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Auria exclusive apps
I'm trying to see how close I can get to an LA-2A compressor on the iPad, and it seems one potential chain leverages a combination of apps that includes PsP Microwarmer and MoRevox Goldenglue Voices, which are exclusive to Auria and I'm not sure have equatable replacements iPad apps that do exactly what each does.
If I buy Auria and, for example, the Micro Warmer Effect Plug-in IAP, are they AUv3 apps that I will also be able to use in any other AUv3 host on my iPad, for example, Loopy Pro?
Thank you
Comments
They are not AUv3. They are internal to Auria Pro.
Lol, of course they are. Ah well, thank you. Every closed path just refines the search to realistic options ...
There is an LA-2A in Mixbox and Aurora DSP has the L2. Did you try those already?
I did! I found the L2 Aura about 5 minutes ago, on sale for $2.99, and just bought it after checking reviews and a video.
Feeling pretty stoked, I've never really built a vocal chain this way before, and I'm happy to be finding most of the core apps I need. If ultimately it doesn't quite get me where I want, I know there are other options to dig into, like xvox, but believe I will appreciate the flexibility of this setup and tuning things against two or three very different mics.
I don't know that ultimately I will really need one, but I had hoped to find a good vocal rider ipad app as well, but it seems nothing exists any longer. I can live without it, more of a nice to have I think.
Thank you!
Its pretty common to add the La2-a after a 1176.
Mixbox as both of them and everything you want to build a vocal chain. Also a bunch of presets to get you started.
Aurora DSP - Banshee nano is a vocal chain plugin built on the 1176/La-2a model. Look at the documentation.
I saw MixBox CS has their White 2a, but trying to avoid IK altogether, and boxed FX chains in general. Inevitably on the PC I resorted to individual plugins for control and generally lighter CPU hit, bussing them when possible.
And ah! That makes sense about Banshee now, since they call out Fet and Opto. I was definitely looking at it, and may still get it, but for the moment had settled on using RoughRider3 and Aura L2 until I can decide whether I want to pick up the FabFilter Total Bundle now, or wait for a sale.
Part of that is thinking about whether to also pick up and drive a colored Maag like from RRS into FF Pro-DS that has come up as a great combo, or for now stick with a cheaper but still good transparent EQ into a simple gate like Nembrini's free Analog Rack Noise Gate or a low cost downward expander.
Also playing into that is having FF Pro-C for my final chain comp and glue, or use something like Blue Mangoo's Mix Bus Compressor. I've picked up FAC's Medusa to add following a saturator and exciter after the L2 for upward compression, and of course FF Saturn is another point to decide to wait for a sale on or not for the saturator.
I've given up on an independent vocal/gain/input rider on IOS for now, and will probably skip a tuner as well, since I could use the vocal practice for retakes anyway, and intend this to be used as a live vocal chain. Might add tracking reverb and delay at the end, but not in the mix.
Only other thing I was hoping to find was a soothe2 equivalent on iPad for in-between the glue compressor and reverb/delay/haaze2.
Thanks for all these insights btw, on the PC I've relied on things like Nectar without ever really taking time to gain a better understand of the chain. Since my entire style of music composition has changed now to get initial vocals laid out first and build on that, I'm wanting to get a better handle on my chain and also understand when it needs to change as I go from soft or crooning to aggressive, and switch between the C414 and Coles 4038.
About the soothe-alternative... I think this is supposed to go in a similar direction:
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/hornet-harmoniq/id6503445750
It's free to try with iap for full unlock.
Thanks for reminding me of this one and making the association.
The UI doesn't look like much, but I've been intrigued by the concept presented. I'm familiar with HoRNet already for PC plugins and have appreciated how light-weight they are. I think Scaler EQ also has some type of this functionality, only based on harmonics related to the scale you're in, but I've been less interested in Scaler products in general.
Might pick this up with the rest of my vocal chain apps, I'm very curious how it will sound.
Yeah, after finishing digging, I picked up HoRNet Harmonic and Banshee, RRS EQ3 for Maag, andBlue Mangoo Mix Bus Compressor for glue.
