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 Store

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

MultiTrack by Harmonicdog still the best Audiobus Multitrack recorder

With the release of Meteor v1.4 I had been hoping for a replacement for the (amazing) Multitrack DAW. Not that I don't like it, I just wanted more as usual. I wanted some more effects and a more mixing friendly environment after recording.

This is where I go back to Multitrack time and time again. I think Harmonicdog programmer (pwnified in his forum) i just an amazing programmer. His implementation of Audiobus in the app is so good, it feels like he was reading my mind.

The ability to choose different Audiobus apps as sources for different tracks and then being able to simultaneously record them while receiving audio input from my USB interface on different tracks (rather seamlessly on my iPad 4) makes it seem like I can do basically any combination of things with Audiobus and capture it all on separate tracks, all while live outputting with panning, volume mixing, and some simple effects (eq, compressor, reverb, delay).

I really hope that Auria takes this approach as being able to only record one track at a time is limiting, you should AT LEAST be able to record 1 app, and with either the on board mic or a usb interface or guitar interface record a separate track of audio (so you can play say a synth and record vocals or guitar over the synth live)...

Any opinions? I know CPU and memory play a big role in all of this but there are some combos that just work flawlessly.

This image is of my current fav setup.

Samplr for percussion/looping, Animoog for synth/looping, Jamup! for guitar effects & looping.
I had a usb hub through the CCK attached, Apogee Jam plugged in through USB (it comes with an iDevice cord and a USB cord) for guitar input and a Korg nanoKEY2 to play the Animoog.

All three apps were recording on separate tracks in Multitrack DAW.

I have even captured 6 tracks at once using multitrack with Audiobus/Animoog with nanoKEY/Funkbox with nanoPAD/Fireface UCX capturing 2 direct tracks from my guitar looper, a mic for vocals, a mic for amped guitar... though this setup crapped out on my once I really started messing with Animoogs X/Y pad while having a some audio coming in from every other source. Seems the more movement and animations happening within Animoog the more it drains CPU power.

Anyways having a blast here, might post a video later if I get some good ideas flowing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8n8zui0kodu34b1/Photo 2013-01-21 9 11 12 PM.jpg

Comments

  • edited January 2013

    No opinions really. If I ever need to record myself playing 3 synths and a guitar simultaneously, I shall probably take your advice and use Multitrack DAW and leave Meteor sessions for whatever Meteor does better than Multitrack DAW. Horses for courses.

  • Well, I didn't say I was alone playing all those instruments, its great fun with friends in the room with you, and later everyone is coming through on a clean track for soloing and pretty good source to create demos (and in my opinion homemade album quality).

    I get your point though, proper tool for situation is most important.

  • I completely agree with your observation wrt Multitrack DAW. This program has such a nice workflow, is rock-solid stable, and allows me to concentrate on the creative part of music playing/recording/editing. Multitrack DAW on ipad 3 with Alesis IO4 lets me record drums over two microphones, together with guitar over jamup pro or soft synth (Nlog, Samplr, Grain Science) simultaneously. For me without doubt by far the best app on my ipad!

  • Really ends any need I ever had to bring a laptop to a jam session. My iPad is a music machine I barely use it for anything else these days.

  • @spacesmediaCA

    Really interesting observations ref Multitrack DAW. Whilst it's not the prettiest app I've worked with I'm coming to the conclusion that it's the perfect multitack Audiobus powered recording app for IOS devices. Once it has some form of midi clock integration I have a feeling it will become many peoples preferred solution. It does what all great Apple products used to do - 'it just works'.

  • can you loop recorded phrases or drum tracks with this app?

  • Hypo asked a question that often comes up for me when using MTD. I'm a long time user and love it a lot but it simply doesn't do certain things. That's totally ok, wonderful even. Looping something in MTD is a pita! Mixing too.

    Not a complaint because if gotten my money's worth 50 times over with MTD but yeah, horses or whatever.

  • darn, that's a deal breaker for me. it's why I'm anticipating the beatmaker 2 Audiobus update.

