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Modular for a Linear brain?
I like the idea of a modular style daw setup to act as a playground and to leverage some of the apps I’ve had for years but don’t fit in my usual workflow (i tend to just use auv3 plugins now and use the iPad much as I would logic on the Mac).
What I’d like to do is be able to put a modular head on and try new things. So basically, teach an old dog new tricks. :-)
I’ve watched a load of YouTubes about AUM but a lot of the ones I’ve seen tend to be about the technical aspects I can easily work out (routing, etc) or are ‘show off jams’ that bore my socks off.
Does anybody have a recommendation for a setup or little tips to push me in the modular direction and avoid me just using AUM as if it were a linear DAW? I currently have AUM and tons of synths, drum machines and FX and some DAWS but I will probably need to get some auv3 MIDI stuff to make it all work.
Basically I would really appreciate some ideas on ‘what’ to do with a modular system rather than ‘how’ to do it, so just a very general overview to point me in a different direction. Hopefully this will also help me to avoid buying a load of apps I will never use.
Otherwise I will just use AUM in exactly the same way I use any other DAW and end up with the worst of both worlds.
Comments
I use AB (and apeMatrix) with various AUV3, Rozeta and Atom on iPhone a lot to create some sounds which I record in GarageBand all in sync to build the song from those various mini jams. With AUM, you can use Midi Link Sync for DAW sync. This is also a solution for CPU usage, as you record everything as audio but keep all your initial work in the modular host too. Noodling and DAWing can be one and only workflow, getting best of both worlds.
The other approach is to perform live with the modular host and build your song that way, using midi learn features and midi controller which can be hardware or app like TouchOSC. Play with faders, mutes, solos, effects and instruments knobs from one surface controller and you will bring lot of life and evolution to your song.
My take on using AUM instead of traditional DAW would be to make every session as a live performance. I start off recording a seed idea either as an audio loop in AUM, an audio loop in Enso or a MIDI loop in Atom or Rosetta Cells. I then add further parts using the same audio or midi tools and build up a selection of audio/midi stems which I can fire off at will using AUM. I finally use a mixture of hardware and software keyboard to add lead lines.
One of the advantages of using AUv3 recorders is that most of them save the audio or midi data using state saving so that all you have to do is save the AUM project and then return later and it's all ready to go.
Finally I record the stereo bus to a file to capture the performance - warts and all. The aim is to create something fresh immediate and hopefully inspirational without the baggage of trying to get a perfect mix or take.
My tip would be to record everything it's often the first takes of the the best.
I probably will never use a DAW again there's nothing wrong with them, but I now find them too much of a straight jacket, they just don't suit my style.
My solution is two iPads when I feel being linear. MIDI au on one iPad with Audiobus for sequencing and Instruments loaded on second iPad with NS2. NS2 is good for arrangement style workflow.
iPads are connected with WiFi midi or Bluetooth. Both can be connected to midi controllers for hands on control. This spreads CPU load across two devices plus easier to work with two screens.
I figure the only way to do it is to just jump in. Aum and Rozeta are purchased, should be enough for a while... (-;
I've done a couple of modular synth-style generative things using Rozeta in AUM. They're kind of formless though. I'm moving to a hardware modular to try to deal with that.
@klownshed fwiw, I've started a thread on how I use AUM to do more generative stuff using Cality, Rozeta LFO, Atom, StepBud and other tools. My goal with the experiments is to generate tracks via small compositional lifts/inputs while keeping the tracks moving, evolving and interesting. If you're interested, feel free to grab some files from the thread located here:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/32267/fun-with-new-tools-atom-stepbud-cality-aum-movies-files-and-tracks-available#latest
Cheers,
echo opera
The whole point of a modular system is to connect things together in non-standard ways to achieve unique or innovative results. Therefore, I would suggest that you study not just what the apps "do", but how they themselves can be controlled - either through MIDI directly or through their AU parameters (assuming they're AUv3s of course ; ) Understand the "I/O" because that's the core of this type of composition.
