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
you don't have to create your own M4L devices as there are thousands of M4L devices already created but still I wouldn't say the M4L learning curve is steep but it depends what you are comparing the learning curve to?
I admit making something like this is beyond me
no Wookie noises on bitwig
Burned again! I was getting into using Drambo with an analog synth, for sequencing and FX, but after spending half an hour trying to get all the hardware connected, Drambo was acting screwy, and then crashed.
You know what just works when you plug stuff into it? A Mac. And do you know what hardly ever crashes? Ableton. I LOVE Drambo, but it’s just not a reliable setup.
Get yourself a good controller, and use Drambo on Mac !
That’s my next plan. I will miss all those amazing AUs though.
You could still use the rozeta suite on the iPad and send the MIDI output to the Mac. I've had success with this. Then you have a touchscreen controller for interesting MIDI sequencing. You can still use Logic Remote as well.
Drambo was extremely reliable up until the last few updates unfortunately.
I have had my fair share of Ableton crashes too though, luckily it’s very quick to recover from them.
Me too, but I have never lost data so far. 🫰
Being resilient against crashes is another cool Bitwig feature. Its audio engine is a separate program and you have various options to configure its usage. If one instance of the engine crashes, other instances or Bitwig itself is not affected. More instances consume more resources.
My new M2 Air arrived over the weekend, and holy shit! I'm afraid my iPad is going to wind up feeling neglected. The Cem Olcay and 4Pockets plugins I've tried so far seem to work fine in Logic, which is a big plus. Performance and battery life is nothing short of astounding. Honestly the performance just puts into sharper relief what a waste iPadOS is on my M1 iPad, that machine could be doing so much more.
I'm finding it hard to kick the Drambo habit, so I'm not going to. I realized how easy it is to use iPad Drambo to sequence Ableton, and to use Drambo's CC generators to control and p-lock the Ableton.
One thing that's almost exactly the same on Ableton and Drambo is the super-fast, easy midi mapping. Between that, a pre-mapped default project, and racks in Drambo, it's solid. I have a rack for Koala FX (running as an AU in Ableton), and I'm working on one for Operator.
It seems backwards, I know, but this combines the best of both for me.
And If I use it with the iConnect MIDI 2, I can also send audio between them, or at least sample from one to the other.
Same here! After years of using the iPad with AUM as the main hub where all my hardware and iPad soundsorces come together, I bought Ableton and a Push 2. I had finally enough of recording in AUM and then editing in Logic.
So far Ableton with the Push 2 is just amazing! But I miss some apps that I've used for years and that are somehow essential in my workflow. For example a simple sequencer like the Rozeta X0X and it's simple but so efficient mutations dial. A simple 4 on the floor kick come to life just with a bit of dial in of mutations. I've been searching for max4live sequencers the last days but I can't really find such a simple solution like with Rozeta.
Anybody here that has a hint?
I absolutely love Ableton. But in my case, crashes and graphics issues are a major problem. Ableton support are working on a test machine for the graphics issues, as a few of us (Intel Mac users) have them now, and they're helping me work out the other crashes (one regular is Bleass SampleWiz 2).
But still I love Ableton, and I'm persevering. I love and use my iPad too, but mostly just when mobile, or to create sounds to feed into my desktop setup (I also do the reverse of that).
I tried BitWig Studio Trial, and just couldn't find that same love for it. I'm saving up for any Black Friday deals on upgrading from Ableton Live 11 Intro to Standard or Suite.
I hear you there! I would gladly and gratefully pay for Rozeta Suite on desktop. X0X and Rhythm are go-to drum sequencers for me.
Five years of total iOS production this April. 808 original, improvised, tracks. Finishing up a 68th album. All Cubasis plus Au3v , LUMBEATS and a rare interapp like Animoog or Thumbjam. I guess I drank the Cool Aid. Thx @LFS!
Glitchscaper has me back on iOS a fair bit more now. Finding it very nice running it in BM3, feeding egoist and Loopmix into it and then hosting BM3 in Cubasis to record straight to long audio tracks. Then it is off to desktop for chopping and mashing/mixing. Still makes for some fun sample fodder.
@LinearLineman congrats and I hope you used an 808 on that last track!
Use sequencers like Rozeta over DIN Midi?
Anyone checked out the new Drift synth in Ableton? It’s awesome!
yeah, its excellent! very very useful if you wanna get a tune going with minimal effort, very low CPU for what it does too.
Not yet, but from the video that someone posted in another thread I definitely intend to.
I’ve been through a few changes since starting this thread. I love Ableton, but I find it’s better for me when I have something specific to do. If I don’t have a strong idea, I get lost. Whereas on hardware or the iPad I can just play, and interesting stuff emerges.
I have found that a step sequencer is utterly essential for me. The Push’s sequencer isn’t immediate enough.
