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.

Newbie hardware question

Hi there, Audiobus Hivemind. I recently bought my first ever two bits of hardware - the Arturia Microfreak and the Nano Drum. I’m loving both but am having problems syncing both in AUM at the same time (I can’t even get them working in NanoStudio at the moment - I wonder if @dendy could offer any tips on that?), but I can’t get them both to sync to the AUM clock at the same time, with both connected via USB, which is run through a Steinberg URMKII interface. It means that I can only use one of these devices at a time at the moment, which is a bit of a pain. Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong? When I go to clock sync in AUM I can seemingly only sync one f the devices, for some reason unbeknown to my tiny mind. Thanks!

Comments

  • UNO Drum? I don't have anything useful to add but I'm subscribing to this as I'm expanding more into hardware and looking for clever and creative ways to merge the two.

  • @Liquidmantis said:
    UNO Drum? I don't have anything useful to add but I'm subscribing to this as I'm expanding more into hardware and looking for clever and creative ways to merge the two.

    Yeah, this - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/unodrum/. I'm sure I'll be doing something wrong because I can't get both the Uno Drum and the Microfreak synced to the AUM clock at the moment. Dunno why but I'm sure clever person on here knows.

  • @audio_DT said:

    @Liquidmantis said:
    UNO Drum? I don't have anything useful to add but I'm subscribing to this as I'm expanding more into hardware and looking for clever and creative ways to merge the two.

    Yeah, this - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/unodrum/. I'm sure I'll be doing something wrong because I can't get both the Uno Drum and the Microfreak synced to the AUM clock at the moment. Dunno why but I'm sure clever person on here knows.

    Sanity check, do you have MIDI clock send enabled?

  • Possibly related, you might want to check out this MIDI Clock AU thread

  • @Liquidmantis said:
    Possibly related, you might want to check out this MIDI Clock AU thread

    Yeah, I have it enabled, but I can only have it enabled for one device. I've just watched something on YT and it seems I have to connect the second device via the first device or something?! Dunno, still struggling! Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

  • @audio_DT said:

    @Liquidmantis said:
    Possibly related, you might want to check out this MIDI Clock AU thread

    Yeah, I have it enabled, but I can only have it enabled for one device. I've just watched something on YT and it seems I have to connect the second device via the first device or something?! Dunno, still struggling! Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

    I’d try plugging the midi thru of the micro freak into the midi in of the UNo and make sure both are listening for and synced to midi clock.

    If the freak doesn’t have midi thru use midi out.

    Or just sequence them both with the iPad and don’t worry abut clock unless you’re using them together without the iPad.

    You could also set the uno to sync to midi clock (assuming you want to use the uno sequencer) and just sequence the freak from the iPad.

  • @klownshed said:

    @audio_DT said:

    @Liquidmantis said:
    Possibly related, you might want to check out this MIDI Clock AU thread

    Yeah, I have it enabled, but I can only have it enabled for one device. I've just watched something on YT and it seems I have to connect the second device via the first device or something?! Dunno, still struggling! Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

    I’d try plugging the midi thru of the micro freak into the midi in of the UNo and make sure both are listening for and synced to midi clock.

    If the freak doesn’t have midi thru use midi out.

    Or just sequence them both with the iPad and don’t worry abut clock unless you’re using them together without the iPad.

    You could also set the uno to sync to midi clock (assuming you want to use the uno sequencer) and just sequence the freak from the iPad.

    Thanks, I’ll try this tomorrow. Just got the firmware update for microfreak - scales option for keyboard numpties like me :)

  • I don’t own either, but a quick look at the images of them I would suggest the following setup...

    Connect URMkII Via usb to ipad
    Connect midi cable to one of midi dongles (midi to 1/8” male) that should have come with the uno or arturia
    Plug 1/8” male into a headphone splitter (stereo)
    Connect 1/8” cable from splitter to the midi in of your two devices
    Set the Midi channels of each device to different channels (they may default to same channel out of the box)

    In Aum
    Set the midi out for sync to the URMkII
    When using other apps in Aum that send midi (rozeta, arpeggiators, etc) set the out to the mkii and the midi channel to the same as the what you set on the devices themselves.

    That should get you sorted.

  • Another thing to keep in mind is that some devices don’t support communication between the USB midi and the DIN Midi.

    For example, my Novation MonoStation will accept USB Midi, but it can’t send that through to the Midi out. If this is the case with your devices, then there will be some delay in the midi as what happens is...

