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Using "Steel Guitar Pro" in Unintended Ways

McDMcD
edited July 2022 in Creations

EDITED: I changed the title twice.

I made this using Steel Guitar Pro as the MIDI controller and NOT as a sound app.
It exports with a custom protocol:

MIDI Notes 0-9 for string numbers
and Pitch Bend scaled to the fret board "slide" position

The pitch bend needs to be received by an app that support modifying the bend radius beyond +/- 2 semitones. For this reason I used 3 audio layers instances, 1 Zeeon and 1 World Synth "Dudek" to go beyond scales and into the micro verse. Since Notes 0-9 are somewhat bass-y I added 60 to 72 in the AUM MIDI Transpose option for all the target apps. Some may like lower notes and use lower values and make a general sludge from the microtonal stew.

MPE input to a Steel Guitar Pro “Cluster” of 7 instances:

I started 7 instances of Steel Guitar Pro in AUM and set them sequentially to listen to MIDI 2-8 and 16. Running 7 instances takes an iPad/iPhone with a lot of RAM (4GB or higher).

Then I added a Velocity Keyboard instance with:
1. MPE Keyboard configuration
2. Interface Layout = “Strings - Poly Row”
3. MIDI Format “MPE 4 - 1 channel per string”
4. Bend Range = 12

Then I started Mozaic with these lines for the script. JUST THESE 5 LINES.
They convert all Pitch Bends (0xE0-0xEF) to Channel 16 (Programmers use 15 since 1 starts at 0).
I think Streambyter can do this in 1 line.

@OnMIDIInput
   if MIDICommand >= 0xE0
     SendMIDIOut (15+MIDICommand), MIDIByte2, MIDIByte3
   endif  
@End

This Mozaic instance gets it’s input from Velocity Keyboard which embeds pitch bends on channels 2-8 for each string.

Each SGP instance is configured sequentially on MIDI 2 to 8 and Channel 16.
Each SGP gets MIDI input from Velcocity Keyboard and the Mozaic instance.

This creates an SGP Cluster that implements MPE.

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Comments

  • C’mon, this using song names thing to spark political discussions on an iOS music making forum is… I mean, c’mon.

  • This is one of your best, title aside.

  • @Tarekith said:
    C’mon, this using song names thing to spark political discussions on an iOS music making forum is… I mean, c’mon.

    I mean, he could have easily gone with the much more ABF-compatible The Peripatetic Ambience of Xenophon's Moments of Sadness or something instead of this quality trolling, but I'm glad he didn't.

  • @LinearLineman said:
    This is one of your best, title aside.

    When I can get my hands on a joystick, I’m in heaven.

  • @Tarekith said:
    C’mon, this using song names thing to spark political discussions on an iOS music making forum is… I mean, c’mon.

    Sorry. There are other venues for my disgust.

  • This is a very good recording, and I like it.
    I was a bit late on the title issue, but project is very enjoyable, and very good microtonal stew, indeed!
    Rene

  • @ReneAsologuitar said:
    This is a very good recording, and I like it.
    I was a bit late on the title issue

    You are lucky. It was a troll to rile up some people and get a debate going.
    Not a good idea because people rarely change their basic views. But the food fight can be engaging for anyone with a full plate of tomatoes.

    but project is very enjoyable, and very good microtonal stew, indeed!
    Rene

    I’ll bet you can make similar noises with a slide on that Taylor Acoustic and have
    The added benefit of string noise.

  • Hi McD
    You are a house full of great ideas!
    Keep up the great work!!!
    Rene

  • I didn't see the original title, so I have nothing to say about that, but this is extremely cool. Seems evocative of John Williams, a la Star Wars at points. Very cinematic.

  • @NeuM said:
    I didn't see the original title, so I have nothing to say about that, but this is extremely cool. Seems evocative of John Williams, a la Star Wars at points. Very cinematic.

    I always like to be compared to the work of my heroes.

