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.
Comments
aha... is it just the ‘read me’ text file messing it up or did he change the folder structure too?
so the protocol is: folder with instrument name plus ‘.instrument’ appended / inside is folder named ‘instruments’ with instrument file inside and folder named ‘samples’ with a further folder inside with the instrument name containing all the samples.. ?
There is definitely a market for solid instruments. Something like BeatHawk or Korg Module do where the quality is very high and there are "demo" buttons in the App to give you a taste.
There's another thread that started with some shared instruments via personal dropbox links.
I was curious about what we need to do to use free samples since this app can record from other Apps to make it's samples and providing that instrument to someone else might be legally tricky because it's based upon someone's product. Probably why @VirSyn is hesitant to go there but they could leverage 3rd Party Sound Factories like KAPro, Scarbee, etc and take a cut of the transaction.
I'm not sure I can take an Apple EXS24 sound and just pass it around in an AudioLayer instrument. What do you think? If the EXS24 is based upon a free SF2 (Iowa University) I think I need to give credit and I'm OK... so have a way to add Readme's for credit is indicated.
I just added the text file. Just a description of the instrument I sampled, maybe my name and website, I forget. Nothing important in any case. Didn't guess that would affect it.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fznsdt6c4cae6cp/Jaymar.audiolayer.zip?dl=0
...Thanks for your comment - I’m thinking more, that a company like for example scarbee sell soundpacks for virsyn app (maybe in exs format...)...and I bought the mentioned apps - but still - there are some important sounds missing...
We're wading here through gigabytes of samples the last weeks and they may find its way to you sooner or later...
hmmm, gave it a try, gave a wrong format error message again? wonder what’s going on ?
oi. Okay. Trying again. My complete steps here:
-Exporting 'instrument and samples' from AudioLayer to iCloud
-Download on laptop
-Drag into Dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fznsdt6c4cae6cp/Jaymar.audiolayer.zip?dl=0
Worked here...
...nice sound btw
I use AudioShare for the process that @Multicellular describes.
...hello...wow, this sounds very good...looking forward...I will buy a lot of that:-)
It was worth $15 to learn I can locate an instrument in an SF2 file format and import it into Apple's EXS24 Player using the $30 Mainstage product and export just that one instrument as an EXS24 instrument.
Then AudioLayer can import that EXS24 instrument and I'm usually done if I remember to hit "Save".
This should prove really useful to make recordings where every instrument sounds good.
ok, this is slightly strange, @Multicellular ‘s instrument wouldn’t work for me using open in from dropbox ( others have ) or if i downloaded it onto the ipad into Docs app and used ‘open in’ there..
BUT I got it to work successfully by using Files App, going to the Docs folder selecting the zip and clicking ‘share’ then clicking share to Files ( ATTENTION! even if yr audiolayer files folder has disappeared from files it is actually visible using this routine?? for some reason )
i selected the audiolayer folder and clicked ADD then in the Files App ( because there is now something in it as @Virsyn worked out ) i could go to the audiolayer folder and click on the zip file there... THIS imported the instrument aok! hurrah!
note: I have icloud switched off for audiolayer in settings and in the audiolayer app.
@Virsyn , any idea whats going on there? why wouldn’t the ‘open in’ function as it usually does ??
oh, and thanks @Multicellular for the toy piano, 3 velocity layers! nice work!!
Oh good. Glad it worked, sorry for mucking it up the first time.
no worries, everything is kinda undocumented at the moment (unless you trawl through the various audiolayer threads here ) so trial and error seems the only way!
still can't work out why direct 'open in' of yr newer zip instrument doesn't work for me though? a bit of a puzzle that one...
you could try the couple of simple drum machine instruments i put on the AL instruments thread and see if they 'open in' ok for you maybe?
Your Roland CR worked fine for me via ‘open in’
@VirSyn
1st) Thank You for Audio Layer!
I'm having a few issues.
1.) StepPolyArp Unit & AUM
When using StepPolyArp Unit as a sequencer in AUM with Audio Layer, the notes are off by an octave. StepPloy is playing C#2 and C#3, but in Audio Layer they register as C#3 & C#4.
2.) Importing is a headache.
Currently I itunes import a folder into audio share. Then from within Audio Share I export that folder from audio share, back to audio share. (because the iTunes transfer folder in Audio Share does not show up in Audio Layer)
Then Audio Layer will see the ex/imported folder. I then create a folder inside Audio Layer, and import the samples in individually. This is extremely time consuming.
(Yes, I tried importing directly into Audio Layer with iTunes import. It transferred, but didn't show up in Audio Layer.)
3.) Better iCloud Support.
I want to use local storage for the samples, but have my instruments configuration saved via iCloud.
folder/folder/sample.wav
Spitfire - Albion II/Steam Redux - Depths of Darkness/C#3.wav
So long as I have a folder structure loaded locally on my device that matches my saved iCloud config, then I can load my instrument.
4.) SFZ Support ?
I'd love to just be able to have a folder named "Instrument Name" then inside that folder have a loadable SFZ file as well as another folder called "Samples". I can fine-tune the instruments on the iMac (SFZ is really just a text file pointing to samples), and then just load them when needed.