For example, with Rozeta Baseline, MIDI notes input to it will transpose the sequence. However, if you go into the MIDI & Control menu you can turn on the MIDI triggers; now those low notes listed will select the patterns (but higher notes will still transpose). With Scaler you can control the pre and post transpose with AU parameters; and with AUM you can remotely control those parameters with notes, not just CCs.
When you remember that you can route the same MIDI data to as many destinations as you'd like, now you can start to imaging chaining together several apps, where a primary is sending out a slow sequence of notes, and those notes are selecting different patterns in some apps, transposing others or applying scale transpose and quantization to the MIDI output of yet others that maybe can't be controlled directly. Add in some random or semi-random elements and you're going to get some surprising results. Even better, directly control that primary sequencer and you can steer the ship....
The trick, of course, is getting musical results that are satisfying to you. But contrary to what some might say, you can coordinate several disparate elements and create chains of reactions based upon simple inputs that can create controllable, repeatable structures that take you in new directions, but based on your direction.
^ Great post. In the modular world it's called "sequencing your sequencers", and it's the secret sauce. Audioveek Midi Tools is good for managing a single Midi source sending to multiple destinations. That includes Midi sequencers and the Midi modulators modulating the sequencers.
What would you all recommend as 'must-have apps for the basics' for iOS modular composing?
Lots of great info in this discussion.
Developing multiple different layers of control can be a way to create compositions as an alternative structure to traditional intro, chorus, bridge, outro song structures.
The ability to create a number of busses and route audio combined with being able to use effects and automate their parameters is another approach which can be used with the approach of sending MIDI to audio sources in AUM.
Enso and AUM’s file player can definitely be leveraged to get a looping/layering aspect to your composition. This can allow you to use more CPU intensive apps and then replace them in the setup with loops.
All of the controls and built-in effects in AUM can be controlled via MIDI too. The range of the effected parameters can be set as well which facilitates more subtle variations as a ratio of AUM’s tempo. Rozeta LFO can be very useful to add another much slower longer layer of changes to your setup over time. The S&H shape for its LFOs can be used to add variation to your setup so you don’t end up creating robotic loops.
apeMatrix offers similar opportunities if you use its Sampler and built-in LFOs. You can create setups with different app combinations and easily compare them by turning routings and outputs/inputs off/on in its matrix.
The degree to which your modular setup is random and shapeless versus structured and has interesting musical variation reflects how successfully you’ve been able to learn and apply those modular tools in a coordinated and coherent way.
Thanks! The really fun stuff is when you create "feedback" loops of control data. Not literal MIDI feedback - that's a quick path to crash-town - but rather when an app controls another app and that second app in turn controls the first app (or with a few other links in the chain).
Yeah, and just like with modular synths, the un-sexy utility modules are critically important for getting everything working exactly as you want them to. For me, the routing in AUM is enough, but converters are hugely important. I use mfxConvert for quick conversions (and also useful as a loopback device) and MidiFlow for bulk conversions or more nuanced stuff where things need to be filtered or rescaled (although for quick adjustments AUM's built-in scaling is great). Also a MIDI monitor is important for tracking down why something isn't working right (usually because of note naming mismatches...)
Well, that's a big topic!
For me, I use Fugue Machine, Quantum or Senode as my "primary" sequencer that I "play". Fugue for more melodic stuff, Quantum for more groove oriented stuff and Senode for semi-aleatoric stuff (I love that by creating chains and setting probabilities in Senode you can really tightly control just how random things get).
Rozeta is hugely important. Rozeta LFO is in everything I do now, but the actual sequencers in Rozeta I typically use as secondary sequencers that are controlled by whichever primary I'm using.
StepPolyArp is another fantastic secondary sequencer for me - frankly, I'm barely scratching the surface of what it can do (some day....).
I also get a lot of milage from the arpeggiators in the iceGear apps. Actually I get a lot of milage from the rudimentary arp in iSEM too, but that, plus setting a nice sequence in the voice programmer, when controlled from something like Fugue Machine, provides a very nice method of generating a bass line with a rhythm that's different than the master sequence.