Then did sales tracking for FabFilter back to 2019 to see the pattern, and don't expect they'll have another sale now until June for 25%. While they did have one in April last year for 30%, and that 30% discount stretching back a year before that, it appears it was an isolated run, as it was their 30th Anniversary. Discounts after reverted back to 25% and it seems unlikely they'll do it again.
So I went ahead and grabbed the Fab Filter Pro bundle as well, will now have a proper gate, de-esser, and everything else.
I can use BLEASS Saturator until Saturn goes on sale, and can decide about Timeless or another delay later. I don't actually expect to use delay in my chain immediately anyway, the tracked reverb should be plenty right now.
Was helpful to know about Auria, and thank you again. Deep dives take so much time, but feel confident in the toolset. Already familiar with everything from FabFilter from the PC, lots of good not surprise there to rely on.
Good thread
Rarely does a new member hit the ground running like this
Makes me look like amateur hour lmao
Welcome
Thanks
People here have been incredibly helpful, and it helps a lot I've been working from PC DAW for quite a while and have a good idea of what I do and don't want.
I use Mixbox on everything. It is my most used app. Why the IK hate ?
You know, I really wouldn't say hate. I've got around 20 plugins for PC from IK, including MixBox CS. If anything negative specifically I think I might only say, like iZotope, that how they've represented multiple versions of similar products and names has made it challenging sometimes to have a clear picture of upgrade paths and what is actually owned in the same space vs what you don't during sales.
Speaking of the IK products I own in general, I just did not find myself using them nearly as much as many other products. None of their mixing and mastering tools ever stood out or found value compared to FabFilter, Waves (let's not open this one please, nobody wins), or specialty plugins like cytomics glue compressor or the various glitch and tweaking tools I regularly used (none of which ultimately were multifx plugins either, except maybe Sugar bytes Turnado in a couple of cases), even though several from IK are highly rated. Clearly that isn't true for everyone, they are still around. The only common gripe I've seen is poor support, but I don't have any experience with that myself.
With the exception of specific minimal channel strips and mastering plugins where I understand the signal path and why I would use it over individual plugins (usually related to overall color, how internal processing benefits in underlying ways, or visual comprehension), I really prefer to have individual and specific plugins that can be opened and managed independenly, even when part of a send bus. IZotope's Ozone is one of those counter-examples, but there are highly-related and well-refined components that are incredibly helpful and really make sense to have there when mastering specifically.
I have also nearly always found that the abstraction required for hot-swap multifx racks comes with a higher CPU cost. I like all of my plugins to be as efficient as possible, and it is one massive reason the plugins I kept for consistent use got kept. Off the top of my head FabFilter, HoRNets basic DeeLay, all the Goodhertz plugins, Tritik Crush, Waves when used ... like everything else, all were evaluated with care and performance consistency. Strong reasons for why they get kept, and that light-weight architecture allowed me to throw on just one by itself, or any number of instances and go, not having to worry about breaking creative flow for a heavy CPU hit, multiple clicks to get a single thing loaded, or creating a bus during production.
Personal and workflow related reasons, not really IK specific.
How do you like the transition to iPad? How many apps have you purchase and which are your favorite so far ?
Short:
The transition has had a few challenges in terms of overall app diversity and availability compared to coming from a PC, though also with a lot of options I've never seen or considered on a PC. I like the transition greatly for the speed at which I can stay creatively focused that does not exist on the PC in the same way, and also like it now that I understand more of the playing field. I've been able to find almost exactly what I wanted to, though for reasons beyond the iPad in the context of a very different way of writing music. I've purchased around 25 specific and focused apps. Loopy Pro is by far my favorite, but I loved finding all my FabFilter plugins in the iOS world, as well as TB Morphit to replace Sonarworks while I continue to work in cans.
Long:
My eyes are still opening. I've been very surprised at what is possible. This path opened very unexpectedly, and my creation workflow is completely different from anything I've done before.
I've been writing electronic music on computers for over 30 years. Trackers like Renoise have been my staple, but I've created songs in most DAWs on the PC. I've also used hardware at times, full MIDI setups with various sequencers.
I first picked up an iPad Pro about 6 years ago and grabbed AUM, Korg Gadgets, Loopy HD, and a few other things, intending to use it for quick ideas as I started traveling. That didn't happen. The lack of a keyboard or physical input put me off, and I instead turned to a Deluge while travelling, and continued using a PC in the studio. Up until a few weeks ago, the thought of using an iPad for any serious music production would have gone no where.
