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.
Gadget Abu Track - Sunrise
The track that grew from the 16 bar loop created to test out Abu in Gadget. Gadget master bus recorded through Final Touch, into Master Record using Audiobus.
Comments
Solid track. Nice variations throughout kept it interesting.
Good to hear/see the beast in action. Abu is also a minor god of vegetation in Sumerian mythology (it says here). Just so you know.
Wow. Great sounding track. So that's a zeta lead and mini bass? I love the lead.
I really like the start where it seems like you're using Abu to glitch things(?).
Can you share any other secrets? What other synths did you add in gadget? Did you have any problems with clicks on the samples in gadget?
How do I can select all midi notes of my 4 bar long clip in Gadget??
@ Synapsya
Do you mean trigger the Abu or Bilbao pads from an external MIDI source or trigger the notes within your sample from within Gadget. I haven't tried the former, but I will do later.
If you are talking about the second option, that's not how it works. Once you have made your sample you are working with audio. If your midi notes are playing 16th you can import a sample of the bar to Abu and it will slice so each pad will play back a note, but it's no longer MIDI.
You could slice the bar into sections that contain each single note and import them individually to Bilbao, which would give better results for bars that contain notes of uneven length.
Thanks for the positive feedback guys.
@Matt_Fletcher_2000
I didn't have any obvious problems with clicks. If you listen from 3mins to 3:30 that is just the 16 bar loop played in sequence. I wanted to include that to confirm that you could use this method to bring in long samples and check the results. The only bit of that section that was done in Gadget is a sample I created in Bilboa. I took BD_RC22 and just used the decay tail by adjusting the length and decay to overlay the bass in the first section. I left it playing through most of the track as it seemed to add to the feel.
The tune used 19 gadget tracks:
4 Abu playing each of the 4 bars of the loop, only added a splash of master bus reverb to these, but each successive 4 bars has slightly more than the last from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock on the channel dials. This adds to the build up of energy as the loop progresses, but stays quite subtle. These were used in two main minute long sections (32 bars) where the main loop plays through twice, in order. The first being 1min in.
There are 5 other Abu holding bars 1 to 4 of the loop and another copy of bar 1. These were use to create the first 32 bar section and mid 32 bar section that separates the main loop play throughs.
I created my own kit in Bilbao. The kick is one I programmed using iPolysix and is the same as the kick in the main loop. The main loop also uses 909 open hats from iMPC Pro, triggered from Cubase as described the other day. The rest of the sounds in the Bilbao kit are from within it's supplied samples (snare, claps, open and closed hats, cymbal, low and mid tom).
Because I had processed the main loop quite heavily in Cubasis it was all glued well together. This can make it tricky to find the right sounds to go with it and how to arrange them. Adding the same kick from Bilbao helps to lift the kick out through some of the sections as it wasn't as heavily processed as the one in the main loop. I also added the compressor to the Bilbao kit and used it on the toms and cymbal.
The vocal pad is done with Kiev. There is a pattern in the intro and a variation under the first 32 bar section of the main loop. The morph was adjusted to fit the feel so the rising 'ahh' harmonises with the lead. The track is in C#minor btw.
Dublin provides a solid sub bass that comes in on bar 17 of the first section, playing quarter notes on the down beat. This is layered with the decay sample I mentioned above. Originally this was much louder but I backed it off when I was mixing/mastering in Final Touch, as it was drawing too much focus. It uses two saws an octave apart and the upper detuned. The EG is patched to the VCF cutoff.
The glitch effects in the intro section use the Abu variations. Key points; hpf used to take out the iMini bass line and main loop drums. Delay reduced on the slices to create stabs. General experimentation and iteration as the track developed to find the right patterns of slices and durations. Some tempo delay on one of the Abu
Kick snare and hats added to the first main loop section with the Dublin bass and the Kiev pad. Kick fills on bars 8 and 24, rising kick and snare rolls on 16 and 32.
The mid section of 32 bars is four sections, 8, 16 and 8 bars. The first section uses a more goa/Psy arrangement of the Dublin bass sound using the kick, bass, bass, bass pattern on 16ths, with the standard octave up on the middle bass note on beats 3 and 4. Beat 1 stays on the root note and the third bass note sustains into beat 2. The rest of beat 2 is empty. This then repeats. The last two bars play a variation of the up down pattern. The snares and hats are removed and a snare rising roll used to transition.
The main loop Bilbao pattern is used on bars 9 to 24 for the next section. Here the Dublin bass drops out and is replaced with Chicago playing an acid bass line, tempo delay and filter tweaks obligatory.
For these two sections less glitchy patterns were put together using Abu. Parts of the loop were sequenced to repeat, which results in variations of the iMini bass line with other versions of Abu adding the variations to the lead.
The final 8 bars uses Miami, Helsinki and Berlin to link back to the main loop.
The final main loop section is two straight repeats. The first already described. For the second it's just got the Bilbao, Dublin and Kiev patterns from section one added back so there is a sense of greater drive as the track comes to the end. The closed hats are also sent to the compressor fx in Bilbao for a couple of bars to lift them more into focus temporarily.
