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
@Edward_Alexander : I’m sure you’re right, but every time I try it, it just doesn’t sing to me, and that grid sequencer is the opposite of how I make my noises. Although my pieces are auto-generatively/randomly driven by MIDI generators of one sort or another, I’m really working primarily with the resultant audio, not the underlying instrument or the patterns which drive it.
Also, I don’t use macro structures much, or even at all, at least in that way, and I just know AUM very well. ‘Make a noise/mess with the noise’ feels very natural in AUM. In Drambo it seems like I have to go through a much more considered process of what noise, and how, and where… plus, the screen never seems big enough! I feel like I’m trying to paint a hallway through a letterbox…
Bear in mind I’m really not a musician, and I’m not trying to make songs, or things which have discernible sub elements like ‘verse’ ‘chorus’ and what not.
The metaphor that Drambo presents to me is just not useful for my current way of working. If I could sit in a room with a Drambo guru who could interact with me, maybe that would change. I accept that this ignorance is almost certainly because I haven’t put the effort in to find out how it could do it, but that’s just the point. It would be an effort. AUM at the moment for me is effort-less, transparent, nothing between me and the noises I want to make. My sunk costs in it are too high.
I have all the DAWs. I have Drambo. Never use them.
AUM is where I live.
@Svetlovska I spent a few weeks trying to get to grips with Drambo as a DAW, and even though I'm making considerably more structured stuff, it did still feel like trying to paint a hallway through a letterbox. It felt like a groovebox workflow, and I've never got on with grooveboxes.
@Svetlovska After watching Doug’s video, I got quite enthusiastic, as I could see it being useful when I don’t have enough fingers available (though bussing gets round a lot of that in AUM). It seems more flexible than MIDI mixer, ie you can add nodes to it on the fly, you don’t have to start from a fixed template (unless I’ve wildly misunderstood).
That said, it’s priced just above my threshold for “I’ll give it a whirl”, so for the moment I’m passing. I’d have to have a concrete use for it to want to make the investment.
I can do a lot of what it does slightly less elegantly by feeding audio and MIDI in and out of MiRack, or using other MIDI modulators, so it’s not a must-have.
NB, before anyone gets their hair off, I’m not arguing it’s too expensive - it’s probably underpriced in some ways, but the price is just that bit too much for an impulse buy on my part. I’d need a reason.
Same here.
I get that Drambo seems to be able to do everything, and every few months I revisit it and try again to master it and remember where everything is, but it doesn't flow for me. I wish I was could enjoy it as much as its fans on here, but it just doesn't click.
AUM is one of those 'almost perfect' apps that just seems reluctant to reach it's full potential - the ability to zoom out and see more than 4 channels for proper hands-on live mixing, some basic automation - boom!
Agree. I bought Drambo during its last sale. Every so often I open it, stare at it for a while, then close it again :-)
I got interested when that other thread popped up where someone had made a Buchla Music Easel emulation in it, but again, took one look and wondered where the patch bay was, then gave up. I was busy that day, and this is no reflection on the work that person had done, it’s just that I find Drambo completely unintuitive. I’d need to put in more effort than I currently have to spare.
LOL. Same here.
It’s ok, I understand. I used to “live” in AUM too.
Then I found I could keep my AUM house in the suburbs, but then also have a Drambo condo at the beach and enjoy the best of both worlds. (Of course I’ve been spending A LOT of time at the beach after discovering how nice it is 😉 .. oh, and I also have a Loopy Pro penthouse apartment downtown, and a Cubasis cabin up in the mountains!
I hope I can get you to entertain this idea.
Tell me, what is your “go to” MIDI generator, and favorite sound maker (instrument)? In other words, what are the very first things you typically reach for when you fire up a fresh new project in AUM?
I promise you this is a whole lot easier and “effort”-less than you think, and you can take your same “non-musician” skill set with you. Trust me, musician, yeah, but I’m definitely NOT a modular guru, though I have been learning, but you don’t have to be any of the above in Drambo.
I really want to show you a 1:1 demonstration of how anything you can do in AUM, you can do in Drambo, and have editable automation! (and much more). Pay no attention to the “grid sequencer” you see when you first start. Once you get your foot in the door, you’ll see that it’s the same size venue.
I am confused about those “costs you have sunk” though?
@dendy sorry for the hijacked topic. I know this is about Audioscope. I bought it. Still figuring out a few things with it.
Hm. The thing is, beyond AUM and Alteza as my reverb du jour, I actually don’t have any specific ‘favourites’ that way. Most often, I’ll be using the latest app I bought, whatever that happens to be. Or maybe, for the hell of it, the oldest one. Or eight instances of the same one. Or whatever.
Some times it’ll start with a screen cap of a non AU/IAA app like cryptozoologic https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/cryptozoologic/id1483355417, or Giant Isopod , or Scape https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/scape/id506703636. Maybe I’ll dice up the resultant vid in Koala, or just run the whole extracted audio loop as a File Player.
Sometimes, a Lovecraft quote chucked into Textquencer, driving Cassini synth, or maybe Cykle running iMS20 while I jam on its Kaos pads. Or a flock of Photophore generators https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/photophore-synth/id937318617.
Then use AUMs File player to create a perfect loop of that, dupe it, half speed or double speed it, chuck Perforator on that, maybe use MIDILFOs to mess with the pan or fx wet/dry mix on it… Might use A2M on that to re-derive some MIDI… or channel dupe something, capture a midi generator output in Atom 2, then dupe that , octave shift, slice off the bass notes, run the mangled second Atom loop at quad speed with a low probability setting driving a different synth…
…Thing is, I just know how to do any of those things in a heartbeat, and AUMs midi grid view will show me what I’ve got hooked up to what, at a glance.
