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.

Something new from Novation.

edited October 2018 in Other

http://www.synthanatomy.com/2018/10/novation-will-announce-sl-mkiii-keyboard-series-centerpiece-of-your-music-production-studio-leak.html

Well I wasn’t expecting a midi keyboard! Bit of a let down ! Or not, I wonder how it will integrate with iOS ?

Comments

  • Shame be thrown on Sweetwater ! .....not just a midi keyboard...looks to have CV/Gate I/O also and an on board 8 track polyphonic pattern sequencer (Circuit sequencer ?), that'd be pretty neat for sequencing apps/synths hosted in AUM !

  • The missing integration with iOS apps has always been the main reason why such keyboards don't give you much of an advantage over hands-on control on glass.
    Touching plastic knobs usually feels better than glass but to make the experience great, things have to work without much thinking and without the common concept of mapping as few as 8 or 16 knobs/faders to maybe 100 synth parameters on multiple virtual pages.

    // dream mode on
    In a perfect world, we'd have iOS apps with bi-directional controller communication and hardware controllers with LED rings or value bars always showing the current values for every knob and every button. The controller would have as many controls as the synth and everything would be laid out exactly like on the synth so there's no mind-bending required to do quick edits.
    We'd also have high-res controller values that always offer the same knob fine-tuning as inside the app.
    // dream mode off

    These limitations made me forget the idea of using a hardware controller with iOS apps, or in fact with desktop plugins as well.
    A touch screen has in many cases been the more appropriate and immediate controller.

  • why throw shame at sweetwater? those guys are awesome! > @AndyPlankton said:

    Shame be thrown on Sweetwater ! .....not just a midi keyboard...looks to have CV/Gate I/O also and an on board 8 track polyphonic pattern sequencer (Circuit sequencer ?), that'd be pretty neat for sequencing apps/synths hosted in AUM !

  • I agree shame on Sweetwater for letting the cat out the bag, or is the cat a dog who knows. Synthfest is on in the UK this weekend so may see the proper news then as Novation have a stand.

  • @eross said:
    why throw shame at sweetwater? those guys are awesome!

    They have advertised it before it has been announced ! Didn't they do the same with Moog One ?

    @Jumpercollins said:
    I agree shame on Sweetwater for letting the cat out the bag, or is the cat a dog who knows. Synthfest is on in the UK this weekend so may see the proper news then as Novation have a stand.

    Yeah hopefully the proper announcement will happen soon and all the work that Novation will have done getting ready won't have been totally nullified by an over eager retailer !

  • Oh really? didn’t know that about the moog one. I just figured they got permission to realease it via print early. I just got their catalog yesterday, I’m gonna ya e to go through and see if there are any other cool things in there. > @AndyPlankton said:

    @eross said:
    why throw shame at sweetwater? those guys are awesome!

    They have advertised it before it has been announced ! Didn't they do the same with Moog One ?

    @Jumpercollins said:
    I agree shame on Sweetwater for letting the cat out the bag, or is the cat a dog who knows. Synthfest is on in the UK this weekend so may see the proper news then as Novation have a stand.

    Yeah hopefully the proper announcement will happen soon and all the work that Novation will have done getting ready won't have been totally nullified by an over eager retailer !

  • @eross said:
    Oh really? didn’t know that about the moog one. I just figured they got permission to realease it via print early. I just got their catalog yesterday, I’m gonna ya e to go through and see if there are any other cool things in there. > @AndyPlankton said:

    @eross said:
    why throw shame at sweetwater? those guys are awesome!

    They have advertised it before it has been announced ! Didn't they do the same with Moog One ?

    @Jumpercollins said:
    I agree shame on Sweetwater for letting the cat out the bag, or is the cat a dog who knows. Synthfest is on in the UK this weekend so may see the proper news then as Novation have a stand.

    Yeah hopefully the proper announcement will happen soon and all the work that Novation will have done getting ready won't have been totally nullified by an over eager retailer !

    hehehe Probably just a misunderstandings rather than anything deliberate.

  • A bit pricey...

  • @Dubbylabby said:
    A bit pricey...

    That's the crux. $600 for a midi controller for Groovething?

  • For a Novation midi controller. If it was NI will be cheap.
    Let’s full specs before. Groovethinga could be expensive or cheap but for 600$ I can buy an arranger...

  • Not that price point.

    Getting a little silly on that price.

    I mean, you can get a SQ sequencer, a Volca, and a KORG NANO studio for that price.......

  • NOVATION

    NEVER CEASING TO DISAPPOINT FOR THE LAST YEAR OR TWO.

