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.

Accessing Beathawk Files and General IOS file management

Hey all, I am fairly new to IOS music production but I'm starting to stand on my own two feet. One of the things that I still have not gotten my head around is IOS file management in general. I was recording drum hits into BM3 the other day from BH and it hit me that I should be able to just drag in the source WAV sample from BH into BM3 but I have no idea how to access the sample data within BH. Is this even possible? What methods do you use to access the guts of your IOS apps?

Comments

  • Beathawk doesn't uses *.wav but a proprietary UVI file format so even if one could browse the BH content using Files.app one would _not_ be able to use those files...
    (It's most likely UVI's 'content protectionism' that is the root cause for this).

    On the other hand one can import all recordings & samples from BM3 into BH since it uses standard *.wav files and all the content is visible to thru Files.app/iCloud Drive.

    There are a few quite handy file-managers on iOS that make their content visible to Files.app.
    AudioShare, Documents by Readle and BM3 to name a few.
    (I highly recommend AudioShare and if web-downloading is needed Documents by Readle).

    Once more apps add Files.app support it will be easier to access files from other apps.
    The folder visible to the Files.app is in practice the 'iTunes File Sharing' folder one can see in iTunes.

    Personally I'm looking forward to Apples WWDC'18 (Starting this coming Monday) and especially if there are any improvements made to file-management.

  • Ah that makes perfect sense. I have audioshare and have used it some to import and manage some sample files, I find myself trying to keep everything under one roof as much as possible but BM3s file system is kinda tough to navigate. I'm still learning though. I was wondering why only a few of my apps showed up in the Files.app... that makes a lot more sense now. Thank you for the comprehensive answer!

  • edited May 2018

    You have to export audio files to AudioShare by going into BH song mode and place your pattern on timeline then click to export and choose mixdown/multi files option. Then go to browser in BH pattern view and go to user exports and click to export to iCloud, you will have acces to files app and AudioShare files. Overcomplicated I admit, sometimes it’s easier to use Audiobus/Blocs wave in my case.

  • @shiftsynth1 said:
    I was wondering why only a few of my apps showed up in the Files.app... that makes a lot more sense now.

    I've been pushing for Files.app support since it got 'know'(WWDC'17) and prior to that support for iOS DocumentPicker/FileProvider which AudioShare has supported from day one... (DocumentPicker is called 'iCloud Drive' in many apps but one does not need to use iCloud Drive to gain access to the DocumentPicker).

    FIles.app support requires iOS11+ and many users are still stuck on older iOS versions for one reason or another.

    But considering AUv3's and other 'new' features they will simply not be updated for older iOS versions so keeping the iOS device 'up to date' is quite essential to gain the benefit of the advancements Apple makes when it comes to file-management, AUv3's and other features.

  • The good folks at UVI have informed me that file management is something that will be addressed in the near future of Beat Hawk.

    Honestly, most of the factory and IAP are all I need, but I would like to use my own sounds.

    I think I was also told advanced sample editing will be a component.

    Grain of salt but food for thought.

  • @RUST( i )K said:

    Honestly, most of the factory and IAP are all I need, but I would like to use my own sounds.

    Import from AudioShare using the 'iCloud Drive' feature in BeatHawk should do the trick?
    Even though it's called 'iCloud Drive' it's in practice the iOS DocumentPicker.

    If/When the advanced sample/instrument editing finds it's way into BeatHawk I might consider installing it again...

  • @Janosax said:
    You have to export audio files to AudioShare by going into BH song mode and place your pattern on timeline then click to export and choose mixdown/multi files option. Then go to browser in BH pattern view and go to user exports and click to export to iCloud, you will have acces to files app and AudioShare files. Overcomplicated I admit, sometimes it’s easier to use Audiobus/Blocs wave in my case.

    A little complicated but it seems like a good way to, say, export a bank of hits without doing them one at a time. Thanks for the idea!

  • @RUST( i )K said:

    If/When the advanced sample/instrument editing finds it's way into BeatHawk I might consider installing it again...

    Yeah, I'm just a big fan of their sounds. If I could just plop them into BM3 as sound banks I would never touch BH.

  • I'd like the ability to share user-created drum kits in BeatHawk. I've got a number that I've created that I'd like to share with a friend but still can't see a way to do that yet....

  • @Daveypoo said:
    I'd like the ability to share user-created drum kits in BeatHawk. I've got a number that I've created that I'd like to share with a friend but still can't see a way to do that yet....

    Try this
    Press user library then navigate to the folder containing your kit.
    Do a 2 finger tap on the folder icon - this should bring up a menu which includes the option to zip, select the zip option.

    You should now see a Zip file called your kits name zip

    2 finger tap on it you should see an iCloud export option.

  • I found that if you use your own samples then transfer to iPhone thru iCloud it doesn’t pull the samples over. You have to do that yourself to get them to the iPhone

  • @BiancaNeve said:

    @Daveypoo said:
    I'd like the ability to share user-created drum kits in BeatHawk. I've got a number that I've created that I'd like to share with a friend but still can't see a way to do that yet....

    Try this
    Press user library then navigate to the folder containing your kit.
    Do a 2 finger tap on the folder icon - this should bring up a menu which includes the option to zip, select the zip option.

    You should now see a Zip file called your kits name zip

    2 finger tap on it you should see an iCloud export option.

    Interesting - all my kits are in a single folder, so it zips them all up. I didn't know about the 2-finger tap.