The costs sunk are the time I have invested in reaching this instinctual level of understanding how to do a thing in AUM.
Case in point: because I’m not a musician, left to my own devices, I’ll hit bum notes. So I make extensive use of Rozeta Scaler to keep me on the straight and narrow. (Aeolian D, most often). I’ll just load up KB1, Atom, a synth, Scaler, mash out some keys via Scaler into the synth, capture the output in Atom, then start mathematically messing with that product doubling it, halving it, shifting it up by a fifth, down by an octave, messing with the probabilities, the tempo. Not sure what additional/alternative Drambo brings to that party.
Or I just fat finger some swirling shapes on Shoom, audio record the result. A2M it. Rinse and repeat. Again - what is Drambo bringing to the party here?
At this point, I’d much rather be using AUM to make new noises, than learning how Drambo can copy what AUM can do.
Call me lazy.
+1 Cassini.
Bought this app. When I have time to make music I can see it being very useful.
The way it works is you put an instance on each track you want to control. Each instance affects only the audio passing through it. But you can control all instances from any of them.
There are groups, but they're not for routing. They're there for controlling things as a group.
There is no concept of routing in AudioScope. You do routing through the host. For instance, in AUM you could create a bus channel, then put an instance of AudioScope on the bus.
I hope that helps.
Yes it help
Now I have to figured out if it can help me mixing the way it works.
Thanks a lot.
I'm not trying to sell anyone on this app but ...
I think I'm going to become a huge fan of this app. The Live Mixer mode is really intuitive to me, and the idea of being able to control and monitor EQ and compression on all channels at all times with only a single FX node on each channel instead of adding tons of plugins and constantly navigating to them is going to be a real timesaver.
Another huge plus for me is now I can have the same mixing environment no matter which host I'm in. As someone who hasn't fully settled on a host and workflow, this is really freeing.
The only thing missing is a traditional fader/pan/VU meter view, unless I've missed it. I'd still find that useful. (ping: @4pockets_paul - if you're out there. 😉)
If you delete a track with AudioScope in with other tracks also with AudioScope at the end of the chain does the deleted track drop out of live view? Was getting some strange behaviour using it inside the latest version of Sand sequencer with it duplicating itself and not deleting from live view tracks I got rid of etc. Can anyone confirm it works as it should in that host ?
This said: getting up and running with this is not intuitive. Even though I watched Paul's initial intro video a week or so ago, I still had to dive into the manual more than once to get where I wanted to be. That almost never happens to me. Once past that though, it's a breeze.
If you've got no patience for that kind of thing, this is not for you.
Glad to hear your frank feedback, Wim. This is what we need for devs, users and the whole app ecosystem. Honest and informed opinions benefit all involved in the long run.
Yeah, I looked at that one too…no idea.
The problem for me with Drambo, is that for 99% of my uses, it does too much. I don’t want a built-in sequencer with all the associated UI space it takes up, or a clip launcher, modular synth etc. That all gets in the way. For those that want this stuff though - it’s the perfect app.
A really good mixer to host my AU gubbins and fx chains, a really good AU MIDI sequencer (this is where the modular approach works for me, as once set up I can close and hide it away), e.g 4pockets Euclidean triggering it all off, and I’m a happy bunny. Space to create. AUM is 80% there.
Sounds like there’s still a place then for improved, built-in mixer functionality in AUM for example, and this would be the whistle and bells for those who like to fiddle.
Well, really the only thing missing is traditional vertical LED readouts. Other than that it has everything I could want.
Good you’re happy with only 4 channels visible at any one time, but for some of us, more would improve the functionality of the apps main purpose - which is as a live mixing desk. It’s not a beatbox. It’s not a DAW. It doesn’t have automation, everything is recorded live in one take. Scrolling backwards and forwards between each page of 4 slides hinders creativity.
Hence third-party devs filling the gaps and fulfilling the need for this functionality with apps like this one, and the previous MIDI mixer.
I ignored this thread, assuming the app was an oscilloscope...can’t believe the value this app brings! Will be essential to my iOS music-making
I was talking about AudioScope, not AUM.
Ok, but you were responding to my comment, which was expressing my thoughts on what’s missing from AUM.
My bad.
Yeah the ability to zoom out and record some kind of automation (even if it’s just levels and AUMs built in effects) would make AUM even better. 8 tracks on screen at once would be a game changer for me.
Making Snapshots to be triggered on the 1 beat, 1/2 beat, etc. would be nice.. unless I missed it..
Hopefully we will get Global Snapshots (Mutes, Effect States etc.) one day.. I guess that’s up to AUM’s developer…
Great App.
Is this thread about AudioScope or AUM? I'm getting confused. 🤪
"You NEED to Buy this Incredible App AudioScope on iOS "... I think Jade likes it:
Don't forget to give the vid a "thumbs up".
Definitely. For mixing in aum though, I sometimes find the sliders a bit hard to control with total accuracy. Maybe there's a knack. I'd probably rather just map them to a physical controller if really accurate mixing is needed.
But I'm definitely up for some kind of collapsible aum window just showing huge long sliders for audio channels (preferably maybe with adjustable lengths and even adjustable curves). I'm pretty surprised to be honest, so many years in, that it still lacks this! Because it would so obviously be useful to so many.
I have been sold at 47:15…great app
Another one by Jade, this time using the app with GarageBand:
Ok.. a Song Mode for snapshots would be ……nice..