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.
Ambient music production - NS2 or CB3?
For those who produce ambient music, do you or would you use NS2 or CB3? What would you say are the pros and cons of each for this genre?
Comments
As much as I'd like to use Cubasis, the lack of tempo / time signature track renders it useless for me.
Since I Dom't really need audio tracks, NS2 is a better option in my case.
Both have their strenghts and weaknesses.
One big pro talking about Cubasis is that you can automate almost any Audio Unit parameter, while in NS2 you can only automate internal fxs. Another weakness of NS2 is the lack of audio tracks, but this is almost covered by loading samples in Slate.
AUM. 😎 It's perfect for live performing an Ambient piece and recording it. A very modular experience without needing to understand modular synthesis. Hook up mLFO to various synths and effects and use experimental sequencers like Ioniarics. And don't be afraid to get your hands dirty with manipulating knobs and sliders while recording live! It's paradise!
That said, I've also created some great Ambient in Gadget, NS2, and CB3.
Each app has its strengths and weaknesses. It's all up to which workflow I feel like playing around with that day. 
☝️This. AUM’s practically made for ambient.
Here’s why:
He uses the tools he write to make ambient type music.
You can use any app which makes sounds to create ambient fwiw. 😉
May the Verb be with you.
Exactly!
I remember when I got into Ambient and would produce it in NS2 back in 2021 (back when I was into mostly Minimalism). It was a painstaking process without audio tracks. I tried Cubasis 3, and it liked to crash on occasion which was a pain in the bum.
I revisited Ambient in 2022 in my "Summer of Ambient 2022". So many great memories made during those experimental days. To think it started as GAS for the OP-1 Field. 😂 What I actually wanted was to create Ambient live rather than "staticly" in a DAW. I began live Ambient 100% in Koala believe it or not and eventually moved over to AUM. And of course this wonderful forum helped me find all the right plugins and advice and such, rendering my poor wallet all the more thin. 😂 The best piece of Ambient I ever produced in AUM was this...
...as it tells a story of sorts through sound and aural textures.
Exactly!
I even used Gadget to produce Ambient in despite its reverbs not being as lush and rich as, say, Alteza and Crystalline.
100%.
I’d also say apps like Samplr, Koala, and the Scaper apps are good for standalone ambient works.
Curious, do you just record straight into AUM or screen capture?
Thanks for posting this. I’ve seen it before, a while back, but it’s definitely worth a second listen/watch (well, multiple listens, actually). The man has multiple strings to his bow.
Plus I hadn’t previously noticed the Moogs, the presence of which which pleases my synth nerd brain greatly!
That piece is really good! I remember reading your posts where you were agonising about the OP-1 Field. Something I greatly relate to: I have a tendency toward GAS/AAS myself. Though at the moment I’ve pretty much put a moratorium in place on both (apart from AudioThing’s releases!): if I can’t make the music I want to make with the tools I have in place, there’s something not right! Though I’m still agonising about an iPad upgrade 🤣🤣🤣
Meanwhile, reverting to topic… @Wyvern if you’re interested in the kinds of things you can do in AUM, feel free to check out my stuff. YouTube has my latest output (https://youtube.com/@bygjohnuk), and the Jamuary posts, while being of variable quality, might give you an idea of the range of things you can do. Some ambient, some beat driven, some experimental, some mixing hardware with the iPad. The key point being that it can act as the glue to hold together setups mixing old IAA apps, newer AUv3 apps, hardware etc.
NB I’m certain there are many people who can do a lot better! I’m just crossing my fingers that my stuff doesn’t have the opposite effect and put you right off…
This is just to show you the kind of things you can do with it. If you’re happier working in a linear fashion, you may still find it a useful tool for working up ideas quickly for later transfer to a DAW, which is how a lot of people use it.
I totally agree that anything is suitable for any type of music. In this case, ambient. But also, my preference would be something that I can play with audiofiles freely, doing timestretch and whatnot. (So in my case, that's Beatmaker 3
)
But I recall a short proof of concept I did using the chiptuney stuff from Gadget to make a point that they aren't useless if you're not into chiptunes...
Never made it into a full track though