly way. You can set it up to be less frequency dependent. Try the settings I posted in the graphic.

    I’m using Objeq to try and make the piano attack more percussive and it’s pretty good at doing that. Objeq tries to make a synth input sound like wooden bars, metal pans or metal bars. To get something like a felt piano I like the metal pan timbre shift. I was hoping @rs2000!could dial in the physical modules for a similar effect. I find knob tweaking in Drambo to be rather painful with good sounds being the exception and not the rule. Objeq is good sounds as the ruke but you can set it up to sound pretty bad.

    FAC transient can wipe out the sustain portion of the envelope in a controlled/selectable fashion.

    Then massive shaping of the spectrum with a parametric visual EQ can help get closer to the felt sound but no one has said they like it and after trying headphone I do find the result to be like a bad piano jammed into a closet. Worth a shot.

    I think we have beat this horse across the line out of the money.

    I have some sonic frustrations with the PianoBook felters… the WinterPiano has an out of control pedal noise on every note in DecentSampler for example. It makes me want to give in and invest in Kontakt to get full advantage of the sites riches. That’s probably a $300-500 buyin fee and then you get addicted and start using the rent money to buy more libraries like a Pro without any gigs.

    I guess maybe yours works because the pitch setting is so low. Will give that a try 👍

  • For people trying to use effects to modify pianos to sound "felted", you might (or might not) find the video below useful. It's of Pianoteq and a guy who used Pteq's modeling parameters to modify a regular piano to sound felted. Pianoteq released their actual "felt" presets some time later, not sure if they use similar means. I'm sure they aren't exact correspondences between the modeling parameters he uses and whatever effects or processing you're trying to use, but maybe some of them nevertheless point the way:

  • McDMcD
    edited August 2022

    The major different between Concert Grands and Uprights are:

    1. the length of the bass strings. Concert grands can be 9 feet long to accommodate the bass strings.

    2. the openness vs constriction of the enclosure. Grands are open like a huge casket with a lid design to reflect the sound towards an audience. Uprights a typically place against and wall the the soundboard a few inches away from the wall. The upright allows for a piano sound at a fraction of the volume of the grand. Suitable for shared wall residences. To reduce the volume even more felt curtains between the hammers and the strings were introduced in upright models so the kids could practice at night.

    It's easy to hang a felt curtain in an upright and not possible in a grand unless it it mounted on a 90 degree inline... but then the hammers probably won't return the resting position.
    Go figure.

    In these 2 apps the sonic difference will be exposed in the bass response and the proximity of the mics to the string/soundboard bed. Small distinctions only a proficient keyboard player would really value.

    The free sound fonts pianos have models of both types for the causal user of keyboard sounds with the bass response and mic'ing details enforced as you'd expect.

  • @hes said:
    For people trying to use effects to modify pianos to sound "felted", you might (or might not) find the video below useful. It's of Pianoteq and a guy who used Pteq's modeling parameters to modify a regular piano to sound felted. Pianoteq released their actual "felt" presets some time later, not sure if they use similar means. I'm sure they aren't exact correspondences between the modeling parameters he uses and whatever effects or processing you're trying to use, but maybe some of them nevertheless point the way:

    He had me at hammer hardness. It's so easy to geek out on piano physics but it's more fun to just buy every piano app that comes down the pike and just noodle like he does compulsively.

    Unfortunately, 30 minutes of pain playing and the next day it feels like I have broken bones in my thumbs. I have to face reality that I'm getting rheumatoid arthritis and will never be able to improve from where I'm at right now. Thankfully, I can find IOS workarounds like Geoshred which is painless to manipulate and tends to avoid thumbs entirely. And with Staffpad I can do old school and write piano parts I'd never be able to play. I can even scan complex piano scores into a MIDI format and suck them into staffpad or cubasis or LK or... you get the idea. Where there's a will...

  • Oh no, that's heartbreaking @McD. Very sorry to hear that.
    I like your approach though - finding workable alternatives to continue making music is a great attitude.

