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.

Blue Mangoo Compressor.

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Comments

  • Ooh! Will it sidechain ??

  • Did you test that fancy new expensive compressor from ddmf?

  • @audiobussy said:
    Did you test that fancy new expensive compressor from ddmf?

    My guess is that it is one of the ones he said was “modeled after an analog compressor”.

    Very interesting that the only one he named and recommended was 4Pockets.

    Now I just have to decide if I get 4Pockets or wait till this one comes out... any idea how soon @Blue_Mangoo ?

  • Is that the one he said was poorly done because quite frankly that doesn’t make sense.

  • @Hmtx said:

    @audiobussy said:
    Did you test that fancy new expensive compressor from ddmf?

    My guess is that it is one of the ones he said was “modeled after an analog compressor”.

    Very interesting that the only one he named and recommended was 4Pockets.

    Now I just have to decide if I get 4Pockets or wait till this one comes out... any idea how soon @Blue_Mangoo ?

    It’s out now

  • edited June 2019

    @audiobussy said:
    Did you test that fancy new expensive compressor from ddmf?

    Yes.

  • I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

  • edited June 2019

    I wouldn’t say it’s negative to compare compressors, it’s just that most compressors are very different from each other, and some of them add some harmonic distortion on purpose, sometimes that’s the “vintage” tone or the magic “glue” that some people are after.
    The good and unique thing is that your compressor is a different beast that works transparently without adding anything to the original signal. That could be very valuable too for some situations such as Mastering or who knows how many other possible uses.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

    I appreciate that. And truth is that some of the ‘distortion’ and coloring in a compressor are part of what give it a unique sound that people like, right?

    Anyway, back to my original that is so un-original it is cliché : sidechain?? I can’t tell from the description.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

    Does the AU scale in GarageBand on iPad Pro? I don’t see the telltale double arrows in the screen shots

  • @realdawei said:
    Does the AU scale in GarageBand on iPad Pro? I don’t see the telltale double arrows in the screen shots

    It scales in any host app

  • @Hmtx said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I took the video off of YouTube because the tone is too negative, and it's not very helpful in making buying decisions because it doesn't tell the app names. I'll do another one soon that doesn't criticize or analyze; just show the results, along with the app names.

    I appreciate that. And truth is that some of the ‘distortion’ and coloring in a compressor are part of what give it a unique sound that people like, right?

    Anyway, back to my original that is so un-original it is cliché : sidechain?? I can’t tell from the description.

    Tl;Dr; - we will do side chain compression when iOS host apps start officially supporting side chains.

    We actually started out with a side chain feature in it, and removed it later. I didn't find any official way to do side-chain on iOS, so our work-around was to run two plugins, one is the side chain envelope input and the other is the slave compressor.

    Note: iOS plugins (and computers in general) process audio in chunks. The length of the chunk is usually 64, 128, or 256 audio samples. This corresponds to the latency setting in the host app.

    That works, but there is a challenge involved: it's up to the host app to determine in what order it processes the two plugins. If the host processes your sidechain input plugin first, then the side-chain input can send a message to the slave compressor before it starts processing the audio buffer, the message contains the volume envelope from the side-chain input, and everything works great. But if the host app processes the slave compressor first, before the side chain input then you have a problem because you can't run the compressor until you have the data from the side-chain. In that case, we could handle the situation by processing the compressor with the side chain input from the previous chunk of audio. That means that the compressor would lag behind the side chain input by 64, 128, or 256 samples, depending on the latency setting. That would mess up the timing of your attack and release. I guess you could work around it, but it would be very finicky.

    Most iOS audio unit hosts process the audio units in order, starting with track 1. So if you wanted the side chain to work correctly, you would only need to ensure that the input was on a lower track number than the slave compressor. But there is one notable exception to this rule: GarageBand. GarageBand actually processes the tracks in parallel, sending each one to a different processor core. That is brilliant because it can process an audio mix much more efficiently. Unfortunately for side chain compressors, that makes it impossible for the compressor to operate without adding the extra 64, 128, or 256 samples of latency.

    In order to release a professional plugin with a side chain input, we would need to explain all of this to customers. I think it's too complicated; would prefer to wait until iOS supports it officially.

  • @Hmtx said:
    I appreciate that. And truth is that some of the ‘distortion’ and coloring in a compressor are part of what give it a unique sound that people like, right?

    There are different types of distortion. "Saturation", meaning adding higher harmonics to the sound, is fine for applications that call for it. As you say, that gives the compressor its coloring. Aliasing distortion is something that only happens in digital plugins and it's generally considered bad. It's the most significant reason why analog gear has a reputation for sounding better than digital. Aliasing is difficult to avoid in digital compressors and saturators. Eliminating it requires high oversampling rates or clever design.

  • @Blue_Mangoo very informative thanks. You sold me... on both :p

    Off to buy yours and 4Pockets.