Xynthesizr is also big for me. I use it as a secondary sequencer being transposed by the primary, or sometimes as the primary as the transposition functions in Xynthesizr are fantastic.
I use PolyPhase, but I usually find that I want to really control how much "random" happens, so I typically reach for Senode when I want to scratch that itch.
I really, really wish sonogrid had any type of sync. It's a great way of creating interesting rhythms for interesting sequencing experiments, but without any type of sync its utility is rather diminished.
I mentioned the conversion apps (mfxConvert for quick-and-dirty and MidiFlow for more complex). Obviously, with something like StreamByter you could do whatever you want. I haven't gone down that rabbit hole, but I should; I really want to have logic gates, etc.
There's a slew of new MIDI processing apps that all look great (Polyphemus, Cality, etc.). I haven't picked them up yet as I'm trying to actually finish some music and don't need more distractions! But they all look great.
@InfoCheck discussed the other side of the equation: the generated audio. Not much to add, but FAC Envolver is great to use as it generates MIDI based on the audio envelope. Very useful for creating side chain or side chain-like response curves based on what some other audio stream is doing.
The key, as ever, is to think about how everything interacts with everything else. In a traditional DAW you sculpt that out track-by-track, in a DAWless approach, you build the systems that create or respond to those interactions and play it live.
Thanks. This is exactly the kind of nudge in the right direction I was hoping for.
Controlling the switching of patterns and transposing with another sequencer is precisely the sort of thing I was hoping to do; I have just bought AUM and Rozeta so am good to go. This will definitely be my starting point.
Thanks to everybody else that has replied too. It's all good food for thought... :-)
The whole point in this exercise for me is to use the iPad/iPhone to their strengths. I don't want to try and approximate Logic on iOS because, frankly, I can't (and I don't care what the iOS DAW disciples say about that! ;-).
But iOS has lots cool apps that are fun to play with and can be extremely creative. I want to make projects using AUM on the iPad which can be loaded up at a later date to be actually played (sometimes I like the nerdy putting stuff together side of music, other times I just wanna play -- I don't have the time to dedicate to music these days but being able to muck around for 10 minutes at a time is a viable option).
And the idea of having sequencers sequence sequencers to switch patterns, transpose sequences, etc. is really cool and being able to do all of that sat on the sofa with nothing more than an iPad and pair of headphones is extremely liberating.
It might not lead to anything productive but I don't care. Any time spent creatively is good for me, regardless of the results.
One thing that I've had in the back of my mind is that I find it easy making sections of a song (verse or chorus for example) but not so good at putting together a proper arrangement on my own. When I was in my last band I used to write lots of bits of songs and they would become songs through collaboration with the guitarist in the band. Here's an example -- "Spike" by Burnt Earth at this link:
https://precisionwebsites.co.uk/music/?preview_id=459&preview_nonce=2259571d2c&_thumbnail_id=-1&preview=true
I came up with the music to the verse, the guitarist suggested the 'inspiration' for the chorus which I then recreated and he wrote the lyrics. I would never have come up with this on my own.
When I'm left to my own devices I get all meandery and directionless, like the second song on that page "Anthem 2018 remix 01". This is the first example of a track since kids and uses a lot of iOS bits and bobs and was finished in Logic (it would never have got started without iOS though).
Whilst I like some of the bits in the tune, I think the arrangement is a bit rubbish and I don't really feel comfortable sharing it to be honest. But here's where I think a modular approach can help me (and it seems totally backwards written down!) It's WAY, WAY too long!
I am so used to having a track laid out in front of me in a linear structure that I find I confine myself to writing in that vein. I am hoping that I will be able to free myself from thinking about finished tracks and just make music without worrying about the structure of the song at all.
What tends to happen when I use a linear DAW is that I get 16 bars I'm happy with and then muck around with it until I'm disillusioned. I want to take away that disillusionment by forgetting about structure.