    I've also played with the idea of using LK to play compositions, riffs or even just chords, it's only a matter of cutting scores into usable sections!
    One question hasn't stopped bugging me though:
    How do you cut a composition into good and re-usable components smaller than the classic intro/theme/chorus/bridge etc. sections?

  • @rs2000 said:
    Oh no, that's heartbreaking @McD. Very sorry to hear that.
    I like your approach though - finding workable alternatives to continue making music is a great attitude.

    I've also played with the idea of using LK to play compositions, riffs or even just chords, it's only a matter of cutting scores into usable sections!
    One question hasn't stopped bugging me though:
    How do you cut a composition into good and re-usable components smaller than the classic intro/theme/chorus/bridge etc. sections?

    I think LK is totally modeled on the Ableton "loop based" activation workflow. So, 2,4,8,16 bar
    construction similar to the way Korg Gadget expects you to build up to a "song" configuration. I haven't really dug deeply into LK but when I want to loop an existing MIDI file
    it's my AUv3 app of choice for that task.

  • Holdin’ on for pianoteq..

  • @taeo said:
    Holdin’ on for pianoteq..

    Can we start a mage-thread that goes up to 100 pages before the product ever arrives sometime in the 2023-24 timeframe? It will push many to just buy the desktop version to be ready. At least to try the free trial period assuming desktop hardware is available. I did that back in 2016. It's just another piano unless you go big and pay for the rights to tweak the parameters which makes it really expensive. I'm assuming we will see stage, pro and control freak nerd levels on IOS since they make the real profits from the nerds.

  • Can Scaler 2's Felt Piano be used in realtime as driven by a MIDI controller?

  • @McD said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Oh no, that's heartbreaking @McD. Very sorry to hear that.
    I like your approach though - finding workable alternatives to continue making music is a great attitude.

    I've also played with the idea of using LK to play compositions, riffs or even just chords, it's only a matter of cutting scores into usable sections!
    One question hasn't stopped bugging me though:
    How do you cut a composition into good and re-usable components smaller than the classic intro/theme/chorus/bridge etc. sections?

    I think LK is totally modeled on the Ableton "loop based" activation workflow. So, 2,4,8,16 bar
    construction similar to the way Korg Gadget expects you to build up to a "song" configuration. I haven't really dug deeply into LK but when I want to loop an existing MIDI file
    it's my AUv3 app of choice for that task.

    Like Ableton, LK is not limited to that.
    It could also be used to fire off phrases spontaneously (even off beat if you want), like the old Roland "Realtime Phrase Sequences" or the Korg RPPR.

  • edited August 2022

    I'm starting to wonder what different people would expect a felt piano to sound like.

    Here's a huge list of sampled "felted" instruments, most of them are pianos.
    You'll find audio demos there.

    https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=felt

  • @rs2000 said:
    I'm starting to wonder what different people would expect a felt piano to sound like.

    Here's a huge list of sampled "felted" instruments, most of them are pianos.
    You'll find audio demos there.

    https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=felt

    That the thing with felt pianos… it’s like drums. You would never have enough and will stay on the quest for perfection… find it… and 2 weeks later start searching for more.

    Ideally a Drambo solution with be like a tweakable model maybe based on feeding it a real piano or providing the option to load samples. But we have few options right now and hopefully the folks behind Pure Piano see the gap and fill it.

    Does BeatHawk have an IAP?

  • @McD said:

    @rs2000 said:
    I'm starting to wonder what different people would expect a felt piano to sound like.

    Here's a huge list of sampled "felted" instruments, most of them are pianos.
    You'll find audio demos there.

    https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=felt

    That the thing with felt pianos… it’s like drums. You would never have enough and will stay on the quest for perfection… find it… and 2 weeks later start searching for more.

    Ideally a Drambo solution with be like a tweakable model maybe based on feeding it a real piano or providing the option to load samples.

    That's exactly what I've shown in the video.

    Does BeatHawk have an IAP?

    Not a felt Piano as far as I remember.

  • @rs2000

    That's exactly what I've shown in the video.

    Nice… I hope you’re still working on the possibilities.

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