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.
Nanostudio
I see Nanostudio went on sale. I understand Audiobus isn't high on their list of updates, just wondered if some of you Bus passengers are still finding it useful. I've only heard good things (other than lack of AB), but I don't need another app collecting dust.
Comments
Before Audiobus came, I did all my tracks with nanostudio...since then, well, actually, it collected dust for some time, then I deleted it because I needed space. Nanostudio is really a good thing, but without AB not really worth buying. There is talk about Nanostudio 2 with AB support, I will definetly get that when it arrives but until then I wouldn't recommend buying it. And I think Nanostudio 2 will be a new app, not an update (Same as Beatmaker 2)
I'd also be interested in people's feedback on this. My impression is that it is good for electronica and related areas, rather than being more general? It also lacks audio tracks?
I use to use Nano a lot too...but without Audiobus this like many off my other apps got deleted..I do live in hope that one day it will get AB support because it has one of the most original sounding synths and does very nice sampling...Nano 2 sounds interesting..
@CSwinn @PhilW In my opinion, Nanostudio was and still is one of the greatest synths around...and (this may sound weird) the pitch wheel is to die for...I can really get down with that in ways that I just can't in other apps. I've produced full songs in the past with it and still do today. I don't generally write "beats" (I think both NS and BM2 were marketed towards the hip hop/electronic genre) but I've found it lends itself very well to all styles of music. The effects are stellar!!!! As with most apps, the drums are mediocre but I have about 10 custom drum kits I've created for Nanostudio that make a quick fix of that. It's on sale right now and I would highly recommend picking it up. I'm not saying its without limitations (lack of audio track recording and there is a cap on the sample size you can import) but its very powerful nonetheless. The in-app sounds are pristine although you can load your own into the keyboard and pads as well. I would also recommend purchasing the additional tracks for the recorder...well worth it. Here are a couple of examples....these were both done completely in Nanostudio and on an iPod Touch no less...lol. In the last month or two, I've purchased several synth apps only to delete them a few days afterwards. Nanostudio has been a permanent fixture since it's release.
@DerekBuddemeyer - very nice, as always. Amazing what can be done with just an iPod Touch!
They should just release an AB version of Eden!
Derek, I really like those tracks, and as one of the other commenters said, really nice use of the drums and percussion rather than just having a repetitive loop. I appreciate you sharing these and showing that Nano can be used for more diverse things. Hey, I may even have to buy it now!
I'd go with what Derek said and buy Nano anyway, the Eden synth is very very good alone..and you can always ACP into a AB project..so cool beens...I got BM2 at the same time as Nano and I never got on with it..more for beat production and the built in synth does not match the quality of the rest of the program...
$7 for a highly praised synth sounds like a bargain, thanks for the input everyone.
For me, Nanostudio is still the best app to get things started and finished. I noodle a lot with Audiobus, I finish stuff with Nanostudio. I often copy and paste audiobus bits recorded into Loopy and paste them into NS.
there are lotttttts of free drum hit collections out there for filling the TRG-16.
If you're a NS user and want audiobus integration in the current version, maybe visit their forum and explain how you'd like to use them together.
I think I really love NanoStudio since I have buy it 3 years ago...and everytime I open it I remember why I love this beautiful app...
This is One of my song maked only with NanoStudio than I released on Through Records 2 years ago:
Get it for free here: http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/soundcloud/id336353151?mt=8
I think that if The NanoStudio 2 release it's real, it become my new definitive Daw for play :-)
To be honest, I could easily live without AB in NS. But it is somewhat cumbersome to paste audio into NS:
http://forums.blipinteractive.co.uk/node/2939
Obviously the merits of buying one app is relative to which other apps you own that may do something similar.
But to my mind, owning one of the most highly regarded music apps ever at 60% off, the lowest price in its 3 year history...is a no brainer.
You're right... it doesn't have Audiobus, it may never get Audiobus and there may be a Nanostudio 2 in the future. None of that should deter the fact that you WILL find Nanostudio useful and inspirational, it can certainly play an integral part of recording music with or without Audiobus.
Look at that asking price....it's a steal!
I used NS just yesterday for the first time in ages. I needed to trim and fade some audio clips I was using for DM1. Anyway I forgot what a comprehensive studio it actually is, and how easily it is to do most things I need.
Great pair of posts on the Nanostudio forum explaining why adding audiobus to the app could be a net negative. Second one from Matt the developer.
http://forums.blipinteractive.co.uk/node/70?page=29#comment-24629
tl;dr sometimes simplicity is better than possibility.
Nanostudio is still the most comprehensive complete studio on iOS. Super stable, and the way that note editing is implemented is still something the newer DAWs could learn from. Ok so no audio tracks, but this is more of a synth studio. In fact the only two things that are missing are audio tracks, and some kind of arppeggiator.
My album made almost entriely in Nanostudio.
http://klaatuninja.bandcamp.com/album/letting-go
@KlaatuNinja dude... that album is awesome. I'm crazy impressed. Did you record the acoustic guitar and vox in "Letting Go" yourself? What app did you use to record and mix that, since obviously NS doesn't do audio? Nice, nice work. You've just inspired me to go buy NS :-)
PS - love the username. I grew up watching TDTESS with my dad, whose online handle is Klaatu on various sites.
Did this today with Nanostudio....still a pretty strong app on it's own...even without Audiobus...still, it would be nice to have audio tracks and AB support so I can put my actual guitar in there.
Great atmosphere, I can see what one other commenter meant about the Celtic flavour.
Great track, Derek!
I am a newbie on this forum and only downloaded Nanostudio yesterday because of some of the great comments on here. That track makes me impatient to find the time to actually get to grips with Nanostudio properly!
It's one of the first real apps that showed potential for professional sounding tracks....I've been loving it since day one!
Nanostudio is and will always be the classic all in one...
"KlaatuNinja dude... that album is awesome. I'm crazy impressed. Did you record the acoustic guitar and vox in "Letting Go" yourself? What app did you use to record and mix that, since obviously NS doesn't do audio? Nice, nice work. You've just inspired me to go buy NS :-)"
jesse_ohio,
Hey thanks. The guitar was actually recorded from the inbuilt mic on my iPad direcly into Nanostudio from my acoustic guitar. It doesnt do full audio tracks, but it does do samples, and you can record direct to the TRG sample pads. The guitar tracks are all on the TRG pads. The vocals were again recorded direct on the iPad, but I used Improvox for a bit of auto tune/harmony. So the whole song was recorded and finished just on the iPad with no external editing.
@KlaatuNinja excellent, thanks for the details. I continue to be impressed by how well the iPad mic does. Nice work again!
Hey guys, as I mentioned before....I was going to port a smaller version of my pop/rock BM2 drums to Nanostudio...these are perfectly panned and balanced...no need to fuss with anything really. A simple set of 16 pads and gorgeous acoustic drums. Enjoy!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4t5xzveofu1bkmy/__sBlvFjkj
You can hear them here:
Great sound!
Thank you, I just bought it. Blip Interactive should thank you as well
Derek very nice tracks! I forget how capable nano is when used in the right hands.
(Would still like to see it with audiobus and midi clock out though)