• Mac Audio Converter
• Mac Audio Recording

What is Audiobus? — Audiobus isan award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you useyour other music apps together. Chain effects on your favouritesynth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app likeGarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface outputfor each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive asynth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDIkeyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear.And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

Add an Audio Units instrument plug-in to a software instrument track. In GarageBand on Mac, in the Plug-ins area of the Smart Controls pane, click the Instrument slot, choose either AU Generators or AU Instruments, then choose a plug-in from the submenu. Having just returned from my journey, dusty, dirty, and sporting a full on mountain man beard, I present to you my findings: Eight freeware Audio Unit plug-ins from some of the biggest names in the industry. Camel Audio - Alchemy Player. Plugins AU, Mac. Plugins AU - Audio Units is a plug-in format which you can use in conjunction with any compatible host application (see the Hosts - AU category). AU plug-ins consist of a wide range of software synthesizers, samplers and effects. You may like to go directly to our Editors pick of the Top 10 Free VST/AU Virtual Instruments For.

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

I've been playing around with moving my workflow to my laptop, trying out Ableton & Bitwig. I always have a huge problem discovering good effects and instruments to start sketching stuff out, and this seems way worse on desktop.

On iOS my workhorses are Zeeon, Redshrike (and the other Icegear plugins to a lesser extent) and Model D. But I don't know anything about synth sound design, so I'm not looking for 'an analog modelling synth, an FM synth, a Minimoog clone'. I'm looking for 'rich and complex, noisy and abrasive, warm and fuzzy'. A good set of presets is an absolute must; I need to be able to dive in and make anything that sounds good otherwise I just lose interest.

I don't mind paying for plugins (you should see my App Store bills...) but on the other hand I can't justify dropping £hundreds on one.

Any thoughts/ideas?

Comments

• edited April 2018

  There's a huge variety on desktop but one good way is to get one which is available on both ipad and desktop so have a look at DRC which sounds great if you're after an analogue sound but is available on both platforms and can share presets. They often have discounts too.

  or try PPG infinite. Both platforms..... and very complex sounds possible

• I'll definitely check out DRC, it's been on my list to try on iOS for a while. As for the others, they look great, but they're out of my price range right now. I'm really just looking for something cheap (free to $20ish) that sounds good enough that I can try out desktop workflows.

• (I know these have free trials but time limits and lack of state saving are a dealbreaker)

• Use your iPhone/iPad as a sound source via USB cable?

• edited April 2018

  @quarterto said:
  I've been playing around with moving my workflow to my laptop, trying out Ableton & Bitwig. I always have a huge problem discovering good effects and instruments to start sketching stuff out, and this seems way worse on desktop.

  On iOS my workhorses are Zeeon, Redshrike (and the other Icegear plugins to a lesser extent) and Model D. But I don't know anything about synth sound design, so I'm not looking for 'an analog modelling synth, an FM synth, a Minimoog clone'. I'm looking for 'rich and complex, noisy and abrasive, warm and fuzzy'. A good set of presets is an absolute must; I need to be able to dive in and make anything that sounds good otherwise I just lose interest.

  I don't mind paying for plugins (you should see my App Store bills...) but on the other hand I can't justify dropping £hundreds on one.

  Any thoughts/ideas?

  Did you see this article?

  Apple's project 'Marzipan' will let iOS apps run on the Mac in 2018 - report

  Edit... Think I will have to get a Mac..

• @Jocphone said:
  Use your iPhone/iPad as a sound source via USB cable?

  Yes, this. Studiomux works for some (I haven’t tried).

  If you spend a bit of time with Simpler or Sampler, you can make Ableton instruments using your favourite iOS sounds and keep that warm fuzz going.

  If you’re just after presets and not really interested in crafting your own sounds, then maybe just hunt around for Ableton Live packs? It’s not something I do, so I can’t really say where’s best for this, but I’ll point you at Sonic Bloom anyway:
  http://sonicbloom.net/en/category/freebies/

  U-he makes fine softsynths (but yes, money).

