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.

MultiTrackStudio: Tips, Tricks, & Updates (Last update: v. 2.9 on Nov. 14, 2017)

edited November 2017 in General App Discussion


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/multitrackstudio-for-ipad/id776998585?mt=8

I'm going to start this thread just so I can update everytime MTS updates and adds new features, since the developer is literally improving this app in significant ways every 30-45 days or so. For example, v. 1.5 added a Matrix Sequencer that was part drum machine, part automated Audio and MIDI trigger sequencer - really damn cool.

(EDIT: Visit this thread for some screenshots and discussion of the v. 1.5 update and what the Matrix Sampler can do. This was a free addition to MTS, not an IAP.)

http://forum.audiob.us/discussion/5897/multitrackstudio-for-ipad-adds-matrix-sampler/p1

While not as sexy as the prior update, v. 1.6 has a chance to be an even more useful update if he gets some of the IAA compatibility stuff worked out. This update interests me for two reasons: (1) When it works, MTS is ELITE for workflow convenience because you can hook up your synth apps, sequence them, control with a variety of MIDI controls, and record all from the same app over IAA. But IAA is inherently wonky and some of the apps just weren't working well with MTS, if at all. (2) It is possible to use MTS as a MIDI controller/sequencer and then record the results using AudioBus (this would be a nice alternative if IAA isn't working right) - this update purports to improve how that works.

I'll post later with some impressions if/when I get a chance to try any of this out. It's not a "cheap" product ($30 U.S.), but the developer is just excellent and it's even supplanted Auria as my DAW of choice. Don't regret a single cent spent on it, as should be the feeling with any quality product.

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Comments

  • @StormJH1 I have this baby, but apart from a first cursory use (which was very positive) I haven't spent enough time on it to feel comfortable enough to make me want to open it when an idea hits....and of course the more I don't use it the more I've forgotten how it works and the more I don't feel like opening it. Plus ca change etc.

    I know you're well into at this point and many of your priorities/prejudices seem to align over here, so I would be very grateful to hear -even in just a para or two- your State of the MTS Now- report.

    Thanks.

  • Isn't there also a $20 IAP for this? It would be $50 for the full blown app.

  • The IAP gives more tracks, the amazing pitch shift feature, vocal tuning, side chaining, mixer automation and a couple of other things I can't recall. Well worth every cent I reckon.

  • I was initially crazy enthusiastic about this app as it's got some insanely awesome features, but there are aspects of it that are a bit fiddly, not least not being able to view midi or audio as "clips" like in traditional daws so that you can move them around easily. Rather, everything is on the piano roll timeline. It drives me nuts.

    that being said, this thing is K I N G for bouncing -- you can cut and paste MIDI onto an Audio track and end up with an audio mix down of the MIDI part. SICK.

  • edited October 2014

    Some SoundFont Player issues are fixed.

    My one gripe with the app has been hopefully taken care of now.

  • I've been waiting for this next one - I followed the link before reading that it hadn't gone live.

  • @papertiger said:

    that being said, this thing is K I N G for bouncing -- you can cut and paste MIDI onto an Audio track and end up with an audio mix down of the MIDI part. SICK.

    Hmmm. That's enough right there to get me back amongst it....

  • @Littlewoodg - That's my bad; thread title fixed to reflect that it's not out yet.

    @JohnnyGoodyear - Yeah, there's a ton of "easter egg" type stuff where the app has this functionality that isn't immediately obvious. Developer isn't the best at self-promotion, but he's a heck of a programmer. After the update is released, I do want to post a "State of MTS" report, and I know @papertiger and a few others are big users of the app as well, so i'd be interested to hear what they thing of it.

    It's just a little unfair to evaluate it right now because the IAA stuff is being addressed and iOS8 threw everything for a loop. I should disclose, however, that I have it on an old iPad2, and I am not updating to iOS8. (That's actually one of the reasons I like MTS - it works more efficiently on older devices).

    @yowza - Yes, the IAP is $20 extra, but I actually haven't bought it yet. I probably will, just because I'm a big fan of the app and would like to support it by unlocking all features, but I don't use vocals or more than 16 tracks, so the add-ons aren't really essential to me. It's not like you're missing any "core" DAW features in the $30 base version.

  • @StormJH1 Understand fully. Makes good sense. Would still value your take, from the experienced-user aspect, but for the n00b as well, once you've seen the new update and had a chance to get amongst it some...

    Thanks.

  • Update is live now. Will report back. Some of the improvements are intriguing so I hope to test them out at least a bit this morning.

  • @papertiger look forward to your reasoned assessment etc.

