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.

Beatmaker 3 book?

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Comments

  • @JohnnyGoodyear said:
    PUBLISH OR BE DAMNED!!! :)

    Steady... you might be in danger of pooping yourself :)

  • I struggle a bit with the ‘complexity’ of BM3, so looking forward to the book. Publish, please! 😇

  • @audio_DT said:
    I struggle a bit with the ‘complexity’ of BM3, so looking forward to the book. Publish, please! 😇

    You're not alone. Looking forward to getting this in your hands ASAP :)

  • @tk32 said:

    @audio_DT said:
    I struggle a bit with the ‘complexity’ of BM3, so looking forward to the book. Publish, please! 😇

    You're not alone. Looking forward to getting this in your hands ASAP :)

    I might be a bit 'biased' from the early days of BM3 beta but to me it's hardly a 'complex' app but rather a fairly logical one.
    There are some 'design decisions' that I vented back then that could have used some 're-thinking' but that's another discussion. (One of the developers agreed with my ideas while the other didn't, the one that didn't is running the show for now).

  • edited August 2019

    @Samu said:

    @tk32 said:

    @audio_DT said:
    I struggle a bit with the ‘complexity’ of BM3, so looking forward to the book. Publish, please! 😇

    You're not alone. Looking forward to getting this in your hands ASAP :)

    I might be a bit 'biased' from the early days of BM3 beta but to me it's hardly a 'complex' app but rather a fairly logical one.
    There are some 'design decisions' that I vented back then that could have used some 're-thinking' but that's another discussion. (One of the developers agreed with my ideas while the other didn't, the one that didn't is running the show for now).

    I'm glad you found it logical, and I agree for the most part, but I also think it's important new users get the right start, especially regarding the way they conceptually think about the nested (almost 3D) nature of Banks and Pads, and working with midi patterns where each pad has its own (hidden) pitch axis.

    Another example is the less than intuitive way that automation can be written on the timeline AND inside a pattern, depending on the conditions it was recorded under.

    I know that I encountered some bumps along the journey of learning BM3, and more than a few head-scratching moments of confusion. But it was all worth it in the long run. If I can help smooth that journey for others with a less technical background, or reveal techniques they didn't realise were possible before, then that's all I hope to achieve.

  • @tk32 said:

    I know that I encountered some bumps along the journey of learning BM3, and more than a few head-scratching moments of confusion. But it was all worth it in the long run. If I can help smooth that journey for others with a less technical background, or reveal techniques they didn't realise were possible before, then that's all I hope to achieve.

    True!
    BM3 really does 'reward' the user who takes the time to do a deep dive into what it offers :)

    You know my first 'thought' when I started with BM3 was, who really needs more than one bank?!

    I mean one bank can hold 128 'pads/instruments' each with 128 notes that can do multiple layers too like seriously?
    No need to do 'slice to pads' since all slices are mapped to keys automatically...
    The effects could also be added on per pad basis in addition to effects at the bank-level plus up to 8 aux sends.

    What I missed was no option to 'explode' the bank like a folder in the arranger...
    (Or add extra tracks that fed the same bank like in BM2).

    But yeah, I'm eagerly waiting to see what the next update will bring :)

  • @Samu said:

    @tk32 said:

    @audio_DT said:
    I struggle a bit with the ‘complexity’ of BM3, so looking forward to the book. Publish, please! 😇

    You're not alone. Looking forward to getting this in your hands ASAP :)

    I might be a bit 'biased' from the early days of BM3 beta but to me it's hardly a 'complex' app but rather a fairly logical one.
    There are some 'design decisions' that I vented back then that could have used some 're-thinking' but that's another discussion. (One of the developers agreed with my ideas while the other didn't, the one that didn't is running the show for now).

