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 StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
BEATHAWK/Love and Hate! seeking counseling
Yes, I am sorry to say it, I am having a sick affair with Beathawk! I love the sounds! I bought almost all the acoustic inapps. That was before I tried to use them in recording. Sure, I ran a test to see if my keyboard controller worked with it. It did, no problem. That is when I went on my buying spree.
But when I used it in a real recording setup the hate started rising.
- It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to keep the creative juice going, because inevitably, every few minutes, you have to RESET the instrument on the browser for one reason or another.
- With more than three instances of AU on my ipad4 it crashes and freezes the screen. That may be not so with later models and more RAM.
- The worst and what is most frustrating is the HANGING NOTES,! I had heard about this phenomenon but never experienced it till now.
So, dealing with these three issues causes the workflow to die. ISymphonic's AUs wait patiently with a single word on the screen "ready". Now that is music to one's ears!
Anyone have any answers for any of these three difficulties? Would be grateful to at least eliminate the hanging notes somehow. Thanks!
Comments
Maybe try it as a standalon / IAA rather than AU? Since you can have up to 16 instruments loaded simultaneously, maybe you don't need multiple AU instances? I think, if set up properly, each pad will respond on its corresponding midi channel.
I've not seen issue #1, sometimes #3, but I don't give it a very rough workout.
The high quality of the sound packs comes at a price in terms of ram usage. You're probably exceeding what the ipad can handle for AUs.
You're pushing an iPad 4 beyond it's capabilities. Until you can upgrade freeze a track from midi to audio before adding a new AU. That will take you farther with that platform.
Yep, like @Wim suggests. With iSymphonic and Beathawk, the benefit of AU tends to be statesaving over running more than a couple of instances. Do you always do the iPad reset before starting any new session as well?
At some point I may install BeatHawk again...
What I didn't like about it was the somewhat 'sluggish' UI on an Air 2 compared to other apps.
There is no post-record quantise (like quantise selection), no way to 'trim' recorded samples to cut out some slack before saving them, no input-monitoring when sampling etc. etc. (it's more of a 'preset player' as is).
The default kit which the app starts with is very un-inspiring to me, maybe there is a way to change the default kit that gets loaded or start with a totally clean kit? (I know, i can always start a new session but being able to make the app start with a clean slate is not to much to ask for or?).
The sound packs are quite nice but unlike iMPC Pro/Pro 2/AudioCopy they are 'locked' inside BeatHawk...
The song arranger on the other hand deserves some credit. It's very easy to arrange/mute parts of a pattern to do build-ups and variations. What could improve is to be able to freely choose which 'pattern' the pads come from to mix and match content from different patterns without needing to do copy & paste...
And well, it's kinda shame we can't yet use the 'UVI Engine' to create our own instruments in BeatHawk...
I love this app. It would be great if they integraded one of there uvi synths and upgraded there sampler and add a proper mixer with more effects. It’s power for how simple it is compared to none.
I'm mostly using it right now as a midi sketchpad when I've gotten something set up in AB3 / AUM / Ape Matrix and then want to capture some riffs. Particularly when I'm on the iPhone. It's a substitute for what I'd really like to have which is a simple midi recorder / playback AU. I would prefer to use Xequence for this, but need it to have Link, and not to need it to be the clock master.
Its also my favorite AU sound module for Piano, Acoustic Drums, and Mellotron sounds.
I use the app as IAA or standalone.
Never have an issue.
I really don't need more than the instruments available on 1 instance of the original IAA or Audiobus version.
Not being snarky but just letting you know I have NO issues using other than AU.
Is Beathawk a suped up, full-featured beatbox, or a frustratingly limited ROMpler/DAW? Yes, and Yes. When it first came out (what was it, back in like 2015?), compared to the MPC-type apps up to that point, it was like a supercharged beatbox and synth all in one, all fueled by the awesome UVI sound library. Now that the library has expanded many times over, does it start to feel like Kontakt with limitations?
To some degree, how you think about these things, colors your experience. Yes, if you start pushing the limitations you're gonna feel some hate.
In some ways the iPad as a whole has gone through a similar evolution. Is it an awesome portastudio or a crippled desktop DAW? At first we were happy to being making music at all on an overblown Kindle/phone. Now things start creeping to the realm of desktop power, it starts to feel a little clunky by comparison.
For me, iOS is about discovery. It's great that we can try out all these incredible sounds for cheap, and get inspired and start sketching out ideas in a relaxed environment. But as things get more complex, that's where the crunch of workflow efficiency starts to impinge.
