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

What stops you from completing tracks/projects?

2

Comments

  • edited September 2018

    Mild perfectionism exacerbated by lack of time compounded sometimes by trying to learn new things. Those are my current issues.

    Example: I have a song done but am not happy with some of the sounds in mixing. The song took extra time because I was using both Gadget and Waveform (PC) - slowing the workflow - and adding in samples of instruments I'm not familiar with (distorted electric guitar and horns) in a the direction of a genre outside my norm. I gave myself one month calendar time to figure it out or call it good enough. I only make a few songs per year - and I'm ok with that.

    Deadlines matter. Letting go and moving on matters. Completion matters.

    I have a few more songs started that I got stuck on. I usually go back and listen and see if I can make progress on one. Try hard. But if it doesn't click, I put those down again and start a new one.

  • A quick story.

    I met a 14 year old girl playing at an Open Mic and she was talented beyond her years. We got to know her family and I ended up being her drummer for 2 years as she moved past Open Mic's to paying gigs and eventually formed and ran a band
    that toured with her.

    Early on, when she did covers I mentioned she was missing a chord in a difficult Sting tune and wrote out the correct chord progression. At this point she had practiced the chords "wrong" for hours and it was part of her muscle memory that allowed her to sing while playing. She would drill the chords often at 2 times the normal speed to allow her to sing. That was her process. Changing that one chord would mean unlearning hours of practice. I said it's a small thing. Forget I said it.

    She never played that song (with a mistake) again. She just wouldn't play it at all. One of my favorites too and it only was performed 2-3 times before I tried to help.

    At this point she has 4 albums on iTunes and tours for a living.
    Has been interviewed by Guitar Magazine about her fingerstyle acoustic technique and influences and has won song writing competitions. So, she developed a thicker skin over time.

    I didn't make the same mistake twice.

    If anyone told her a song she wrote reminded her of another song she would listen to the original intently for any potential plagerism because of the George Harrison "My Sweet Lord" law suit. If there was a hint of similarity the whole song went into the trash.

    What we say to artists matters more to them than to us. And anyone learning can be derailed by our "advice" permanently.
    I have a daughter that can sing really well but some high school teasing from a boy she liked changed her life w.r.t. live performing.

    There was an active thread here with a member putting up a project every single day and a comment appeared in the thread:

    "quality over quantity" - always good advice right?

    It worked. Output stopped or at least sharing stopped.
    The thread rolled off the front page.

    One can only assume quality went up. Hard to tell. 3 words.

  • @McDtracy said:
    Bad reviews of my early work

    and my early work. (Hey... I was learning, OK?)

    My late work will be much better... if I ever finish anything.
    At least I know who NOT to share it with.

    Seriously, be generous with praise even when you hear absolute dreck. Your opinions can stiffle a creator. Always say one or more positive things first and then carefully select one criticism to move someone towards better producing.

    How many people will tell you they are bad at math? Math is just challenging. Music is a lot like math. Let people learn without trashing their joy at finishing something.

    There are folks here that have music at the heart of their lives but they would never trust you to judge them. And we all loose in that world.

    Music is not a competition... it's self-expression. Let everyone participate and show them you value their trust in letting you judge them. Give them positive first and a small bit of advice.

    If you disagree with this... fuck off. Oh sorry. You're just smarter and more talented and we appreciate you helping us by pointing out we shouldn't bother. OK? Now Fuck Off.

  • @Dubbylabby said:

    See. It helps to be born blind to achieve greatness in music.
    Does he even know that guitar playing is really hard? Probably not.

    The jerk that made the video did NOT understand the message of the song tho'.

    "Pick Somebody Up" is a double entendre and he went with the sexual connotation. All these people around Raul are hookin' up and he's just the house band. Still people like to see attractive people so that shit sells Raul to more buyers. He already won the blind audience with the sound track.

    Great answer to the "Why make music?" question. Because someone might be helped by the work. It's a service job.

    Joni Mitchell got me through some tough times. You need to believe someone can feel that bad and come through it.

  • edited September 2018

    @McDtracy said:

    @Dubbylabby said:

    See. It helps to be born blind to achieve greatness in music.
    Does he even know that guitar playing is really hard? Probably not.

    The jerk that made the video did NOT understand the message of the song tho'.

    "Pick Somebody Up" is a double entendre and he went with the sexual connotation. All these people around Raul are hookin' up and he's just the house band. Still people like to see attractive people so that shit sells Raul to more buyers. He already won the blind audience with the sound track.

    Great answer to the "Why make music?" question. Because someone might be helped by the work. It's a service job.

    Joni Mitchell got me through some tough times. You need to believe someone can feel that bad and come through it.

    Agreed. I posted due to my healing audiobus forum through Raul Midon’s songs campaign.

    I’m sometimes (I hope less and less) in that negative mood or too salty but music is my healing so if I can, everyone can...

    Also right actitude against free criticism (let’s say instead angry people just hating) is how Will Smith handle life. Another good example of human being to get inspiration alongside Bruce Lee, Raul Midon, Eckhart Tolle...

    Listen...

