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.
Are you feeling apped-out?
Last year seemed a bit slow for app releases until near the end of the year, and this year, so far, there has already been an incredible number of new releases.
Do you feel you've bought too many apps that you haven't learned? Has your productivity in terms of actual music making, whether just noodling or making finished pieces, waned?
Or does having all these new toys 'spark joy' and spark creativity? Are you enjoying the process of learning and experimenting with new apps satisfying or finding it frustrating?
Or are you, like Samu for example, easily resisting getting new stuff?
Comments
Nah, having fun as usual. Launching NS2. Picking an AUv3 (sometimes randomly). Launching a chord player, or creating a melody in another way. Adding drums and FX. Cheers!
I'm not 'resisting' new stuff but rather carefully evaluating what I actually need or have use for
So far I've bought a few (imho.) 'duds', Auditing Bubbles and Texture they went off the device within a week.
Nothing 'amazing' about them at all but I do look forward to AudioThing Speakers and miniBIT...
TB Brainz IAP and Twin 3 on the other hand have plenty of use-cases for my needs.
A little. There’s some deeper apps I’ve purchased that I do not use nearly as much as I should, or want to, simply because I haven’t taken the time to learn all the intricacies of these apps. Apps I know are great, versatile, useful, and powerful like Sunvox, GrooveRider, Beatmaker 3 (never really clicked for me) and even Drambo. I do use Drambo occasionaly but still have not taken the time to learn the app like I should. Why? Not sure? I want to, but when I do have the time, I typically want to create. In my defense Sunvox was a relatively new purchase, so that one is still new.
I don’t have a bunch of apps I haven’t learned how to use, mainly just a few deep ones. New apps can definitely spark creativity. I’ve always created way more tracks than I ever finish, so I don’t see apps as the cause of this… At this point I have so many apps, and my iPad is so full that it’s much easier to avoid buying too many apps, then it was 5 years ago. I either have it, or can’t find the space. I still make exceptions though…
That's why I used the word 'easily' - I didn't feel you were struggling in any way with this and think you're probably making the right move for you, at this point in your musical journey 🔥
I'm not apped-out. I haven't bought an app in a long while. I have a new iPad, I'm looking for a new, fun app. Something musical but suited to touch screens, like SpaceCraft, which I love. I have purchased too many apps that don't get used in the end so I'm being more careful now. Drambo is not for me, I'm checking Zenbeats videos but I don't know if it's what I'm looking for.
Not sure that I am, but then I don’t keep everything I buy on my iPad. I tend to buy then periodically clean up my iPad if there are apps I don’t really use.
I know it seems like I’m buying things impulsively, but I like to think of it as supporting as many developers as I can…
I think I am. Bought only two apps in ‘22 (PeakEQ and Fluss) and nothing so far this year...
Lately noticed that most apps that being talked about I haven’t even heard of
But frankly even when I tried to ‘keep up’ it felt kinda forced... buy it, have fun for a day then go back to my trusted ones... possibly less than 30 apps in total.
I’m not a technical person in the sense that I couldn’t tell you the scientific reason why things work, and a lot of the jargon for certain things fly right over my head, but I learn how to use and program the apps extremely quickly… and then I want to buy another one quickly so I can learn that too. Mainly talking about instruments, of course. I get on average 2-3 a month using my cut of my band’s royalties, and by the next month I’ve pretty much mastered it and need something new to learn. Plus, all the synths sound different in their own way, and I find a home for everything eventually.
As far as FX go, I don’t use or need a whole lot, although that may change.
@Gavinski do you know of any new synths coming out this year that are universal? I’m hoping to be able to get an iPad later this year but until then just got my phone so I’m missing out on things like Butter synth
I don't! Quite honestly, as an ipad user myself, and an android phone user, I don't pay a lot of attention to whether things are universal or not, though I feel your pain. Given that my eyes aren't the best, I really wouldn't want to make music on an iPhone, which is another factor! I do feel I'd like an old iPhone with 3d touch for playing mpe, but I think the screen size would bug me, as I'm used to it my 12.9 ipad! I've also heard that AUM is a bit of a pain on an iPhone, in terms of viewing channels, so I am pretty happy to stick to ipad for now.
