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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What can iOS apps do for this situation

edited August 2017 in General App Discussion

I have a friend who is probably as much of a potential music-maker as I am, if not more. He's been trying to get me on board with the idea of presenting 'live' music in a way that allows any part of what's already been performed to be captured and used again during the performance in whatever way we might wish.

I can't say that I completely understand exactly what he wants to do, but I am intrigued. He has purchased iMaschine 2 & Traktor DJ for me to start off with, and these bring a learning curve to the concept that is, for me, not insignificant.

I won't elaborate further because I'm a little old-school where music production is concerned. If any of this sounds like something any forum members can elaborate on then I would appreciate any tidbits or insight any might offer.

Thank you in advance.

Comments

  • It sounds as if he wants to incorporate looping into the workflow. I would point him into the direction of looping apps. There are a lot of them.

  • edited August 2017

    Three words, two apps:
    -- > Resampling < --
    Samplr and Borderlands

    Revised:
    Egoist
    Reslice
    FX apps like Turnado etc.

  • Welcome Brian,

    There are a lot of apps capable of live sampling and looping, from conventional to experimental and everything in between.

    Some of my favorite apps to use for this purpose are: Loopy HD, Beatmaker 3, Samplr, e-l-s-a, and Blocs Wave. Each of these apps will allow you to record audio live and manipulate it in some way. But it's hard to make a more specific recommendation without knowing a little more about what you plan to accomplish.

  • What they said. Sounds like he went with apps that use loops but what you're actually looking for are apps that capture loops in real time.

    Samplers do this but come with overhead (like file saving and trimming and assigning...). Live loopers do the same but without the overhead. I'd start with Loopy since you're on the iPhone. Can capture and overdub 12 loops of any length and can easily be brought in and out of the set.

  • Another vote for starting with Loopy.

  • Thanks for the conversation. I got a much better idea yesterday of what my buddy has in mind for this musical experiment, so maybe I'll be able to fill in some facts.

    Essentially he wants to have a variety of real instruments (guitars & synths & such) set up and plugged in to the electronics to record and loop up riffs and such that will then allow the live performer(s) to jam over what gets looped together, which would be where I come in - my job would essentially be what I'm calling an 'LJ' - 'loop jockey' - pushing all the buttons and setting up and launching the loops to some degree. Have I ever done that sort of thing? Nope.

    Ableton Live was mentioned in this discussion, as well as Tim Exile. So was investing in all the fun light boxes you need to launch stuff, and a lot of wiring. In addition, being able to pull this stuff around for live gigs would be a bonus.

    That's the nutshell at this point.

  • Blocswave/Launchpad (with proper hardware like LaunchControl XL) & GroupTheLoop are my bets.

  • @Dubbylabby said:
    Blocswave/Launchpad (with proper hardware like LaunchControl XL) & GroupTheLoop are my bets.

    Noted.

  • Another question: Could the Korg iWavestation (iPhone) come in handy in any way for any of this? Keep in mind that this is all very new to the way I usually approach music-making. I happen to have $25 worth of credit in the App Store & it probably won't get spent on anything else except music apps.

  • edited August 2017

    Loopy HD, GrouptheLoop and Quantiloop are all great for looping. But for plugging in multiple instruments, microphones, synths and such into your ipad, you're going to need these items for sure...
    1. Audio interface (with multiple inputs)
    2. Apple camera connection kit
    3. usb hub (if you have usb hardware)

    For other things...definitely get the Launchpad app, learn it's layout and playing style. Plus it's free, with many good samples to purchase. If you can save up some money then you can get a Launchpad hardware unit to go with it. I recommend the Launchpad Pro, I have 2. It has lots to offer for live performance and MIDI in and out, among many other benefits that you will discover with time. It is a piece of gear you can grow with as you learn and acquire more apps and gear to link it up to. If not a Launchpad, definitely get a MIDI controller of some type.
    Just my 2 cents...
    Welcome to the jungle...
    Highway to the dangerzone...

  • Tell me about it. Only time will tell if it bears fruit.

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