    Ive used tons of software over the years and find BM3 bafflingly illogical. The shift between ‘songs’, ‘scenes’, and ‘patterns’ often leaves me wondering whereTF I am, which really does my head in at times. Just been getting into NanoStudio2 a bit over the last few days, which is what logical software looks like. Everything is so neatly organised and intuitive, whereas BM3, despite me using it lots of times, is needlessly complex by comparison. It needs a UI overhaul, I think, but it seems to have been all but abandoned, so little hope of that. But hopefully @tk32’s book will make things a little clearer. Or, at least, it might help me to deal with the illogicality of its pretty yet irksome interface. But maybe it’s just me, I dunno - I’ve just always found it difficult to deal with. It gets in the way.

  • @Samu said:

    @tk32 said:

    I know that I encountered some bumps along the journey of learning BM3, and more than a few head-scratching moments of confusion. But it was all worth it in the long run. If I can help smooth that journey for others with a less technical background, or reveal techniques they didn't realise were possible before, then that's all I hope to achieve.

    True!
    BM3 really does 'reward' the user who takes the time to do a deep dive into what it offers :)

    You know my first 'thought' when I started with BM3 was, who really needs more than one bank?!

    I mean one bank can hold 128 'pads/instruments' each with 128 notes that can do multiple layers too like seriously?
    No need to do 'slice to pads' since all slices are mapped to keys automatically...
    The effects could also be added on per pad basis in addition to effects at the bank-level plus up to 8 aux sends.

    What I missed was no option to 'explode' the bank like a folder in the arranger...
    (Or add extra tracks that fed the same bank like in BM2).

    But yeah, I'm eagerly waiting to see what the next update will bring :)

    Is an update on the way?

  • If only BM3 itself was a stable and reliable app, deserving users writing books about it.

  • edited August 2019

    Please don't hate me, but what I still find a bit baffling is that despite all the extreme power and complexity that the app appearently contains, it has been extremely difficult for me to find any serious, "large" productions made with it.

    It's easy to find rather impressive, "big" productions made with, say, Gadget or NS2. But apart from the included BM3 demo songs (which are OK, but not extremely impressive), I haven't found anything that would show off all this complexity and possibilities.

    Am I looking in the wrong places or with the wrong glasses? :)

  • @SevenSystems said:
    Please don't hate me, but what I still find a bit baffling is that despite all the extreme power and complexity that the app appearently contains, it has been extremely difficult for me to find any serious, "large" productions made with it.

    It's easy to find rather impressive, "big" productions made with, say, Gadget or NS2. But apart from the included BM3 demo songs (which are OK, but not extremely impressive), I haven't found anything that would show off all this complexity and possibilities.

    Am I looking in the wrong places or with the wrong glasses? :)

    It depends on your taste of music and what you consider impressive BIG production. I have tracks on all media platform with rappers and singers made with BM3.

  • edited August 2019

    @SevenSystems said:
    Please don't hate me, but what I still find a bit baffling is that despite all the extreme power and complexity that the app appearently contains, it has been extremely difficult for me to find any serious, "large" productions made with it.

    It's easy to find rather impressive, "big" productions made with, say, Gadget or NS2. But apart from the included BM3 demo songs (which are OK, but not extremely impressive), I haven't found anything that would show off all this complexity and possibilities.

    Am I looking in the wrong places or with the wrong glasses.

    I do love using BM3 but wish 60% of it could be cut out and the 40% I do actually use were bug free and/or polished to a sheen.

    I think the people who get the most out of BM3 (in terms of actual world results and not just personal entertainment) tend to export audio to desktop fairly early and are not interested in trying to make ‘Impressive “big” productions’ on iPad alone. To me it is like a hardware groovebox, a useful component but not a great standalone environment at all.

    For me it is a quick audio sketcher that lets me hack audio up in neat ways, taking advantage of routing third party creative fx etc, all far better than NS2 or Gadget. (Pitchforks down kids, just the audio hacking!) For BM3, synth sequencing, automation and arranging, eh, its not very appealing and makes song building a bit of a chore. I still do push for grande productions but it is far more a game than a wise production strategy. If I had a music production boss at the office I would be getting a stern talking to... in the same way that if I were using NS2 over Native Instruments and Omnisphere on just about any DAW on desktop I should get a talking to.

