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.

Download on the App Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Been awhile since I checked: in 2021 what's the best version of an AUM-like environment for PC?

My gut tells me it's prob. still Reason in terms of a non-DAW oriented audio environment.

Maybe Bidule?

Anyone know of anything else that snuck out in the last year on PC that emulates the mixer paradigm like AUM?

Comments

  • edited January 2021

    Do you mean in terms of routing audio and MIDI? If so, I would suggest Ableton Live, as it has good routing options.

    Can’t think of something that falls outside of the definition of a DAW for PC.

  • edited January 2021

    1) VCV Rack with VST Plugin Addon
    2) Bitwig or Ableton

    VCV Rack is the closest I've gotten to a non-DAW environment I like using on desktop.

  • @michael_m said:
    Do you mean interns if routing audio and MIDI? If so, I would suggest Ableton Live, as it has good routing options.

    Can’t think of something that falls outside of the definition of a DAW for PC.

    Nope, that's exactly not what what I'm talking about. I don't care about "DAW stuff" like timeline, etc. etc.

    If i wanted AUM but DAW I'd go Bitwig, but I want more of audio mixer, routing, control, etc. Thus why I think Reason is still prob. the big dog here for "live rack" type idea.

  • @auxmux said:
    1) VCV Rack with VST Plugin Addon
    2) Bitwig or Ableton

    VCV Rack is the closest I've gotten to a non-DAW environment I like using on desktop.

    Yea, VCV may be a good option. I'm worried it's too unconstrained so I'll never get anything "done" :)

    It's one thing I like about AUM on ios... After a point, it get's too cumbersome to keep adding stuff. So I can make "instruments" that actually have an end-state I can play... As opposed to the bottomless pit of pure modular.

    VCV rack hosting Reason as VST which hosts VCV rack as VST...

    Modularception

  • I haven’t used this in over ten years but when I did I thought it was pretty gosh durn cool and made a bunch of neat Stuff...

    http://www.audiomulch.com/

  • Plugin Alliance's Gig Performer may be in the ballpark?

  • @MonkeyDrummer said:

    @auxmux said:
    1) VCV Rack with VST Plugin Addon
    2) Bitwig or Ableton

    VCV Rack is the closest I've gotten to a non-DAW environment I like using on desktop.

    Yea, VCV may be a good option. I'm worried it's too unconstrained so I'll never get anything "done" :)

    It's one thing I like about AUM on ios... After a point, it get's too cumbersome to keep adding stuff. So I can make "instruments" that actually have an end-state I can play... As opposed to the bottomless pit of pure modular.

    VCV rack hosting Reason as VST which hosts VCV rack as VST...

    Modularception

    Been there, it's great. Maschine in VCV Rack is so much fun! You can make it as constrained or not as you like, same reason I love AUM.

  • @MonkeyDrummer said:
    Anyone know of anything else that snuck out in the last year on PC that emulates the mixer paradigm like AUM?

    not from last year... it was 20 years ago today :D
    The Creamware (now Sonic Core) Scope system, a mixed hardware/software environment, like UAD. Needs a classic PCI slot (5V) motherboard, though.

    Such cards (2nd hand) start at $50 (3 or 4 DSPs), 6 DSPs about $250 and are cascadable.
    If you try a small one and like the system, you can add up to 2 bigger ones and processing power increases linear.
    A single small card can do all the audio/midi routing between hardware and software ports.
    You may have multiple mixers (different layouts exist), but synth/fx resources are limited.

    The strongest point of the system is it‘s almost latency free input/processing/output within 3 to 5 samples due to the Sharc DSP processing and the extremely versatile routing.
    You can do signal chains without adding latency, sample accurate parallel and even feedback (if a ‚security‘ module is insterted).

