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Issues recording audio (Gadget / Audiobus / AudioShare)
Hi,
I’ve had a frustrating day figuring out weird performance issues when trying to record stems or multiple streams of audio with apps connected through Audiobus.
I’m fairly new to making music in iOS having cut my teeth back in the UKs first lockdown in March, so this might just be the ways things are, but I’d like to see what you guys think.
I have a 3rd gen Air, I was surprised how many instances of synths, effect and tracks that can run before things break down, so I’m aware when I’m close to any limits.
I use Gadget as my DAW and was using BeatMaker 2 to mix down the various outputs of Audiobus to a final track.
Having taken a break, I’m back making things again and the few things that have changed since are iPADOS 14 and maybe some updates to apps.
The first problem is Zurich in Gadget. Having a USB mixer, I used this to record stems to save CPU from the iPad into Zurich, this used to work brilliantly.
However, now I find that if Gadget is connected as an input in Audiobus, Zurich records a glitchy, stutters mess of the audio looping out through my mixer and back as an input (yes I am muting Zurich as I record).
If I disconnect Gadget as an audio input from Audiobus, Zurich records everything fine.
I only discovered this an hour ago, in the hours leading to this discovery, I ended up buying AudioShare to see if that could be an alternative.
I had similar issues with AudioShare, not as bad but almost randomly, I would get stuttery broken audio through the Audiobus connection. I played with latency, sample rate, saved on CPU by closing synths.
I also got suspicious noticing that adding AudioShare as an output, the CPU jumps by up to 40%, is that normal?
Finally, I just found out that if I launch Gadget first, then Audiobus, this problem almost completely goes away. What? So strange, I aligned the latency settings on these apps so I wonder, is this just an everyday problem everyone just puts up with or am I missing something.
Has ios14 or Audiobus degraded in performance a little I wonder? Loading up a previous project from March, i can play my track but when I try to record all the audio into beatmaker, everything breaks down
Be interesting what you guys think.
Thanks.
Comments
Unless you play everything live you could record the audio into Gadget and export each track as a separate files and import them into your favorite DAW for further processing.
Personally I tend to prefer using export instead of realtime recording when applicable.
Cheers!
Thanks Samu, I’m open to changing my workflow, I’m a bit old school at the moment I guess, having started making music again after years, I’m kinda doing things like I used to, having everything playing at once.
Don’t have a favourite DAW yet though, I was kinda liking how things were working for me until i returned to gadget after a few months. Still, I hope I’ve found a workaround until I wait for cubasis to go on sale again or something else peaks my interest.
You've stumbled on the prime unwritten rule of using IAA / Standalone apps inside other hosts: "Always open IAA apps before adding them to a host." Glitchy audio isn't the only problem that this helps with.
This didn't always used to be the case. It used to be just some apps such as BM3 that wouldn't load otherwise. It's getting to be almost universal now. With Apple having depreciated IAA, it will probably get worse. Eventually IAA will stop working altogether. Apps with Audiobus support should continue to be able to work together through Audiobus according to its developer, but whether or not the developers of those apps will continue to update their Audiobus support isn't guaranteed.
Hah, thanks wim, it’s just a few clicks extra to get started so I’m glad to know how to kick start a session. Reading back I sound a little like I’m blaming audiobus for my issues, but I guess I should be blaming Korg or apple. Audiobus is awesome I should say...
Just curious, I like the idea of combining audio streams in Aum, how does that compare CPU wise with Audiobus, heavier, lighter or the same?
Nah, you didn't sound like you were doing anything other than trying to find the answers to your issues. 👍🏼
Same.
(At least in any meaningful or measurable way. Meaningful CPU measurement and comparison is impossible in iOS.)
“Having a USB mixer, I used this to record stems to save CPU from the iPad into Zurich, this used to work brilliantly.”
I am confused by this statement. What does this mean exactly? Are the stems on your IPad ? Is Zurich on your iPad or are you using Gadget on a desktop? I am just trying to wrap my head around your process
Thanks for the advise guys, really helps my sanity and to be honest I’m enjoying the technical challenge of wiring everything together, sure it gets in the way of making music but it’s fun.
@ralis, to save cpu load, so I can do more, I record down individual tracks from synths as audio files in Zurich.
