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.

Favourite makebetterifier

I was listening to the Gaz Williams interview on Mylar Melodies' Why We Bleep podcast and he made reference to the Elektron Analog Heat being his favourite thing that generates no sounds of its own but makes anything that passes through it sound better.

In hardware I'd say that was my ancient Roland PA-120 desk, but what are you favourite iOS apps for doing that?

I tend to love tape saturation so something like the three Tape Cassette plugins from Caelum are great or perhaps something similar - DAW Cassette from Klevgrand or TB Reelbus.

I guess an additional question is: what's your favourite app to add interest to a dull sound? It could be the same as the answer to the first question, but I'd probably go for a filter like the RRS Polivoks or even the spring reverb from iVCS3.

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Comments

  • Hardware wise just running my digital tracks directly into a Mackie CR1604 made a surprising difference. Gave the sounds more life, and helps them sit better with hardware, or recorded instruments. The EQ on the 1604 also just gives it something magic like, I don't what.. pixy dust? (for warming up soft synths specifically)

    App equivalents though, hmm. I like to run polyphonic keys into THU-Overloud, and same with some bass and lead tracks. I feel like this helps to add 'air' to synthesized sounds, kind of like fake reamping.

  • Any decent multiband compressor does it for me. I’ve been using a medium maximiser preset in logic as a DIY mastering for years now. I just mix and make sure that the input level isn’t too hot and voila!

    I haven’t tried any of the iOS multi band compressors yet even if I’m beta testing one 😟

    As far as tape saturation, I like the sound of it (no pun), but when I actually put it on mixes I end up not using them as they muddle the sound without giving much in return (guess that’s the idea!). Maybe I’m yet to find the right one.

  • edited November 2020

    Ah, Overloud is the guitar amp sim isn't it? I have to admit: I've not actually got or used anything along those lines. I (probably stupidly) assumed that there wasn't any point as I'm not a guitarist.

  • edited November 2020

    So many things, basically any kind of tape saturation plugin, Nembrini amps etc, also thafknar, those convolution reverbs can really be interesting sound design tools when you find the right match.

    1. Magic Death Eye Stereo or (Magic Death Eye 'Classic') for beautiful tube harmonics
    2. Bark Filter "Triple Band" preset with Limiter ON for a perfect EQ tone shape.
  • edited November 2020

    @PeteSasqwax said:
    Ah, Overloud is the guitar amp sim isn't it? I have to admit: I've not actually got or used anything along those lines. I (probably stupidly) assumed that there wasn't any point as I'm not a guitarist.

    Yep, the amp sim. That's why I consider it something of a 'secret weapon', because non guitarists tend to overlook it as a character processor. I used to love running my synths through guitar amps. The digital equivalent works really well too, but it depends on the source. It can definitely thin out some sounds, but it does so in a natural way, making it a good EQ substitute on some sounds.

  • Interesting. Both you and Gavinski mentioned amps so I perhaps need to look into those. It's daft - I've reamped things to great effect in hardware setups but never really thought of doing it in iOS.

    I've seen Magic Death Eye mentioned a fair bit on here so should give that a look. I do have one of their EQs which is great. I had Bark Filter in my wishlist for a while but appear to have deleted it when I had a purge (probably just because I have a load of filters, without actually looking at what it does).

    I don't have Thafknar but did just get IMPULSation so that I could give convolution reverbs a proper try out. I'm a bit of a spring obsessive which is why I've not gone there before (I've got about half a dozen hardware units with springs in them... but I can quit whenever I want to :wink: )

  • By far my most effective "makebetterifier" is to go back to individual tracks and apply EQ.

  • Hardwarewise: OTO Boum
    Desktop: Pulsar Mu
    iOs: Wott

  • Yeah, carving out EQ ranges for specific instruments to sit within is very effective, but that's more of a mix thing than something which is specific to an effect.

    The OTO boxes are really interesting. Which is the Boum?

    Also Woott is a great call!

  • Pro-R. Not for big, splashy "let's pretend we're in a concert hall" sounds (it can do those too) but for very short ambiences, to add a little depth and tonal sweetening.

    DDMF 6144.

    ReelBus.

    The Analog Heat's a lovely box.

    Track EQ is for dancing without stepping on toes @rs2000 :)

  • Track EQ is for dancing without stepping on toes

    Haha! That's a beautiful way of putting it!

  • @rs2000 said:
    By far my most effective "makebetterifier" is to go back to individual tracks and apply EQ.

    types "go back to individual tracks and apply EQ" into the App Store search bar

    :smiley:

  • edited November 2020

    Second this, it’s always better “with”. PSA1000 is also pretty damn good.

    @vrtx_void said:
    Hardwarewise: OTO Boum
    Desktop: Pulsar Mu
    iOs: Wott

    Woot sounds artificial to me, like it always adds some “void”. Don’t find it sweet or warm. And I keep trying. One of those “I’m surely wrong, everyone loves it, let’s try again”. I dig it as a “parallel” effect, with low mix setting and coupled with something else to add warmth, but on its own I find it harsh and brittle.