  • @hansjbs I have no doubt about that! But why don't more people showcase their BM3 productions? I mean, even on Intua's very own website, as far as I can tell there's NO demos! None!

    That is really odd. Both NS2 and Gadget (sorry, they're just those "grooveboxes" I'm most familiar with) have tons of demo songs included and on their websites.

    I mean, this is also clearly a lost opportunity! Nobody sells an instrument without first showing the customer how it sounds!

    And particularly for BM3, it would be even more important because it has such a different approach and thus people would like to know WHY the learning curve is worth it...

    Just my opinion. Probably irrelevant :)

  • @SevenSystems said:
    @hansjbs I have no doubt about that! But why don't more people showcase their BM3 productions? I mean, even on Intua's very own website, as far as I can tell there's NO demos! None!

    There were (still are?) a bunch of beat battles that were (still are?) on the forum.

  • @SevenSystems said:
    @hansjbs I have no doubt about that! But why don't more people showcase their BM3 productions? I mean, even on Intua's very own website, as far as I can tell there's NO demos! None!

    That is really odd. Both NS2 and Gadget (sorry, they're just those "grooveboxes" I'm most familiar with) have tons of demo songs included and on their websites.

    I mean, this is also clearly a lost opportunity! Nobody sells an instrument without first showing the customer how it sounds!

    And particularly for BM3, it would be even more important because it has such a different approach and thus people would like to know WHY the learning curve is worth it...

    Just my opinion. Probably irrelevant :)

    Yeah I don’t know why that is. There are a few people on YouTube that do but you’re right, there’s no place holder of BM3 showcasing like there is for NS2 and gadget and that’s definitely a missed opportunity.

    As @AudioGus mentioned we used to do beat battles on the Intua forum but that lasted about a year.

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @AudioGus said:
    I do love using BM3 but wish 60% of it could be cut out and the 40% I do actually use were bug free and/or polished to a sheen.

    100% this. 🚬🗝🏄🏻‍♂️🍺

  • edited August 2019

    Personally, my style of music tends to be dense, lots of tracks etc. Not saying that’s “big” or anything like that, it’s just that I do lots of layers of non chopped samples and mostly synth/string tracks. So when I really go for a songwriting session in BM3, I just couldn’t get enough tracks before my iPad started to crap out. I got up to 20 tracks with a few of those as string tracks and that was all she could stand. I’m not going to start rendering out stuff to save CPU. That’s a workflow killer for me. So then I would have to watch which AU’s I used so I could increase track count, but then I was compromising on quality. With BM3, you are at the mercy of whatever AU’s you choose to use and how stable BM3 stays with those choices. Not all AU’s are efficient or stable, so things can go bad and you are left wondering wtf is wrong. This isn’t necessarily a BM3 issue, it’s just really important that you make sure you keep your AU choices with those things in mind in any DAW.

    BUT, that’s not to say I can’t get some fairly dense stuff going on in BM3, I just have to be more picky about what I use. I do find that I tend to just kind of gravitate to drums in BM3 and having a lot of fun with just doing that.

    Also, I have a hard time sequencing in BM3 and it’s rigidity in that I can’t move tracks around, can’t really do sub groups without planning, etc makes it harder when I push my track count.

    I totally agree with @hansjbs it just depends on what you consider to be a big sound. There’s plenty of really good stuff on the forum and in that SoundCloud list. Most of it is sample based, chopped up drums or vocals, etc. absolutely nothing wrong with that because honestly, that’s exactly what BM3 excel’s at! Those productions don’t always have to sound huge to be freaking stellar tracks. So yeah, horses for courses, but I don’t think it diminishes the quality of tunes in the genre’s that BM3 users are drawn to. It’s just different and to me, that’s just fine.