• edited April 2018

  You could just buy Logic and you have more synths and presets and FX and and and you ever will get for a grand on iOS even.
  But i also think Abelton and Bitwig stock tools already should cover a lot ground.
  So no need really to buy anything else if you learn your tools.
  Since you didn´t search for a specific synth/tool you can go quite far with free tools (and f.e. U-he free synths are amazing and you get tons of presets for it).
  If you search for the Zeeon sound Dagger get you there (and in terms of filters even better). It´s mono but there are ways to make mono synths polyphonic as well.
  DRC has iOS and mac versions. Infinite has a Pro version for mac as well.
  Model D is hard to cover for cheap or free. The free minimonster is quite nice.
  There are tons of options but you might already covered.

• edited April 2018

  @RajahP said:

  @quarterto said:
  I've been playing around with moving my workflow to my laptop, trying out Ableton & Bitwig. I always have a huge problem discovering good effects and instruments to start sketching stuff out, and this seems way worse on desktop.

  On iOS my workhorses are Zeeon, Redshrike (and the other Icegear plugins to a lesser extent) and Model D. But I don't know anything about synth sound design, so I'm not looking for 'an analog modelling synth, an FM synth, a Minimoog clone'. I'm looking for 'rich and complex, noisy and abrasive, warm and fuzzy'. A good set of presets is an absolute must; I need to be able to dive in and make anything that sounds good otherwise I just lose interest.

  I don't mind paying for plugins (you should see my App Store bills...) but on the other hand I can't justify dropping £hundreds on one.

  Any thoughts/ideas?

  Did you see this article?

  Apple's project 'Marzipan' will let iOS apps run on the Mac in 2018 - report

  Edit... Think I will have to get a Mac..

  I wish i could believe that but it all sounds more like someone looked into the crystal ball.

• The user and all related content has been deleted.
• edited April 2018

  @Cib said:
  You could just buy Logic and you have more synths and presets and FX and and and you ever will get for a grand on iOS even.

  Confirmed 100%

  But i also think Abelton and Bitwig stock tools already should cover a lot ground.
  So no need really to buy anything else if you learn your tools.

  I don't know Bitwig, on Ableton it depends what version you have. Ableton Suite is very powerful, including Analog (a good virtual analog synth), Operator (FM synth), Electric (electric piano model) and a few other physical models and a good selection of effects.

  Model D is hard to cover for cheap or free. The free minimonster is quite nice.
  There are tons of options but you might already covered.

  You can start with Steinberg's free 'VST Classics Volume 1' from https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/unsupported_products/vst_classics_vol_1.html
  Not really an authentic Minimoog emulation, but all the authentic ones I know aren't free.

  On the other hand, as you've described the sound you're after, there are many fantastic freeware synths worth trying, like:
  U-he TyrellN6 + Zebralette + TripleCheese, TAL BassLine + NoiseMaker, Dexed, Tunefish 4 (or Sprike), Datsounds OBXD, buchty SQ8L, and most synths from www.fullbucket.de.

• @Dawdles said:

  @RajahP said:

  @quarterto said:
  I've been playing around with moving my workflow to my laptop, trying out Ableton & Bitwig. I always have a huge problem discovering good effects and instruments to start sketching stuff out, and this seems way worse on desktop.

  On iOS my workhorses are Zeeon, Redshrike (and the other Icegear plugins to a lesser extent) and Model D. But I don't know anything about synth sound design, so I'm not looking for 'an analog modelling synth, an FM synth, a Minimoog clone'. I'm looking for 'rich and complex, noisy and abrasive, warm and fuzzy'. A good set of presets is an absolute must; I need to be able to dive in and make anything that sounds good otherwise I just lose interest.

  I don't mind paying for plugins (you should see my App Store bills...) but on the other hand I can't justify dropping £hundreds on one.

  Any thoughts/ideas?

  Did you see this article?

  Apple's project 'Marzipan' will let iOS apps run on the Mac in 2018 - report

  Edit... Think I will have to get a Mac..

  So if/when this happens will there be 'mac version' IAP or something? If not it'll be a really confusing situation for pricing. Either -

  • People with macs getting super cheap desktop apps ported from ios (dunno how Fabfilter etc will feel about that?)
  • People without macs paying a lot more for some currently 'cheap' ipad apps (If devs start to charge equivalent desktop software prices)
  • Some kind of universal reshifting of software pricing evaluation in general to somewhere inbetween current ios vs desktop prices.