    The GUI is similiar to modular with virtual cables and you can grab any point of the „circuit“ for monitoring or recording.
    No need to worry about stretching things too far: the audio processing is top notch and quite DSP hungry. ;)
    4 DSP cards have 2 analog in/out, coax S/PDIF, midi and 2 Adat ports (16 channels)
    6 DSP cards have an exchangable io-plate with the same ports as standard
    3 DSP cards have a custom Firewire port instead of Adat

    Highlights included: a full modular synth, Model-D (Minimax), Prophet 6, Prophet 2k like (Vectron), VDAT (virtual Adat) for tracking within the DSP environment.

    Of course this is not an entirely serious suggestion, but in 20years of use I never regretted to have invested in that system. It was expensive back then...

  • Though it has limits and is not exactly the same thing, Blue Cat's PatchWorx is the thing I use for hosting synths and effect chains.

    https://bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_PatchWork/

  • @drewfx1 said:
    Though it has limits and is not exactly the same thing, Blue Cat's PatchWorx is the thing I use for hosting synths and effect chains.

    https://bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_PatchWork/

    I agree that it’s great, but I’d say the difference is that it doesn’t have the same mixer-like interface that AUM has, and it entails a bit more work to set things up.

  • @mambonassau said:
    Plugin Alliance's Gig Performer may be in the ballpark?

    Yes, Gig Performer by Deskew Technologies is the best one out there. Paradise for keyboardists! Routing options are unlimited. The proprietary GPScript and OSC implementation allow you the enormous flexibility and highly sophisticated setups.

  • Definitely - for me, it's the most AUM-like desktop environment. It's very flexible and incredibly powerful - take a look at some of John Lehmkhul's (plugin guru) youtube videos (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKxBfrjXMDZZfuP_bfSHFA) - he's the creative force behind Unify and shows off its potential really well.
    If you're used to AUM it makes sense - the layers are like channels, except they're horizontal...

  • edited January 2021

    There's Forte plugin host by Brainspawn which has some similarities.
    Although I think it It could be a nice project to build an AUM type of mixer in Max.
    But I still think using Live is still the most convenient overall for when you to expand your session and you could just build a custom midi controller to make it more minimal like AUM:)

  • Just found this https://kushview.net/element/
    Quite AUM-like and looks quite useful, only $2 for a single use license but there is a subscription option and an open source option.
    Might give it a go.

  • Kushview Element definitely looks interesting and as it's open source could be a good project to be built into hardware box.

    There's also Carla which is free:

    https://kx.studio/Applications:Carla

  • @AudioGus said:
    I haven’t used this in over ten years but when I did I thought it was pretty gosh durn cool and made a bunch of neat Stuff...

    http://www.audiomulch.com/

    Yaaaaaaaas! I miss it (on a mac, never upgraded...). The MetaSurface is what I'm dying to see replicated an AUv3 host like AB or AUM. Morphable snapshots? Yes, please. Seems like it should be possible. In wildly undereducated theory anyway.

  • @Carnbot said:
    Just found this https://kushview.net/element/
    Quite AUM-like and looks quite useful, only $2 for a single use license but there is a subscription option and an open source option.
    Might give it a go.

    Downloaded last night and took a while to get my head around the basics, but it's looking pretty good. Nice that it can cope with multiple hradware midi controllers connecting to different plugins. For $2 as a one off paymnent for the current version (no upgrade path) it's a real bargain...

  • @enkaytee said:

    @Carnbot said:
    Just found this https://kushview.net/element/
    Quite AUM-like and looks quite useful, only $2 for a single use license but there is a subscription option and an open source option.
    Might give it a go.

    Downloaded last night and took a while to get my head around the basics, but it's looking pretty good. Nice that it can cope with multiple hradware midi controllers connecting to different plugins. For $2 as a one off paymnent for the current version (no upgrade path) it's a real bargain...

    Yeah it does look handy and from the video the developer says he's open to feature requests. I don't think it's got Link yet which is one thing I hope is on the list. :)

  • edited January 2021

    I use Harrison Mixbus for this.

