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.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

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  • Here's my latest incarnation, after downsizing to fit into the 617 sqft condo we were moving into. Working in the music business in the 70's, it now simply flabbergasts me what I can do in one corner of a small room. Life is heaven!

    Ipad4 128GB at left, used for music exclusively, iPad Air 128GB, 27" iMac i7 16GB RAM running Reason, M-Audio Axiom air61 key controller, Roland Duo-Capture EX interface.

  • The carry-on rig: everything except the two iPads fits into the (almost hidden) rescued optical instrument case the right 2 sections are sitting on. That setup includes a FocusRite 2i4, and MiMix lets me noodle on the 3+4 outs while 1+2 send to the room mix. The iPad 1 on the left is running as a single synth, audio sent in to the 2i4 for mixing. The QuNeo drumpads: bottom 4 are mapped to select between 4 MidiBridge Scenes, the others are mapped to standard drum numbers. some of the sliders are also mapped to modulations in the 4 synths that might be used. Those are set to different channels, the QuNexus only sends on one, so the MB scenes map that aspect too.

    At home:

  • @dwarman Thanks for sharing that diagram. Can you point the MIDI controllers on the 7 port hub to any MIDI destination? What are the MIDI Taps?

  • I have been enjoying this forum for some time. Lots of fantastic info here. I integrate my musical ios apps in my studio and away.
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  • @ezee63 Good to see you. I love that you've got a million bucks worth of shiny there and sitting quietly on top is sweet little SP :)

  • @dwarman - connection diagrams are great! My next hardware project is a patchbay - the map is drawn, just need the cables and the solder.

  • Second first: yes. All controllers - whether USB or routed via the MidiTaps into USB - are first run through MidiBridge on the iPad 1, then back out to a backbone virtual MIDI cable to the hardware synths and the iPad Air synths. Actually, teh Google tells me I did already post a layout on Page 1 of this thread, although the layout has changed a bit since then.

    Horn Tooting (I'm proud of this work, and I am amazingly enough not the only one still basing their studio around them 25 years later). So some detail to answer "what is a MidiTap".

    The MidiTaps are my secret weapons in MIDI-land. We got really disgusted with MIDI topology management in the 80's and ended up fixing it ourselves. We do great tech, not so great business. So we achieved a kind of cult status in that time and some folks still remember us (Google "Lone Wolf MidiTap" but ignore all my posts:). One prime design requirement was indestructible stage performance, another was flexible peer to peer and resource sharing. But cost 4x what a garage band of the time was willing to spend.

    Each box is 4 In and 4 Out DIN ports, they interconnect via optical fiber, and practical limit is probably 24 'Taps in a network. Any incoming channel on any port on any box can be routed to any combination of channels across any combination of ports on any combination of boxes, i.e fully soft topology and merging. Incoming and outgoing both have full complement of channel level filtering and transpose too. All channels and ports are name-able, and the UI (16x2 LCD + 4 buttons + spin-knob) lets you walk the list alphabetically regardless of hardware boundaries. It also implements what we called "LanScapes" (what get called "Scenes" or "Snapshots" these days) where a single program change, suitably routed and mapped, would change the entire network. In 1 msec. INXS used this feature triggered from a special pad by the drummer for song sections. ELP used the distribution and mapping to run a stack of 32 Korg M1Rs backstage.

    We built abut 250 of these for apex performers, composers, and studios, around 1990-1992, and also got a TEC award nomination for Computer Peripherals (http://legacy.tecawards.org/tec/1990.html) for 1990. Played central roles in INXS last tour and ELP reunion tour of that era.

    pic is MidiTap Menu crib sheet. Horizontal moves are via the knob, vertical via buttons.

  • Wow. I'd be proud of that too. I want 2!

  • @dwarfman yes, that's an awesome setup and great story about the MIDI taps.

  • edited January 2015

    My current live rig. The rack has a sliding shelf for the synth iPad and the iPod touch I'm using with Bias/JamUp for Guitar. The plan is to add an iConnectAudio4 in place of the iTrack Solo/DI and SonicPort VX. Unfortunately, I still haven't seen a solid iReplacement for my VoiceLive 3, so it takes up half of the rack.

  • wow, that's a nice rig @rad3d. What do you make with it?

  • Agreed! Nice setup @rad3d.

  • @syrupcore said:

    wow, that's a nice rig @rad3d. What do you make with it?

    About $1.25...

    Actually, the rig serves a threefold purpose. I have a cover band that used to be 5 piece, but is now down to 3. We do a lot of reworked/mangled classic rock stuff that I need both some traditional keys for, as well as some odd effects. Also doing an original band that I'd qualify as techno fusion. And in my free time doing my own ambient funk nonsense.

    Nice to finally have a portable enough rig to handle everything, though. I used to carry multiple rigs.

  • ambient funk nonsense +plus

  • What JG said. I wanna hear some of that action.

    Also, I'm envious of not only your gear but the focus in putting it together and keeping it, what looks to be, powerful/flexible while compact.

  • @syrupcore said:

    What JG said. I wanna hear some of that action.

    Me too... Will hopefully post some stuff soon.