    So I two-finger tapped on the kit name and it can export the .song file to iCloud. The issue is that I don't think it includes the samples in the export - just the mapping maybe? The .song file size looks too small to be including the samples....

  • I guess you would also have to zip up the folder at the top of the tree where the samples are as well then .

  • Hmmm - I'll have to mess with this a bit. Hopefully @RUST( i )K is right and this will be addressed sooner than later.

    Thanks for the heads up!

  • I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

  • @Samu said:
    I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

    I do not believe so. I between the lack of file.app support and the fact that I cannot sort or fave I'm really close to uninstalling myself. I love the sounds, hate the organization.

  • Yes. I drop midi files and mixes to files app.

  • @shiftsynth1 said:

    @Samu said:
    I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

    I do not believe so. I between the lack of file.app support and the fact that I cannot sort or fave I'm really close to uninstalling myself. I love the sounds, hate the organization.

    Thanks, I'll keep track of the release-notes via app shopper and if they mention Files.app support I may end up re-installing it :)

    What really put me of is that I love to sample stuff and when there's no tools monitor the input nor do 'trim' or 'normalise' before saving the sample I consider it to be a 'preset player' even though the sequencer is quite good with mute options per pattern for creating variations of the same pattern.

    Once BeatHawk get's proper sample & instrument editing it will be worth another look for sure!
    There's no fault in the sound quality though :)

  • @stormywaterz said:
    Yes. I drop midi files and mixes to files app.

    Hm, didn't know this. I'll have to check again

  • @Samu said:
    I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

    No Beathawk folder is visible in Files. You can import from Files by browsing in the iCloud Import feature, meaning it starts on iCloud but you can browse to the Files app area.

  • BeatHawk does so much so well and drops the ball hard in other places. I would love more options for an AU3 sample-based drum machine, but so far for me nothing has replaced BH yet, so I've learned to live with it's issues.

  • @CracklePot said:

    @Samu said:
    I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

    No Beathawk folder is visible in Files. You can import from Files by browsing in the iCloud Import feature, meaning it starts on iCloud but you can browse to the Files app area.

    Yeah, but I was thinking the 'other way around' meaning when I do an 'export/render' in BeatHawk it would be nice to just browse to BeatHawk's folder from the 'other' app. Now I have to 'export' it from BeatHawk to the destination app...

  • @Samu said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @Samu said:
    I've not had BeatHawk installed on my iPad for ages but has Files.app support been added?
    (Meaning can I see the BeatHawks 'Documents' folder in Files.app?).

    If the the answer is YES I might consider clear some space and re-install it...

    I do not believe so. I between the lack of file.app support and the fact that I cannot sort or fave I'm really close to uninstalling myself. I love the sounds, hate the organization.

    Thanks, I'll keep track of the release-notes via app shopper and if they mention Files.app support I may end up re-installing it :)

    What really put me of is that I love to sample stuff and when there's no tools monitor the input nor do 'trim' or 'normalise' before saving the sample I consider it to be a 'preset player' even though the sequencer is quite good with mute options per pattern for creating variations of the same pattern.

    Once BeatHawk get's proper sample & instrument editing it will be worth another look for sure!
    There's no fault in the sound quality though :)

    I’m using beathawk now with AEM and love it, apart from the lack of files support. Means if I start a track on iPhone and then move to iPad the samples aren’t there.

    Do you have an alternative au app yet? Just something simple that loads samples onto pads would do - it just needs to keep it all together from device to device.

  • I'll up this thread.
    Is there a way to work with Beathawk like import drum banks from PC to it? It would be good to manipulate samples in my DAW and then import these banks and after making beat export it to DAW.

  • edited March 2019

    @eve_ripper said:
    I'll up this thread.
    Is there a way to work with Beathawk like import drum banks from PC to it? It would be good to manipulate samples in my DAW and then import these banks and after making beat export it to DAW.

    You can zip your sample files and transfer them to iOS where you can access them via the Files app. One option is AudioShare which can transfer files via wi-fi between a PC and iOS. You could also use a cloud based app like Dropbox or Google Drive.

    In BeatHawk go to where the samples are.

    Import your zip file containing sample folder(s).

    Unzip your file and then you can use those samples to create kits in BeatHawk.

  • Samples saved with the right kind of slice marks are handled nicely in BeatHawk. I don’t have access to look up which format that is ... I think it may be aiff.

    Samples like this are recognized as loops and will adjust to tempo changes in BeatHawk. They also have slice markers so it’s easy to split them up onto pads, or play the slices on the keyboard.

    BM3 exports files with the slice markers that BH recognizes. So does FL Studio Edison and SliceX on the desktop. BM3 is the only app I know of on iOS that does this. Many desktop apps can.

    What you can’t do is create an multi-sampled instrument like those in the BH store. I wish you could though! (BTW, the acoustic grand and acoustic drum kit are unmatched on iOS. Those are well worth the purchase.)

  • @InfoCheck said:

    @eve_ripper said:
    I'll up this thread.
    Is there a way to work with Beathawk like import drum banks from PC to it? It would be good to manipulate samples in my DAW and then import these banks and after making beat export it to DAW.

    You can zip your sample files and transfer them to iOS where you can access them via the Files app. One option is AudioShare which can transfer files via wi-fi between a PC and iOS. You could also use a cloud based app like Dropbox or Google Drive.

    In BeatHawk go to where the samples are.

    Import your zip file containing sample folder(s).

    Unzip your file and then you can use those samples to create kits in BeatHawk.

    thank you.

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