  • @ReneAsologuitar said:
    Hi McD
    You are a house full of great ideas!
    Keep up the great work!!!
    Rene

    I have more ideas than I have actual results.

  • Very creative @McD . Great work!

  • @AlterEgo_UK said:
    Very creative @McD . Great work!

    Thanks. Try it out as a controller. It’s really different than any other control surface except for Shoom with it’s X-Y pad but t this can be pointed at apps that support octave pitch bends. Other just wiggle a whole step or 2 which isn’t that different.

  • edited June 2022

    @ervin: The Peripatetic Ambience of Xenophon's Moments of Sadness? How did you find out the title of my next piece? ;) @McD : that’s some next level MIDI wizardry you are doing right there. Unexpected textures,. Inspiring stuff. :)

  • @McD said:

    @Tarekith said:
    C’mon, this using song names thing to spark political discussions on an iOS music making forum is… I mean, c’mon.

    Sorry. There are other venues for my disgust.

    FTR, I'm sorry you changed it. Still like the piece though. 👍

  • @Svetlovska said:
    @ervin: The Peripatetic Ambience of Xenophon's Moments of Sadness? How did you find out the title of my next piece? ;)

    Credit where credit is due, there's an ABF-member song title generator hidden as an Easter egg in AUM. 🤷

  • @ervin said:
    FTR, I'm sorry you changed it. Still like the piece though. 👍

    Thanks. I’m sure a few saw it and had a reaction.

    This music simply fell out of the interface… it breaks everything more complex than pitch goes up and pitch goes down. The chords are inherent in the scalar mapping but I just know high at this end and low over there. The notes force consonance… so it becomes sound painting. Fun and good on the ears. You start looking for some way to shock the listener and invent quick jumps or slides to mess up the pretty sounds.

    I recommend it as a way to get new sounds for any genre. @jwmmakerofmusic wilk be all over it for ambient washes of colors. Presets that come in very slowly make the ability to predict even harder… you must go slow to even get a note to sound.

  • @ervin said:

    @Svetlovska said:
    @ervin: The Peripatetic Ambience of Xenophon's Moments of Sadness? How did you find out the title of my next piece? ;)

    Credit where credit is due, there's an ABF-member song title generator hidden as an Easter egg in AUM. 🤷

    What? Is this documented somewhere? I could use title suggestions.

  • Love it, really eerie and arresting sounds!

  • @richardyot said:
    Love it, really eerie and arresting sounds!

    Discovering the fact that AudioLayer can map Pitch Bends to +/- 48 was amazing to me.
    I only used 12 semitones because 4 octaves was too much. An audio layer can carry almost any form of audio content from one cycle to wave files so this is a interesting way of doing
    a lot of the audio mangling we usually do in app but doing it in realtime.

    I think a Mozaic script to map tunings to the "virtual" targeted strings will make this a more
    musical controller... I need to scan the MIDI coming out to see if there's an event that could signal note damping... with per string or across the set. I wonder what happens when that "DAMP" box gets pressed in the MIDI stream or when the bar is returned to the "nut" end of the fret board. Mozaic just needs an event to trigger the Note Offs.

    I do hope Yonac adds the 2 finger mute... until then I'll see if the 3 finger mute sends a unique event. Having the three finger mode be dependent on the bar tilting gesture being active is annoying for me. I never want the bar tilt active so I can keep chords in tune.

    I'd like to keep the buzz about this app active to encourage this is addressed in an update and not forgotten.

    Many of us kept begging for a version that accepted MIDI in and they came through and I hope this is a real money maker for them. So much to like about this Pro version.

  • Really interesting! Made me go buy the app... :)

  • @lasselu said:
    Really interesting! Made me go buy the app... :)

    I think you'll get a good value for your $5 investment and it goes toward a good cause.
    Yonac makes great synths and clever instrument simulations.

  • @McD said:
    EDITED: I changed the title on request.