Back in 2015, I did a few tracks within the tablet, and it can still be satisfying to work that way, as long as you can keep the limitations in perspective. But when ideas start to evolve, and arrangements get more complex, there's still no beating the workflow efficiency of the desktop environment. My goal is now always to get things rendered as audio and out of the iPad as soon as possible. Exporting tracks from Beathawk is a little more convoluted than it needs to be, IMO, but its workable once you've done it a few times. Or I will just use Beathawk as a ROMpler w/ Studiomux and record tracks one at a time in my desktop DAW, 90s-hardware-synth style.
Everything iOS is a love/hate experience to some degree. Trying to appreciate each technology for its strengths, and not expecting it to shine with complete elegance when pushed to its limits, helps keep things more on the love side. :-)
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I feel you there. But it WAS inspiring for me when I first encountered it back in 2015. This track was constructed mostly around the default kit and factory library. This was actually one of the first things I ever did on iOS. (Jakob Haq was obviously inspiring as well!
)
Thanks, @Lady_App_titude, @wim, @samu, @RUST( i )K, @stormywaterz, @McDtacy, @gusgranite, for all your insights.
I can see, as the Bard said, the default is not in the stars but in my iPad, for it is but a lowling, or something like that.
Really nice track @Lady_App_titude. Check the YouTube videos of the raiding series Mindwebs... it begins just like your piece.
Loved the mid eastern feeling as I am sort of near the Mideast in Turkey.
How about the hanging notes, guys? That is really the most distracting issue. I don't think this is an iPad issue, or is it?
This would be my guess and suggestion as well.
Thanks, @Audiojunkie . Will do.
See if it's better using IAA or Standalone. The hanging notes may be more of a problem in the AU.
Hanging notes happen when an app misses a note-off message either because it didn't get sent or because it was too busy at the time to receive it, or whatever. So, if you're working that iPad 4 to death trying to host multiple AU instances and with all those fast notes your sickly developed chops enable you to do, it's more likely that a message or two will be lost. Getting down to one instance, and using the app as it was mainly developed (AU was added later), should reduce the chances of that happening.
I don’t have a problem with hanging notes on iPad Pro 9.7.
“[T]here is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
— Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
Thx! Wow! Never heard of Mindwebs! Classic SF radio drama! Robert Silverberg, Ray Bradbury... Can’t wait to check it out!
Me like! I like the scale you use.
kinda composer, cubasis, pro tools... however, I like Gadget.
But I don’t know how to use any app with these grid pads, like BeatHawk, iMPC Pro & v2... and Beatmaker.
I buy them but haven’t taken time to learn how to use them... I guess I’m an appoholic, not even anonymous
I’m a linear @LinearLineman
The workflow in Gadget is impressive. But with 35 Celsius in Norway, workflow is slower than tectonic plate movement. It’s supposed to be polar bears here! And the whole town is sold out of fans. Thank goddess I have Polar Beer 🍺
Beathawk works nicely as IAA or in standalone mode. As an AU, don’t use more than one instance, two or three it will crash even on newer devices. To avoid tapping on browser all the time forgot about song mode and use only patterns, then freeze AU in Cubasis. iOS really needs you to render as audio as often as possible to keep ressources and avoid crashes and bad workflow. About hanging notes, I use it mostly in apeMatrix and use panic button sometimes. BeatHawk has nice and inspiring sounds but is the buggiest music app on iOS IMO, at least as AU. Love/hate relationship for me too!!
@LineraLineMan I think if you pick a single BeatHawk sound and record as midi into Cubasis until you're ready to switch to another instrument. Then freeze that track and pick a new BeatHawk (or iSymphonic or any AU or IAA instrument) to record as midi (or direct to audio).
A frozen track uses a fraction of the CPU that these AU Midi instruments do so switching to audio frees up CPU for another track to be added.
Following this process should allow you to push your iPad 4 to multiple tracks and also keep the hanging MIDI notes under control. You'll only experience MIDI hanging notes on the current track with the others frozen and if you do... then mute one of the audio tracks to free up more CPU to catch all the MIDI Note "off" events.
While not ideal you should be able to make Cubasis Projects with a lot of tracks and complexity on your iPad 4.
Upgrading your iPad would allow you to have more AU's in parallel but still only 3-4 max. To have a large AU Project you're going to have to use a desktop with 16GB of RAM and play a lot more for the software. At that point it's worth considering that the iPad can be an external sound module for a Mac Desktop DAW like Logic Pro X using the IDAM technology. So, all your IOS instrument investment is still useful.
If you really get the bug to make perfect sounding projects with real sounding instruments you'll love not hitting all the technical limits of IOS but have to pay for the extra capability.
Love IOS for the mobility, the elegant design and availability of low cost software choices.
@Lady_App_titude : Nice track .. I think I hear Gadget on there . SO well said and that’s why I just bought a Korg Kross 2 where I can record on the two tracknaudio recorder, the sampler, etc when iOS gets fidgety.
