Multiple Inputs and Outputs in Loopy AU hosted in AUM

ThinAirX

I’m running Loopy Pro as an AU in AUM. I want to send two separate outputs from LP to discrete buses in AUM. I’d like to do the same for inputs: bus two separate inputs to LP.

Example: drums to input A, synths to input B. Within LP the inputs go to different colors, yellow/blue. Then I want to send the yellow and blue to separate outputs that are picked up by separate AUM buses.

I know how to add extra outputs/inputs to the LP mixer. I know how to route within LP. But I don’t see a way to have AUM do anything but send and receive a single input in the channel—in the top, out the bottom.

Yes, I know I could have separate tracks in AUM each with an instance of LP. I have that now. But that means two loopers to juggle. And I want to be able to combine the inputs and colored loops within one LP, apply global commands to both (e.g. Play/Stop) and then send the looped results to AUM for further processing.

And I know I could use stand-alone LP and route as IAA to/from AUM. I started with that, but I prefer to have all the audio in one host. (I already have an extra layer of complexity with MidiDesigner on a second iPad controlling everything.)

Thanks,

Steve

espiegel123

@ThinAirX said:
I’m running Loopy Pro as an AU in AUM. I want to send two separate outputs from LP to discrete buses in AUM. I’d like to do the same for inputs: bus two separate inputs to LP.

Example: drums to input A, synths to input B. Within LP the inputs go to different colors, yellow/blue. Then I want to send the yellow and blue to separate outputs that are picked up by separate AUM buses.

I know how to add extra outputs/inputs to the LP mixer. I know how to route within LP. But I don’t see a way to have AUM do anything but send and receive a single input in the channel—in the top, out the bottom.

Yes, I know I could have separate tracks in AUM each with an instance of LP. I have that now. But that means two loopers to juggle. And I want to be able to combine the inputs and colored loops within one LP, apply global commands to both (e.g. Play/Stop) and then send the looped results to AUM for further processing.

And I know I could use stand-alone LP and route as IAA to/from AUM. I started with that, but I prefer to have all the audio in one host. (I already have an extra layer of complexity with MidiDesigner on a second iPad controlling everything.)

Thanks,

Steve

See this tutorial

wim

@ThinAirX said:

Here's a simple two-input, two-output example:

Add your first instance of Loopy Pro AU as an FX in an AUM channel. Now, when adding to the FX slot of another AUM channel or bus, look in "Multi-bus Audio Unit Instances" and add Loopy Pro from there. It will look like this:

There are now two multi-bus inputs to a single actual Loopy instance. Open either of them and add an audio input. You will now have one labeled "INPUT" and one labeled "INPUT 2". Input 2 is receiving from the 2nd AUM channel in the screenshot above. You can then route those inputs separately to colors if you like.

Now add an Auxiliary Output, then add two more. These correspond to Multi-Bus FX output instance numbers, and you can route your colors to the ones you want.

See how I have Orange and Yellow outputting to only Out 2 and Out 3? Those will be additional multi-bus FX instances in AUM. Note, the numbering is a little confusing because the outputs will be one number higher than what we'll see in AUM. In the screenshot below, I have added two more instances for the outputs. Though these two instances are "3" and "4" in AUM, in Loopy they are Out 2 and Out 3. This isn't Loopy's fault, it's just the oddity of how multi-bus instances are handled.

It may seem confusing to use Loopy as an FX in order to output to an AUM channel. But because of the way multi-bus plugins work, if you want to have them all be a single master instance, they all have to be the same type.

Note that you can change the input and output numbers for each instance in AUM by tapping the in/out numbers to the left of the icon. Note also that you can set the output of an instance to "Pass Through" if you want to do bussing, etc and not need to handle the routing through Loopy's routing system. Tap the routing numbers to the left of the AUM icon, then scroll way down to the Output section to see what I mean.

I hope that explains it clearly enough.

ThinAirX

Ah, it seems so obvious now. I saw those bus lists and clicked around but didn’t see anything change. I’ll try this out.

FWIW, I searched the manual, the wiki, and this forum before posting my question. Going back now I searched “input bus” and “output bus” and didn’t find anything about these features. This should at least be in “advanced features” to help the next guy with the same questions.

Thanks for the tutorial.

Steve

wim

It's kind of fun to use that way, especially for the heavily AUM centered, but I bet in the majority of cases the same things can be accomplished all in Loopy Pro with less fuss.

Different strokes for different folks though! 😎

wim

@ThinAirX said:
Ah, it seems so obvious now. I saw those bus lists and clicked around but didn’t see anything change. I’ll try this out.

FWIW, I searched the manual, the wiki, and this forum before posting my question. Going back now I searched “input bus” and “output bus” and didn’t find anything about these features. This should at least be in “advanced features” to help the next guy with the same questions.

Thanks for the tutorial.

Steve

I imagine it'll get there, but as you can see, it takes a lot of explanation to get even the basic idea of multi-bus instances across. And that's only in one host! They all do things differently. A concise manual entry would be quite a feat.

Looking forward to your wiki entry. 😉

ThinAirX

I finally got it to work. (I’ve been away for a couple weeks.) Your instructions were clear, but I missed this:

"Now, when adding to the FX slot of another AUM channel or bus, look in "Multi-bus Audio Unit Instances" and add Loopy Pro from there.”

I tried adding another instance of Loopy and didn’t see the little numbers. It took me a while to accept that having a Loopy orange disk in a Fx slot is NOT another instance of Loopy, but only ins/outs of one instance of Loopy. I recommend emphasizing that in future instructions for people, like me, working for the first time with internal ports. It looks wrong.

I got it working with two aux in/out channels. So now I have three audio streams in and out of Loopy. It’s easy when you know how (though the numbering offset (1=2, 2=3, etc.) adds a wrinkly—thanks for pointing that out).

Which brings me to a new request: Is there a diagram of Loopy’s internal routing and switches? I’m going to start a new thread with this question

Thanks again for your help,

Steve

ThinAirX

@wim, I’ll think about writing a Wiki entry. I would like to pay it forward, so to speak, for all the help I’ve gotten from you and others on this Forum. Let me get all this working first. I’m in the middle of a huge project now, redoing my performance setup. But it would be a satisfying challenge to write an explanation of some of these advanced features that stumped me when I encountered them for the first time.

wim

From what I’ve seen of your writing skills, I’m really looking forward to those wiki entries. You have a very concise way of writing that I find easy to understand.

Part of the challenge is what you’re asking about evolves concepts that are as much AUM related as Loopy related. The multi in/out implementation in AUM is just its own way of handling it. Other hosts handle it quite differently. Loopy has a pretty standard implementation of multi in-out, though not many plugins have both multi in and multi out.