Here’s a live jam video that shows just how performance-friendly an all-in-one iPad drum machine can be.
The pad controller you’ll recognize. But there’s an Audiobus story here, too.
It started as a way to route audio between apps on iPads and whatnot – a drum machine app could be processed by a filter app. But now, Audiobus is answering some questions about how you can combine apps into something you can really play.
And that brings us to Remote Triggers. Think of them as a custom remote control for different apps, used via a separate app called Audiobus Remote. With hardware, this is pretty much a no-brainer – if you combine a looper pedal and a distortion pedal, they’ll each have controls for looping and switching on crunch, for example. On the screen, Audiobus’ Remote Triggers keep those tools under your fingertips even when combining several apps.
It’s a huge boon to live performance. Oliver Greschke’s Elastic Drums is to me one of the best reasons to keep an iPad in the studio – full of grimy drum machines sounds and the tools to sequence them. When Oliver combines that with Audiobus remote triggers, plus physical controls via the pads on IK Multimedia’s iRIG Pads, that software power sits at the center of an eminently playable performance tool.
Suddenly, you’re convincingly jamming on an iPad the way someone else might on a 909. It’s about time.
Speaking of time, you can’t use this quite yet. This is in the upcoming 1.6 update to Elastic Drums. But it’s coming soon, and I can’t wait. Crucially, the triggers work with both Remote Triggers (use that spare iPad or iPhone you put out to pasture, even), or with MIDI (hello, iRIG).
As for Remote Triggers, you’ll find a handy compilation of them on the Audiobus site:
https://audiob.us/remote/apps/page/1-2
(If you’re a developer, see the developer notes.)
Pedal board, looper, effects are there, too, among other tools – making this ideal for people playing a range of instruments.