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.

Audio loops vs midi loops, what is your preference ?

When do you deliberately pick one over the other, and why.

Comments

  • wimwim
    edited July 2020

    My guitar doesn't work so well with MIDI loops. However, for my voice it's an improvement.

  • wimwim
    edited July 2020

    Seriously though, I always like to be able to change things, so MIDI is much better for that. I can't stand most time and pitch stretch results, unless well buried in a mix.

    But, I fully recognize that I would finish far, far more things if I would just commit to audio early on.

    [edit] I was assuming you were talking about creating loops. Or were you talking about pre-made loops?

  • Neither. Loops are played out. Back to musicianship!

  • Audio, always. MIDI is too easy to get sucked into tweaking things to the point of being perfect(ly boring). Audio you just get on with things.

    Plus, I change gear a lot, I can't imagine opening up a song. a couple years later and realizing the instrument I had been using for a sound I no longer own.

  • @Tarekith said:
    Plus, I change gear a lot, I can't imagine opening up a song. a couple years later and realizing the instrument I had been using for a sound I no longer own.

    On the other hand, if inspired to add to a great audio part, how do you re-create the sound? This is my issue with committing to audio sometimes. Even for a guitar part, without a saved session with AU FX, or at least detailed notes, it can be very difficult to not have to start over.

    Finishing things and moving on is always best though, I agree.

  • edited August 2020

    For drums, basses and Keyboard I almost always use midi at recording stage for %quantize/velocity/duration edition. For textures, non arped leads or strings I often create directly audio loops because I manipulate them a lot with FXS, audio edition, copy/paste/reverse and I like to add more floaty timing on those parts. For instrumental/saxes loops, always audio of course, mostly unedited. At the end, all loops are almost always rendered as audio for CPU management, sound design or export to loopers.

  • @wim said:

    @Tarekith said:
    Plus, I change gear a lot, I can't imagine opening up a song. a couple years later and realizing the instrument I had been using for a sound I no longer own.

    On the other hand, if inspired to add to a great audio part, how do you re-create the sound? This is my issue with committing to audio sometimes. Even for a guitar part, without a saved session with AU FX, or at least detailed notes, it can be very difficult to not have to start over.

    Finishing things and moving on is always best though, I agree.

    I guess I'm fine starting over or just moving on to a new idea. I'm very much a print it and move on kind of person. If mistakes happen, so be it. Weird I know, but as much as I love making music, none of my ideas are that precious to me.

  • edited August 2020

    Audio all the way. Reason? I’m not a musician. My thing is creating interesting noises by chucking something through a metric f**kton of effects, warp it in AudioStretch, AudioShare and Auditor, dupe, slice, and edit it until it sounds more interesting, then layer it up alongside a shedload of other audio samples in AUM.

    I let auto generators like Autony take care of ‘playing instruments’ for me, suitably thinned and trimmed via Art Kern’s MIDIgates and MIDILFOs and the thing is done when it plays itself in an interesting evolving way without any further input from me. I record 10 minutes of stems, in Multitrack DAW for simplicity, then ‘arrange‘ and edit these down to what it needs it in there. Job done.

    I joke that this is like jazz, in that each piece is a one off - I never know exactly how the finished piece got to where it is is, and I could never recreate it - once created, it’s done, there’ll never be another that sounds identical. Result is I could never do a ‘performance’ of a piece, but I’m cool with that. Do it, do another, do some more. Don’t look back.

  • edited August 2020

    I quite like midi loops because I can apply fx like Midi Echo which is more transparent and capable of more control than audio delays, not to mention being able to easily switch out instruments.

  • @Svetlovska said:
    Audio all the way. Reason? I’m not a musician. My thing is creating interesting noises by chucking something through a metric f**kton of effects, warp it in AudioStretch, AudioShare and Auditor, dupe, slice, and edit it until it sounds more interesting, then layer it up alongside a shedload of other audio samples in AUM.

    I let auto generators like Autony take care of ‘playing instruments’ for me, suitably thinned and trimmed via Art Kern’s MIDIgates and MIDILFOs and the thing is done when it plays itself in an interesting evolving way without any further input from me. I record 10 minutes of stems, in Multitrack DAW for simplicity, then ‘arrange‘ and edit these down to what it needs it in there. Job done.

    I joke that this is like jazz, in that each piece is a one off - I never know exactly how the finished piece got to where it is is, and I could never recreate it - once created, it’s done, there’ll never be another that sounds identical. Result is I could never do a ‘performance’ of a piece, but I’m cool with that. Do it, do another, do some more. Don’t look back.

    This pretty much describes my workflow...

  • Thanks for sharing the workflow ideas. I guess this is great advice for getting out of that 4 bar limit for a lot of us.
    I like the idea of just ‘jazz’ing your way of sticking point. Ace! A bit like zen. Will be trying that out.

  • I’m totally conflicted on this, I mostly play live into aum with either guitar or keyboard and just record stems as I like to commit but it’s difficulty moving on or developing stuff sometimes like this so I try to be good and record midi into Xequence but then I get full on analysis paralysis... I’m most productive when I just record audio and then dump it into Auria or Ableton I guess...

  • Are you talking about using others audio loops and midi loops? Or creating and using your own audio and midi loops?

