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.

Best piano roll?

Been away for a while. Bought pro 12 inch for work, loving it. Gingerly putting my toe back into Lake iOS Music. Reinstalled Cubasis and the piano roll horror came flooding back.

I like to work with midi input, both by drawing the notes and via step-input with onscreen keyboard/midi keyboard. After inputting notes I want to easily cut/copy paste and edit note lengths and velocities. I would like to work with beat divisions over and beyond the standard multiples of 4, i.e. 3, 6 and odd -tuplets.

I read the entire recent Cubasis thread re piano roll. Fingers crossed for its future but for now I am shelving it as an input app. Re-installed Notion, but it's way too fiddly for what I want to do. Still, that type of input has its benefits for me and I will continue to use it for some things.

What other piano rolls should I try (again)? I have faint memories of being reasonably happy with the piano rolls of BeatMaker2, iMPC, Caustic, ProMidi. I have all these apps somewhere but abandoned them for some forgotten reason. Should I give them another look? What about other apps? I hear Auria now does midi. And how does Garageband stack up piano roll -wise?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

«1

Comments

  • You'll want to add ModStep to the check out list. If you don't need MIDI out, gadget has a delightful piano roll.

  • I know we all have our favorites and could probably (largely) agree on the better and the worse, but there still doesn't seem to be The One amongst the piano roll possibilities. Opportunity perhaps...

  • Modstep has the best piano roll on iOS in my opinion.

  • @syrupcore said:
    You'll want to add ModStep to the check out list. If you don't need MIDI out, gadget has a delightful piano roll.

    Yeah lack of midi out kills Gadget for me.

    I've had a glance at Modstep, but isn't its piano roll one of those square affairs with its bars concatenated vertically? More of a collection of patterns than a horizontally linear adventure? Or have I got that wrong?

  • You can export midi from gadget. Unfortunately only via email, but if you're connected to wifi it's the best option according to me, with modstep at the end of the midi chain, for the CC tweaks.

  • @pierre said:
    You can export midi from gadget. Unfortunately only via email

    Well that's interesting. Same as Notion. Will re-install Gadget. Cheers.

  • Also, gadget and modstep have the same 16 bars per pattern limitation, but in gadget you can see up to 8 bars at once(with a 2 finger tap on the upper timeline). I'd like to be able to do the same in modstep, unless I'm missing something it's only one bar at a time.

  • Will Gadget let me do pattern lengths other than 16 bars? Time signatures other than 4/4?

  • @pierre said:
    Also, gadget and modstep have the same 16 bars per pattern limitation, but in gadget you can see up to 8 bars at once(with a 2 finger tap on the upper timeline). I'd like to be able to do the same in modstep, unless I'm missing something it's only one bar at a time.

    I resized the bar-scale or whatever you call it, once, but I can't remember how or where I swiped, or if it was a dream, but there's some sort of memory in here somehow.

  • @rhcball The timeline @pierre is talking about is the narrow bar at the top of the roll that says "1 Bar, 2Bar etc." Press hold on the first and last bars of the area you want to see. It's fiddly, but very useful.

    @markk Time signature is no problem— Press Function at bottom left and look for the time sig callouts at the left end of each row. I don't see the 16 bar limit as being a big problem

    If you already own Gadget, it's probably the best way to go. Modiste is probably overkill if you're just putting your foot in, and have already shelled out. Gadget has no midi out, but you can export out to Dropbox then import into something else once you're done editing (Cubasis maybe, since you already have that, too).

    I hate that I have to recommend a piano roll that doesn't even have midi out. Would someone please just clone the damn thing into a midi only version?

  • edited May 2016

    @markk said:
    Will Gadget let me do pattern lengths other than 16 bars? Time signatures other than 4/4?

    Yes to both

    Patterns 1-16 bars
    Separate time sig per scene.

    Also if you have Ableton Live Gadget exports audio and midi to it

  • I've tried many of them - but nothing has come close to Gadget. It's nearly perfect

  • edited May 2016

    Auria now has a solid piano roll, IMHO as good as Gadged since version 2.0.4 but with far more powerful MIDI editing tools. It's the only one that supports more than one time signature in a single song AFAIK. On the other hand, it won't do loop recording and doesn't work with patterns like Gadget does, so you should consider this.

    For me, the crown of the best piano roll on iOS goes to Garageband. Loop recording, various options of time signatures, patterns without bar limits, everything just works. Unfortunately, it is rather limited in MIDI editing tools and automation.

  • @theconnactic said:
    Auria now has a solid piano roll, IMHO as good as Gadged since version 2.0.4 but with far more powerful MIDI editing tools. It's the only one that supports more than one time signature in a single song AFAIK. On the other hand, it won't do loop recording and doesn't work with patterns like Gadget does, so you should consider this.