I put the track together with headphones and then once I had the bulk of the arrangement down I ran through my hardware mixer and amp and through my monitors. I put it through Final Touch and Master Record. I got some cheap headphones when I got the ipad to carry about so if they get damaged it's less painful. They have enhanced bass which can be a problem. The advantage is that you can use them for extended periods at low volume and still keep a good handle on the bass. They do sound pretty good for the price. I set Final Touch up to compensate for the boost using the pre EQ based on the sound though my hardware and monitors. Having programmed all my sounds by now, I could go back to headphones and tweak the arrangement and automation while monitoring through Final Touch. I used multi band compression to balance out the dynamics across the spectrum. The stereo image was widened above 100hz. Below 50 Hz was high passed and a few dB scooped out at 250hz to reduce the mud. A 3db shelf added at about 6500hz. Slight boosts at 650 and 2100 Hz. Some short room reverb added to help glue the Gadget tracks to the imported main loop. Restrained used of the maximiser.
Master record was used to add some tape saturation and tube noise. Again, the lack of mix fx options in Gadget mean that blending loops with Gadget synths needs to be done out of Gadget. Saturation and noise work well for this.
Regarding the leads, yeah, that was Z3TA. Once I had my iMini bass and basic beat sequenced I picked a lead preset and one of Z3TA's many arp patterns. I left the oscillators alone and adjusted the filter and the fx to fit the iMini line. Stereo Designer was added as an insert to spread the lead out.
Personally, I think I've over cooked the compression on the upper band and it's done something nasty to the attack transient on the open hat in the main loop. I added quite a severe notch EQ to bring it down. Anything else was reducing the clarity of the high passage at the end of the main loop. Something to focus on improving for the next track. The top end is generally a bit too sharp IMO.
The track development was clearly directed by the main lead. Anthem trance is a bit of a departure for me, it's a guilty pleasure that I can enjoy listening to. However Goa trance from the mid nineties is more my scene. The intro and mid sections are an attempt to balance the mainstream (well, mainstream in 1999!) style of the lead.
A bit of a longer post than I was planning, but I hope it helps, cheers.
Great tune and great big post too! Well done.
Awesome track! I was having doubts about the new gadgets... you just sold me!
Wow again. Thanks @xen. Amazingly useful breakdown... Really appreciate you taking the time.
It's interesting to see other's creative approach and workflow. For example, I am sure I would have obsessed over splitting out the original loop into separate drums, lead and bass tracks in gadget and just bought them in and out at various times - but you didn't - you've chopped and filtered it in a much more creative way.
Only one question... where you say "hpf used to take out the iMini bass line and main loop drums... Some tempo delay on one of the Abu" - I presume you put the HPF filter on outside of Gadget? Because you'd have needed to keep the single effect you get free to do the tempo delay?
Oh, and another general question... did you find it easy enough workflow wise to use Gadget as the DAW to compose this track made mainly from external audio? If so I think shows a huge step forward for Gadget (all be it with a few workarounds needed). I personally love Gadget's speed to use at a my main arrangement and ornamentation tool.
Anyway - great sounding track with brilliant production... so really interesting to learn a bit about how you achieved it. I have most of the other effects/mastering apps you mention - I just need to find time to start learning about how to use them properly.
Personally I got quite into Goa trance in the late 90s (showing my age). Got bored of trance subsequently... but now like to hear and use classic trance elements mixed with other styles of music (e.g. Dubstep, house, acid.. even hip-hop and grime).
No, hpf on one version of Abu and tempo delay on another. The one with tempo delay plays between bars 9 and 16 and repeats twice. It doesn't play continuously, it comes in on bar 10 and is 2 bars long, falling in pitch. The bass and kick are still there from the loop. However, that section of the track is before the 4/4 kick pattern starts. Bilbao is playing a pattern of toms and kicks on off beats and beat 3. As such the delayed kicks merge into the percussive background.
The version with the hpf plays through 1 to 16.
I forgot to mention that I also use another version of Abu for the next 16 bars which uses the slicer.
On the workflow, I think it is great. I put the loop together Saturday morning. Was out and about until about 10pm and posted the details of how I got it together on Saturday night. It was late afternoon Sunday before I got back to it and worked until about 11. I finished it off on Monday evening when I got back from work. So all in it was about 12 hours work when I take out breaks to let my ears rest. I have to say it was a real joy to put together. I am thoroughly sold on the ipad as a serious production tool now. I've only been at it for a couple of months and most of that time has been spent learning what combinations of apps can be reliably used together, learning the synths etc and just jotting down loops and ideas to come back to. The arrangement came together really nicely with the Gadget workflow and the ability to bring the great sounds from other synths and effects in alongside the stuff in Gadget really helps, as does the ability to hook the output up to mastering tools and recorders.
To be honest, I'm a bit taken aback by the positive comments on the track and the production. Especially as I thought my future workflow would really need proper DAW mixing to get it sounding decent (now we can export individual Gadget tracks, which I'm planning to explore next with a new track). The track itself was intended as a sketch just to test the new Gadgets out.
Also, writing it all out like this has been helpful for me too. It's good to consolidate what I learnt from the process.
Thanks again for the interest in the track and the kind words.
You're welcome. I'm no expert on production/sound quality - but it sounded good to me - and less muddy than most stuff I hear coming from Gadget.
Right - I need to actually finish something myself with the new Gadgets!
Look forward to hearing it when you're done.