    Tape pro is good, very tweakable. But for instant “do your thing, don’t even ask” I’d say LoFi Dirt.
    https://apps.apple.com/es/app/lo-fly-dirt/id1292776927?l=en

  • @drewinnit said:

    @rs2000 said:
    By far my most effective "makebetterifier" is to go back to individual tracks and apply EQ.

    types "go back to individual tracks and apply EQ" into the App Store search bar

    :smiley:

    Gives me exactly one result: Amazon Music. Even easier. Others have already done the job for you 😅

  • @rs2000 said:

    @drewinnit said:

    @rs2000 said:
    By far my most effective "makebetterifier" is to go back to individual tracks and apply EQ.

    types "go back to individual tracks and apply EQ" into the App Store search bar

    :smiley:

    Gives me exactly one result: Amazon Music. Even easier. Others have already done the job for you 😅

    😂

  • Bleass Chorus has been my go-to for depth lately. It can work really cleanly to beef things up. I’ve actually put it on my snare and hats to just add a bit of character. You can’t tell that it’s a chorus, and you really can’t tell that there’s something in there, but you’d know if it wasn’t.

    ReelBus is probably my go-to for general betterifying. It’s so versatile in that it can be very subtle or very intense and there are so many different ways it can spice up a channel.

  • Ah, that's a classic Soundgas technique that I love! To explain for anyone who doesn't know SG: they're a vintage gear place who do repairs and refurbs on classic pieces as well as selling on insane things for (and to) wealthy musos. When they play live they use modified old drum machines to send the outputs of single hits through effects chains (kicks through distortion, snares and hats through chorus). Glorious!

  • edited November 2020

    @tahiche said:
    Woot sounds artificial to me, like it always adds some “void”. Don’t find it sweet or warm. And I keep trying. One of those “I’m surely wrong, everyone loves it, let’s try again”. I dig it as a “parallel” effect, with low mix setting and coupled with something else to add warmth, but on its own I find it harsh and brittle.

    That‘s true, Woott is an exciter with a (sidechain) compressor, not a saturator. And maybe I should add that I always use it in combination with Fabfilter Saturn 2 or my OTO Boum to get the best results. Sometimes I also add Apefilter for quick lifting of certain frequencies. For the more surgical tweaking I always use Fabfilter Pro Q to find my point of interest before I add any other effect in the signal chain.

    @colonel_mustard said:
    Pro-R. Not for big, splashy "let's pretend we're in a concert hall" sounds (it can do those too) but for very short ambiences, to add a little depth and tonal sweetening.

    Hell yeah! This is by far the sweetest and quickest way of lifting some character on sounds. The „concert hall“ effect is either a poor usage and misunderstanding of reverb, or a creative effect on purpose.

    @colonel_mustard said:
    DDMF 6144.

    The holy grail of glue compressors...I cannot afford it at this moment, and this fella is even better than Pulsar Mu to my 👂🏼👂🏼

    I always hear Analog Heat popping up in these discussions. It really comes down to personal taste..I don‘t like the warm / boost sound of it and definitely prefer the OTO Boum in that regard. However the Heat is waayy more versatile for more complex sound design and processing since it has a filter section and an envelope follower on top of its saturator.

    @PeteSasqwax said:

    The OTO boxes are really interesting. Which is the Boum?

    It‘s this little red box here, and @Hainbach also seems to love it :smile:

    A quick question here: Is there any kind of multichannel / quadraphonic compressors or saturators in iOS? I use multichannel setups in sound installations quite frequently and there is some very pricey solutions in Desktop based VST‘s/AU‘s, but it seems like multichannel signalprocessing is a blank page in iOS..

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @vrtx_void said:

    @colonel_mustard said:
    DDMF 6144.

    The holy grail of glue compressors...I cannot afford it at this moment, and this fella is even better than Pulsar Mu to my 👂🏼👂🏼

    The 6144 went on sale for three days last Black Friday, so designate some funds for it.

    Before that, it had only gone on one-day sales at the end of the year.

  • I live in a noisy apartment, and Brusfri has been a godsend for recording clean audio

  • The off button.

    Seriously, the 6144.

  • @JeffChasteen said:
    The off button.

    Seriously, the 6144.

    This is an equalizer, not a compressor, right?

  • @ExAsperis99 said:

    @JeffChasteen said:
    The off button.

    Seriously, the 6144.

    This is an equalizer, not a compressor, right?

    Works wonders when you just google it yourself!
    It's a 5-band parametric EQ based on the Neve 5033. It has high and low pass filters, and five bands, each of which can be bypassed.

    I own it (of course I do),I know how it works, and I could drive it in a pinch, but i don't really have a license for this thing.

  • @rs2000 said:
    By far my most effective "makebetterifier" is to go back to individual tracks and apply EQ.

    I agree with this. It’s always baffling to me to see someone spend so much time tweaking and designing a specific sound, then throw some [insert makebetterfier product with preset #4 here] on their master track that totally changes and colors the sound, and they go “ah yeah! That’s it!”

  • @ExAsperis99 said:

    @JeffChasteen said:
    The off button.

    Seriously, the 6144.

    This is an equalizer, not a compressor, right?

    Equalizer.
    Oftentimes there is even no need to tweak.
    It just adds a bit of deliciousness as it is.

  • Was already on my list with Magic Death Eye. Hoping they both go on sale this weekend 🤗

  • Haven’t seen it mentioned, RX950. Can’t remember who or where it was recommended (somewhere on this forum I think), but it’s cheap, Auv3 and adds a nice warm distortion to loops that I’m trying to vintagize/betterfy. I add this and Reelbus to almost everything.

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