    It really depends on what I’m doing, but for the most part I like to have as much of my midi available in any project so I can tweak any notes, or make any changes at the source when needed. I need to do more track freezing to be honest to free up some DSP/cpu, in my bigger projects, but for me it’s hard to let go of the midi. I like to chop/slice and sometimes just loop an audio clip but I usually write my music in midi these days, which is different from 6-7 years ago when I worked almost exclusively with audio.

  • Some great thoughts here, I am very much conflicted, at least I now know I am not alone 😂🤣
    I think my real problem is the committal, I always think I AM going to change them at some point, although I don’t always end up changing anything.
    For those working in audio, do you save stems of your songs/pieces or just a stereo mix ?

  • edited August 2020

    Audio all the way. After I have my stems I don’t do much other than pitch down and add fx or slice and resequence in some cases.
    Pitch, fx or slicing changes most things dramatically enough for my tastes. I do my preset tweaking before I print stems and I’ve Never once thought “wish this Melody was a different sound”

    And of course freezing to audio ASAP will preserve those limited iOS resources!

  • @Tarekith said:

    I guess I'm fine starting over or just moving on to a new idea. I'm very much a print it and move on kind of person. If mistakes happen, so be it. Weird I know, but as much as I love making music, none of my ideas are that precious to me.

    My first thought was “I really need to drink this kool-aid”. Especially the preciousness part. Then I realized, I actually need to swim in this river.

    I have the most fun when committing to audio loops or recording directly to my four track tape machine. Thing is, I so often find myself wishing I had captured the midi because I want to change an idea, the sound is a critical part of that idea and recreation ain’t gonna happen.

    Sorry, for working through this out loud but I’m realizing that some part of this is me thinking the sound is more precious than it probably is. A good tune will work on anything. I know this when typing on the internet. Other times, it’s a total show stopping blocker.

  • Love this thread ❤️❤️❤️ I love midi loops but audio definitely lets me move on. So a little of both and a balance helps get music done😌🙏☝️

  • @syrupcore said:
    Sorry, for working through this out loud but I’m realizing that some part of this is me thinking the sound is more precious than it probably is. A good tune will work on anything. I know this when typing on the internet. Other times, it’s a total show stopping blocker.

    This, a thousand times over. I've recently been playing with the idea of compositions that are willfully changed with every performance. I've started using apps with randomization features to achieve just this and it's amazing how it opens you to the idea that a good tune can indeed exist separate from the arrangement or what it sounds like. HOWEVER, that does not mean that MIDI is the only path forward to change an arrangement. I have found that forcing myself to be open to variations of the chord progressions or transpositions can even further stretch a tune into uncharted (but still effective) territory.

    All this said, you have to buy in to the main point you make, which is that a good tune exists almost as melody and an idea--a story that you are trying to tell regardless of the language you are using. I'm fully in on this!

  • edited August 2020

    almost don't use any audio except of single shot drum samples in my production... keepimg everything as midi to have flexibilit of changing automations and sequences or eventually whole sound anytime i want...

  • I’m all audio too. Jam it out then pick out the best bits - then play around with them perhaps slice a few up then cobble the whole lot together.
    Midi usually gives me a headache to be honest 🤯

  • @AndyPlankton said:
    Some great thoughts here, I am very much conflicted, at least I now know I am not alone 😂🤣
    I think my real problem is the committal, I always think I AM going to change them at some point, although I don’t always end up changing anything.
    For those working in audio, do you save stems of your songs/pieces or just a stereo mix ?

    That’s a huge part of it for me too. But I keep telling myself the midi doesn’t go on the song/mix/record etc. the audio does.

  • I like mixing both. The main stems Of chords bass effects are audio. Drums are midi.

    Found some cool combos.
    Drambo for drums Samplr on audio loops.

    Haven’t found the ideal Auv3 stem/loop player for my 32 or 64 bars loops

  • Midi looping for midi and audio looping for audio.

    I’m just a sucker for repetition ;)

  • @Tamir_Raz_Mataz said:
    I like mixing both. The main stems Of chords bass effects are audio. Drums are midi.

    Found some cool combos.
    Drambo for drums Samplr on audio loops.

    Haven’t found the ideal Auv3 stem/loop player for my 32 or 64 bars loops

    I like to use a track to control the root, so I can make a groove, then add the melodies/harmonics afterwards, and want to keep hold of that control, I end up in MIDI.

  • I think that I lose a lot of stuff because I cannot record there and then.

    Cannot is controlled by other things, my own mind mainly, multi track audio, mix is not quite right, not quite sure about that bit.

  • @AndyPlankton said:
    Some great thoughts here, I am very much conflicted, at least I now know I am not alone 😂🤣
    I think my real problem is the committal, I always think I AM going to change them at some point, although I don’t always end up changing anything.
    For those working in audio, do you save stems of your songs/pieces or just a stereo mix ?

    I keep it all, but only the good ones - it’s a growing pile now
    but I have thrown out much more than I keep.

  • @AndyPlankton said:
    I think that I lose a lot of stuff because I cannot record there and then.

    Cannot is controlled by other things, my own mind mainly, multi track audio, mix is not quite right, not quite sure about that bit.

    99% of music is ephemeral, right? Yours and mine isn't very likely in the 1%, is it?

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