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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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StepPolyArp question - note input

Hey StepPolyArp users.

I bought the new Unit version, after reading high praise. It’s great, but does anyone know how to enter note values other than the tedious and often imprecise method of dragging notes on a grid? I’d love to be able to play a loop on the keyboard and record it as an arp/pattern.

Thanks

Comments

  • I’m interested in getting this app, but wonder the same thing - is it not possible to record, for example, chords in realtime, played on a keyboard into the sequencer?

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  • Atom is the only similar iOS thing I know that can do this, however you can put on rests... From the keys, at least I can't figure out how to

  • Yep definitely a feature I’d wish to see, on Fugue Machine and Riffer as well.
    Seems like something that all AU ‘sequencers’ should offer.
    Try Atom, though it lacks the randomness.

  • edited July 2019
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  • @EyeOhEss yes its more of a just basic AU piano roll.
    One thing about Atom is its seems you have to set the end point of the sequence before recording.
    Meaning you can’t just play and record freely, stopping at will; unless Im missing something which Im hoping for.

  • One thing I find really annoying in SPA is the seemingly arbitrary notes in the "Line Settings" in the events grid. Notes can be relative (represented by the semitone from the root) or absolute (represented by the note name).

    In the first place, intervals are chosen beforehand not necessarily following the scale (maybe because of lack of space?). Then when in relative mode, the semitones shown do not necessarily match the actual note because these are quantised to the chosen scale. So actually it is very difficult to know what note you are playing or you just happen to want that minor third that is not there - and "what note was that -4 semitone?"

    In my world, the 11 rows should accommodate an ascending scale by default, in absolute or relative mode (at least in/for sequence mode), like in Xynthesizr, giving room as there is now, for changing per row as the user sees fit, even saving new row-mappings for, say, drums or whatever...

    Honestly this is what prevents me for using this app more. I think it is a great sequencer with a really nice workflow but not knowing what notes I'm playing is a bummer.

  • edited July 2019

    @jameslondon74 said:
    Hey StepPolyArp users.

    I bought the new Unit version, after reading high praise. It’s great, but does anyone know how to enter note values other than the tedious and often imprecise method of dragging notes on a grid? I’d love to be able to play a loop on the keyboard and record it as an arp/pattern.

    Thanks

    It is quite a powerful app, but its note entry and modification system is a bit tedious, sometimes requiring too many clicks to do simple things, which can interrupt the creative flow.

  • edited July 2019

    So, an idea would be to arrange the relative(absolute) note section as a bunch of saved and labeled presets.

  • edited July 2019

    And yes, keyboard input would be super nice.

    One more thing.
    I often have a set-up like this:

    Autony (slow progression of 1/4 to 2bars) —> StepPolyArp (w Radom pattern but set key)
    —> Roseta Scaler

    The Bram app lets me move the pitch up and down in semitones without having to re-enter everything in StepPolyArp

  • edited July 2019

    @tiantong said:
    One thing I find really annoying in SPA is the seemingly arbitrary notes in the "Line Settings" in the events grid. Notes can be relative (represented by the semitone from the root) or absolute (represented by the note name).

    In the first place, intervals are chosen beforehand not necessarily following the scale (maybe because of lack of space?). Then when in relative mode, the semitones shown do not necessarily match the actual note because these are quantised to the chosen scale. So actually it is very difficult to know what note you are playing or you just happen to want that minor third that is not there - and "what note was that -4 semitone?"

    In my world, the 11 rows should accommodate an ascending scale by default, in absolute or relative mode (at least in/for sequence mode), like in Xynthesizr, giving room as there is now, for changing per row as the user sees fit, even saving new row-mappings for, say, drums or whatever...

    Honestly this is what prevents me for using this app more. I think it is a great sequencer with a really nice workflow but not knowing what notes I'm playing is a bummer.

    Yeah, I think you’re right, it is weird to have the lanes labeled with chromatic semitones when notes are being quantized to a scale. I love love that SPA does transpose in a scale, but for labeling it would make more sense to have 3 be the third, whether it is minor or major, 5th is the fifth, 7th is the seventh, flat or not, and 8 is the octave of the root note. That’s how it is in Numerology (on Mac). Perhaps chromatic was first, and scales got added later?

    Case in point, I set the key to C major, and do a 1,3,5 pattern on C, by labeling the lanes +0, +4, +7. OK, it plays as expected in C (C, E, G). If I play the pattern on a D, I’m expecting a D minor 1, b3, 5, but, I get a 1,4,5 pattern. To get it to do a major 3rd in C, and a minor 3rd in D, you have to set the lane for the 3rd to be “+3” semitones (a minor third), not “+4”. I guess when the scale quantize is on, and a note is arp’d that is out of the scale, it snaps to the higher note in the scale. Useable, but confusing and obscure from a music theory stand point.

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