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Infinite Looper, Audiobus, Sidecar, state-saving synths and automation
I would like to use state-saving synths as IAA inserts in Infinite Looper so that when I load a particular song in IL the synths have the right patches loaded. Is Audiobus the solution to this? Or Sidecar? Would Sidecar allow me to record automation of IAA synths in IL? Actually, I'm not really sure how Sidecar is supposed to be used with Infinite Looper. If I have e.g. Cassini loaded in an IL slot, am I supposed to load it in Sidecar as well?
Comments
Having played around a bit I can see that Sidecar won't record automation, nor help with state saving. I've used it along synth apps for chord pads and sending cc's. Fun and useful! Still not sure how to integrate it with Infinite Looper though. And would like to know if/how Audiobus could help with state-saving, or whether some other method might work.
Infinite Looper doesn't have state saving -- the set-up that (mostly) works would be to have your synths and IL in Audiobus, and then do state saving there. Rather than hosting the synth apps directly in Infinite Looper, you'd treat them as external synths, and route MIDI to them that way.
This is one of the bummers of synths on iOS. Some of them support MIDI program change, some don't. Some of them support Audiobus state saving, some of them don't. Some of them automatically load up the last patch they had, some of them don't. Some things support Audiobus, some don't. IAA support is all over the place. Link support is expanding, but it's not everywhere, and won't ever be. No matter what you're doing, there's a good chance that some part of your set-up will require a bunch of tweaking before it runs the way you want.
In my music making, I'm looking at Infinite Looper as a sketch pad -- I capture the MIDI notes using mostly internal SoundFonts, and then I move things over to Logic for production on my desktop. The iPad is great for portability, and there are a lot of tactile things it does well. I put the arrangement stuff into IL because it was something that I really wanted, and there just didn't seem to be something similar on the desktop. But when it comes to final production, I always wind up in Logic; it's things like the lack of consistent synth patch support that push me back to my desktop (well, that and the big screen, more disk and CPU, and all of the other stuff; I don't have any philosophical attachment to iOS, where I feel like I should be a purist).
Sidecar is sort of orthogonal to all of this -- I've got tons of apps that have MIDI learn, or with a range of CCs, and being able to control them without them being in the foreground -- obviously handy. There didn't seem to be an app that did the slide-over trick, and also provided the MIDI control, so that's where it came together. It works nicely with Infinite Looper (as both support side-by-side display), but it doesn't help with the synth preset issue, because there's really not a good solution for the problem.
Thanks for the sobering reply SBD. I'm still hoping I can find an "in". For the last three weeks I've been circling the iPad (which I use daily and intensively for work), trying to find a workflow. My needs are modest, like my means. I used Logic in one incarnation or other for 15 years but abandoned it a few years after it became mac-only, and since then there has been no electronic music-making in my life. I badly got the itch 18 months ago and thought the iPad might be a remedy. I gave up in frustration after three months. Atm I feel like I'm getting closer to a point where I can actually start making music using a method that is comfortable and satisfying for me.
IMO it's best to load the synths in AudioBus along with IL, then just use IL to send MIDI to them. You get the benefits of state saving, app switching, and ABRemote, while still using IL for composition. You may want AUM in the output slot as well, to do mixing, AUx hosting, and recording.
Another advantage is it makes it easier if you want to switch sequencers. If you want to switch to ModStep, Genome, Auria Pro, Cubase, or something, the instruments are all still there and ready to go. Just add, or swap in your tool of choice, and select the right MiIDI settings.
In AB, does it make any difference whether IL is an input or an output?
And in what way would AB Remote (about which I understand nothing) be useful in this setup?
IL would be an input. You'd have no reason to send audio to it. As in input you have the flexibility to use its internal sounds if you wanted. Or not.
AB Remote is just handy for controlling apps all collected on a single screen. Think of it as the AB sidebar expanded to full screen. It can also run it on a separate device if you wanted. So, things like starting and stopping apps from your phone while not having to switch away from the app you're focused on in your iPad. Maybe not much use to you if you keep to a simple setup..
IL is listed as an IAA - Generator, but will not load into AUM...even when launching it first.
iPAD Air 1, iOS 9 latest
Works fine for me in any order and with any other apps. Air 2 iOS9 latest.
Have you tried rebooting the iPad? Could be some ghost IAA junk floating around. Or, try holding down the power button until the power off slider comes up, then let go and hold down the home button until you get back to the home screen. Sometimes that's even more effective than a reboot.
Have you tried just using Gadget?
Otherwise, Ruismaker, Viking and iSem loaded into AUM, driven by midi from IL. Because they are all AUs they will remember their state.
Can't stand Gadget's onscreen keyboard nor the whole patterns/scenes paradigm. Having AUs driven by a nice sequencer is my aim. Will try to get a workflow happening with IL, and if that's successful try it with Auria. I'd use Cubasis exclusively but I'm always stymied by the piano-roll.
Yeah that was it....flu got my brain I reckon..thanks.
Did not realize that the filters in Viking can consume up to 37% CPU on an Air 1.
So I can run 1 instance at 50% with filter in AUM and 4 more without filter for only an additional 3%.
Eye opener...seems you can have one component in an app being a CPU pig.
Didn't think about placing AUM in the output slot of AB. So will it be hosting all the apps to mix them and just put iL in the input slot?
@wim said:
Yes, you can do it that way, though I generally load all my non-AUx apps in AudioBus, rather than AUM. You can still mix them in AUM, but have the advantage of AudioBus state saving, app switching, and AB Remote.
You can then session save in AUM, followed by a state save in AudioBus, which will allow you to easily get back to (approximately) where you left off the next time you load things up. Maybe over complicated for most people's taste, but it's my preferred workflow.
That might be worthwhile reporting to the developer. It sounds like something fixable and that they would want to know about.
Yes I contacted them and Andrew was very good. It basically boils down to:
So linear is the way to go if having issues with Viking on Air 1 ...I wonder if an app like Model15 has the same capability with it's filters.
Nope. They is what they is on the Model 15.
Good info on the Viking filters!
Not at iPad atm but could you do something similar with Auria? That is, have Auria in AB as input and use Auria to sequence AUs in AUM, which would be in AB's output. Non-AU instruments could be in AB's input.
This method would hopefully stop audio tracks from being auto-created in Auria every time you record a midi track. That's what happens to me when I have Auria as output in AB.
Whoever said ios sucks for the purpose of state saving, and that it always would, I predict withi n two years this will not be the case. It wasn't too long ago that no one heard of "Link". Perhaps Apple itself will come up with a feaux file system.. Judging from where ios was two years ago, I predict a rosy future and state of saving within that time.
Yes, that should work.