For example, the song I’m working on now has 4 instances of moog model d, in addition to several Zeeons, patterning and about 14+ Synths in gadget.
I was approaching 90% CPU, now I’ve frozen the 4 moog tracks as audio, played back in Zurich and I’m back down to about 30%.
I use my USB mixer because the benefit of recording directly into Zurich is when your track spans multiple scenes in gadget, Zurich automatically aligns or “splits” the audio across all the scenes (I guess it’s just a single wave file and it aligns the wav to the start and stop of each scene).
The only other way I can see to do this is with something like AudioShare, but you’ll have to manually align the wav to the start and end of each scene. I didn’t even try this because it looks like a right pain, not to mention, when using ambient sounds there’s no rhythm to align to.
I keep the original midi scenes in gadget in case I want to go back and tweak anything.
I use a Behringer 502USB, it’s cheap and I can use my hardware as well as it has a few analog inputs, it’s a great little mixer with very little latency.
Ok, so I’ve been playing around more and i guess I’m answering my own questions here, but might be useful to anyone wondering how to do this, or curious...
With gadget connected as an input to Aum, i don’t experience the Zurich recording issues with my usb mixer, which a great however, i found out that don’t need to do this anymore, all I needed was the right software.....
There seems to be virtually no overhead recording audio to files within Aum. Compared to audiobus with AudioShare as an output, which added some 20-30% more cpu. Trying the audiobus/AudioShare route, I had to mute everything to have enough performance to record.
Aum let’s me run everything at once, cherry picking the audio streams I want to record.
Also, because I have AudioShare, it seamlessly integrates with Gadget/Zurich.
Plus, when you move the start point of the sample to match the end of the previous scene, it snaps in place creating a seamless join. I just tested this with a drum beat and didn’t notice any clicks or pops or anything so that’s brilliant.
Ok, so I lose the transport link to gadget, not a deal breaker, got a few ideas to solve that which I’ll try later using audiobus.
Gadget works well with external MIDI Clock. Just set "Sync" to Ext. and have AUM send MIDI Clock (it's in the AUM metronome settings).
[edit] wait. I could'a swore that worked before, but just tested and it's not working with AUM sending Clock. You might need to resort to the Transport CC midi learn in Gadget.
[edit 2] Ahh. OK, it works as long as you start Gadget outside AUM before adding it to the AUM session. That's good basic practice for any IAA apps you add to AUM, Audiobus or any host. It solves a lot of oddball issues.
I get the saving tracks as waves to save cpu, makes sense.
If you are recording iOS synths I do not get the need for an external usb mixer?
If you are recording external (hardware synths) and using the usb mixer as interface into your ipad then I understand that.
Forgive me, I am just trying to comprehend this as I am still reconfiguring my Studio and process.
Last night I plugged all of my hardware synths and a midi controller into my iPad via a 10 port powered usb hub. Viola! All but one synth and drum machine shows up in the AUM midi routing matrix. The drum machine is roland so I plugged in a midi din In/out to USB Cable thing I had and then that showed up so today I purchased another one for the Roland synth. I will plug that in tonight.
The great thing was I had added no “tracks” in AUM I was just in the routing matrix and I could play all my synths/drum machine from one controller!
I intend to use this set up with Nano Studio 2 to input the midi from all my hardware then edit, arrange etc. and have it play them all back as I record them in another DAW.
I am not sure if it will work but I am going to try it.
Hey ralis,
The usb mixer was just something I used when I started out in iOS. At the time I had no experience or knowledge of the apps I’d need to record down ios synths to save bandwidth. Just a solution I quickly found at the time and stuck with it.
Now I know all I need is AudioShare at the minimum, but through Aum, it’s a pretty streamlined process. Recording via the usb mixer seemed like an easy win at the time, as all I needed to do was hit mute, record and solo on the track and I’d be done in no time.
The only issue I put up with was a small bit of latency from the round trip out through the mixer and back again, which I would have to adjust for.
But there’s no need.. just talking about this issue and experimenting made me realise I can use Aum and AudioShare to import into Zurich. Easy
Oh and you’ve answered something I’ve wondered about, plugging in all those hardware synths via a usb hub means they pretty much all expose their midi interfaces, gives me hope for when I expand in future, thanks!