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
That is not 100% accurate.. you can do in NS2 also "linked" copies - if you long press on "duplicate" action, then you check "linked" checkbox and after that you choose for example 2x .. linked copies share same data (change in one affects all)
linked copies are marked by small icon in top left corner, if you select any linked copy, this icon is highlighted on ALL linked copies of that pattern
Difference between "cycle" mode and "linked" copy:
You can also combine both - you can turn on "cycle" on linked copy
)
Cycle's main purpose is, when you know that you want to loop some pattern for next X bars - so you simply turn it on and drag right handle ... simple and fast...
@dendy Thanks for that bite-sized concision. Appreciated!
@dendy said
That statement is not 100% accurate ;-)
That statement sounds like the US media accusing His Trumpiness of lying without actually coming out and saying ‘Mr President. Your pants are on fire’.
Joking aside, I don’t think I said anything inaccurate did I? I didn’t mention linked copies (aliases in Logic terminology) as I never use them so didn’t even think about them.
Tbh i’ve Never seen the need for aliases in Logic. Looping and copying does everything I’ve ever needed. Whenever I’ve wanted a part looped then a break then another loop later i duplicate the original part and loop the copy to the right length.
Having the second part linked to the original can be confusing when you come back to an arrangement at a later date and wonder why it doesn’t sound right as you forgot about the aliases when you changed a pattern at the beginning.
I’ve rarely used Aliases in OS X finder either. I’ve rarely had a situation where an alias is preferred to a copy.
But they’re there if you want them :-)
I think I’d rather have audio tracks
That's why good sequencers give you a warning when you open a part for editing that has aliases elsewhere
I think I tried and stopped using Aliases in Logic back when it was still called 'Notator Logic' and was one of the ugliest sequencers known to man* ;-)
I don't think I've even had a situation since where I thought about using aliases since...
**But it could control my Fostex R8 like a champ and had non-destructive parameters (quantise, pitch, etc.). Once I had those I couldn't go back!
I almost exclusively use them and / or looped parts (clips), depending on the situation. In EDM at least, there's always a few central "ideas" in a song that repeat throughout, so if I later decide to change it slightly or want to transpose it etc., I have no problems. Also of course, it saves memory
as the actual notes / controllers only have to be stored once (started with a Commodore C64, so I'm a resource saving fanatic 
)
I use loops a lot. I just don't use aliases. I've never had a problem changing things slightly. If I want to change the parameters, we're back to the non-destructive thing which is the genius Logic feature which had me instantly hooked. And it's easy to do that to a full track worth of patterns if required.
And if I change a looped part more significantly, I generally know where in the track I want those to occur and prefer to copy the changed patterns to the arrangement manually.
Plus there's the option of converting loops to real copies (which in Logic is one command) and maybe joining them together into one part for further mucking around with.
It's good to have these features. I'm sure some people love Aliases/Linked Copies.
It's a bit like Photoshop. Most people only ever use 10% of the features. But everybody uses a different 10% :-)
i would hate for a warning to pop up. Currently NS2 just turns the links white which is subtle but clear once you see it.
——
Yep, that's also a good way to do it. Thinking about adding this to Xequence, if it's not patented
I'm encouraged by @ScottVanZandt's use of NS2 as a sample based composing tool.
Is there a tutorial that covers how to import samples into NS2?
How many samples be be used reasonably in an instrument. I believe it supports 3 layers as a maximum. I have seen post regarding using folders and specific naming devices to make
inporting more of a bulk load process.
Any clues appreciated and I'll document my process if one doesn't exist.
@McD I replied to your question at NS forums but just in case somebody else here will be interested too :
https://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/community/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/6677/#Comment_6677
Thank you @dendy for the excellent response and tutorial posted on the NS2 forum.
Wow. I'm going to hang out in NS2 (and that Forum) for a while. No need to wait for audio tracks if I import my AUv3's as sample sets like @ScottVanZandt did. He created this in NS2 using samples of iSymphonic, etc. (old news can be worth repeating to insure everyone hears it).
Wow that was so beautiful!
This is amazing, loved it...
Did anyone try StepBud v1.2.2 in NS2?
Dropping some codes here, just let me know if you have any issues.
J4NPN6EWMJMM
E3JTPTL74T4M
46LMJ7E6AFWJ
Grabbed last code, works fine for me! Thanks. I’ll let you know how it fares as I push it harder
@dendy I haven't been following discussions over the past many months: is there a new ETA for features like iPhone support, the convolution reverb, and audio tracks?
@ohwell
There was approximate ETA but now obviously it's a bit delayed (from many reasons - fixes and improvements for first update took more time than planned, but also at beginning of year Matt needed take some time off to rest, he suffered by serious burnout because of pre-release work tempo)
But definitely after upcoming update (very soon! testing is near finish phase), next big thing in queue is iPhone (universal) update (incl. converb) . Based on my knowledge about current status of iPhone version - i believe it will took not too much time (but bear in mind it's just my personal opinion, not official Blip Interactive statement/promise !) .
After that - audio tracks are still main milestone.
Regarding me - I still strongly believe Matt will manage those 2 big milestones this year.
@dendy Sorry to hear Matt got to that point after the release. It makes sense that the two big milestones would still be achievable this year. The setbacks you describe don't sound like the kind that throws into question whether the planning (and initial march + june ETA) for the updates was realistic and well crafted. (Still sounds like rock solid planning all along!)
I get strange results when using StepBud as a midi effect in NS2. Sounds like a ghost note is playing behind my whole sequence, and pitch/note is affecting modulation or something. Am I doing it wrong?