  • The update brings MTS one step closer to becoming my main chick, the AB now works far simpler, and works for all my favorite synths, (haven't actually tried all, yet, as I have 27+ "favorites").
    Cool cool so far.

  • Well crud, the new update uses Audiobus 2.1.3 and I'm trying to use only older non-AB SDK 2.1 apps on my iPad until the AB issues are fully resolved.

  • @Littlewoodg said:

    The update brings MTS one step closer to becoming my main chick, the AB now works far simpler, and works for all my favorite synths, (haven't actually tried all, yet, as I have 27+ "favorites").
    Cool cool so far.

    Can you please explain what you're using and how? My groggy attempts this morning were...unsuccessful.

  • @Littlewoodg said:

    The update brings MTS one step closer to becoming my main chick, the AB now works far simpler, and works for all my favorite synths, (haven't actually tried all, yet, as I have 27+ "favorites").
    Cool cool so far.

    So, when you click the little instrument slots now, there are options for "Virtual MIDI" instruments - how does that work? Does that control the app through IAA (with MIDI note output from MTS?). What about AudioBus?

  • Oh dear. My two go-to MTS-ers @StormJH1 and @papertiger both seem a bit underwhelmed and stumped (jg sits back down and hides his eyes).....

  • Holy price, Batman!

    I'm in the market for a new fast, resource friendly DAW/sequencer, but I'm not sure about this one.

  • @JohnnyGoodyear said:

    Oh dear. My two go-to MTS-ers @StormJH1 and @papertiger both seem a bit underwhelmed and stumped (jg sits back down and hides his eyes).....

    Haha, no not yet. I just had a newborn so I'm a bit short on time. I was asking the other guys because I didn't have the time to experiment with it yet. The developer did post instructions on their forum - I'm just a little unclear because I had only used AudioBus for audio before.

  • Before this update I pretty much avoided AB in MTS, the IAA route was swifter, fewer buttons and steps. Problem being many favorite instruments synths weren't playing nice with MTS via IAA -

    The new config has me back to AB- open AB select MTS and your synth. Open a new midi track in MTS and select your synth under "virtual midi app". From here you can sequence or play the synth from inside MTS, and record midi events from MTS keys if you enable record on the midi track.

    Audio wise there are options: you can open a new Audio track and select record AB, and whatever you're doing on the midi track will record as audio. Alternatively, you can copy the midi track and paste it into a new empty audio track, and you'll have the audio that way.

    So far this approach has worked for Thor, Z3ta, Arctic Pro, Crystal, Argon, Addictive, Cube...

    There are so many implications and alternative workflows here that I'm still getting my mind around it. The short version, and good news is that as I mentioned above I'm able now to use my fav instruments in MTS now

  • @Littlewoodg Nice, acute summary with things to work on even for the most cack-handed of which I am a leading member. Have a date with my 12 year old to watch the World Series game tonight (after a pizza and donut run; yeah, mum's out of town) so this should be a perfect thing to fiddle with during the endless commercials.

    As for you @StormJH1 accept a well-intentioned and good-natured pass. You have other and far more precious claims on your time. For now. There will be other types of World Series yet and they're all in front of you...

  • @Littlewoodg - thanks! That was exactly the explanation I was hoping for. I think AudioBus recording is just a better option, so it's good that the app was made more friendly towards sequencing those apps in MTS, but getting the audio through AB. IAA is very convenient, but not when it doesn't work, and there are times I need to adjust the latency in AB to get synths to record w/o audio glitches. This sounds promising.

  • edited October 2014

    @StormJH1 @JohnnyGoodyear
    Keep me posted on what you discover, I'm still working on it. I'm curious about the additional new wrinkle: that midi events (including pitch/mod wheel?) can be recorded into MTS via the synth app's GUI...something about an option appearing in the synth settings. Hmm.
    Thanks @Maarten for the link to Mr Bremmers post on the MTS forum, it reminded me to thank the man

  • It does work with AudioBus. To give a very basic tutorial on how, I attached a few screenshots below. In the first one I have linked Sunrizer to MTS with AudioBus. I then set up a new MIDI track - the purpose of this is to record the notes that will drive Sunrizer with MIDI.

    But there are several options as to how you can do that. You could program the notes on the piano roll, and MTS will preview each note as you add it to the grid or touch the left "key" bars. Or, you can use one of the several MIDI controllers in MTS (keyboard shown in photo 2). Or if you had MIDI data from some other source, you could just cut and paste that into the MIDI piano roll.

