iOS MIDI Routing question

[audiojunkie]

OK, I'll admit it. I'm really new to Apple & iOS, so I'm trying to understand all of the technologies that are available and what the pros & cons are. I've heard of:

* Background Audio
* Virtual Midi
* WIST
* Sonoma Audiocopy/Audiopaste
* Midibridge
* AudioBus
* VST (in Auria)

Here's what I currently have available to work with:

* FLStudio Mobile
* NanoStudio
* GarageBand
* MultiTrack DAW
* Bismark BS-16i
* Korg iElectribe
* DM1

I'm also interested in buying:

* Beatmaker 2
* Rebirth
* Meteor
* Auria
* Midibridge

OK, here's my question:

I would like to use a DAW to sequence & then record external instruments such as Bismark BS-16i or other synthesizers. I would also like to be able to multitrack audio. As far as I can tell, Meteor has the ability to do multiTrack audio, and MIDI sequencing, but I don't know if I am able to run external synths/sample-players (like the BS-16i) and record at the same time.

Do I have sufficient tools to be able to play the BS-16i and record it at the same time without difficulty, or do I need to buy Meteor or some other tool?

If I have sufficient tools to play a sequence to external synths and record straight to my DAW, what is the process and steps I need to take to do it?

Thank you all you iOS Gurus!!!

--Sean

P.S. After researching both iOS & Android music creation technologies, it is clear to me that iOS is WAY more advanced than Android.

[DrApostropheX]

I definitely share your enthusiasm (tinged with frustration at times), as I've only been an iOS musician for a little over a month now myself.

I have Meteor and a number of synths, and it IS possible to do MIDI sequencing in Meteor and record the synth's outputs for use in Meteor, though you cannot record the audio from those synths directly into Meteor (at least not yet... ).

In order to do this, you need to make sure that the synth program can record audio on its own (BS-16i cannot do this, I don't believe, so forget about using that for this purpose, unless I'm wrong about that). I've had good luck with NLog Pro, for example.

NOTE: If anyone has any thoughts on improving/streamlining this workflow PLEASE chime in!

1. Select your patch on the synth app and put it into background audio mode
2. Do your MIDI sequencing in Meteor, leaving a few empty bars at the beginning
3. Press play on Meteor and then flip over to to the synth app as quick as you can and hit "record" as close as you can to the start of the next bar.
Two things can make this easier: If the synth has MIDI Sync or can be set to record with the first note, you don't need to manually hit record and try to sync up the start of the recording with the sequence playing in Meteor
4. When the MIDI sequence is done, hit stop recording in the synth.
5. Mixdown the audio and AudioCopy it (your synth DOES have AudioCopy, right? If not, render it down, email it to yourself, or connect your iOS device to your computer, start iTunes, and move the file out of the synth directory into the Meteor directory).
6. AudioPaste the recorded file into Meteor.
7. Spend 15 minutes trying to manually align the audio clip with the original MIDI clip so it plays back in sync (hint: it may be easier to insert a bar of silence at the begginig of the clip in the Audio Pool using the waveform editor, align it, and then trim off what you don't need from the start).
8. Pat yourself on the back that you were able to do all of this without leaving your bed and without the need to fire up your DAW.

WARNING: Not all synths/samplers can play audio while Meteor is running. If you're attempting to do this with the current version of SampleTank, for example, you're out of luck. If you're using Genome with SampleTank, though (see below) you're back in luck! You just can't AudioCopy your recorded file, though, yet.

WARNING 2: Not all synths/samplers have a very robust VirtualMIDI implementation and may not recognize MIDI input from your iOS sequencer. Budget in $9 for the MIDIBridge app. You won't be sorry.

Note: you can do pretty much all of the above if you have a MIDI sequencer app like Genome and a non-MIDI Sequencing app like MultitrackDAW -- so you wouldn't need to plunk $50 or more down on Meteor.. just $16 or so for Genome (which has better MIDI implementation) and $10 for MultitrackDAW. Just do your MIDI sequencing in Genome, record the audio in the synth plugin, and then paste into MultitrackDAW.

I hear that AudioBus will make some of this easier (by allowing audio routing between compatible apps) but that's probably a ways off.

EDIT: Looking again at what you have and what you plan on buying, I would recommend holding off on Meteor and Aurora and going for Genome, MIDI Bridge, and something like NLog or Sunrizer for synth parts.

[audiojunkie]

Thanks for that well thought out response!!! What you are saying makes sense. It's too bad that it's such a hassle for iOS users right now. I'm just glad I'm not using Android! Things could be way worse!

So, do you think I could make use of my Bismark BS-16i if I had Genome Sequencer and the MidiBridge, or is that app going to have to be primarily for live use (which I don't plan on doing--<sigh>)... I mean, if the BS-16i has background audio and Virtual Midi, couldn't I run it from a sequencer and record the results in the DAW? ...or is that an issue of two applications trying to access the sound card at the same time?

Also, One thing I am looking into is the possibility of using FLStudio Mobile as my main app, and using my full version of FLStudio (on my desktop) and replacing the cheap sounding midi parts with high quality instruments. Also, with FLStudio Mobile, I can take Directwave and FPC and export instruments that can be used with FLStudio Mobile.

--Sean

[DrApostropheX]

As far as I know, at the moment, there's really no way to route audio from one app into another app to record it (I think this is what AudioBus is supposed to achieve).

I have been a FL Studio PC user on and off since 2003, but it's got such spotty 64-bit support and no ability to specify multiple VST folders, so I haven't used it much lately. I got the MusicStudio version of the FL Studio app (FL Studio Mobile is built on a version of MusicStudio) but MusicStudio doesn't let you import your own drum samples and obviously doesn't let you save your projects as FLP files, so you probably made a good decision there

[audiojunkie]

Here's another question... Are there any iOS applications (or DAWs) that make it easy to take song parts or loops and compile a song with them? Just as you mentioned above, I'm sure it must be difficult to align song parts (15 minutes you said)....but is there, in your opinion, an application that makes it easier than another to take the audioparts and align them to make complete tracks?

If I created and exported looped audio phrases that are sequenced at the same BPM or tempo (from different available synth or studio ios apps), and imported them into a single DAW application that made it easy to align the audio (maybe some kind of snap to grid audio quantizing?), it may not be too bad. Either way, we are better off than those who are using Android--I just barely escaped from that camp. Do you know of any DAW type apps that work like that? Something a little like Sony's Acid program?

Thanks!!!!

--Sean

[DrApostropheX]

Check out Studio.HD. It's the most Acid like program I've found. Very impressive and straightforward.

[audiojunkie]

Cool! Thank for the tip!

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

By the way, after thinking things over, I decided to add Studio HD, and Midibridge to my audio arsenal. Thanks for your help!

--Sean

[DrApostropheX]

No problem! I think you'll have fun with Studio.HD. As long as you're getting MIDIBridge, you might also want to pick up Genome too, at some point. From what I've seen, it's pretty much the best MIDI sequencer out there at the moment for iOS.

[audiojunkie]

Yeah, I think I have everything (except talent maybe?) I need to do music on my iPad. I still would like to get the following though:

* Rebirth
* Meteor
* Auria
* Genome MIDI sequencer
* Beatmaker 2
* Several Synths that play well with others

--Sean