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Use it for live looping, sequencing, arranging, mixing, and much more. Whether you're a live performer, a producer, or just experimenting with sound, Loopy Pro helps you take control of your creative process.
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Looking for an app where I can create a 'favorite' bank from different synths with audition option.
Relatively new in the IOS habitat. Bought tons of apps in the Rabbithole and now need to commit.
For (live) jamsessions I would like to be able to save favorite presets from different apps in an GUI, while also having an option to sample sounds through my headphones for eg. User friendliness is key here. Cubasis is my main DAW, I have Drambo, Loopy Pro which appears to have a GUI builder and Audiobus.
Suspected candidates are Camelot (now on sale), Audiolayer and Synthjack. All offer great depth but my needs are really simple so I don't need to layer sounds, apply FX, etc. and proficiency and understanding with routing and building mainstages is unkown. I would appreciate some feedback or recommendations.
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I use AUM to noodle around with different synths, then just hit 'save' on the session.
Here's some of my 'synth brass' folder.
I can preview the AUM sound while playing whatever else I've got in Cubasis to see if it fits with whatever other instrumentation I've got so far.
If you want to get slightly more clever with AUM you can load lots of synths in different nodes then activate / deactivate them as necessary. AUM can respond to MIDI messages to do this.
The only app I can think of that has a preset system that isn't tied only to each individual plugin is NanoStudio 2. You can select presets without thinking first of what app they belong to. It isn't comprehensive out of the box because not all apps report their presets to the host, but you can save presets into its system. I don't use NanoStudio because I can't get along with it not having audio tracks, but it is a great DAW in all other respects, and it does come close to the feature you're after.
You could build such a preset system in Loopy Pro. But it would be a largely manual process to set up the first time and to maintain. Not terribly difficult, but time consuming.
@belldu I'd somehow totally forgotten about AUM as an option even though I've come across it everywhere in topics. For some reason it always seemed a bit too technical to me and geared towards intrinsic routing options but maybe. I just wonder what else I can do with it that I can't do with the Cubasis & Audiobus already. Also, how would you say it differs from Camelot Pro? The latter can switch sound from apps in an instant without sound interruption. Is AUM the same in this regard?
@wim Nanostudio (first iteration) was actually my first IOS DAW. Loved it. I have the current new version as well but just (as with so may apps) for the 'have' and a 'lost Sunday'. The process you describe, is that the importing of presets through Dropbox? I don't see another way and if that's it, it's not exactly what I mean as it doesn't offer a GUI or template but rather adds the preset to the extensive list of others. In that case Loopy seems the better option (but never explored its possibilites so far).
PS. I also stumbled upon the Keystage app. This seems geared exactly at keyboard players but it's quite pricey and then I wonder if the alternatives don't give more functionality for half the price (but might contradict my wish for simplicity and user friendliness).
I don't know anything about Camelot Pro, but will continue to describe the 'advanced' switching technique in AUM.
You can setup multiple nodes with a different synth on each one.
You can then assign one or more nodes to receive a midi cc message to activate / deactivate it.
So, you can quickly flip between different 'performances' by pressing one button.
In the simple example below I've setup four synths on different nodes.
I've configured them to respond to 'bypass toggle' on cc 17 on a particular midi channel.
I'm then using a Mozaic script to send cc 17 when I press a button (think of them as performance set 1 to 16) and it'll bypass any nodes on that channel.
When the synth gets bypassed it cuts the note immediately, however lets say you apply a big reverb in an effects slot. That'll carry on unless you also mute the channel through another cc.
I've probably over engineered this, but that's how I do things :-)
...
Keystage should be great at setting up what you are describing.
It's not the most intuitive app, but once you get used to the logic, seting up a session to simply switch between presets on different instruments is pretty straightforward.
At the moment my copy of Keystage is mostly relegated to translating midi SysEx signals from my older Keyboard to cc signals, so I can use its knobs and faders to controll instruments in AUM and Loopy Pro. But since the latest update I always meant to get back to using Keystage for live sessions and learn some of the new stuff that came in 2.2.
With the update Keystage loads all AuV3s simultaneously, and feels noticeably faster then Loopy or AUM when loading a session (I have never a 1 to 1 comparison).
And there is an option to have all the plugins that have no patches active in the currently selected song be automatically suspended, which means you can build sets with patches from all kinds of different instruments, without having to worry about resource management outside of what you are currently using.
You can activate a time limited trial of (all?) the features in the lite version of the app, if you'd like to check it out:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/keystage-lite/id1437899019?src=AppAgg.com
The developer also has a bunch of tutorials on his youtube channel (they go up to version 2.1, with a short video about a feature in 2.2):
https://www.youtube.com/@agokturk/featured
@belldu I follow. Thanks. Seems straight forward enough. I'll read up some more about AUM and see how it fits in.
@Hippo Great thing there's a trial possible as compared to other options it's relatively expensive.
It seems several apps can sort of do the same 'trick'. I suppose I'll have to look into them some more and see which one appeals most to me in terms of user friendliness while also offering other functionality I could use.
Quite easy in Drambo too, using the Instrument Rack with its preset buttons.
AUv3 state is saved with each Instrument Rack preset.
If you want different preset lists for different jam sessions, you can create separate folders and save the presets there.
Recalling presets will always loop through the same folder, so you can't accidentally recall a preset from the wrong "playlist".
Based on the feedback here and follow up reserach I think I now have a better understanding of the possibilites but am still somewhat overwhelmed as this understanding has lead to more questions. I am a "traditional" musician first who fell from a 4 track tascam into the candy store of IOS music. Initially I just wanted to record songs using audio and then arrange them using a traditional DAW like Cubasis, then realised I also liked to make electronic music while also wanting options for live gigs...🙄
I need to do a bit more thinking about my focus. I find most apps and the correlations still pretty intimidating. For eg. while I did buy Drambo I a whim I don't think understanding it's modularity will ever be obtainable for me. In this moment I see the other apps as this:
I suppose it all boils down to a choice and commiting to it. That's that awful rabbithole for me. Wanting to make the 'right' choice and then stumbling on another app which reframes the initial question or idea. Anyway, once again much thanks all. I've learned something new.
It's too easy to get lost in the choise of music apps on iOS, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and these are often a very personal thing.
Looking at what you wrote, I think that you'd only need to invest some more time to get fluent with it and what I've described is really quite simple. If your original question still counts, that is.
Sampling live would also be quite easy to solve, even under MIDI control.
Sometimes we have an idea that sounds great but after trying it out, it really isn't. I guess most of us have been through this 😊
@Spiritos - it'd be wonderful if you could get to where you want to be on iOS through reading and thinking. You can't. You just gotta get in there and experiment, taking on one goal at a time and asking a lot of questions. You need a high tolerance for trial and error. And a high tolerance for compromise. At least that's my take on it.
Most iOS apps are fairly inexpensive. But, to avoid the frustration of spending on apps that don't do what you want, it's good to ask specific questions about whether you can do what you're thinking of with an app. You'll get lots of answers (probably more than you want or need) around here.
Nice comment with useful advice!
“Sunday keys” app might be a contender?
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sunday-keys/id1615360535
It states its aimed at worship use but of course it can be for non- worship use too.
Definitely MKSensationX.
It’s insane what MKSensationX can do. You can host your apps as sections, add effects on them, and it’s legitimately organized so well.
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/mksensation-xtreme/id1544475311
I do like Audiobus 3 because it works better than AUM with IAA apps. I still use some IAAs like Reason Compact, Audioshare, and more
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/audiobus-mixer-for-music-apps/id1129130361