    Once I have played the MIDI part and tweaked it by adding notes, quantizing, etc, you record the part as an Audio Track thru AudioBus as seen in photo 3. Note that I have "armed" the audio track to record, and then I just press play. The MIDI track automates the notes, which play in Sunrizer and are fed into MTS as pure audio. Lots of editing power available here.

  • edited October 2014

    Cool. Very nice @StormJH1 . And a bushel of thanks for the pictures. The baseball looks pretty tame so far, but I'm having fun fiddling. This will expedite matters no doubt. Amongst all the inevitable confusion. Thanks again. If I were Mister MTS and things were working well AB-wise, I might see this period of instability and hassle as a window of opportunity....

    Edit: Scratch that about the baseball. All tied up.

  • edited October 2014

    Thnx @StormJH1
    Have dipped into the "MTS Virtual MIDI Recording" functionality now, and it's wow. This works in a synth you've selected as a Virtual MIDI App, that itself has MIDI out, and you've selected the MTS Virtual MIDI Recording function inside that synth. I tried it with Arctic Pro, and recorded keys, modwheel and pitch wheel movements using Arctic pro's GUI. The note events were recorded as midi into MTS, and the controller movements (pitch and modulation) were recorded into the automation controller lanes for that track, inside MTS as well. There is then the option to record that track from Arctic, or any other synth using that midi track with control info... pretty %#€ing cool

  • @StormJH1 said:

    It does work with AudioBus. To give a very basic tutorial on how, I attached a few screenshots below. In the first one I have linked Sunrizer to MTS with AudioBus. I then set up a new MIDI track - the purpose of this is to record the notes that will drive Sunrizer with MIDI.

    But there are several options as to how you can do that. You could program the notes on the piano roll, and MTS will preview each note as you add it to the grid or touch the left "key" bars. Or, you can use one of the several MIDI controllers in MTS (keyboard shown in photo 2). Or if you had MIDI data from some other source, you could just cut and paste that into the MIDI piano roll.

    Once I have played the MIDI part and tweaked it by adding notes, quantizing, etc, you record the part as an Audio Track thru AudioBus as seen in photo 3. Note that I have "armed" the audio track to record, and then I just press play. The MIDI track automates the notes, which play in Sunrizer and are fed into MTS as pure audio. Lots of editing power available here.

    I don't really understand how this is something new? I was using this exact same process with the last version.

  • edited October 2014

    @Coloobar
    The difference is visible in the first image StormJH1 includes. Used to be, for midi sequencing AB instruments, you'd select External for a midi track, and also a corresponding destination in the a Devices menu.

    The image shows the new method, in which Sunrizer appears as a "Virtual Midi App"

    The new Virtual Midi App track can do a couple things the External type didn't do (for AB use and otherwise).

    First, it can be used (if the app has midi out) to record real time midi data into MTS from the instruments own GUI: note on/off, mod wheel, pitch wheel and more...

    this is true for AB and IAA instruments, if the instrument has midi out and the "Record into MTS" option is selected in the instrument app. There's one option for IAA and one for AB that appears in the midi settings section of apps with midi out functionality. With AB instruments it can happen while u record audio. With IAA there is a separate step to make the audio track, as before.

    Another thing the Virtual Midi App track can do is function as a midi controller for any open app that has midi in. These apps will appear where Sunrizer and Jam Up Pro are visible in StormJH1's screenshot, as long as they're open in the background.

    As is the case with the new ability to record real time midi into MTS, this feature comes from a request to the dev: make MTS a midi controller (for virtual midi apps, it already was for External apps including AB, and apps linked by IAA. Now it will control any app that's open in the bg, sending note data and the full range of CC, using MTS controller lanes.) (This happens independently of AB and IAA, though as above it also works along side those features, and actually streamlines the AB functionality. Note that like other iOS midi controller there won't be audio flowing into MTS, unless you've also set up IAA or AB)

    Other new stuff I haven't tried is mentioned in the link @Maarten provided: in one intriguing line, the dev says that "Multiple tracks can use the same app (you can route 16 tracks to an app for example, each track using a different MIDI channel)."
    I'm not sure what he means, yet, but...

  • I see, in the previous version it would say something like "External (BS-16i)" on that first screen shot. Thanks for the explanation.

    One problem I used to have though was getting a buffer underrun error when the app was in the background (such as trying to play/ control a synth while MTS was recording). Seems like if the new version is going to allow recording more data directly from the synth then it's going to also have to do a better job recording as a background app.

  • I am yet to see a video showing the piano roll eidting of midi notes in MTS. How is it compared to NanoStudio, which for me is the most intuitive of all the apps I've tried, including Gadget and Cubasis, where I always struggle to select and adjust notes?

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