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.
Worth it to get Egoist if I already use Gadget's Abu Dhabi?
$30 regular price seems too much but right now it's $10 off. Gadget's Abu Dhabi works well for me as a slicer but I've been intrigued by Egoist since reading about it here when it first came out. Just wondering if anyone who has both thinks that Egoist offers enough differences in capability/workflow to make it worth paying $20 for it. If it's too redundant, I'd rather put the money towards Turnado or Effectrix.
Comments
Oh dear, so many variables in that equation. And no definitive answer can be available for that reason.
I love Egoist. Loved it when it came out. Lost it in the weeds of lots of other things for awhile, but have recently got it out again and love it again.
I believe it does some things or does some things in a particular way that nothing else ends us doing. BUT....I wouldn't want to be without Turnado (in Auria) either.
I will say that I make things by playing in Egoist alone, whereas Turnado et. al. I think of as (talented) spear carriers more than anything.
Good luck.
Edit: Addition, sorry, didn't really address Abu. I don't think it's a patch (sic) on Egoist, BUT if you are thinking of mainly Gadget work, take heed from others who may use it more etc.
I have both and Egoist is a lot better for me, i think in Abu dhabi as a small version of Egoist
I've avoided Sugar Bytes apps so far on iOS because I got the impression that they just directly port their desktop plugins into iOS without redesigning the interface for touchscreen input with your fingers or optimizing for iPad's cpu, and still charge prices closer to desktop plugin pricing.
I had just decided to not consider getting Egoist or any other Sugar Bytes apps until a price drop happened so I wasn't expecting to decide so soon.
It does seem like Egoist has more advanced features, although neither app can timestretch or pitchshift slices in sync to tempo. I do like that Egoist can load much longer audio and then just slice different parts of it, per pattern.
I have Egoist and I think the interface is very awkward and you are forced to use one sample and two built in instruments(bass synth and drum synth). I also don't like the pattern and song creation.
If it was 5-10 dollars then maybe it would be worth it as an app to experiment with given its' limitations. But some people like it.
If I was in your shoes I'd buy Turnado - it's one of my most used apps and very solid. I used it on my iPad 2 and apart from a couple of patches it worked like a dream. On the Air 2 it's superb.
I've also got Abu Dhabi and Egoist. I'd agree with the comments above, Abu Dhabi is a bit of a mini Egoist. Like @JohnnyGoodyear I enjoyed using Egoist when it came out but haven't used it a great deal since then. I find it's personality is a bit strong and so anything I do with it tends to sound very similar.
Egoist is fun, but I think you'd find a lot more uses for Turnado.
I don't have any experience of Turnado, but Abu Dhabi is pretty cool - particularly as it's integrated into Gadget.
Egoist is very good though, I too balked at the price, but I think its worth it, considering it's functionality. It is a port from Desktop and if you have large hands it may well be a bit fiddly.
You an create whole tracks in it though and the demos are varied and interesting. At £14.99 currently, I'd say it's very good value.
Also, you can get demos of all their stuff to try out first - I'm currently doing this with Turnado and Thesys.
@Igneous1 for the record I have hands the size of proverbial dinner plates (but a large selection of styli
Agree with @monzo as regards personality of Egoist. I have found now I am working with it again it's something I use to create small distinctive 'things' that I then incorporate elsewhere. It's hot sauce, best perhaps not to overdo it.
@shortbus In the end it's a money thing. The app is a very nice piece of software and has its uses, for nothing you'd want it, thus it's a question of how much it might be worth to you. Have thought about it some more (and in the warm light of an Austin morning) if I were your benign dictator (be thankful that I'm not) I'd probably have you get Tornado, but I'd probably slip a few bucks in your Easter basket so you'd be able to have Egoist in your arsenal also
I do not have Egoist; but I do have Samplr. For those who have both, how do the two compare?
Different beasts really, Egoist provides bass and drums backup tracks alongside a sample mangler, with an Effectrix style effects sequencer on top. Samplr for me is more of an instrument in it's own right and while you can build up tracks, works best as a performance tool.
Egoist is great and I prefer playing with it on the iPad than on the desktop, although yes I wish they'd redesign their workspaces specifically for the iPad and not just port them directly (looking at you Thesys)
One nice feature is midi bass out (and you can adjust the export pitch) so you can use another ipad synth for the bass or accompanying effects. It has quite a bit of depth and worth spending time with.
I don't know how to score these things (and it'd be a different matrix or metric for everyone anyway), but I have fun using Egoist. It's a pleasure. Scratches a creative itch etc.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm leaning towards getting Turnado first as I've always wanted that and it seems to consistently get the highest praises. And I have until April 9th to evaluate the desktop Egoist demo to see if it's worth it for me. Still have to sort out why the food stamps haven't kicked in yet this month though...
Good decision I think. Egoist is kind of like a self contained groove box with a slicer at its heart.
I like it, but I rarely use it. I wouldn't make a whole track in it, and for making 'bits' of audio - well I find I just use Abu in Gadget because I mainly work in Gadget anyway.
If you use 3rd party effect apps in the production of your tracks - then Turnado is a no brainer.
What are the beat styles & sounds you get from egoist? more electronica or can they be used for hiphop / r&b?
Pretty mixed really - the usual electro/urban stuff plus a few rock kits. Bit limited, but could could add your own using the sampler section.
Don't know if I'm repeating an earlier comment, but Turnado and Wow automatically double as plugins in Auria once purchased as apps, so double bonus for those two apps
Didn't really get on with egosist controls were too fiddly
Definitely need a stylus imo.
I just bought Egoist, having a lot of fun with it. As someone mentioned, it could be your "hot sauce", that little thing that spices things up or get your creative groove flowing. I love Gadget, but have never really gotten to understand or like Abu Dhabi. I wish there where some good tutorials for it which might help.
I watched SugerBytes tutorials for Egoist on YouTube and instantly "got" the app and starting playing with it.
I like how you can shift all the different parts around, creating all new grooves from the same base material, very good for inspiration.
I mainly use Gadget for my music, so Turnado is not that interesting to me, but I'm sure Egoist will help me create some cool grooves :-)
egoist is cool it's just limited compared to other apps with sample slicers, if you're looking for something that encourages you to think out of the box through it's limitations then it's a no brainer, but if you're into sample slicing and want to do allot of it, it might be a chore because there aren't many tracks available.
even at the sale price I wouldn't recommend it for someone looking for a sampling/slicing groovebox.
@Peter321 Interesting. Not unlike Borderlands (which it IS unlike centrally) I find sometimes it goes well and sometimes not so much, but I've learned not to 'blame' that on the app. Just start over, and then when something good and fun happens; worth the wait (and it's weight)....Have fun with it.
@kobamoto But there are things in Egoist that are MORE sophisticated (less limited) than other sampling/slicing groove boxes: the transient detector (w/sensitivity adjustment), the randomizing options, the effects sequencer (and better effects than most/all like it), the ability to edit things like pitch and envelope both globally and by part on the sample ... and it has an actual (bass) synth, limited as it is.
Also, it has Audioshare importing and Audiobus, two things at least one major brand name beat app doesn't have.
I find the areas it lacks are more to do with DAW functionality -- like piano roll-style MIDI and multiple tracks -- as opposed to slicing and grooving. And with any non-DAW, you're going to eventually need to export to a DAW to finish a song anyway.
@parallaxobject good post.
yes but I would just be exporting from it to use in those other slicer apps. personally I think it cost too much if you have any of those other apps. horses for courses