  • edited September 2018

    @McDtracy said:
    Bad reviews of my early work

    and my early work. (Hey... I was learning, OK?)

    My late work will be much better... if I ever finish anything.
    At least I know who NOT to share it with.

    Hmm, if this stopped you making music (or stifled you) then I guess it distills down to a couple of things;

    1. fear (of harsh, deflating criticism)
    2. lack of motivation i.e. you start to have feelings like “I must be no good at this” and “what’s the point?”.

    Either way it’s a real shame this happened and stifled your music making

    Does bring up an interesting point though - I agree that you should make music for your own satisfaction first and foremost. But it’s also natural enough to want to seek validation of your efforts, which means putting your stuff out there - but once you do that your head is above the parapet and it’s possibly a little naive to expect that everyone out there is going to be mindful of your feelings (stranger danger!)

    Still, it sucks that you had a shitty experience - sorry to hear it

  • edited September 2018

    @Dawdles said:

    @AudioGus said:
    (I do feel somewhat Mozonian in my process.)

    When things are at their best lately this is what works for me...

    Constantly be sketching and making new material. This keeps the whole thing exciting and fresh. Right now I am more or less mixing an album on desktop (minimaly) on the weekend and sketching new material during the week on the iPad (using a tiny bit of weekend desktop sample building too). Sure enough some of the more pressure free commute sketches end up bumping out the weekends album contenders that were already being mixed, hah! This may seem like a waste but this breathes new life into the album, removes the weak or dead branches and is ultimately a good thing.

    The album is the priority, not the individual tracks within and often the best, most complete sounding results come from compiling the quick ‘out of nowhere’, inspired sketches. We just needs more swings at bat, A pretty good idea that has potential that has been sititng on the shelf too long is more likely to go nowhere, sound too labored and simply not get there, chuck it. Whip up new sketches instead to find the magic, not make it atom by atom in the lab.

    For me having a collection of competing tunes being developed in paralel (see it as a living top ten) is a good way to go. Also, a development or inovation on one tune can inform what to do on another. I don't feel bad tossing a tune out in favor of an other and just let the best rise to the top and feel good about the best ones. Sometimes the tossed tune ends up on another album anyway, maybe not. What makes a good a tune for me is that it fits within a context of other tunes and is supported by them. A tune can be good but simply be in the wrong group.

    Unfinished sketches are never failures. Sketch! Sketch! Sketch!

    Anyway, I need to share more stuff soon as none of this means anything without examples, heh.

    This is eerily reminiscent of my exact workflow/scenario past year or two...Can totally relate to/agree with everything you said. Good luck finishing the LP :)

    Cool Dawdles, thanks for the luck! :). You too. Hope to have something to share soonish... maybe a dealine wouldnt hurt on this one heh.

  • edited September 2018

    Time Management and Prioritization of Tasks -
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management

  • @MobileMusic said:
    Time Management and Prioritization of Tasks -
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management

    +1

  • Thanks @richardyot. High praise from such a talented and productive musician.
    I'm just all dried up! I had a short time where I wrote some, (not so great) tunes but even that stopped. I kept doing covers just for fun and practice but I seem to have just given up lately. Not sure how to get it going again.

    @richardyot said:

    @Bootsy said:
    Lack of creativity, talent and I'm extremely lazy.

    In your case it's definitely not lack of talent :)

    And if you really are lazy, get working, you've got one of the best singing voices I've ever heard!

  • @Bootsy said:
    Thanks @richardyot. High praise from such a talented and productive musician.
    I'm just all dried up! I had a short time where I wrote some, (not so great) tunes but even that stopped. I kept doing covers just for fun and practice but I seem to have just given up lately. Not sure how to get it going again.

    @richardyot said:

    @Bootsy said:
    Lack of creativity, talent and I'm extremely lazy.

    In your case it's definitely not lack of talent :)

    And if you really are lazy, get working, you've got one of the best singing voices I've ever heard!

    If you ever fancy a collab, let me know!

  • Hanging out in forums with nice people ;)

  • edited September 2018

    I don’t have many problems finishing songs. I have more problems starting them, if I don’t think I can take it to completion and adhere to the requirements without dilly-dallying around and being creative.

    Historically, almost everything I’ve started has become a completed work. The mistakes I used to be guilty of are:

    • taking too long to decide I’m finished (specifically, from a Project Management point of view, this is “not knowing what ‘done’ looks like” (see Glen B. Alleman, @galleman / http://herdingcats.typepad.com/ ) but I’m quite sensitive to that now, so it isn’t a trap I fall into quite so much).

      • For this, I have a clear idea of the specification and scope, which calls the project into being.
    • tweaking (I’ve always said, I’m not a perfectionist, I’m an adequatist.

      • These days I really mean it, not just say it);
    • not respecting a deadline (having worked in design and production for decades, I’m very oriented to getting work out of the door, on time and up to spec)

      • For my music, the deadlines are my own, but they’re still deadlines, so I’m not allowed to change them.

    It does mean that I’m really not prolific at all. However, I’m not wasteful either.