  • I use Loopy in the output slot, because I'm a looping sort of guy. I haven't really used MTD very much because I find it difficult to work with loops in that. I am waiting to see what happens when Auria, Cubasis and Beatmaker gets on the bus. The output slot needs some love.

    I think this discussion is really about which app gets your creative juices flowing and doesn't get in the way of your thinking. So there is no right or wrong app, it's just whatever works for you.

  • Auria has looping and will have count-in record in its Audiobus update. Both are totally essential for a DAW as far as I'm concerned, and the lack of the latter in MDAW reduces its usefulness for me personally, much as it's otherwise a very lean, mean app.

  • I don't think Auria is my DAW. Actually I doubt anyone would do serious mixings on iPad. Not because iPad is powerless, but the small screen. It is hard to handle 20+ tracks on iPad's screen, let alone 40+ tracks. Mixing engineers always like double screens, one for tracks, one for mixer. You need to access effects, volume levels, pan knots quickly. I don't see how iPad could handle that task easily. Just imagine display 4 or 5 effect panels at the same time.
    I already regret the money spent on BM2, so I will not risk buying Auria. BM2 is basically a good DAW. It is very ambitious trying to give you a comprehensive DAW like one on PC/Mac. But the problem is it can never give you the same flexibility at same time keep the easy access. For now if you want to arm an audio track in BM2, you have to tap 5 times. It is a joke. The Drum Machine and Sampler are already too clumsy, but still they are nothing comparing with Drumrack and Sampler in Live 8.
    That's why I only use Multitrack DAW for now. I wish it will keep simple in future. I don't even update track numbers. Because 8 tracks are enough for what I'm doing on iPad.
    I don't know how other people using iPad. For me iPad is a tool for new experience not a replacement of PC/Mac, a tool to capture inspirations not to complete a whole work.

  • You can loop in multitrackDAW but its not easy and intuitive, nor synched in any way. Must be very planned out and precise(probably would have to even start and stop a few times..)

    Auria, like I said, if it has the ability to choose multiple audiobus inputs and record them to separate tracks, and mixing/effect individual tracks all while also recording audio from an interface, then it WILL be the best DAW with audiobus, Im wondering if someone has some insight on that (Michael_R_Grant?)

    Also, if it has that ability in theory but my iPad 4 can barely do this with a couple simple apps because of memory/cpu issues, then it won't be best DAW with audiobus until atleast iPad 6-7.

    Loopy is awesome because of its time stretching abilities without pitch-shift. Awesome effect sometimes. King of the looper on iPad imo.

  • edited January 2013

    My opinion on MAC/PC vs iPad is totally that an iPad is for someone interesting in making sounds in a way that is easier/cheaper/ and, with the touch screen, in more interesting way than on a PC/MAC.

    A great musician can take a tape 4 track, a guitar and a mic and make it sound like a 40 piece symphony so I'm not sure I agree that workflow and simplicity vs complexity are really a valid reason when comparing the two type of systems.

    But I get it, if you are recording for clients or for commercial use and your recordings become your source of money and/or someone is depending on you for them, I wouldn't use an iPad. I don't think a client would really see it as very professional, and being "professional" is much more about image at some point so having a MacPro and 24 track mixing board is always more impressive than an iPad with Auria running on it to a paying client im sure.

    Homemade music has always caught my attention much more than anything that sounds very produced or studio based, so I'm probably just biased. I'll stick to MTDAW for now and wait for Auria to support the bus (hopefully in a really in-depth but simple way like MTDAW has done). Only reason in my eyes would be so I could use those crispy clean PSP plugins when mixing:)

  • Hey all, looks like auria does this all with even more abilities.. so I would say, if you have an ipad 3 or 4 Auria may have trumped MultitrackDAW as best Audiobus multitracker.

    Of course if you have an ipad 2, multitrackDAW is still amazingly powerful.

    The argument of simplicity is very relevant here though as Auria has some extra steps as there is many more options/setting/effects in Auria so for recording pure audio/audiobus apps, no effect/limited mixing, the end result will be the same and you can always transport you audio into auria to take advantage of mixing capabilities later.

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