    Also, I'm envious of not only your gear but the focus in putting it together and keeping it, what looks to be, powerful/flexible while compact.

    It definitely is. One of the drivers was to have a rig I could set up in situations where quick set changes were needed between bands - primarily for the original act. The entire rig sets up in 10 minutes - with one USB snake from the rack to the pedalboard, and another small one from the pedalboard to the controllers. There's also a 1x12 full range cabinet and a Crate Powerblock for the guitar.

  • On closer inspection it's quite similar to mine except you have double of everything ;) @rad3d

  • @supadom said:

    On closer inspection it's quite similar to mine except you have double of everything ;) @rad3d

    And I probably only do half as much with it as you...!

  • You know what, I'm streamlining my set up as I've noticed two things:

    • driving the system ram at +/- 97% affects clock sync reliability between apps

    • having a lot of fancy candy stuff i.e. turnado, other fx etc. takes away ones focus from the melodies, riffs etc. They sound cool but but not as cool as a great riff. So if I have to choose between the two to save resources I'd go for the latter every time.

    Off topic: I've also noticed that the sync between samplr and loopy is slightly better when samplr runs outside AB in background audio mode. I may be imagining things though.

    I'm jealous of all of your controllers esp quneo ;) @rad3d

  • @supadom said:

    • having a lot of fancy candy stuff i.e. turnado, other fx etc. takes away ones focus from the melodies, riffs etc. They sound cool but but not as cool as a great riff. So if I have to choose between the two to save resources I'd go for the latter every time.

    Right here; cake and icing.

  • @supadom said:

    You know what, I'm streamlining my set up as I've noticed two things:

    • driving the system ram at +/- 97% affects clock sync reliability between apps

    • having a lot of fancy candy stuff i.e. turnado, other fx etc. takes away ones focus from the melodies, riffs etc. They sound cool but but not as cool as a great riff. So if I have to choose between the two to save resources I'd go for the latter every time.

    Streamlining is essential. I've been through lots of configuration changes as I've been trying to get something together I can count on consistently for the entire night. No way I'd drive my system anywhere close to that - but I'm primarily just triggering simple sounds and patterns - probably not as much going on simultaneously as what you're doing.

    I'm jealous of all of your controllers esp quneo ;) @rad3d

    Actually, the Quneo is an odd one. It doesn't quite have the sensitivity control that I'd like for percussive parts, so it still ends up primarily being a simple trigger source most of the time. I could do a bit more with it inside of Ableton, both as a controller and as a feedback device, as midi clips were much more powerful there than they are in any IOS sequencer.

    I still love the QuNeo, but it's a device that's not as immediately useful as it initially appears to be. Takes a while to get it set up to do what you want - and I haven't worked it into this rig as well as I'd like yet. KMI makes cool controllers, but I wish they'd put more time into their software. The QuNeo software, in particular, is pretty cumbersome.

  • @rad3d said:

    My current live rig. The rack has a sliding shelf for the synth iPad and the iPod touch I'm using with Bias/JamUp for Guitar. The plan is to add an iConnectAudio4 in place of the iTrack Solo/DI and SonicPort VX. Unfortunately, I still haven't seen a solid iReplacement for my VoiceLive 3, so it takes up half of the rack.

    How do you route the iPod touch that you use for guitar FX? I'm considering something similar but am concerned about latency.

  • For now, I'm using the iPod touch through the sonic port VX. Negligible latency from my perspective.

  • I ise a arturia mini lab and a volca beats but it's early days haha I'm grateful for what I have im 13 so I can just keep on collection :)

  • edited January 2015

    @Synthmaniac Take this in exactly the positive and honest way it's meant: Good for you.

    I'm very jealous. I wish I could be 13 and have some apps and a few bits of kit. And some peace and quiet to just get on with them all. Can't promise you the last bit of the puzzle, but apart from that it's all right there in front of you :) Get stuck in!

  • edited January 2015

    @rad3d said:

    For now, I'm using the iPod touch through the sonic port VX. Negligible latency from my perspective.

    Does the Sonic Port output then feed into mixer>PA... or do you actually feed the Sonic Port output into another iOS device? My idea is to play acoustic guitar>iPod (as FX processor)>iPad running Loopy>Turnado (via Audiobus). I can actually do this all on my iPad 4 but I get some crackles now and then which are undesirable.

  • I run directly to the VX, then split the output between my cabinet (stage monitor only) and the PA. I want to run either FluxFX or Turnado on it, but will either move the guitar to another mini retina or wait for the next gen touch and hope one of those apps ports. The iConnectAudio might be a great way to share audio internally if you want to use 2 devices, but still waiting for it to be available.

  • Grayscale porn...

  • @rad3d said:

    I run directly to the VX, then split the output between my cabinet (stage monitor only) and the PA. I want to run either FluxFX or Turnado on it, but will either move the guitar to another mini retina or wait for the next gen touch and hope one of those apps ports. The iConnectAudio might be a great way to share audio internally if you want to use 2 devices, but still waiting for it to be available.

    Thanks for the breakdown, Rad. Looks like hardware FX processors still have something going for them. :/

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