  Seems like it'll probably be bad news for at least one sector of devs or users? Though considering that things like Reaper, VCVRack (+ now Sonar on Windows) and so on are basically free, maybe it'll have no effect at all in practise and just carry on as things are.

  I think it would depends on how this integrates. So if you could run iOS AUv3 as plug-ins in Logic or other DAW´s it could kill a market for some developers maybe. If you need to record them as audio stream and lost the DAW integration you have with plug-ins it doesn´t change much.
  But i still doubt iOS apps on mac happen anytime soon.
  It all has pro and contra. IOS and mac store apps let you load all licenses on all your devices. Not possible with most desktop plug-ins. But i prefer to buy from developers there instead of the app store.
  We will see how it goes. One for sure....windows users are doomed anyway

• This synth kind of reminds me what I love about ios, great for experimenting.

  Also viking synth on ios has a desktop counterpart that is donationware.

  Reaktor is a good option too as it's modular, you can roll your own hybrid monster synth or fx beasty, can also download loads of synths and fx from the user library for free, some have great presets, others leave you to find your own way noodling.

• edited April 2018

  The user and all related content has been deleted.
• The user and all related content has been deleted.

• Wow, thanks for all the suggestions folks. Lots for me to try out this evening!

• The user and all related content has been deleted.

• First, I would do some searches for best free or cheap VST/AU instruments available. Particularly on YouTube, so you can get see demonstrations. There are hundreds, but do check out:
  Free Oberheim Clone - http://www.discodsp.com/obxd/
  Syntronik Free
  All U-he free synths
  The Synthmaster Free Player has 500 presets. The paid one (now $14, often $ 9) has 1250. There are also free demo versions of Synthmaster and Synthmaster One.
  Free Kontakt Player.

  I recommend buying a copy of Computer Music magazine on your iPad for $5. You will then get access to a ton of first-class instruments (including Alchemy Player), drum machines, effects, and utilities.

  Also, don't neglect the free and cheap effects.
  I highly recommend Black Cat Audio and Klanghelm (3 great freebies), AudioThing Filterjam, Softube Saturation knob, and Valhalla FreqEcho
  I use the Black Cat Gain Suite all day long, every day.

  If you ever reach the point when you are ready to spend money, IMHO the absolute best purchase you can make is to get full Kontakt. First, it comes with a lot of great synth, drum and acoustic sounds, enough to keep you busy for years. Then it allows you to get hundreds of amazing instruments free all year round and even more during brief offers, particularly during the holidays. The only limit to the free stuff with Full Kontakt is how big your hard drive is, and how much time you spend finding out about freebies.

  You can save money on Kontakt by upgrading from the free library Sennheiser Drumica, and then cut that price in half during one of their sales. Usually, there is one during the summer and one at Black Friday. The best deal is to get it with Komplete, but that sounds too rich for your taste.

• @Dawdles it's a 3-4 year old i7 Macbook Pro, it should handle things just fine. Sonar looks great but I am on macOS, thanks anyway.

  Although if anyone has DAW suggestions for Mac I'm all ears. Bitwig and Ableton look closest to what I'm looking for so far, but I'd prefer something simple with a really solid workflow to something with the depth and complexity of those two. The only absolute must-have is a session view/clip launcher that can record clips to tracks.

• edited April 2018

  If you don't mind using Soundflower: nothing beats https://www.apple.com/mainstage/

  You'll get all of the Logic goodness excluding the DAW / sequencer for 30 bucks.

  I'm using it as an 'external' 'sound module' in Live.

• @quarterto said:
  @Dawdles it's a 3-4 year old i7 Macbook Pro, it should handle things just fine. Sonar looks great but I am on macOS, thanks anyway.

  Although if anyone has DAW suggestions for Mac I'm all ears. Bitwig and Ableton look closest to what I'm looking for so far, but I'd prefer something simple with a really solid workflow to something with the depth and complexity of those two. The only absolute must-have is a session view/clip launcher that can record clips to tracks.

