Plz help: Audiobus 3 + BM 2

edited June 2020 in Support

Hi, I recently bought Beatmaker 2 (2.6.4) for my kids and I to make some tunes. We are all fed up with the existing preset sounds so I looked into getting usage out of some other synth apps. Researched Audiobus as the solution and it is driving me nuts trying to figure it out. I have spent hours pouring over support posts here and at the Audiobus forums, multiple searches on google and I'm ready to smash something trying to figure out how to use these apps together. I am fairly new to all of this so maybe I am just out of my depth here....

My process as follows:

  • restart my phone (iphone 8), no apps open at all, Beatmaker 2 'running in background' enabled, latency 512
  • I start Audiobus 3 first. Right now I'm choosing Korg Model D input, no effects, then output BM2.
  • Enable both apps, then open up a beat in BM2, add new instrument (audio track), click the audio button, click the 'Audiobus' button, enable monitor/arm recording, switch over to Model D, press record, and what follows is sooo frustrating.

The first thing is it's recording it's own pattern somehow. There is also some sort of feedbacky/clicky/background noise thing happening on every synth I try (is it the synths I'm using? I have not splashed out for anything great yet since Audiobus already cost me and isn't working). For the Model D, if I go into the sequencer after I have recorded, there seems to be 2 tracks recorded in the audio track...1 is the Model D sound I selected and played, the other is some background crap which if I select the track and delete it deletes some of the background noise, but keeps the other but then the track itself is not anything close to what I actually played. Also, when recording, the Model D cuts out like crazy and some other track is somehow being played/recorded live.

Argh...what the hell. If I use another freebee synth (DXi) it's also horrible. If I use the Model D, in Audiobus it shows 'state' and 'link' and when I open it to record it's 'link'. I gather that just means it's ready to go.

The only other thing I can think of on a long shot is that my kids and I are all sharing BM 2 and Audiobus 3, meaning under family sharing I bought the apps, then they went and downloaded it to their IOS devices free as I already have it. However, when I am trying to link these apps to record, neither of my kids have these apps open, only me.

I'm looking at alternatives like ditching BM 2, or I just found out about AUM (does similar as Audiobus I think) but I'm just looking for something more solid and before I splash out more $$$ want to know I'm not doing something wrong here.

Any help massively appreciated!!!

Edit: OK, here's another weird thing happening...if I open Audiobus, then BM 2, load an existing project w/ other existing keyboard instruments, when I go to my synth to record it maps out the synth notes over my keyboard instruments...same pattern, just with the Model D sound I tried to record a new audio track with.
WTF

Comments

  • edited June 2020

    A lot to address here. I'll do my best with my limited knowledge of BM2. First some suggestions:

    • You can load a single instance of Model D directly into Beatmaker 2. You can load it directly onto an Instrument track. No need to use AudioBus.
    • BM2 is no longer supported and updated. It isn't up to date with the latest Audiobus integration. These aren't likely the only issues you'll run into, and if they are caused by bugs then there's virtually no chance they'll be fixed
    • GarageBand is an excellent alternate choice if you're new to iOS music apps. It's free and it has a particularly kid friendly design. You can load multiple instances of Model D in GarageBand. I'd highly recommend checking out GarageBand.

    My process as follows:

    • restart my phone (iphone 8), no apps open at all, Beatmaker 2 'running in background' enabled, latency 512
    • I start Audiobus 3 first. Right now I'm choosing Korg Model D input, no effects, then output BM2.
    • Enable both apps, then open up a beat in BM2, add new instrument (audio track), click the audio button, click the 'Audiobus' button, enable monitor/arm recording, switch over to Model D, press record, and what follows is sooo frustrating.

    I tried this using Model D loaded directly in BM2 and had no problems with recording the audio. I then tried recording from Audiobus into an audio track. The audio did record, but didn't display properly in the timeline until I lengthened the clip to longer than the recorded length and then back to the proper length.

    The first thing is it's recording it's own pattern somehow. There is also some sort of feedbacky/clicky/background noise thing happening on every synth I try (is it the synths I'm using?