@McDtracy : You too, some really great ideas there. I agree about ios , it isn’t perfect but it’s economically feasible at least
Thx, @Telstar5 ! 100% Beathawk, except for the spoken phrase samples. Didn’t yet own Gadget back then.
I just found another tip:
Record using a light weight default MIDI instrument in the App that's close to the sound you seek. Then swap out that instrument for an AU or IAA App and freeze that track. That way you won't get "note hangs", or crackling while performing.
Rinse and repeat. (Never throw away the original MIDI track so you can revisit the settings).
Damn that's good music. It's hard to believe that was your first #Apptronica track. It begs the question:
What tools were you using before this one? Hardware Modules or a desktop DAW environment?
All 12 of your SoundCloud tracks show incredible effort to get the details perfect. I'll admit up front... I won't ever work that hard at this but I really respect those who do.
I still am not 100 on the export of work and loops vs entire song and the methodology of finish and playing live recording in the app.
But still best quality instruments of the genre imho.
Hi @McDtracy. Thanks for the well reasoned advice. I actually had three AU instances of Beathawk running ok. It was the fourth that sank me! Now I know better. Yes, Cracklepot taught me the freeze technique. I also frequently add a no instrument midi track and arm it along with an audio input. That gives me both audio and midi where otherwise might not be possible. But that is not Germaine, just very interesting.
I don't think I will ever do desktop now, too enamored with the touchscreen. My projects will never be large enough to outrun the iPad Pro. Probably will buy in September. Really I could manage on the 4 if I had to but it is tight.
I avoided the note off problem altogether on my Ludwig project by mixing down the four tracks I had successfully made. Then I added three more to the stereo mixdown, none of which was BH. Worked great though some flexibility was lost.
I agree @RUST( i )K , tho ISymphonic for acoustics is less buggy and similar quality. Not quite as in your face as a lot of the BH sounds, however. I am fast realizing to just accept the limitations, be grateful for all there is to utilize and thru experience just workaround them. I just wanted to understand note off phenomena and crashing. Seems like it is all in cpu management and enough RAM, which for me 4 gb would be plenty as I am having a blast with 1gb!
Using the freeze approach, do you think you could you make a multitrack Project using the BeatHawk sounds? Or does it crash with just one AU or IAA Instrument running when other audio tracks are playing?
@McDtracy, I don't think I will have any pRobles if I stick to two instances of AU with BH. It was just the collection of note offs, crashes, and browser defaults together that made it seem not worth the effort. But now I understand I can deal with it.
Thx, @McDtracy ! Yes, I will admit some of those tracks took several weeks to craft.
I've been doing this on and off since the early 70s, and have been through many transitions in technology, from tape and analog, to the rise of digital and MIDI, to DAWs and plugins and virtual instruments, and since about 2015, iOS and tablets have made their impact on the scene. My first software sequencer back in the 80s was MOTU Performer, and it still remains my main DAW in its current form, Digital Performer 9.1. Around 2010 I got rid of the big console and a lot of the outboard gear and went "in the box," a MOTU 828mk3, and UAD-2 Satellite replacing my erstwhile PCI card system.
I was a fairly late adopter of the iPad and initially dubious of its usefulness in pro music applications. Around 2015 I got my first iPad (an Air 1), and it was largely from watching videos like thesoundtestroom and Jakob Haq (and before that Sonic Touch (RIP) w/ Nick Batt and Gaz Williams) that I started to take the iPad more seriously. I invented the "Lady App-titude" alter ego just for iOS experiments... At least I viewed anything iOS as experimental at first. Before long (and a lot of awesome new apps later), the iPad became just another tool, and the iron curtain between iOS and desktop started to come down.
Speaking of hardware ... Just as of this week, I decided to break out some of my old rack gear that's been in mothballs since 2010... Cranked up the old Lexicon rack unit and am rediscovering how awesome that thing can be. I patch it into DP using the "hardware insert" feature, so it's almost as convenient as a software plugin. Also, broke out some my guitar pedals and rack units (SansAmp, Rocktron, etc.)... I forgot how brilliant hardware can be for certain things! Esp. guitar!
That's great... because collecting great sounds for making things that sound like a group of live musicians recorded it is a treat. Doing that with IOS and not having to buy all the instruments involved and not having to learn to play them well is a lot of fun.
We only have so much time and IOS music ends up saving a lot of time and money. Even if we spend so much time and money using it.
Having a lot of hardware and the skills to use it is ideal. Being able to approximate the end results on an iPad is magical.
Can you share a pointer to your DP or hardware based Projects?
Your IOS catalog is so good I'd love to hear what you've been crafting over the last 30 years.
@LinearLineMan showed me where I could find his 5 recordings of piano music from the 1990's. For every record there's 1 track available to stream as a sample of the whole. I bought his "Live at Greenwich House" record and it's a masterful example of solo jazz piano.