I enrolled in a music production course 1.5 years ago, to understand in much greater depth what I needed to focus on during creation and production that carried all the way through mixing and mastering with the goal of producing a great sounding album I could put on Spotify. A life shift broke everything, and I not only left the program, I stopped writing music altogether, and could not at all.
I mentioning all of this because I don't think my experience is similar to most people making such a switch, including good familiarity with hundreds of computer plugins that affect my purchase decisions now.
When a spark jumped out of nowhere to start writing music again a few weeks ago, it was immediately clear just going near a computer for it instantly killed any desire I had to write again, so I stuck with hands on hardware, and after first considering multi-track recorders for capture, realized I wanted a solid looper more. I was going through hardware when I remembered I had Loopy HD on the iPad, and it wasn't being used for anything. Loopy HD felt horrible to me. I only tried Loopy Pro on a whim because it kept coming up in hardware forums as an alternative, and because it has more tracks ... but man ...
Loopy Pro is the reason I've started writing again. Being able to just quickly capture vocals on the fly and immediately start adding layered synth, bass, and drum parts took me back to the days of writing with an MMT-8 paired with a QS6.1, made me remember what it was I actually love about writing music. I've got 6 good, quick hardware synth sources, an Alesis nanoPiano, and my voice. After I got my first song down, I realized I wanted 3 more specific things to have everything I want right now; a super-fast non-sample-based drum machine (have a DrumBrute Impact for this now), a vocoder, and a lightening fast multi-track MIDI looper to auto-quantize my ideas before recording them into Loopy. Ultimately that has broken down into the following things I've picked up in the last two weeks after intensive research and comparisons:
Grabbed a few free but seemingly excellent things as well to with these, most of which are for real-time vocal chain processing.
I only finished picking final things up last night and installing, so I still need to dig in as I start my next song, figure out any pieces that aren't working and what to replace them with.
Thanks for asking, hope something in all that proves helpful.
@EnergyCrush sounds like you not only are on the right track but you know much more than most , definitely for startin out on a new platform, I think you’re transitioning exceedingly quickly and I’m very interested in your progress and development because it sounds similar to my own metamorphosis into an iPad mainly user from PC; and you also selected fantastic apps to work with. (I’d say the only essential you don’t have is Cubasis 3, which you can always wait for a sale where it’s like $18.99 or something but it’s cool to have a complete DAW in your toolbox if you ask me)…but with Loopy Pro you already have a great DAW to work in, but just saying if you ever wanted a conventional linear one, CB3 is the best DAW out there as far as I’m concerned for my personal abilities, but I would actually prefer to use Loopy pro much more, especially with the update 2.0).
Keep us posted and hmu anytime
Fair enough ! I was just curious.
With my 2017 iPad pro I used to be very conscious of how much cpu my plugin used but since I got a M2 pro I have not once even came close to maxing out the cpu. Even on a projects of 35 tracks
You won’t max out on that thing for years @ecou
Thanks! Trying to keep it as simple as I can while still having solid tools.
I'll keep Cubasis in mind. After Pro 12 on the PC, I've sort of steered clear of Steinberg. I had really hoped their MIDI templating functionality would lead to being able to load and navigate VST3 plugins without a mouse, but I think NKS remains the closest there is for hardware to plugin control. I suppose it's nice to see they've further opened it to other hardware devs now, be interesting to see what comes.
For now, I'm keeping all sound generators in my external synths and drum machines, partly to avoid the clutter and GAS. I am hopeful, and I don't want to get overwhelmed and lose the spark again. FabFilter especially, while expensive, is helping make the transition easier by covering a large part of my vocal chain, which are the majority of the plugins I want for the moment. Knowing I have the skills to do mixing and mastering outside of iPad for now also helps. We'll see what happens as I get more familiar and comfortable there.
Especially as I'm not using sound generators on iPad for the moment and just recording external sources, I am hoping to keep things light-weight enough on my older iPad Pro that I'll be fine for as long as I need. I can do more intensive side-chain mixing and mastering through pre-defined templates I have in Ableton. We'll see how it goes, but I'm happy with what I've got for the moment and confident in the plugin selection.