  • @drez said:
    Personally, my style of music tends to be dense, lots of tracks etc. Not saying that’s “big” or anything like that, it’s just that I do lots of layers of non chopped samples and mostly synth/string tracks. So when I really go for a songwriting session in BM3, I just couldn’t get enough tracks before my iPad started to crap out. I got up to 20 tracks with a few of those as string tracks and that was all she could stand. I’m not going to start rendering out stuff to save CPU. That’s a workflow killer for me.

    Hi drez, what is your preferred iOS app for your "lots of layers of non chopped samples and mostly synth/string" tracks?
    I'm new to music-making on the iPad and I had initially picked BM3 as my starting place for a DAW/sketchpad, but I'm keen to find others. Your mix of strings and non-chopped samples is probably more in line with what I might potentially be doing.

  • @stown said:

    @drez said:
    Personally, my style of music tends to be dense, lots of tracks etc. Not saying that’s “big” or anything like that, it’s just that I do lots of layers of non chopped samples and mostly synth/string tracks. So when I really go for a songwriting session in BM3, I just couldn’t get enough tracks before my iPad started to crap out. I got up to 20 tracks with a few of those as string tracks and that was all she could stand. I’m not going to start rendering out stuff to save CPU. That’s a workflow killer for me.

    Hi drez, what is your preferred iOS app for your "lots of layers of non chopped samples and mostly synth/string" tracks?
    I'm new to music-making on the iPad and I had initially picked BM3 as my starting place for a DAW/sketchpad, but I'm keen to find others. Your mix of strings and non-chopped samples is probably more in line with what I might potentially be doing.

    DM’d you

  • @AudioGus said:

    @SevenSystems said:
    @hansjbs I have no doubt about that! But why don't more people showcase their BM3 productions? I mean, even on Intua's very own website, as far as I can tell there's NO demos! None!

    There were (still are?) a bunch of beat battles that were (still are?) on the forum.

    @hansjbs said:
    Here are the last two battle entries. Great variety of music. The battle from the first link aka Vox Anima is my favorite.

    https://intua.net/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/7399/completed-bm3-battle-16-vox-anima-winner-is-tk32#latest

    https://intua.net/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/7246/voting-closed-christmas-battle-2018-the-winner-is-hansjbs/p1

    Thanks. Listened to the winners and they're both very good. Some of the few iOS productions I've heard that have "full" vocal tracks.

  • @mickbenjamins said:
    Nice! Can. Not. Wait.

    Why ?
    You thinking of upgrading Maschine ?

  • edited August 2019

    @SevenSystems said:
    Please don't hate me, but what I still find a bit baffling is that despite all the extreme power and complexity that the app appearently contains, it has been extremely difficult for me to find any serious, "large" productions made with it.

    It's easy to find rather impressive, "big" productions made with, say, Gadget or NS2. But apart from the included BM3 demo songs (which are OK, but not extremely impressive), I haven't found anything that would show off all this complexity and possibilities.

    Am I looking in the wrong places or with the wrong glasses? :)

    Because one of the developers made contacts and started to work the connections while updating the software at a pace nobody else on IOS can compare to, while the other developer did very little, got annoyed and tried to block any of those connections and contacts and ridiculed users, and eventually blocked the biggest update the software had seen, why would any user go out of their way to advertise using that developers software ?

  • And the plot thickens!!!!

  • Bumping for the Book! I have needs Nurse....

  • Any news on iPhone version?

  • edited September 2019

    @JohnnyGoodyear said:
    Bumping for the Book! I have needs Nurse....

    The current beta has thrown a spanner into my gears a little, but I’m still working all the free time I have.

    I’m posting the table of contents here next week, and the book will hopefully follow shortly after

  • vovvov
    edited September 2019

    @tk32 said:

    @JohnnyGoodyear said:
    Bumping for the Book! I have needs Nurse....

    The current beta has thrown a spanner into my gears a little, but I’m still working all the free time I have.

    I’m posting the table of contents here next week, and the book will hopefully follow shortly after

    What’s in the beta? Is it more or less stable?
    I mostly wish they make it work as it is.

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