I know I'm crap at full arrangements and I know a modular approach won't help me with that. But it will possibly stop me worrying about structure completely and just enjoy playing and creating music.
If a nice little section comes out of it that's a bonus and I can save them all up so that one day, when I get time, I can get Steve the guitarist round and collaborate on making songs again and I'll have some bits of tracks to get us kickstarted.
I hope I've made sense here, it's so clear in my head but looks so chaotic written down!
Thanks again to everybody that has replied. It has definitely helped. :-)
Yes new AUM has more abilities to help like AU preset changing via midi. So for example I'll assign Fugue machine sequencer patterns as AU presets and then change them via midi using Steppolyarp or something else. So you can create structure but easily change that structure at any time live. which you can do in Ableton but not so easily on an iOS daw.
Also you can now give your AUs little name tags to help show what they are which is useful when organising the midi sections. You can trigger parts live by just doing it with your fingers bypassing the midi sequencers etc
I've always considered that there is no one best or right methodology when it comes to modular technologies, step sequencing and wider computer music technologies. If we think back to the seventies when much of the modular playbook was written, kings of modular musicality came from very different music genres. Looking at two in particular, Giorgio Moroder and Kraktwerk, their musicality couldn't have been more different. Kraftwerk grew out of what's commonly called Krautrock whereas Moroder was one of the kings (and queens) of disco. Both are musical heroes of mine.
But then if you look at Krautrock and bands like Can, from a pure musicality perspective they have lots in common with Fela Kuti and James Brown, who were the kings modulating repetitive grooves (synthesis was only a part of their funky greatness). But from James Brown came one of the funkiest synthesizer players to date, Bernie Worrell. He not only was keyboard player for The JB's, he went on to utilise all manner of modular synthesis funkiness in George Clinton's Parliament and Funkadelic projects).
Modularity with regards to computer music can enable one to make music that mirrors Brown, Kuti, Moroder or Kraftwerk as well as more generative experimental tropes originated by the likes of Klaus Schulze, Manuel Gottsching (whose E2-E4 is one of my all time favourites, later sampled on the equally great Suino Latino) and the wider 'Berlin School'. It can also be the foundation of any musical genre you wish to explore.
The problem with music technology is that all too often it can end up putting up false barriers where artists often believe the music automatically excludes them from particular music technologies, and modular music technologies are probably the very worse for perpetuating these self exclusions. Only the other day someone mentioned to me that they don't use Brambos Rozeta because they don't make generative music! I was flabbergasted but self-exclusion is a powerful weapon we often use on ourselves.
Generative and algorithmic music styles just happens to be the most popular musical forms made with modular music technologies, but modularity can be used in so many different ways.
A real pet hate of mine is the way that all electronic music get's lumped together under the one banner of EDM. Even the techno traditions of Holland and Belgium are very different to the techno traditions of Detroit, never mind the plethora of other music genres that happen to use sequencers and modular technologies. The music of Nine Inch Nails and KMFDF is hardly the same as the lounge like musings of a band like Air. Lazy rock journalists are at the base of much of this misunderstanding regarding the vast range of music genres that use modular music technologies as a bedrock. NiN and their industrial compatriots are just about acknowledged as being related to 'rock' music, but somehow the rest all gets lumped together into a of bride of disco sub-brand called EDM and we all know how 'disco sucks' to such journalists.
Even hip hop, which was always a sample driven musical scene (where interestingly in its earliest days, Afrika Bambaataa sampled Kraftwerk on his early hits) has gone head over heels for all things Eurorack (the genre is known as ModBap). For these innovative hip hop artists modularity offers much of the hands on performance benefits of the venerable family of drum machines that date back to the Akai MPC 60.
So what I'm saying in a nutshell, is don't worry about the genre of music that you happen to make, and certainly don't discount a particular music technology because the vast majority of artists seem to use it to make what sounds to you like a stream of meandering bleeps.