First I went back to Drambo, because it’s just amazing, and has the best software sequencer anywhere in my opinion. But as soon as I start creating sounds I get bogged down. It’s cool for samples and drums, but I don’t click with it for melodies and harmony. Not sure why.
I dusted off my Digitone and have been just taking it easy making cool loops and sounds. It’s possible to get some filthy, nasty analog-type sounds out of it too. Somehow I can lose myself for hours in a single machine, whereas on both the Mac and iPad my mind wanders pretty quickly while in the initial creation phase.
These are just my preferences and observations. And I’m certainly aware of how spoiled we are to have such amazing choices in so many formats.
For my part, I've found that embracing the desktop, and specifically Logic Pro, has gotten me interested in GarageBand on iPad for the first time. Turns out that I find it to be a pretty useful sketchpad, once I got past the rather clunky (IMO) user interface. And the flow from GB project to Logic is pretty seamless.
I've played in Ableton a bit (I have a 'lite' license) but I just can't seem to get excited about it. When I hear about something interesting in Live, it's usually a Max for Live deal, and the cost of Live Suite is just a bit much for me to swallow when Logic is such a good value for money (yes, I know, Apple can pretty much treat Logic as a loss-leader to sell hardware). The new "drift" synth does look pretty cool I admit.
Anyway, point being, doing more on the desktop has actually given me reason to pick up my iPad more, somewhat ironically.
I use iOS apps and hardware grooveboxes to generate stems and then I put it all as separate files on an Ableton template which I use to perform.
Trying to build a similar template on Loopypro
Incredible thread! I love Bitwig and Ableton also but Logic Pro has really stepped it up in 10.5 in terms of DJ type tools. And they’re working on Logic 11.. I expect big things..Thanks to everyone who commented here.
I'm itching to use it. Just preparing to install the new beta. I presume that's how I access it?
How would you describe the sounds of Drift?
These days I mostly use my ipad as a synth- only stand alone versions. My Surface with Bitwig is better in just about every way. As are the plug ins. I use Wavestate and Modwave Native, Buchla Easel V, Softube modular, and the Bitwig synths- all of which smoke anything on the iPad- but that doesn't mean the iPad synths aren't excellent - just these are more excellent.
I still like to mix tracks in AUM and make videos in Lumafusion, however.
Nice. I love Wavestate Native. I haven't tried Modwave Native yet. I have Buchla V too. I haven't tried Softube Modular yet. It looks intriguing, but costs have kept me back from it.
I love using my iPad for touch surface apps like SpaceCraft, Samplr, Borderlands, and now also for SpaceFields, as I can't get anything like that on my Mac so far. I'm also loading GR-16 on it, for putting together bits and bobs to export to Ableton. I love that my new OP-Z can be friends with Ableton too.
I'm saving up for the upgrade from Ableton Live 11 intro to Standard now, then I will save for Suite. It has so much power. I want to really dig into Max 4 Live too, having run the full trial. It ends this week.
BitWig Studio just didn't click with me.
This is a very good topic. I’m also on a quest for getting the experience of creative iPad sequencers over to desktop land.
The iPad sequencers are hard to beat. The immediacy of the touch UI is really the best. I‘m also using them as a Midi device driving synths in my DAW and then recording the sequence whin I‘m happy. Cykle, Senode, Rozetta, etc. Of course recording doesn’t help when you want the randomization of these sequencers.
I‘m a Bitwig user and it’s exactly the modulation and generative features that convinced me of it. Very often I‘m using the note repeat device in euclidian mode, the step sequencer or the note grid for generating melodies, chords or even drum loops. Probability included. But the workflow resembles more a modular system than the before mentioned iPad apps. The arpeggiator device can easily be abused as a step sequencer and if you map pitch and probability of steps to an array of hardware knobs it’s quite a nice playground. For instance with a Launchcontrol XL.
Bitwig has note probability and there are controller scripts for Midi controllers that model a step sequencer with probability options. This is the closest you can get to an iPad sequencer like experience. The best script for that is Ritchie Hawtin‘s script for the AKAI Fire but unfortunately it‘s partly broken since some weeks. In my opinion this approach even surpasses the iPad apps since you have real knobs. It really feels like using a real drum machine with probability options. TBH this is the best drum beat making experience I ever had. I‘m honestly considering fixing the script myself since it is on github. But see for yourself:
Update: if I would just have more time, I would like to develop an iPad app that is a creative sequencer that interacts with Bitwig in a similar way that Ritchie‘s script does. It wouldn’t drive the synth directly but rather works with a Bitwig Midi clip. Basically being a sequencer that is a control surface for a Midi clip.
Rad.
It’s more about how easy it is to use. It feels to me like the Moog Grandmother, in that it has only two oscillators plus noise, but with very flexible options to screw with them.
And the “drift” part really helps with the fat analog-ness
Yes! That‘s of course a possibility, but it would be so much easier to have a plug-in inside live that could do it and could be controlled by the Push.
Yeah, I would directly pay for it!