I am hoping...
a) the update has AUfx automation, smoother AU macro making (or direct AU automation)
b) iphone is bumped in favor of audiotracks
@AudioGus sorry, no AUfx automation in this update, although it is still high on priority list... Basically all bugs around MIDIfx know to the date but for this feature you need wait for a while more..
best would be to wait for NS update - there is good amount of MIDIfx bugs fixed, so if there is any unexpected behaviour in NS which doesn't occur in other hosts, it's good chance in update it will be fixed
cool cool, all good. Big thanks for the info, much appreciated!
I have to confess the whole "link" and "cycle" thing in NS2 is one of the things I really, really, really dislike in it. The NS1 method just clicked with me - make a loop, convert it to a pattern (with it's unique number) then copy it where you like or drag it to expand it. Edit one pattern, all change. The NS2 method just doesn't make any sense - its neither the "old" NS1 way, or something new or better (for me at least). Also the whole naming the patterns thing is a bit odd - why would I not name all the linked patterns the same? That's the point of them being linked I thought.
There are some other bits of NS2 that I don't like (not being able to mute/solo the track lanes for a start)- but its the link/cycle that annoys me every time.
I've just been trying to finish off some tracks - four are NS1, four are NS2, and the others are a mixture of Ableton or live jams. So I have been spending some time with NS2 over the last couple of weeks - and I think I almost prefer Ableton.......
I'm sure there is something about "old dog, new tricks" with my methods and working practices here - and to be fair there is a lot to like. Just some things that I don't.
I love the link cycle thing in NanoStudio and find it highly intuitive 😀
That's what LINKED patterns are in NS2. It's just like NS1 as far as I remember. I didn't realize that names didn't carry across them all though. That seems like a bug. Or just something everyone overlooked!
The addition to NS2 is CYCLE. Cycle is just a quick way to 'repeat' the contents of a clip when extending it. As mentioned above, you can cycle linked patterns too.
@cem_olcay
Yes. StepBud is pretty much broken in NS2. It does not work properly at all.
It works flawlessly in AUM.
In NS2 gate values don’t seem to have the desired effect and multiple notes seems to be triggered resulting in a weird flutter or echo effect. If I select a Piano sound in an obsidian track and add a StepBud, the sound just buzzes. It sounds like way too many note ons are being sent.
Also, I couldn’t figure out how to get the NS2 keyboard to transpose StepBud. Any notes played just go straight to the instrument, not StepBud. It may be possible but it gets to the point where it feels to much like hard work to bother! ;-)
If I swap out StepBud for a rozeta bassline (for example) it works fine.
It could be because rozeta loads as an auv3 audio fx and StepBud uses the newer midi standard?
It also takes way longer to initially load in NS2 than it does in AUM. It loads pretty much instantly in aum but in NS2 you get the ‘loading interface’ message for about 8 or 9 seconds in a new project.
I would not choose NS2 to host a plug-in like StepBud at the moment though. NS2 can’t record the midi out and having no control over patterns, starting or stopping StepBud, etc means the default pattern just plays from start to end. Not what you want in a linear sequencer IMHO.
Also NS2 becomes quite unwieldy with midifx. Way too many taps are required to get from the au UI to the midifx UI it’s a bit all over the place. What I’d like is to have a button under the “perform, patch, edit, etc.” as a shortcut to get to the auv3s, both audio and midi. Or something similar. At the moment you have to go to the mixer, then tap midifx, making adjusting the patch at the same time as playing with StepBud a disjointed process.
I think NS2 needs a bit of a rethink to make the most of the new breed of midi auv3s.
It feels like NS2 has been designed to be the master controller. It doesn’t like to delegate. It assumes it will be the only host and doesn’t play well with other apps that it is not directly hosting. Not a criticism, but it seems it has a very different philosophy which doesn’t fit with modular sequencer auv3s at the moment.
Assuming NS2 doesn’t change philosophy, I’d need StepBud to have multiple patterns that are easy to trigger from NS2s timeline with CC messages, note on, etc.if I was to ever want to use it with NS2.
I would like to be able to use StepBud in NS2 To sequence things like filter cut off on steps, but would need to be able to have different patterns in different parts of the arrangement which just isn’t possible now.
It would be fun to sequence controllers on the step level with StepBud, especially with an uneven number of steps to give parts evolving variations very quickly and simply. Polyrhythms for controllers. :-)
Hopefully much of this is already fixed in the next NS2 update.
Edit. When using StepBud with NS2, StepBud is using a huge amount of battery power.
@klownshed I don't know what has been changed on last build of NS2 but my testflight build v2.0.1 (2.0.1.3) is working great with StepBud. Actually, I can do a debug if I can get the latest testflight build 👀
@cem_olcay
I’ve just tried again with a blank project. Changed an obsidian to electric piano patch. Added StepBud as midifx. Left stepbud parameters as default.
Pressed play. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Changing rate and gate globally with the master fader has no effect.
I added mfxMonitor after StepBud but that doesn’t work either and nothing shows up.
I repeated the test with AUM and chameleon with a piano sound and it works perfectly. List of output shows up in mfxMonitor (including pitch bend, cc ch 01 and 05 being sent after every note on...).
iPad 2. Latest iOS. StepBud V1.2.2 Release version of NanoStudio (not on NS2 beta but perhaps I should be! I think NS2 is allergic to my iPad, it’s always going wrong!)
;-)
@cem_olcay said:
I haven’t got access to testflight versions of NS2 but can confirm stepbud v 1.2.2 doesn’t work at all in NS2 AppStore version. I tried to mixdown the track so you could hear what’s happening but that doesn’t work either; NS2 reports that the track is silent.
Sounds like it’s fixed in your testflight version though.
Can’t find a direct way but is there a round about way to route different synth parameters to velocity? Am I missing something?