Having the ability to explore modular approaches on iOS devices means you can afford to explore and experiment. In the Eurorack scene you're talking an average of $250 to $350 per module whereas on iOS, most are available for less than $10. So just get stuck in and see where it takes you. But most certainly don't see modular on iOS as a DAW alternative. If you want to use a linear DAW for your musical adventures, modular connectivity apps such as apeMatrix, Audiobus and AUM can only make your DAW workflows more powerful and flexible. Even when used to the least of their abilities, they're great for hosting FX and instrument/FX chains that aren't limited to your particular DAW of choice.
It's sad to me that Nanostudio 2 doesn't host AUM and apeMatrix, as that would only be a possibility if NanoStudio hosted IAA's. But Nanostudio 2 also loses out on the peerless Patterning 2 for much the same reason. As great as AUv3's are, unless iOS mirrors the OS X technical spec, where AUv3's can host other AUv3s, Nanostudio 2 will lose out on the greatness of AUM and apeMatrix because AUv3's are 'the future'. And if I'm brutally honest, it often seems to me that Matt (Nanostudio 2's developer) sees AUM and apeMatrix as competitors - as if they only function as a 'modular DAW' platform, when in reality that's only one small aspect of what they can do or be.
Yeah I know what you mean, there's a moment of overload when you want to structure a bit deeper but it's starts getting over complicated. It's usually then I'll just record a jam out as it stands to audio directly to Ableton in stems and then start structuring something in Ableton from those where you can go deeper if you want.
But it's getting easier to stay longer in this workflow as new AUs are released. With Atom and Photon can arrange a bit deeper. Plus we will eventually have a dedicated mid clip launcher AU etc
Also Thesys is really good to arrange with if you can get used to the interface.
@EyeOhEss @Carnbot
The biggest problem you get with modularity on iOS compared to hardware or within DAW's like Ableton and Bitwig (both of which are heavily inspired by hardware modulars) is with regards to visual complexity. Even on the largest iPad Pro, you end up with a lot of toing and froing between UI's. It's one of the reasons that the note overlay function in Atom Piano Roll is such as essential feature. And also why the IAA utilities built into AudioBus and apeMatrix are so essential for hoping between interfaces.
Much as I like to use ModStep in tandem with AB, AUM and aM I hardly every use the Session view in Ableton, apart from when it comes to working on the final mix. Clip launching workflows make so much more sense to me on iOS, not only because I'm in more of a 'jam' frame of mind when working on iOS but also simply because of the restricted screen real estate. I also think the clip nature of Gadget is one of the main reasons for it's success.
I'm really hopeful for ModStep 2 when it arrives; that it will provide a perfect hub for modular workflows on iOS (in tandem with AUM, AB and aM). But I hope it gains an Arrangement view as a DAW is at its best when it can provide both linear and freeform workflows.
But with regard to the here and now, I'd like to see the modular hosts up their game when it comes to muting, bypassing and triggering the various modular apps that they're hosting. This could provide for 'lite' clip launching workflows, but also allow artists more freeform experimentation with regards to their FX chains.
iOS bests the desktop with regards to tactile immersion, but with the screen real estate of iOS devices creating so much 'mental discomfort' as the user jumps through massive changes with regard to interface interaction conventions, the modular hubs need to provide a few more helpers to help ease these frictions.
I don't see the harm in a third party midi clip launcher but what I'd like to see most of all, is musical division triggering of clips, mutes and FX bypasses within the the likes of AB, aM and AUM. This would help remove the jagged edges from jam sessions and also help with the creation of stem creation that requires less editing when taken into a linear DAW for mixing and mastering.
@jonmoore
A real pet hate of mine is the way that all electronic music get's lumped together under the one banner of EDM.
I'm not sure it does outside the US though. I can't say I ever really heard the term until I moved to the US (and discovered to my surprise that they had a terrible genre called 'dubstep' that sounded nothing like the 'dubstep' I was familiar with).
NiN and their industrial compatriots are just about acknowledged as being related to 'rock' music, but somehow the rest all gets lumped together into a of bride of disco sub-brand called EDM and we all know how 'disco sucks' to such journalists.