Yeah that’s one of the reasons why I still use GarageBand, and the ONLY reason I haven’t gotten MiRack or Moog Model 15.
Finally bought Choric (but only for desktop) and it was money well spent. Nothing else quite like it.
My goal is certainly to learn more (about my existing apps) and buy less. I think I have too much stuff both on desktop and the iPad. Which is not a big deal, really, but I should have some decency and at least have a good idea of what my current arsenal can do before I buy something new and shiny that does exactly the same thing and maybe not even as well...
Those words are (better than I could have put it) more or less the core reason why I started the app-cleanup
I am terrible for buying apps and not using them. Especially when I have had a few! Always seems like a great idea and the euphoria of having a new virtual toy is a wonderful feeling.....if for only a while. I always go back to AUM it is such a thing of beauty, versatile and a great sketchpad for ideas. I have a very short attention span so apps like Drambo, Nanostudio 2 just give me a headache, I know they are great but so deep. I would say I over indulge in effects apps especially reverbs!
It did for a while, but not due to app overload. Due to having too many ideas fighting for space in my head, and it just wore me out.
I do love buying new apps if it suits my "genre du jour" and I can easily grasp what the app can do (and by "easily", I mean having years of production experience to be intimately familiar with what an app can and cannot do before I even check out a demo video).
Then again, sometimes rediscovering an old app (even if for the 50th time lol) helps spark creativity in unforeseen directions.
Playing with Gadget yesterday rekindled my creativity.
I have 1.1K unread messages in the forum's app sales thread, so yeah--it would seem so. This is partly because I have filled up my ipad's storage and need to get a new one. I've offloaded all but my most favorite apps, and will have to stop making tracks any day now.
I managed to resist Bubbles and Texture. My biggest dud of late was Wires. It makes anything you run into it sound like shit. It does that very well, which some people want and enjoy, but I don't need it and wish I could sell it to someone who does need it.
Sunvox is a very good modular fx app. You can ignore the modular synth and the tracker and just enjoy the fx.
Definitely not! I’m champing at the bit to get noises on my iPad. Having said that, there’s nothing else I’m excited about so far
I lament the passing of many of the great, weird experimental apps of the IAA period, the way that so many fall by the wayside after yet another bloody Apple iOS update or are dismissed from the App Store when the dev stops paying the I-ransom. I lament the Catch 22 of never wanting to pay more than the price of a cup of coffee for the New Thing, because I am not allowed to own it, back it up, sell it on, and if it and all it’s IAP disappears tomorrow, it serves me right for being a mug by buying it in the first place.
If prices do go up, and backup and license policies don’t change in recognition of that, I will stop buying apps altogether, spend more time with Ableton and Bitwig and my real modular. In the meantime, I’m still a sucker for the New Toy. Drinking in the last chance saloon.
Here’s to the future now. It’s only just begun.
Each new app looks very exciting, and I'll purchase if it looks like something I'll use (even in the long term). I just had several days trying to catch up on learning a bit more about the new ones, but honestly much of my mental time is spent on trying to find the right workflow, a whole different topic.
LOL. I'm looking forward to them bringing their Space Echo emulation to iOS and then that'll be it for me.
I think I probably am a bit apped out. Went a bit mad in the BF sales, then along came a glut of new stuff. I’m currently trying to go deeper into what I’ve got rather than add more tools, though I have an exception in place for the AudioThing stuff, as I’ve been waiting for those ports forever.
But I suspect there is an element of cycles going on for me: this year feels like it’s more about consolidation and getting deeper into stuff in general, rather than massive consumption. I’ve managed to reason my way out of not just app purchases, but also hardware GAS etc, by focusing on the learning and exploration rather than shiny new toys.
The upwards trend in app prices is also helping. If something looks interesting or useful and is a fiver or less, I’ll take a chance quite often. If something is over £20, I need to have a damn good reason for buying it. NB I’m not complaining, I think the upward trend is actually a good thing, and if that means fewer impulse buys then it’s a useful side effect as far as I’m concerned.
Like others have said, I'm evaluating my needs as opposed to going "ooh shiny app! Take my money!". It's not even an issue of price, but of what I'm actually using vs. what I've bought.
