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
Would you say that Better Zip is a more useful tool than Keka? I've downloaded it, so I can take a look, as I usually use Keka for most things like this.
@impede Slightly out of topic but it seems v.23 isn't available in my country (Switzerland) on Android. I remember testing v.22 or 21 I think. Any clue on this? It's available here on iOS though
Thank you!
Hi, I can answer that one! I think you are referring to Google Play. Google Play does not in Switzerland currently determine, charge and remit sales tax. This means that ever since we added an in-app store to the free app we have not been able to make it available there.
. It is available in Switzerland, however, via the Amazon Appstore. Hope that helps explain that! Atb, tim
Oooh I see! Thanks for the answer!
Good to know, thanks! We try to provide as much flexibility as we can as we know people have different preferences.
You're very welcome! Sorry if I take a day or two to respond at the moment, but we're just getting ready to move house, so packing and unpacking is taking a lot of focus!
Best wishes, Pete
Thanks! We are still a bit exhausted after our exertions over the Xmas period (I know I am). That was where at the very last moment we were forced into changing our long standing free/pro app approach.
Having pulled out all the stops to figure out/implement a solution in time we are now about to see if we can make one final tweak to the model. I can't say any more about that right now in case we cannot get it to work as we hope.
If if does work then there will be benefits, especially for long term users/supporters
, and it will need explaining. I will prob do it in a short blog post.
atb
tim
I found an interesting loophole in Google play: as I've already installed the app in the past, it now shows up in my uninstalled apps list, therefore I could install v.23 from there. Wondering if the Android IAP would work from there though!
Yes, that is indeed a loophole. It happens cos the free app is the one we have had to move forward with, and you had already installed it before it was removed from sale. However, the IAP will not work in Switzerland.
Thank you for the answer!
Before we added IAPs to the free Wotja 22 app we had to remove it from sale in countries where Google Play did not determine, charge and remit sales tax.
The IAPs you see in the Wotja 23 in-app store will only work in countries where we currently list Wotja as available for sale: https://wotja.com/help/#store-googleplay
Hope the clarification helps!
Todays sound design tip. Ring modulation.
One of the oldest and possibly most misunderstood features of the Wotja Audio Engine is ring modulation. Due to how the WAE works ( with different sample rates for audio vs control signals) it’s not usually possible to do standard frequency and amplitude modulation between audio generators. Except…
The basic Tone Generator unit has always had the ability to act as one half of a ring modulation pair.
Ring modulation is a type of amplitude modulation where you effectively splice two waveforms together, resulting in a new wave which is the sum and the difference of the original pair. If the two original waves are simple and are part of the same harmonic series the results are usually harmonically related. If not, it’s a good way to get clangorous, aharmonic stuff going.
To experiment with this all you need to start with is a pair of TG units in a synth definition. Check the “Ring Modulation” box on the rightmost TG unit to link the pair together. As this is an “ under the hood” link, it doesn’t show up in the UI
If you are just using the TG default settings you’ll hear the output audio jumps up an octave and adds a sub bass tone down an octave ( sum and difference of 2 sine waves of the same frequency). Change the pitch ratio or waveform shapes between the two to get more interesting results.
Which is all very nice and good fun to explore. But there is more…
If you have a Sample Player unit and put a TG unit after that with the Ring mod checkbox ticked, that also works as a ring mod pair. So you can use the TG unit to process the loaded sample. With quite dramatic results.
If you want to go old school Radiophonics, a vocal sample ring modded with a low square wave ( 30 Hz is a good starting point) will put you in Dalek territory. Melodic samples ring modded with sine or triangle waves start to take on metallic, bell like tones depending on how you pitch them.
As it’s a form of amplitude modulation the envelope settings of the leading TG unit will control the overall output level so you don’t need to have an envelope active on the first generator in the pair. But if that unit is the sample player and polyphony >1 you might want to envelope that unit so it matches the lead unit envelope.
A couple of example files attached to get you started.
This is fantastic! It makes vocal samples sound like a seance gone terrifyingly wrong, and everything pitched sound like the score from Space Patrol.
I’m kicking myself that I hadn’t tried it sooner. I was thinking about doing a ring modulation post anyway because I think it tends to get overlooked as a resource and I really like how it can sound. But it was only while gathering my thoughts around that when it dawned on me that it would probably work with the sample player as one of the pair as well.
So it turns out that I’d also been guilty of overlooking its possibilities.
I haven’t tried it yet but I can’t see why it shouldn’t work if paired with any of the other audio generating units. I’ll be checking that with the wavetable unit later 😉. Ring modulated birdsong should be rewarding.
But yes, used on vocal samples it can definitely invoke spirit radio/EVP/hauntology vibes. And infuse your sounds with echo’s of the early pioneers in electronic music
Of course it works with the WT unit.
Why wouldn’t it work with the WT unit?
Sheesh
You'll get us all arrested. It's like the surveillance audio from a factory chicken hangar after the foxes have got in. It turns out to sound much the same if the input is ScotRail tannoy apologies, but try telling that to the RSPB.
It can do (slightly) more subtle also.
The IM Synths soundfont is basically a selection box of waveforms of varying complexity. It took more of a back seat after the Macro oscillator was introduced because that was a more flexible, modulatable way to create complex waveforms.