You're British right? I remember this being a thing in maybe the early 90s, but Orbital, Aphex Twin, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, etc kind of blew that away. And for kids it seems that electronic music is more normal these days than guitar music. And even in the states younger indie bands will often incorporate electronic sounds/beats into their sound (not well, but that's another story).
Yeah, am hoping on Modstep 2 as well. But would love to see it as an AU version without the hosting so you could just host it in AUM/AB/APE. Even though I have two ipads I find single display ipad pro 12.9 the most immersive and productive. So AU sequencers fit into my workflow deeper and having two ipads, one sequencing another is something I do but not as much, so the screen hopping is not so good.
I think we'll see more refinements as time goes on in the modular hubs though
Don't disagree about the importance of all these tools, but I'm not sure this entirely fair to Nanostudio. Matt stated that he thought AU3 was the future and he didn't want to waste development time on designing for dead technologies. Since launch he has learnt that his users think differently and so Audiobus (which also provides IAA) is coming to the coming release of Nanostudio.
I also don't think Matt quite understands why people want to sync AUM/ApeMatrix with a DAW. To him it seems inefficient.
For people who like techno/trance - James Holden does very interesting stuff with modular. Modular works really well for techno as you can set up patterns to modulate everything as polyrhythms.
Another app that works well with this way of thinking is the infamous 'Different Drummer'.
@jonmoore
The biggest problem you get with modularity on iOS compared to hardware or within DAW's like Ableton and Bitwig (both of which are heavily inspired by hardware modulars) is with regards to visual complexity. Even on the largest iPad Pro, you end up with a lot of toing and froing between UI's.
If you host things in Audiobus, then route audio to AUM, you can use audiobus remote on your phone to switch between apps. This helps a lot, but means you lose the midi power of AUM (and have two apps running). If there was a way to do this in AUM I would be really happy, but I don't think there is (maybe use midi to control AUM - I have a cheap Behringer midi controller that might work).
Clip launching workflows make so much more sense to me on iOS, not only because I'm in more of a 'jam' frame of mind when working on iOS but also simply because of the restricted screen real estate.
Certainly when I mix I'm going back to Reaper. Though for me I think the ideal workflow would be jam ideas in AUM/whatever, arrange in Nanostudio (or Beatmaker if that ever gets fixed) and export as semi-mixed stems to Reaper. I don't want a full DAW on the iPad, but Nanostudio (and Beatmaker) are close to what I want. Though maybe I should just find a way to combine Reaper and AUM. All of this gets in the way of just making music though...
I'm really hopeful for ModStep 2 when it arrives; that it will provide a perfect hub for modular workflows on iOS (in tandem with AUM, AB and aM). But I hope it gains an Arrangement view as a DAW is at its best when it can provide both linear and freeform workflows.
I mean I like ModStep, but god knows I'm not confident that they will pull this off. They have a habit of promising more than they can deliver. But that is the one app (other than Elastic Beats) that really gets techno.
And yes I hope somebody delivers on this clip launching thing. Maybe it will come to AUM or Audiobus.
Beatmaker 3 is irritatingly close to greatness but needs better midi routing and better scenes mode implementation...and its overall workflow/GUI feels a little backward/unfinished in some areas.
Irritatingly close describes it perfectly...
Unfortunately I find it more irritating than close...
There is now, using either a physical controller or some midi app like KB-1. See the other thread on bypassing nodes in AUM using midi.
Hey thanks @aplourde lots of great recommendations for a modular workflow on iOS. Didn't realize you had a YT channel. Awesome stuff, really stands out from the crowd.
With all these new MIDI AUs, it'd be nice to see some more plumbing and utility AUs. (I wonder if Mosaic will process incoming MIDI?) Heck, why not create an AU MIDI>CV/Gate converter and some simple 'Doepfer-like' tools to mix/split/flip/flop/invert/switch/delay/slew incoming signals? Without having to code in StreamByter...I guess I should learn it.