    It's not the metronome by chance is it?

    I have not splashed out for anything great yet since Audiobus already cost me and isn't working). For the Model D, if I go into the sequencer after I have recorded, there seems to be 2 tracks recorded in the audio track...1 is the Model D sound I selected and played, the other is some background crap which if I select the track and delete it deletes some of the background noise, but keeps the other but then the track itself is not anything close to what I actually played.
    That sounds like you're getting microphone input. Make sure recording is only armed on the actual track where you've selected Audiobus input.

    Also, when recording, the Model D cuts out like crazy and some other track is somehow being played/recorded live. Try turning "Send Midi" off in Model D. It sounds like maybe it's sending midi out to some other app you have or had running.

    This almost sounds like you have some other app running in the background and it's receiving midi out from BM3. Be sure to force-quit all other apps and see if that helps. A reboot of the device wouldn't hurt either.

    Argh...what the hell. If I use another freebee synth (DXi) it's also horrible. If I use the Model D, in Audiobus it shows 'state' and 'link' and when I open it to record it's 'link'. I gather that just means it's ready to go.

    State and Link don't mean what you think they do. "State" means that the app is written so that when loaded in Audiobus, if you save the Audiobus session then reload it, the settings of that app should be preserved.

    Link is a timing protocol by Ableton that lets devices and apps sync their timing to each other.

    Both of those notations are just Audiobus telling you what the capabilities of the app are. They don't actually mean anything about the ready status of the app.

    The only other thing I can think of on a long shot is that my kids and I are all sharing BM 2 and Audiobus 3, meaning under family sharing I bought the apps, then they went and downloaded it to their IOS devices free as I already have it. However, when I am trying to link these apps to record, neither of my kids have these apps open, only me.

    No, that should have nothing to do with it.

    I'm looking at alternatives like ditching BM 2, or I just found out about AUM (does similar as Audiobus I think) but I'm just looking for something more solid and before I splash out more $$$ want to know I'm not doing something wrong here.

    Ditching BM2 might be the best, at least for now until you have more chance to learn how things work together in iOS. There's a lot to learn. GarageBand is a good place to learn. And it's free.

    Any help massively appreciated!!!

    Edit: OK, here's another weird thing happening...if I open Audiobus, then BM 2, load an existing project w/ other existing keyboard instruments, when I go to my synth to record it maps out the synth notes over my keyboard instruments...same pattern, just with the Model D sound I tried to record a new audio track with.
    WTF

    Sorry, I don't understand enough about what you're saying there. If I was to take a guess, I would say that you probably have the tracks set to output midi and that Model D is picking that midi up.

    See if you can get to the midi output settings and make sure that all the outputs are turned off. You may even find that takes care of some of your other issues as well.

    Aside from BM2 being quite an old app, it seems like a lot of what you're running into is just needing to get some better understanding of how apps work. Not to cross-post between forums, but I might suggest you check out the Audiobus forum. It has a wider audience than this one which is very much focused on BM3. You might find more people who are able to help over there. (You also might get way, way more help than you want and end up as confused as ever too ... ymmv).

    Best of luck! Sorry it's so frustrating. Hopefully it'll get to be more fun at some point once you get the basics behind you.

  • Unless it's essential that the app works on iPhone, I would strongly suggest switching to BeatMaker 3 and using AUv3 plugins instead of Audiobus.

    So much less hassle and stress.

  • Hi number37, thank you so much for your reply, that cleared up some things.
    tk32, thanks for your reply as well. We are all on iPhones at the moment - as things progress and we all learn and get better an upgrade will surely happen.

    The midi thing was definitely messing with stuff. As you were able to surmise number37, I am pretty green to midi and iOS stuff. I found a youtube tute that cleared up more stuff about setting up midi for external apps etc.

    Again, thanks so much for the input you guys.

  • Great, I'm glad it helped. I was doing a lot of guessing. :D

    Midi stuff is pretty hard to get your head around in iOS. Most people struggle with it at first. That's why it's good to start of with something designed to be simple, and why I still recommend GarageBand as a less-hassle filled way to get started.

    Best of luck!

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