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.

New App - PolyPhase - Beta is open - not mine but seems very cool -

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Comments

  • Looking good, will submit by tomorrow. Many features added, all things improved!

  • @mekohler Very cool app! Having fun with this. And the update looks nice!

    Not sure if it made it into this next beta, but I'm happy to hear that you're considering implementing "activate on release" for controls as that is critical to really "playing" sequencers like this. If you also had a "HUD" for viewing the value hidden under your finger, that would be amazing!

    Also, please consider Audiobus integration. I know everyone wants AUv3, but I actually prefer Audiobus integration for complex sequencer apps like this:
    1- a complex app requires full use of the screen. While AUv3 can open full screen, this then blocks access to other AUs that you might want to have access to. This is less of an issue with Audiobus because...
    2- The Audiobus Connection Panel allows quick navigation to other AB hosted apps, it's probably the best way to navigate complex setups, however, it's even more useful as app controls can be embedded. (e.g. you could have all four "speaker" icons on the panel to allow users to turn tracks on and off remotely while in another app). This is what I find is most useful for "playing" an iOS device. For even more remote control, Audiobus Remote would allow lots of remote triggers.
    3- Audiobus 3 MIDI - maybe not needed for advanced users, but it eases the setup for less technical users.
    4- State Saving - no advantage over AUv3, just a feature parity.

    True, you could have multiple instances with an AUv3 - but how much random input does one need need?!


    BTW, I also have had system-wide audio issues. Several times now all audio on my iPad Pro (9.7", iOS 12.1) cuts out. I have to change the audio setup (plug / unplug headphones, etc.) to get audio back.

    I haven't been able to track this down, but it does seem related to the built-in synth: When I first started playing with this I would have the synth on and then turn it off to use MIDI. I would get the audio issue after some time had passed. Recently I haven't used the built-in synth at all and I haven't had the issue re-appear.

    • I updated to the new AudioKit and made some internal changes, let's see if that address the Audio problems some people reported

    • Audiobus after everything is stable...I don't want to try to integrate with other things (AB, Link, etc) prematurely and make a mess of things

    • Activate on release is not in this version, but there are side toggles to control all Track properties at once, as well as to move Track properties by discrete values (double / halve the length, rate, etc). If both are toggled that means you can double the rate of all Tracks at once, among other things.

  • Also, when doubling the length, it will take with it the notes of the previous length. This allows you to quickly halve lengths, capture some small phrase, double double double then morph....and end up with that small phrase repeated over 64 steps, but with slight variations. It works nicely!

  • @mekohler
    Tell us about the new key section at the bottom of the screen.
    Does it affect each lane - or the master track?

  • edited December 2018
    • At the top is your Global Key / Scale
    • Below are various Chord Keys and Chord Types you can toggle
    • If both a Chord Key and Chord Type are selected, then this Chord is passed to the Global Key / Scale, where it will be filtered again (if Filter Chords is toggled)
    • Press FC to toggle Filter Chords

    So if you want to just play whatever you want, turn off Filter Chords. Else, everything will always stay in Key. If you know music theory and know that a certain chord works well in the scale, you can turn off FC before choosing it. In the future I may have calculations of good out-of-key chords (borrowed chords), and have a toggle to allow those through.

    These chords and settings are saved with Snapshots if you want, so you can use the Snapshots to chord sequence as well. The entire Note Filter section applies globally.

  • Excellent app, please keep it up

  • @mekohler should there be a fresh beta now? I've got 1.3 (14)

  • No...submit tomorrow, then when it's approved (1-2 days) I will post here. You will have to delete the old version as the file structure and other internal things changed.

  • @mekohler said:

    • I updated to the new AudioKit and made some internal changes, let's see if that address the Audio problems some people reported

    Hopefully I'll have some time to really try to test this. So far, it's be a minute or two here and there so I can't track exactly what was happening...

    • Audiobus after everything is stable...I don't want to try to integrate with other things (AB, Link, etc) prematurely and make a mess of things

    Of course! No rush, just wanted to put it out there amongst the typical clamor for AUv3: AB is great for the high-level control it offers.