    I'm currently not particularly fussed about loop recording or patterns. I already own (standard?) Auria. Perhaps I should stump up for the midi version...

  • @markk said:

    @theconnactic said:
    Auria now has a solid piano roll, IMHO as good as Gadged since version 2.0.4 but with far more powerful MIDI editing tools. It's the only one that supports more than one time signature in a single song AFAIK. On the other hand, it won't do loop recording and doesn't work with patterns like Gadget does, so you should consider this.

    I'm currently not particularly fussed about loop recording or patterns. I already own (standard?) Auria. Perhaps I should stump up for the midi version...

    I can't say if it will meet your needs or not, but the step up to Auria Pro brings many nice things....

  • One nice feature of the Auria Pro midi editor is its ability to show a ghosted image of another track's midi while working on the active one.

  • @TedBPhx said:
    One nice feature of the Auria Pro midi editor is its ability to show a ghosted image of another track's midi while working on the active one.

    Oh damnnnnn that's real useful

  • Genome too has a decent piano roll. And it's true, GarageBand has an excellent one

  • Genome is the daw style piano roll for ios I use. It is fairly mature, and has been quite stable. only one I've seen that has groove templates. It is clip based, but has a timeline for the clips.

  • Groove machine mobile has the best piano roll, but you can't get the midi out of it :|
    ModStep is the best one that you CAN get the midi out from.

  • Genome if you are strictly wanting "piano roll".

    If you are wanting instruments and bells/whistles with multiple apps then MODSTEP.

    If you want a bunch of all in 1 app MIDI piano rolls and instruments then GADGET.

    If you are on a budget by all means Xenon Groove is a great little app that is also UNIVERSAL with built instruments of great quality and fun.

    I personally use GENOME.

    It sync starts via IAA sync-start so essentially I can sync it with my LINK enabled apps.

    Plus- developer is due for update asap I believe.

  • Actually if it is just piano roll, shit - get AUXY for IPHONE?

  • Auxy and Medly are a joy to use ...I dont have them but there are also Koushion ,pro midi ,Infinite Looper and Midi sketch (very simple but people say it s really good)

  • I have a soft-spot for Genome as well but it's super annoying when the patterns 'go out of sync' with each other when toggling them on/off so if there is an upcoming link-update in the works it will be nice.

    Genome was the app I re-downloaded after the iOS SoundCanvas was released and decided to dig in deeper and found it to works pretty nicely apart from the sync-issues.

    I might go for ModStep at some point if there is a sale or so but for now I have already too many apps...

  • @pierre said:
    Also, gadget and modstep have the same 16 bars per pattern limitation, but in gadget you can see up to 8 bars at once(with a 2 finger tap on the upper timeline). I'd like to be able to do the same in modstep, unless I'm missing something it's only one bar at a time.

    you can see up to 16 bars at once in mod step, though everything gets really tiny of course if you do. But the # of bars you see is completely scalable by pinching the area above the piano roll

  • @nick said:

    @pierre said:
    Also, gadget and modstep have the same 16 bars per pattern limitation, but in gadget you can see up to 8 bars at once(with a 2 finger tap on the upper timeline). I'd like to be able to do the same in modstep, unless I'm missing something it's only one bar at a time.

    you can see up to 16 bars at once in mod step, though everything gets really tiny of course if you do. But the # of bars you see is completely scalable by pinching the area above the piano roll

    Thanks for that, I didn't realize :)

  • @Processaurus said:
    Genome is the daw style piano roll for ios I use. It is fairly mature, and has been quite stable. only one I've seen that has groove templates. It is clip based, but has a timeline for the clips.

    AND SOON FOR UPDATE per the developer in my email from him this am!

  • @pierre said:

    @nick said:

    @pierre said:
    Also, gadget and modstep have the same 16 bars per pattern limitation, but in gadget you can see up to 8 bars at once(with a 2 finger tap on the upper timeline). I'd like to be able to do the same in modstep, unless I'm missing something it's only one bar at a time.

    you can see up to 16 bars at once in mod step, though everything gets really tiny of course if you do. But the # of bars you see is completely scalable by pinching the area above the piano roll

    Thanks for that, I didn't realize :)

    When you do this, make sure you do not have 'Chase' turned on, if you do have Chase turned on it will jump back to the 16 step view when the bar/pattern changes. This drove me mad for many hours until I realised. :)

  • Kaikoo's grandmother baked the best piano rolls, hands down, back in the Old Country, or Hinterlands, or Ginnungagap...

  • @rhcball said:
    Kaikoo's grandmother baked the best piano rolls, hands down, back in the Old Country, or Hinterlands, or Ginnungagap...

    I will agree that our friend Kaikoo is often baked, the rest of it I will take under advisement....

Sign In or Register to comment.