But there is a lot to explore in there if you take some of the richer waveforms in IM Synths and ring mod them with the simpler waves from the TG.
It’s not hard to find rich pad and lead sounds that have some sense of movement within.
As you lose the original pitches when you ring mod a pair of oscillators, if you want to use it in a melodic way it can help to mix back the output of the “carrier” oscillator, which makes the synth definition a bit more involved. If doing that it’s best not to use the envelopes built into the generators and use a final amp/Ctrl-env combo to shape the output instead.
Check the attached to see what I mean.
One of the things I do like about this approach (and other side band generating methods) is how the lower side bands can produce a very satisfying bottom end to the sound without making it sound too muddy.
This is fascinating, particularly the trick with feeding the dry signal back in; you can get some incredibly complex, almost feral, harmonic textures out of this. I'm not hearing a massive difference if I uncheck the envelope on the WT, but I'm still getting my ears around it; I don't think I've ever played with ring mod outside of Syntorial, and the fact that it doesn't show up graphically in the WME signal chain is still quietly blowing my mind. (If you don't notice the ring mod box checked, this one would look like a completely different kind of patch.)
The suggestion about the built in envelopes is really an insurance policy against unexpected outcomes. Being a form of amplitude modulation, the level of the output is affected by those of the inputs so if you are unwittingly modulating either of them you might not get out what you expect. So I find it simpler to take those out of play and do the shaping externally.
Prior to the rise of digital synths, ring modulation was arguably the goto method for metallic clang and audio processing/transformation. It’s maybe fallen out of fashion a bit since then. But it’s still a great technique. And it’s something I love specifically for its old school vibe. A Synthi wouldn’t be a Synthi without its ring mod. And although one of those is way out of my price range, I have always had at least one ring modulator or its equivalent lurking somewhere amongst my synths here.
In fact, the only electronic device I’ve ever made myself (largely because I’m a clutz and given a solder iron will burn either myself or the house down within seconds) was a ring modulator. A simple, passive circuit that actually worked and only resulted in minor burn injuries.
Hi
Any word on the ‘tweak’ to the pricing model?
Every subscription I have has gone up significantly ( not just app subs ) and the doubling of the ‘all’ Wotja subs to $4.99 per month has me thinking. I really like to have it around when the mood strikes , and the $2 and charge felt like an ongoing ‘tip’ to Pete and Tim, but in my necessary subscription refactoring it is now under scrutiny…
Thanks
Hi! We're working through this as fast as we can. It has been a huge amount of work, as I'm having to rework the In-App store code for all 4 of our our supported operating systems. Every one require intricate testing (and of course as much automated testing as I'm able to put in place for all the in-app store code).
As for the subscription pricing: it is only with continued revenues at a sufficient level to at least cover our costs and provide basic sustenance etc., that we can continue to survive as a business. Inflation and other market forces have affected us, like most businesses I think, and we've had to increase our prices somewhat to reflect where we are.
Needless to say, we greatly value the support of everybody!
Best wishes, Pete
We do understand how things have got harder for everyone, including us
.
Wrt SUBs, a long time ago now we gave the heads up that we would have to remove the old grandfathered rate in 2023 (and which we now have done). If you were on $2/month SUB then you must have been grandfathered at the old mobile rate for a couple of years!
. Wotja has evolved a huge amount over the last few years and SUBs have gradually had to move up over the years to $4 /month now (Mobile) and $5/month now (All). We certainly don't plan to move the SUB rate again any time soon, but who knows what will happen in the world.
When it comes to 'best value', that is where the Early Birds (EB) deals come in. W23 'Pro' All Unlock was $35 with EB1, which is equiv to about $3/month for a year and which works out even less if you use > 1 year (W23 EB2 for Mobile is still running at $28 or equiv to about $2.3/month). Alternatively, you could use any Tip Jar tip to dip in for a month, as and when you want - no subscription needed! We try our level best to provide as many options as possible and have a FAQ on it all here: https://wotja.com/downloads/#pro-value.
We are still working hard on what I referred to above, which, if we can do it (and we still do not know!), should defo help longer term users. We have always tried our darnedest to do the very best we can for our customers, so fingers crossed that we can actually do it (and of course that people like it once they have got their head around it)!
atb
tim
That’s how it works as the codebase gets bigger it becomes more difficult to work with
There is 30+ years of churn in the Wotja code base. This occasionally requires major rework of some areas, to help reduce entropy from taking over
Best wishes, Pete
Tim
Thanks for the link to the payment options! TBH I tend to let my subs just roll over and not pay attention to announcements of other options. Ha ha. Clearly the early bird one time payment will work for me and hopefully keep you in rice for a week 😉
My past strategy however has left me with a surprising list of payments that is being savagely trimmed. Watch out everyone they creeps up on ya!
Hi
Are the Early Bird deals in the app yet? Or is that what we’re waiting for? I see the Pro Unlock at $39.99 (PUN) … not $34.99. No EB item listed.
Or is $39.99 the new EB price?
US App Store here.
Thanks
I think the 'Early Bird' deal is already over. But $39,99 is still a very good price for what you get.
You are correct … a deeper dive into the documentation reveals we are now on the Early Bird 2 deal (EB 2 ) until February 15 at $39.99 That’s fine … better late than never.
Bit complicated though! Lol
Wotja 23.2.0 is now getting prepared for release!
Pete
Nice! Release notes?