  • @Hmtx said:
    @Blue_Mangoo very informative thanks. You sold me... on both :p

    Off to buy yours and 4Pockets.

    Hold on! The video we are making to replace this one includes tests on the compressors in some DAW apps, and it turns out that they give the dedicated audio units a run for their money.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @Hmtx said:
    @Blue_Mangoo very informative thanks. You sold me... on both :p

    Off to buy yours and 4Pockets.


    Hold on! The video we are making to replace this one includes tests on the compressors in some DAW apps, and it turns out that they give the dedicated audio units a run for their money.

    ok thank you for this wonderful release and btw when will the loop recorder be reinstated into ifretless bass?

    regards

  • @kobamoto said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @Hmtx said:
    @Blue_Mangoo very informative thanks. You sold me... on both :p

    Off to buy yours and 4Pockets.


    Hold on! The video we are making to replace this one includes tests on the compressors in some DAW apps, and it turns out that they give the dedicated audio units a run for their money.

    ok thank you for this wonderful release and btw when will the loop recorder be reinstated into ifretless bass?

    regards

    We currently don't have plans to reinstate the loop recorder yet. Our next project will be updating iFretless Brass.

  • Here is the new video:

    We tell the names of the compressors this time, but focused more on showing the results than on commenting whether they are good or bad.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    Here is the new video:

    We tell the names of the compressors this time, but focused more on showing the results than on commenting whether they are good or bad.

    What a great and useful video!
    Thanks a lot for this!!

  • Just out of curiosity...

    How much extra input gain does this compressor have and is there any 'brick wall limiting' at the output?
    (I'm so used to the insane gain amounts of the LogicPro X compressors for creative boosting of low level signals).

  • @Samu said:
    Just out of curiosity...

    How much extra input gain does this compressor have and is there any 'brick wall limiting' at the output?
    (I'm so used to the insane gain amounts of the LogicPro X compressors for creative boosting of low level signals).

    It has up to 20 dB gain boost at the input. Is that enough? We could consider changing it.

    It has a max compression ratio of 32:1, which is nearly a brick wall limiter. I think we'll change that to 1000:1 in the next update, because if people wanted 32:1, a brick wall is probably what they are going for.

  • the longest IOS video ive watched
    Great video,wealth of information
    magic death eye was interesting

    Now i actually know, why i dont dig rough rider. I love Auria comp
    4 pockets,Blue mangoo, magic death eye on my list to try
    DDMF NY comp, i simply despise the UI and dials
    Would be interested to know how Bark filter from Virsyn compares( i like its colour)

  • Very good video, thanks for posting that. It's so useful to see objective and measured data with which to temper our subjective opinions. Funny, I posted in another thread that I thought the MagicDeathEye was transparent sounding, shows how unreliable a subjective opinion can be (at least in my case).

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    It has up to 20 dB gain boost at the input. Is that enough? We could consider changing it.

    Ok... As a reference The Compressor in Logic Pro X is a bit extreme...
    It's 30db input-gain, up to 60db of makeup gain and after that an addition 30db output gain with an optional brick wall limiter :)

    The compression ratio can be up to 30:1.

    Think of these extreme settings as being able to normalise a very low input signal without normalising the source.

    Apples own AUDynamics Processor is pretty good, it's got proper UI in LogicPro X but the same plug-in is also present in iOS GarageBand as an AUv3 with simplified UI. It's not the same as the regular Compressor in iOS GarageBand.

    No need to push the above features into this app...

    But It's quite clear that there is still room for 'channel strip' AUv3 with Gate, Expander, Compressor, EQ/Exciter, De-Esser & Output Limiter.

  • @Samu said:
    No need to push the above features into this app...

    But It's quite clear that there is still room for 'channel strip' AUv3 with Gate, Expander, Compressor, EQ/Exciter, De-Esser & Output Limiter.

    That sounds like a nice app idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @Samu said:
    No need to push the above features into this app...

    But It's quite clear that there is still room for 'channel strip' AUv3 with Gate, Expander, Compressor, EQ/Exciter, De-Esser & Output Limiter.

    That sounds like a nice app idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

    You're welcome and I do feel it's something a lot of users would appreciate.

    The AudioDamage Channel Strip while sounding nice suffers from 'UI For Ants' syndrome (ie. A microscopic UI which in practice is un-usable if any kind of precision is needed not to mention the ultra black next to no contrast palette).

    The 'use case' for such a plug-in would to use it to a channel in AUM to process the input and thus have a 'finalised' audio-file for podcasts etc...

  • Nanostudio would have been interesting to see. To my ear it sounds fairly transparent.

  • Thank you for the video. As marketing efforts go I would like to see more of this kind of thing. You’ve sold me on your compressor and ethics.

    I do wonder about limits of the test. A big part of any compressor is the envelope characteristics and yours not really testing that with your test.

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