    • Activate on release is not in this version, but there are side toggles to control all Track properties at once, as well as to move Track properties by discrete values (double / halve the length, rate, etc). If both are toggled that means you can double the rate of all Tracks at once, among other things.

    Sounds great!

  • @mekohler said:
    No...submit tomorrow, then when it's approved (1-2 days) I will post here. You will have to delete the old version as the file structure and other internal things changed.

    Do you have a rough ETA for public release?

  • @skiphunt said:
    Do you have a rough ETA for public release?

    The beta will probably be out by Tuesday, unless some lone Apple engineer is working over the weekend. I might have another beta (1 week after) depending on people's comments. An official release shortly after that, followed by weekly-ish updates.

  • Looking forward to trying the upcoming beta. Kept from playing much with the current release when I read that the upcoming one would be a massive restructure.

  • @Zaubrer said:
    Looking forward to trying the upcoming beta. Kept from playing much with the current release when I read that the upcoming one would be a massive restructure.

    Not me!
    I love confusion!
    :D

  • New Beta is out, delete the old app first.

    https://testflight.apple.com/join/hUupoCpU

  • @mekohler Liking the GUI much more! Will dive in deeper later today. Congrats on a really cool idea!

  • Nice update @mekohler :) The gui looks more balanced now too.

  • Thanks!

    The only issue I have seen, from a stand-alone app perspective, is that moving the wavetable slider quickly will result in an audio hiccup 3% of the time. I can't figure it out!

    I think it's a limit with what I'm doing with AudioKit. Because you can toggle "Spread Waves", each Track needs to have it's own Wavetable synth. Changing the index of 4 wavetables at once is probably the cause. I either need to speak to the AK devs about what to do, or cripple the Spread Waves feature and have just 1 total Wavetable Synth (maybe 2?). Just letting you guys know, as audio hiccups are extremely frustrating and annoying :(

    Anyways, feedback and suggestions are welcome

    • Marcos
  • I'll be working on the following items next:

    • Audio and UI rendering optimizations (need to fix that hiccup)
    • CC control functionality and UI
    • Tweaking any minor layout issues for larger (11 & 12 inch) iPads
    • Adding sus / dom chords and moving FC toggle somewhere else
    • Adding exotic scales
  • edited December 2018

    I get midi hiccups too when switching between Polyphase and other apps.
    But this is a common iOS issue and can only really be solved with AUv3 integration where it doesn't happen, if you're working with synths in the same host

  • edited December 2018

    @Carnbot It's a MIDIBus documented issue. I am looking into migrating the MIDI to AudioKit and not using MIDIBus. I'm not sure if AK has the same issue when switching apps.

  • The updates are quite excellent! My only complaint about the nifty new chord selector at the bottom is that the selecting process by dragging is a little fiddly. Took me a couple of tries to turn it from minor to major for instance.

  • You can't drag from value to value, they are discrete button presses. I could add dragging...I wasn't sure if it would lead to accidental selection.

  • Sounds good, very musical. Looking forward to diving in further.

  • edited December 2018

    @mekohler said:
    You can't drag from value to value, they are discrete button presses. I could add dragging...I wasn't sure if it would lead to accidental selection.

    Oh sorry, my explanation was terrible. I meant the key selector that sits at the top of that UI panel (not the chord selector below it, which works quite nicely!).

  • Adding sus / dom chords and exotic scales next!
    Fantastic :)

  • @lukesleepwalker said:
    Oh sorry, my explanation was terrible. I meant the key selector that sits at the top of that UI panel (not the chord selector below it, which works quite nicely!).

    Yeah I agree, I'll decrease the sensitivity

  • @mekohler said:
    @Carnbot It's a MIDIBus documented issue. I am looking into migrating the MIDI to AudioKit and not using MIDIBus. I'm not sure if AK has the same issue when switching apps.

    This may just be anecdotal, but I'm convinced that I get better performance (fewer hiccups) when switching to an app directly though the Audiobus switcher than by going through the iOS app switcher.

    Intuitively it makes sense since the Apple method requires lots of animation and additional views.

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