    I made this using Steel Guitar Pro as the MIDI controller and NOT as a sound app.
    It exports with a custom protocol:

    MIDI Notes 0-9 for string numbers
    and Pitch Bend scaled to the fret board "slide" position

    The pitch bend needs to be received by an app that support modifying the bend radius beyond +/- 2 semitones. For this reason I used 3 audio layers instances, 1 Zeeon and 1 World Synth "Dudek" to go beyond scales and into the micro verse. Since Notes 0-9 are somewhat bass-y I added 60 to 72 in the AUM MIDI Transpose option for all the target apps. Some may like lower notes and use lower values and make a general sludge from the microtonal stew.

    Right on. :smile:

  • It looks like a CC 64 127 and CC 64 0 pair is sent with a 3 finger mute but NOT with the MUTE button. So, 3 finger will be needed (or 2 if they put it in an update).

    There’s a table of reserved MIDI CC’s in there manual that provides clues for hacking on the output of the app:

    MIDI Notes 0-11 on Channel 15
    Pitch Wheel Messages on Channels 4-9
    CC 0 is reserved for bank changes
    CC 32 is reserved for bank changes
    CC 64 on Channel 15
    CC 75 on Channels 4-9
    CC 76 on Channels 4-9
    CCs 102-108 on Channel 15
    CC 119 on Channel 15
    CC 120 on Channel 15

    I have AUM targeted apps listening on all channels and almost always do.

  • @McD said:

    @ervin said:

    @Svetlovska said:
    @ervin: The Peripatetic Ambience of Xenophon's Moments of Sadness? How did you find out the title of my next piece? ;)

    Credit where credit is due, there's an ABF-member song title generator hidden as an Easter egg in AUM. 🤷

    What? Is this documented somewhere? I could use title suggestions.

    \o/
    what a win, and it's still Monday!

  • Love those sounds, and the idea of using this app as a MIDI controller and playing surface. I will try that next weekend. Thanks for the tip!

  • Thanks for the heads up on this and the transpose tip. Very cool stuff!

  • McDMcD
    edited July 2022

    UPDATE on MPE input:

    I started 7 instances of Steel Guitar Pro in AUM and set them sequentially to listen to MIDI 2-8 and 16.

    Then I added a Velocity Keyboard instance with:
    MPE Keyboard configuration
    Interface Layout = “Strings - Poly Row”
    MIDI Format “MPE 4 - 1 channel per string”
    Bend Range = 12

    Then I started Mozaic with these lines for the script. JUST THESE 5 LINES.
    They convert all Pitch Bends (0xE0-0xEF) to Channel 16 (Programmers use 15 since 1 starts at 0).

    @OnMIDIInput
       if MIDICommand >= 0xE0
         SendMIDIOut (15+MIDICommand), MIDIByte2, MIDIByte3
       endif  
    @End
    

    OR use the free StreamByter MIDI FX app with this one-line script:

    EX = EF

    The Mozaic or Streambyter instance gets it’s input from Velocity Keyboard which embeds pitch bends on channels 2-8 respectively for each string.
    Channel 1 is protected for external MIDI input. You can use fewer strings if your iPad is under-powered for this application.

    Each SGP instance is configured sequentially on MIDI 2 to 8 and Channel 16.
    Each SGP gets MIDI input from Velcocity Keyboard and the Mozaic instance.

    This creates an SGP Cluster that implements MPE.

  • OK McD… being cheeky here 🙏 1) Do you know what the StreamByter script would be (I have this and not Mozaic) and 2) Have you tried this with GeoShred… Thanks in advance 😊

  • McDMcD
    edited July 2022

    @GeoTony said:
    OK McD… being cheeky here 🙏 1) Do you know what the StreamByter script would be (I have this and not Mozaic) and 2) Have you tried this with GeoShred… Thanks in advance 😊

    I’ll research the right answer.

    It’s a one-liner:
    EX = EF

    Convert all Pitch Bends BYTES E0 to EF (EX matches them all)
    Streambyter uses = as a “convert” instruction. Every pitch bend becomes Pitch Bend on channel 16
    (Or programmer’s F which is 15 in Hex).

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