    The console style workflow and 'anything to anything' routing matrix make it extremely versatile. I use it for running stems through and routing, and it won't meet any cliplaunching needs, but the built in console emulation DSP is an incredibly nice bonus.

  • @syrupcore said:

    @AudioGus said:
    I haven’t used this in over ten years but when I did I thought it was pretty gosh durn cool and made a bunch of neat Stuff...

    http://www.audiomulch.com/

    Yaaaaaaaas! I miss it (on a mac, never upgraded...). The MetaSurface is what I'm dying to see replicated an AUv3 host like AB or AUM. Morphable snapshots? Yes, please. Seems like it should be possible. In wildly undereducated theory anyway.

    I was really close to investing in Audiomulch, but the development was always so start and stop, with the developer unsure when it would start again. Not sure if that has changed, but it would be an insta-buy for me if there’s now a more solid development effort. Hasn’t it been on version 2 for something like 10 years now?

  • @michael_m said:

    @syrupcore said:

    @AudioGus said:
    I haven’t used this in over ten years but when I did I thought it was pretty gosh durn cool and made a bunch of neat Stuff...

    http://www.audiomulch.com/

    Yaaaaaaaas! I miss it (on a mac, never upgraded...). The MetaSurface is what I'm dying to see replicated an AUv3 host like AB or AUM. Morphable snapshots? Yes, please. Seems like it should be possible. In wildly undereducated theory anyway.

    I was really close to investing in Audiomulch, but the development was always so start and stop, with the developer unsure when it would start again. Not sure if that has changed, but it would be an insta-buy for me if there’s now a more solid development effort. Hasn’t it been on version 2 for something like 10 years now?

    Hmm, yah looks like it. Last update almost five years ago I guess. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AudioMulch

  • @OscarSouth said:
    I use Harrison Mixbus for this.

    The console style workflow and 'anything to anything' routing matrix make it extremely versatile. I use it for running stems through and routing, and it won't meet any cliplaunching needs, but the built in console emulation DSP is an incredibly nice bonus.

    Yes. @OscarSouth slipped me a clue when it was on sale for $19 and I got out my credit card.
    MixBus6 is like AUM with a Pro Console Strip built-in. It imports all my VST/AU plug-ins too.
    So, for $19 it's a great mastering/prototyping tool very much like AUM.

    Standard pricing for MixBus6 is $89 I think. There's a super-duper version with more tracks and features in the $200+ range. Updates inherit the benefits of the discounted entry price, I read.

    MixBus designs are hardware emulations of the Harrison Mixing consoles. Good training for someone that might want to understand the workflow of a physical studio. Hardware can still offer quality we can't touch with emulated instances tho' the gap seems to be closing overtime. People are making award winning albums with Logic Pro.

    I really want an M1 Mac. NO FAN and World Class Performance. Mac Mini might be the ticket
    to start at $763.66 (tax included) for 8GB. Free shipping. $200 more plus tax to get 16GB version.
    I should probably bump the storage significantly. It's always a problem and my IOS spending and my
    Mac needs indicate I need a lot of storage. At least with Mac OS I can effectively add external storage tho'.

    I have the bluetooth keyboard and HDMI cable. I could use my TV for the monitor maybe and sit on the couch with a Bluetooth keyboard to drive.

    We are going to split into factions around all these choices, right? But "We'll always have Paris".
    This could be the start of a beautiful relationship, Louis. Mac and IOS walk off together.

  • edited July 2022

    Revisiting this topic, because I got Gig Performer this weekend, and it's the closest thing to AUM I've used. Putting VSTs even VCV and miRack in there makes it super flexible and midi routing is excellent.

    I don't gig, so the name caused me not to investigate it before, but the Wires view is very modular. Plus no timeline. While I still like VCV as a modular host l, the mixer environment of Gig Performer works well coming from AUM. Plus I can host Scaler and other midi plugins in there as well.

    Also, another import feature that other hosts like Kushview lack is Ableton Link support with start/stop, so this means I can use it with my iPad.

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