  • I hope the build quality is better than their Launchkeys.

  • At the suggested retail prices they also better include the features from the AudioHub...

  • I’ll be following it to see how good the sequencer is really going to be. This might be perfect. If it’s just like the Circuit it’s not good enough, but I’ll have my hopes up. Given that the sequencer is on a keyboard, I would think it will be more oriented for keyboard playing and not just a step sequencer.

    Yeah, maybe it’s a bit expensive. I have a Korg Kross 2 for about the same price and it has sounds of it’s own, and a really in depth 16 channel sequencer at 480PPQ. I kind of hate using it though. So much menu diving. Can’t really do live sequencing unless you already set it up ahead of time.

  • @Dubbylabby said:
    For a Novation midi controller. If it was NI will be cheap.
    Let’s full specs before. Groovethinga could be expensive or cheap but for 600$ I can buy an arranger...

    Reading in detail it has cv (ok) but also 5 lcds! Ok... not my cup of tea but this could justify the price point. We are talking about master and commander with 5 dedicated screens I supose any of them for computer and others for sequencing and external gear...?

    That’s almost interesting and makes sense against NI komplete keyboards and price range.

  • @MonzoPro said:
    I hope the build quality is better than their

    They are like $100? At that price point I would say they are pretty great.

  • edited October 2018

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @MonzoPro said:
    I hope the build quality is better than their

    They are like $100? At that price point I would say they are pretty great.

    The one I have was not like a $100, it was nearly £200.

    The main body and knobs are ok, but the keyboards crap.

  • @MonzoPro said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @MonzoPro said:
    I hope the build quality is better than their

    They are like $100? At that price point I would say they are pretty great.

    The one I have was not like a $100, it was nearly £200.

    The main body and knobs are ok, but the keyboards crap.

    Agreed.

  • Three years ago I decided to get a small keyboard for iPad input. I also wanted a vocoder, so the Novation MiniNova looked like a good choice. And in general I do like it. But within the first year, 3 white keys in 3 different octaves had broken at the hinge. This from gentle playing and never leaving my studio.
    I replaced each octave with spare parts ordered from Full Compass. Before another year passed, three more keys have broken. And judging by online posts, there must be hundreds of Novation MiniNovas out there with the same recurring problem. A lot of money being paid out just to keep a “professional” synth playable. This is an obvious (deliberate?) design flaw by Novation. I have never had keys break on any other synth or keyboard, and even the toy keyboards abused by my kids never had this happen. I am so frustrated after buying this synth, I will never go near Novation hardware ever again.

  • edited October 2018

    @amarok said:
    Three years ago I decided to get a small keyboard for iPad input. I also wanted a vocoder, so the Novation MiniNova looked like a good choice. And in general I do like it. But within the first year, 3 white keys in 3 different octaves had broken at the hinge. This from gentle playing and never leaving my studio.
    I replaced each octave with spare parts ordered from Full Compass. Before another year passed, three more keys have broken. And judging by online posts, there must be hundreds of Novation MiniNovas out there with the same recurring problem. A lot of money being paid out just to keep a “professional” synth playable. This is an obvious (deliberate?) design flaw by Novation. I have never had keys break on any other synth or keyboard, and even the toy keyboards abused by my kids never had this happen. I am so frustrated after buying this synth, I will never go near Novation hardware ever again.

    I was pretty shocked by the poor quality of the Launchkey keyboard - it was a present but otherwise I’d have returned it. To be honest I haven’t used it, as it’s not been as compatible with my gear as I’d expected, and usually end up using my little Korg.

    Frustrating as the rest of it is pretty well made, but those keys just put me off as they’re so fragile. To put it into context, they’re worse than the keys on a £50 Yamaha PS, and that’s got built in sounds as well!

    To add insult to injury their Launchkey app wasn’t compatible with it!

    I’ll never buy Novation hardware again.

  • edited October 2018

    I have a used Ultranova being delivered in a couple days to use as a MIDI controller - bigger than my 25key MPKmini but smaller than the good Nektar T4 49key I wanted (which was almost as wide as an old 61key Yamaha piano we're donating soon). Both were the same price, one used, one new. Thankfully, I've never read of any issues with the hardware part of the Ultranova as it's generally regarded as a solid piece of equipment, so fingers crossed.

  • I've bought half a dozen 2nd hand Novation X-Stations the past couple of years, and never had an issue with the keys. In fact the semi-weighted keyboard is lovely. Channel aftertouch too. I don't believe these are the same as the Launchkey products tough, which I haven't tried but always looked a little cheap to me.