  Speaking as a Bitwig user, it sounds like it has all you need; a reasonably simple interface, with a clip launcher/recorder, and a huge library of built-in instruments, effects and samples.
  It does have some very complex features, but you don’t have to use them all.

• @quarterto said:
  @Dawdles it's a 3-4 year old i7 Macbook Pro, it should handle things just fine. Sonar looks great but I am on macOS, thanks anyway.

  Although if anyone has DAW suggestions for Mac I'm all ears. Bitwig and Ableton look closest to what I'm looking for so far, but I'd prefer something simple with a really solid workflow to something with the depth and complexity of those two. The only absolute must-have is a session view/clip launcher that can record clips to tracks.

  I also use a macbook i7 from 2013 and it can handle still a lot. Synths like Repro are really next generation stuff but mostly you can turn HQ mode off and also they offer multi-core support which helps a lot.
  Repro is really not cheap (i got for €69 Repro-1at intro and got the free update with Repro-5) so it was a very very good value for me). U-he synths are all just great from sound to GUI to workflow to options like microtuning etc.
  Better not try them....or you want them

• The Legend is a Moog clone and is $100. Rob Papen Predator 2 is $150. D-16 Lush 101 is $150. Sonic Academy ANA 2 is $140. Hard to get 'really good, really cheap'.

  Here's a site that might be helpful https://bedroomproducersblog.com/

  Also KVR https://kvraudio.com/plugins/windows/macosx/vst-plugins/vst3-plugins/audio-units/aax-plugins/rack-extensions/instruments/paid/most-popular

• Which version of OS are you using? iOS 11 and High Sierra (and I believe iOS 10 and Sierra) support InterDevice Audio/MIDI, or IDAM. This effectively turns your iOS device into a fully-integrated sound module. Plug your iPad into a free USB port, open up Audio MIDI Setup on your Mac, and click “Enable” on the iPad icon. After this, just set your audio ins and MIDI outs and you’re good to go.

  If you want native AUs, I’m a big fan of Sinevibes. They’re well-designed, affordable, quirky, and CPU efficient. I don’t use very many of their instrument plugins but their effects are top-notch.

  Korg Gadget for Mac also nets you nearly 40 plugins. It’s pricy up front but there are no in app purchases and seriously — you get roughly 40 instruments and effects, all of which sound good and most of which sound great.

• edited April 2018

  I'll say it again: nothing beats https://www.apple.com/mainstage/plugins-and-sounds/

  Really good. Really cheap. Mac only though.

Syntheway VST, VST3 and Audio Units (AU) are the native plugin formats for macOS. VST, VST3 and Audio Units are more common and compatible across various DAWs like Logic Pro, GarageBand, Cubase, Ableton Live, REAPER, Studio One Professional, Ardour, MainStage and Digital Performer among others

Finding the Audio Plugins folder

The plugin folder is nested in the Macintosh HD Library. There are usually a minimum of two Libraries on your Mac, one in Macintosh HD and another in your user account. You should only place the plugins in the Macintosh HD Library so that it can be accessed by all users on the computer. The usual location of the folder should be:

Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components

Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST

Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3

How to Install Plug-ins

Audio Unit (.component) Installation for macOS Instructions:

1.- After download, double-click on the .dmg file (Apple disk image format, HFS+ volume). This will open the file with DiskImageMounter utility. Otherwise, right-click the .dmg file and select Open with > DiskImageMounter from the menu. A dialog window will appear, verifying the file and mounting it. Once mounted, the .dmg will appear in the Finder sidebar under the 'Devices' header along with the hard drive.

2.- Open a Finder window (click the 'Finder' icon in the dock). Highlight the mounted image file within Finder's sidebar. A list of the files within the .dmg will appear in the main Finder window pane.

3.- Drag the files you wish to extract to the desired destination on your computer as for example to your Mac desktop or directly drag the Audio Unit (.component) to your ‘Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/’ folder.

4.- Unmount the .dmg after you have extracted all desired files by clicking the small 'Eject' icon next to the mounted image in Finder's sidebar. Additionally, you can right-click (Ctrl-click) the mounted .dmg icon on the desktop and select 'Eject' or simply unmount the virtual drive by dragging it to the Trash (Note that this will not delete the files from your computer, the dmg file will still be there).

