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.

Question: Setup iPad as effects processor for MacBook ?

So, up until today I've basically had two audio interfaces - I run my guitar and vocals into my iPad via an Alesis iODock, then took the main outs from the dock and put them into the inputs on my Scarlett4i4 which is connected to my aging MacBookPro. Good news: got a new iPad Air. Bad news: USB-C means I can no longer connect to the iODock because that all is hard-wired.

So, my question: Do I need two audio interfaces in order to run my guitar/vocals through my iPad and then out for streaming? Is there a way I can (I'm making this up) connect the iPad, Scarlett, and Mac together on hub, use the inputs on the Scarlett but route audio through the iPad to handle the DSP, and then emit that out to an OBS live-stream on the Mac? Specifically, I need to use the iPad so the DSP doesn't hit my Mac's processor because that gets pretty eaten up by the streaming.

Any thoughts on the setup or am I just gonna have to buy a new class-compliant audio interface?

Comments

  • Yes, studiomux will do it but you need to use a daw to connect to it. Or you could try a live vst/au host to do it, but something has to host the au plugin on the Mac to connect to studiomux on the iPad.

  • The best and most stable way, that I know of is using iConnectivity, preferably the Audio series that have quite a lot of audio channels going back and forth from the iPad to a computer. It works seamlessly with a Mac but I ‘ve read that there are issues with PCs. The audio pass through technology of the interfaces is amazing, stable, easy to use and can take “abuse”. I have an Audiobus template with 8 channels for FX in Ableton. I record my guitar through the interface to the iPad for Nembrini or THU treatment and then to Ableton. I am not sure about other DAWs but I used to have Logic for years, till I tried to bring my iPad in the workflow. Too much hustle to make things work. Thus I switched to Ableton and everything works easy and stable. Even complex setups. For example using my iPad as a controller for an Ableton’s midi channel and that channel controlling an auV3 in the iPad. IConnectivity Audio with Ableton is the best and most stable way to have a sturdy and working workflow with Mac and iPad.

  • One solution would be to add a small USB mixer; this would allow you to use the iPad on a hardware send and bring the outputs back into the mixer which can be easily recorded on the Mac. You can use your existing interface on the iPad.

    This also makes it easy to record the dry guitar and vocals and the fx via the iPad separately.

    It opens up possibilities by allowing you to use fx on real hardware sends/returns or just use the mixer as an audio interface and use AUM/AB3 etc to route the audio. It also makes it easy to integrate hardware fx/pedals.

    Small USB mixers can be pretty inexpensive and often great value compared to a basic 2 in 2 out interface.

    Just a thought. :-)

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