At this moment AudioLayer is a bit useless for Windows users as we can’t really take benefit from EXS import. It’s still interesting to create instruments from A to Z, but without SF2/SFZ support, AudioLayer will inevitably take dust in my case, I’m sorry to say it.
Excellent direction for updates to make this unique IOS App more useful in a workflow and for performance applications.
@VirSyn has gone quiet so we can only hope updates are coming. We have hints that they are looking at sample import (they have reviewed GB's of samples) and addressing icloud vs local headaches. As it functions now you can't use iCloud sample storage and take the iPad to a performance and call up instruments quickly. I had hopes this product would eliminate my need for Korg Module and it's "walled garden" of instruments that I paid dearly for... I still have to use it for live work. It has great instruments but AudioLayer could provide a similar set of quality sounds by letting me sample those instruments and other Apps I have invested it.
Fingers crossed... the potential is there and we should see additional Apps with this use case emerge.
PS Documentation or (or better yet I think) video tutorials would really help. Hopefully, Doug @thesoundtestroom or another YouTube or Patreon business owner will step up. We all want more value from the great Apps we buy.
_22 Pages ...
_
Ok, a few things now that I've read through what everyone has to say.
The only person I'm going to address directly is @VirSyn , but a lot of this is in response to what others have said.
.SFZ
Is by far my preferred option!
I remember seeing .sf2 being requested. .SFZ > .SF2
.EXS
For those one Windows and need exs24, you'll need a "program" called
@VirSyn
I remember seeing someone say "most" didn't have interest in multi gb 500+ sample instruments.
As you can see by the picture (7.4gb & 1,763 samples), at least one of us does, and I'll assume I'm not alone.
Even though I've bought both Cubasis and Auria Pro, neither of them are even on my iPad Pro (10.5).
I'm only interested in AUv3, and I'll only need two instances max.
2x StepPolyArp Unit (Left & Right hand) & 2x Audio Layer (Same Instrument).
I make musical stems broken down by instrument in AUM. I import the stems into Logic Pro X and then master on desktop.
@VirSyn if I could ask you please focus primarily on:
I honestly could do without the entire Effx Tab, and would be just fine with zero recording. The app store is filled with great effects and AUM records just fine.
Personally, I'm salivating at the idea of having some Hans Zimmer on my iPad. That HZ01 All-in-One (17.71gb) would take me about a month to port from kontakt. That time is a big reason I'd want iCloud saving for the instrument's config in someway, but want the actual samples to be local.
+1 for sfz support
http://www.sfzformat.com/legacy/
And an instrument creator (with auto detetection for sustained loop points) !
Usually we see variability in what forumites are looking for in an app. Not so with this one, apparently. Fix the storage challenge and SFZ support!
Still use this daily, though...
@VirSyn
Coming from NI Kontakt, I'd be willing to create instruments in AudioLayer if there is a way to get instrument definitions out of AL.
In other words: Can the "shared instrument" file be converted back to a well-known format like SFZ or EXS, or even better, have you thought about using such a format for storage anyway?
I wouldn't want my hard work to be usable in AL only, but AL seems like a great platform even if only using it for instrument creation on the go, created from live recordings.
1) i think this may be a matter of different naming convention of AL and StepPoly or do you mean the pitch itself is off ?
2) You can make it easier by just selecting directly the exs file in the imported folder via Files app. Then the import process starts.
3) We're just on reworking the file management cloud and local to have more flexibility.
I think it would be quite confusing having the instrument files shared between different devices, but the samples are only available on one. Technically this could be done of course, but i don't see the usage scenario here. Or do i miss a point ?
4) We're here preparing orchestral libraries to get a substantial amount of content to help increasing the sales and it's done with a alpha version of our sfz importer and i think this will find it's way into AudioLater hopefully soon.
And yes, AL is not only thought to but also capable to host multi gigabyte sample instruments and libraries
and we're fully committed to max out it's sampling possibilities.
Interesting idea, have never seen it from that point of view, will be thinking about that...
@VirSyn super impressive!!
Good news.
Thank you very much for even considering this!
@VirSyn
1.) The issue was resolved when importing the .exs
2.) ^ yes, I did that. It took multiple hours to upload, and then multiple hours to download.
3.) "Or do i miss a point".
Kinda, because not instrument files, but instrument configs. Unique to AudioLayer.
Lets call it a .VIR or a .SYN or something . Similar to a .sfz (text).
This would also be a good format for "We're here preparing orchestral libraries".
What I want to do is import an SFZ from iTunes into AudioLayer. I would then like AudioLayer to convert the .SFZ to a .VIR/.SYN and save it to iCloud. Then all the little tweaks made with the GUI would also be saved o the .VIR/.SYN. in iCloud.
Local
audiolayer/samples/instrument_name/sample.wav
iCloud
audiolayer/instruments/instrument_name.vir(/instrument_name.syn)
Example (iCloud)
audiolayer/instruments/steinwaymodelb.vir
^The Above would know to load samples from:
Example (Local)
audiolayer/samples/steinwaymodelb
Think of the .VIR/.SYN as a SFZ+ , but still editable in a basic text editor.
A MacOS version of AudioLayer that could also load those same .VIR/.SYN from iCloud would be amazing!
Well in that case, SFZ looks like the best option for the internal instrument definitions as well.
Or an XML format that can easily be translated to/from SFZ.