5.- If you have the extracted files in your Mac desktop, move the '.component' file to the Components folder in your audio plugins folder. Usually ‘Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/’

6.- If your DAW is running, close it and restart it. When your DAW starts up, it will rescan your plugins folder and detect your recently installed plugin.

Finding the Audio Plugins folder: The plugin folder is nested in the Macintosh HD Library. There are usually a minimum of two Libraries on your Mac, one in Macintosh HD and another in your user account. You should only place the plugins in the Macintosh HD Library so that it can be accessed by all users on the computer. The usual location of the folder should be: Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/

VST (.vst) and VST3 (.vst3) Installation for macOS Instructions:

1.- After download, double-click on the .dmg file (Apple disk image format, HFS Plus volume). This will open the file with DiskImageMounter utility. Otherwise, right-click the .dmg file and select Open with > DiskImageMounter from the menu. A dialog window will appear, verifying the file and mounting it. Once mounted, the .dmg will appear in the Finder sidebar under the 'Devices' header along with the hard drive.

2.- Open a Finder window (click the 'Finder' icon in the dock). Highlight the mounted image file within Finder's sidebar. A list of the files within the .dmg will appear in the main Finder window pane.

3.- Drag the files you wish to extract to the desired destination on your computer as for example to your Mac desktop or directly drag the VST (.vst) to your ‘Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST/’ folder or drag directly the VST3 (.vst3) to your ‘Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/’ folder.

4.- Unmount the .dmg after you have extracted all desired files by clicking the small 'Eject' icon next to the mounted image in Finder's sidebar. Additionally, you can right-click (Ctrl-click) the mounted .dmg icon on the desktop and select 'Eject' or simply unmount the virtual drive by dragging it to the Trash (Note that this will not delete the files from your computer, the dmg file will still be there).

5.- If you have the extracted files in your Mac desktop, move the files to the VST or VST3 folder. Usually Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST and Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3 respectively.

6.- If your Cubase is running, close it and restart it. When your Cubase starts up, it will rescan your plugins folder and detect your recently installed VST / VST3 plugins.

VST plug-in locations on macOS

This article provides detailed information on VST plug-in installation paths on Mac OS X and macOS.

The installation path of a plug-in depends if it is VST2 (.vst) or VST (.vst3) and if it is a default or customized path:

VST Default paths on macOS

While the newer VST3 format has a dedicated installation path all VST3 plug-ins must comply with, the VST2 standard does not know an obligatory folder. However, on Apple systems there is a defined plug-in folder within the system's folder structure since the first version of Mac OS X. All VST plug-in installers for Mac are using these folders:

VST Custom paths on macOS

Mac Audio Converter

If a plug-in, for whatever reason, has been installed to a different folder, the VST host application needs to be told where to look for it.

Cubase / Nuendo macOS Notes:

In Cubase and Nuendo, the list of monitored VST2/VST3 folders can be managed here:

ü The macOS version of Cubase only stores VST plugins in one folder: 'Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST or Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3'

ü Or if you're not logged in with administrative access, these sub-folders are in the 'Users/[Username]/Library/Audio/Plug-ins' folder.

ü Place the provided .vst or .vst3 in the VST (Plug-ins) folder.

Mac Audio Recording

ü Follow instructed under the Cubase operations manual and restart the program if needed in order to re-scan new .vst / .vst3 plugins.

ü Now, the Syntheway VST Plugin (Syntheway Vendor) must be recognized by Cubase as a native .vst / .vst3 formats (VST2/VST3 for Mac).

o Changing Folders in Cubase:

If you decide to move your VST plugins into a different folder, you'll also need to tell Cubase where the new VST plugin folder is located. To do this, open the VST 'Plug-in Paths' dialog box and click 'Add.' Navigate to the location of the new folder, select it and click 'OK.' When you're installing new VST plugins after changing the plugin folder location, be sure to specify the new location in the program's installer, as most plugins will automatically install into the Steinberg directory.

o Loadable Bundles on macOS

Audio Units, VST and VST3 are loadable bundles, using Cocoa framework and xCode Integrated Development Environment (IDE) written in Objective C. Bundles provide a simplified interface for end users and a convenient way to deliver software in macOS operating system.