    Device 1 gets signal from USB midi and starts playing
    Device 1 sends it’s own sync command to device 2 on DIN midi
    Device 2 starts playing

    In my experience it is better to split a single connection further up the chain.

    Good luck with it.

  • edited January 2020

    Here’s what I do with external MIDI sources that have sequencers that I want to record on the iPhone/iPad

    In this example I have a Circuit Mono Station (CMS) and a DrumBrute impact (DBI) connected.

    iPhone connected to Zoom U24 via USB 3 CCK with the zoom powered by batteries
    Zoom MIDI Out connected to CMS MIDI in (5 pin Din)
    CMS MIDI Thru to DBI MIDI IN via 5 pin DIN cable
    DBI sync set to MIDI

    Audio out of CMS to Zoom audio input 1
    Audio out of Drumbrute to Zoom audio input 2

    I monitor the audio through the Zoom (phones or monitors)

    In AUM on my iPhone I have one audio channel for each of the Zoom inputs.

    I turn off Ableton link in AUM and set MIDI clock to send to Zoom.

    Set tempo in AUM.

    Press record in Aum with record enabled for both device channels in AUM and the CMS and DBi start playing automatically and everything records in sync.

    This also works to sync the AUM session with the external gear.

  • @DYMS and @klownshed - sorry for the late reply but massive thanks for both of your comments. I’ll give these ideas a whirl tomorrow, when I get a moment. Very much appreciated, and I’m looking forward to being able to use both of my devices simultaneously 😁

  • edited January 2020

    @audio_DT said:
    @DYMS and @klownshed - sorry for the late reply but massive thanks for both of your comments. I’ll give these ideas a whirl tomorrow, when I get a moment. Very much appreciated, and I’m looking forward to being able to use both of my devices simultaneously 😁

    One more tip for recording hardware in AUM

    set the sync quantum (via the menu next to the tempo indicator) in aum to the number of bars you want to tecord from your devices (for example 8 bars)

    Then hit record and AUM will start the hardware devices and start recording. Then hit record again and AUM will continue for 8 bars then automatically stop recording, leaving you with files that are exactly 8 bars long. This makes it easy to loop your recordings in AUM with the AUM file player thingy ready for you to play along to with the the hardware devices or internal au instruments to start building an arrangement.

  • @klownshed said:

    @audio_DT said:
    @DYMS and @klownshed - sorry for the late reply but massive thanks for both of your comments. I’ll give these ideas a whirl tomorrow, when I get a moment. Very much appreciated, and I’m looking forward to being able to use both of my devices simultaneously 😁

    One more tip for recording hardware in AUM

    set the sync quantum (via the menu next to the tempo indicator) in aum to the number of bars you want to tecord from your devices (for example 8 bars)

    Then hit record and AUM will start the hardware devices and start recording. Then hit record again and AUM will continue for 8 bars then automatically stop recording, leaving you with files that are exactly 8 bars long. This makes it easy to loop your recordings in AUM with the AUM file player thingy ready for you to play along to with the the hardware devices or internal au instruments to start building an arrangement.

    Hey, thanks for this. I tried it tonight and it all works perfectly. Me happy!

  • Great. Glad to hear it has worked for you.

  • @audio_DT said:

    @klownshed said:

    @audio_DT said:
    @DYMS and @klownshed - sorry for the late reply but massive thanks for both of your comments. I’ll give these ideas a whirl tomorrow, when I get a moment. Very much appreciated, and I’m looking forward to being able to use both of my devices simultaneously 😁

    One more tip for recording hardware in AUM

    set the sync quantum (via the menu next to the tempo indicator) in aum to the number of bars you want to tecord from your devices (for example 8 bars)

    Then hit record and AUM will start the hardware devices and start recording. Then hit record again and AUM will continue for 8 bars then automatically stop recording, leaving you with files that are exactly 8 bars long. This makes it easy to loop your recordings in AUM with the AUM file player thingy ready for you to play along to with the the hardware devices or internal au instruments to start building an arrangement.

    Hey, thanks for this. I tried it tonight and it all works perfectly. Me happy!

    😎

  • @DYMS said:
    Great. Glad to hear it has worked for you.

    Thank you! I was getting a bit frustrated - "I bought all this shit as a Christmas present to myself and I can't it all all working together!" So, yeah, I'm now happy. Thanks again :)

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