I invested heavily into Gadget and I just learned about a key feature that I didn't know was in there for years, all because I haven't spent time learning random new apps. Going on a purchase hiatus on all my creative tools is really the game changer I didn't know I needed. Maybe I'll even learn Drambo one of these days lol.
I have bought way too many apps over the years.
I am not so into iOS anymore. Not sure what happened exactly but I just don’t enjoy it and find jamming out on my hardware to be a lot more easy to focus on the music rather than technical details.
LOL.
When you bought it, what did you think it was going to do to your audio...?
Every app purchase was a date seeking true love… I found it a few times on hundreds of dates. I live with some of those apps.
Hello bot!
Do you feel you've bought too many apps that you haven't learned? Has your productivity in terms of actual music making, whether just noodling or making finished pieces, waned?
Or does having all these new toys 'spark joy' and spark creativity? Are you enjoying the process of learning and experimenting with new apps satisfying or finding it frustrating?
Or are you, like Samu for example, easily resisting getting new stuff 🧐?
😂😂😂😂😂 You're funny fam. While this weed is in me and my brain is in "philosopher" mode, I will say...music production is both objective and subjective. The objective portion is knowing how to utilise the "everyday tools" (basic compression, basic EQing, etc) to achieve a great sound (whether you're going for Hifi, Lofi, Semper Fi, whatever 😂 ). The subjective portion is having intimate knowledge of said basic tools to elicit the creative effects you're looking to achieve in a production. Wires definitely falls into the "subjective effect" category.
To me (and this is purely my SUBJECTIVE opinion, not fact), Wires doesn't make things sound rubbish but rather lends sounds a haunting quality. Sure, subtlety isn't Wires' strongsuit, but peep this...
I used Wires about a month back on the strings section of this custom commissioned BoomBap beat. The rapper, Malleous, absolutely went bonkers for the beat.
I also used Wires on the choir section of my latest piece for the "Metropolis" soundtrack which I recently linked to in the Creations section.
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/54795/jwm-the-mediators-heart-orchestral-music-created-in-nanostudio-2#latest
The trick is (at least for me) Wires isn't meant for a buss or master track but rather an individual instrument when it's called for. See, I wanted the high strings in Malleous' beat as well as the choir in the Metropolis soundtrack to have a haunting quality to it, which Wires provided perfectly. Hainbach and AudioThing know their sh*t. 😎 But everyone's mileage may vary of course.
I already did answer the second question in this paragraph, but I may as well answer the first question - I indeed am guilty of buying too many apps I haven't learned in the past, but I am a sucker for new reverb apps and experimental apps. I took time to learn the ones I bought that have been recommended to me, both during my "Summer of Ambient 2022" (Velvet Machine, Rymdigare (it's impossible to learn that one, but eff it, I love playing with that), Bleass Granulizer, etc), and during my "Winter of Lofi 2022-2023" (RX950, Lo-Fi-Af, Beef, Knock, etc). Each time I get a new iDevice, I find myself redownloading only what I wish to have on my new device rather than reaccumulate all the ish I don't use.
I really do enjoy the process of learning a new app kinesthetically. The only app from 2022 that frustrated the everliving hell out of me was miRack. It's like Drambo, but far more confusing. I created a drone in it...
...that despite having 5 likes, actually does suck and was the weakest piece I produced in 2022. 😂 I'm not bashing myself but rather simply being blunt.
I'm sometimes like Samu in carefully evaluating what I purchase, most times. I know Twin 3 and Tera Pro with all IAPs will be given some much-needed love on my iPad once I dip back into Ambient production. When I saw Hainbach's video about the soviet wire recorder and then saw he collabed with AudioThing to release Wires, I already knew long before it was released to iOS that I wanted it. Same with Lo-Fi-AF, Knock, and other recent acquisitions. I used Fluss once, only because I created one Ambient track with it (the Ambient track appears on "Lounging in Another World" EP).
I was actually considering getting MiRack but figured it’d be impossible to see on my phone. IVCS3 and Ripplemaker are two of my most used apps and picked them up fairly quickly …but I think this one might be beyond me.