    I'd like to think if Novation are charging that price for the new SL MKIII that they'd be using something closer to the X-Station keybed.

  • edited October 2018

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I've bought half a dozen 2nd hand Novation X-Stations the past couple of years, and never had an issue with the keys. In fact the semi-weighted keyboard is lovely. Channel aftertouch too. I don't believe these are the same as the Launchkey products tough, which I haven't tried but always looked a little cheap to me.

    I'd like to think if Novation are charging that price for the new SL MKIII that they'd be using something closer to the X-Station keybed.

    The X-station is quite sturdy and I think it belongs to that (previous) generation of products, albeit it felt a bit plasticky next to K-Station.

    I actually generally found Novation products have better feel than other midi controllers apart from maybe Arturia but I'm reading a lot of posts of people complaining about Circuit dust issues etc. so maybe the solid feel doesn't necessarily translate to long duration of the product.

  • @SpookyZoo said:
    I've bought half a dozen 2nd hand Novation X-Stations the past couple of years, and never had an issue with the keys. In fact the semi-weighted keyboard is lovely. Channel aftertouch too. I don't believe these are the same as the Launchkey products tough, which I haven't tried but always looked a little cheap to me.

    I'd like to think if Novation are charging that price for the new SL MKIII that they'd be using something closer to the X-Station keybed.

    I'd like to think the same. Think it's pretty common these days for most companies to skimp on the build quality of their cheaper instruments in order to do that 'cheaper' part—particular gear designed for portability where lighter parts make sense. I wouldn't prejudge the build quality of the Korg Prologue based on my experience with the build quality of the Korg NanoKey or even the MiniLogue.

    I'm not excited about this thing either way. The sequencer would really have to be something for me to spend that kind of money on something obviously designed for the desktop. "Intelligent DAW Control" means it ain't for iOS nerds. Indeed, those 5 screens practically screen Ableton to me.

  • edited October 2018

    Yup... hardly they are going to implement the required driver inside any freebie app and IAP will be so nichey. The common sense says unlock from hardware connected but I don’t see it... Can you imagine one screen for Blocs, groovebox, launchpad...
    and the other two for packs and ads? :trollface:

  • @supadom said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I've bought half a dozen 2nd hand Novation X-Stations the past couple of years, and never had an issue with the keys. In fact the semi-weighted keyboard is lovely. Channel aftertouch too. I don't believe these are the same as the Launchkey products tough, which I haven't tried but always looked a little cheap to me.

    I'd like to think if Novation are charging that price for the new SL MKIII that they'd be using something closer to the X-Station keybed.

    The X-station is quite sturdy and I think it belongs to that (previous) generation of products, albeit it felt a bit plasticky next to K-Station.

    I actually generally found Novation products have better feel than other midi controllers apart from maybe Arturia but I'm reading a lot of posts of people complaining about Circuit dust issues etc. so maybe the solid feel doesn't necessarily translate to long duration of the product.

    @MonzoPro said:

    @amarok said:
    Three years ago I decided to get a small keyboard for iPad input. I also wanted a vocoder, so the Novation MiniNova looked like a good choice. And in general I do like it. But within the first year, 3 white keys in 3 different octaves had broken at the hinge. This from gentle playing and never leaving my studio.
    I replaced each octave with spare parts ordered from Full Compass. Before another year passed, three more keys have broken. And judging by online posts, there must be hundreds of Novation MiniNovas out there with the same recurring problem. A lot of money being paid out just to keep a “professional” synth playable. This is an obvious (deliberate?) design flaw by Novation. I have never had keys break on any other synth or keyboard, and even the toy keyboards abused by my kids never had this happen. I am so frustrated after buying this synth, I will never go near Novation hardware ever again.

    I was pretty shocked by the poor quality of the Launchkey keyboard - it was a present but otherwise I’d have returned it. To be honest I haven’t used it, as it’s not been as compatible with my gear as I’d expected, and usually end up using my little Korg.

    Frustrating as the rest of it is pretty well made, but those keys just put me off as they’re so fragile. To put it into context, they’re worse than the keys on a £50 Yamaha PS, and that’s got built in sounds as well!

    To add insult to injury their Launchkey app wasn’t compatible with it!

    I’ll never buy Novation hardware again.

    I think they have 3 'grades' of keybed ...
    From cheapest first...

    Launchkey
    SL/Remote/BassStation/X-Station
    Impulse

    I'd guess this is in the middle tier.

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