  • edited September 2018

    Oftentimes my barrier is when the workload becomes more convoluted than need be. It's all about the constant search for workflow optimisation. For instance, Gadget needs better IFX (or at least more IFX slots), which sometimes means I need to bounce out the stems to do a proper mix elsewhere. Mastering was relatively easy with the Fabfilter plugs, but it goes much faster/easier in Grand Finale.

    Auxy and Sounds of KSHMR Vol 3 are a perfect marriage of sounds, if only Auxy had a ruddy melodic sampler already. However, Auxy combined with GF has proven the best combination for me to get tracks DONE! Yeah, the subscription is meh, but I get stuff DONE.

    Now if only Nanostudio 2 will be released.

  • Good thread.

    I also try to pack too much in to a track. Need to learn light and shade, space and density. This will put me back to square one sometimes while I tear it all down and start again.

  • @gusgranite said:
    Good thread.

    I also try to pack too much in to a track. Need to learn light and shade, space and density. This will put me back to square one sometimes while I tear it all down and start again.

    The most difficult part about the "tear down and rebuild it" method is REMEMBERING TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN STUCK! :lol: Ever hear the novel writer's slang "kill your darlings"? And of course making a copy of the original project before diving into the rebuilding just for reference. ;)

  • sound design, youtube, crap tv, my own self

  • @RedSkyLullaby said:
    sound design

    Thank you for those sound designs. It's very much appreciated and your work shows up in a lot of places. I hope you can hear it when it does.

  • @RedSkyLullaby said:
    sound design, youtube, crap tv, my own self

    In your case it might be fair to call a newly russled up patch a completed work ;)

  • Since it’s just a hobby these days I don’t worry about finishing anything. Sometimes I just noodle and sometimes I take something all the way to “finished”. There are so many things in life I “have” to do, I let music be the place I can “want” to do without any concern for finishing.

  • Well, another good question to help identify the “problem” would be to ask yourself, in *which way* are your songs “unfinished”?

    For me, I love the ride to the part where I have multiple tracks all talking to each other, and the rough general idea of a song is settled in and captured. So in my mind (and to my auto-correcting ears), the song is done. But it’s not really done for any other listeners of course.

    The step where each track needs better takes, is the step I’m just not that excited about. So I usually need a break from that song for a while, not to get bored. Then I can come back to it and fix it up and add/remove some layers. But this step takes the longest for me. Often *very* long.

    Then the 3rd step - mixing. I do mixing on iOS, so I enjoy this step as the tools are a pleasure to use - so no delays here.

  • edited February 2019

    Andd now, it's Lulu :)

  • edited February 2019

    I’ve actually been working on “fastest use of time” for my own situation ever since I became a new Dad 2 years ago. I’ve switched to the fastest DAW for me, Cubasis. Punch up a couple presets, and go. I now realize that my level of music does not benefit from all the Fabfilters and complicated setups, actually slows me down. Beyond that I’ve organized my home so I can record songs in 2 different rooms. I’ve got my main bedroom studio with a Focusrite interface, and a secret substudio using an old Behringer IS202 interface and a condenser Mic. Even got a Line6 sonic port to use in my car on my lunch hours at work. Paper & pencil is my songwriter now because it’s faster than any songwriting app or program I’ve seen. Everybody’s different of course, but for me I’m better when it’s like a track meet in a mine field: run run run, distraction, sprint sprint BOOM get up and run some more...

  • Aha yes this is very true!

    It's been really interesting reading everyones thoughts on this.

    For me a big problem is the process of writing lyrics.


    Here's how it goes for me quite often -

    1) This is awesome!! I have come up with a riff / phrase and really start getting into it - maybe record it and work on a few other parts

    2) This is tricky. Having written a few parts and maybe sections the hard work begins of finalising the song structure and trying to write some words

    3) This is shit. I just can't seem to get the words out... Maybe I just don't know what I want to say.. or maybe I do know what I want to say but it does not seem to want to fit into the melody I have.

    4) I am shit. And at this point I usually give up on the song

    5) This might might be ok. Rarely I actually get the words finished and perhaps they are bearable.

    6) This is awesome. I really did like that riff, hey and the words are pretty decent after all.


    I also struggle with getting engrossed in the excitement of all the new shiny apps and hardware we have available, and can spend many hours reading through specs / manuals / reviews / forums in order to plan the perfect setup.

    And I really do like to keep going on a track once I've started it - I often find it hard to recapture the creative energy I originally had if I reopen a tune I saved last week. It makes me feel like shying away from getting into anything unless I have 12 hours ahead of me clear to work on it... and who has 12 hours free??

  • I remember those days. Just keep the tape running. You’ll find something worth keeping. I did.

    I’d welcome it if he would interrupt me now. Sorry for being trite but the good times are happening as we speak.

  • I know - not bagging on my kids, just being honest in an admittedly snarky way. I've come to realize that for me finishing tunes requires silence and solitude, neither of which exists for me at the moment.

  • No judgement bro. It’s clear how connected you are with your kids. Pretty talented globetrotting tour guide of a son you have. Takes after his dad?

    The farthest away from home I got as a 10 year old was the Chicago suburbs.

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