Chapter 9: Automation and FX Sequencing

Effects automation is critical for maintaining a sense of movement in drones and soundscapes.

Effects automation is critical for maintaining a sense of movement in drones and soundscapes. Automation tends to smooth the edges, making modulation feel more natural and even organic. On the flip side, tightly-synced effects automation can make glitch, industrial, and grime tracks insane.

Three Paths

iOS has come a long way in the last 8 years. When I first wrote this book, the best way to get full-fledged automation was to rely upon apps by a handful of developers who really focused on providing that level of control in their apps. I’ll still include those apps here in the “Self-contained apps” section because they are every bit as usable as they were in 2015.

But first, there has been a vast improvement with regards to midi implementations in iOS DAWs, which lead us to the other two options: Hosts and MIDI tools.

AUv3 hosts and DAWS

As I write this, there are almost 50 AUv3-compatible host apps, many of which provide some sort of automation of parameters exposed by hosted apps. Apple’s Logic Pro and Steinberg’s Cubasis 3 are just two examples of desktop-level DAWs that offer full automation functionality on iOS. For folks who prefer exerting meticulous control over their tracks, this is the way to go.

Automation menu in Logic Pro showing multiple automation curves controlling Alchemy’s X/Y pad, as well as the exposed parameters for third-party AUv3 plugin Reels by AudioThing.

There’s also a very non-standard host app by apeSoft called apeMatrix which I’ll cover later.

MIDI tools

For hosts that don’t provide built-in automation functionality, there are plenty of great MIDI tools that can be used to automate parameters of other apps. I personally use AUM 95% of the time, so when I need to automate parameters for hosted apps, I’ll generally use midiLFOs. There are a couple of other very useful apps I’d like to cover as well.

midiLFOs - midi modulator

I almost always have at least once instance of midiLFOs running in AUM. It may not be the best or most full featured LFO app, but it’s been around for around 7 years and I can generally get it to do what I need in a matter of seconds. If there’s a channel volume that I know I want to gradually fade in or out, I’ll set up an RMP LFO for the fade in and a SAW LFO for the fade out. Individual LFOs can be synced to the host bpm, so it’s also useful for set-and-forget automation on filter apps or anywhere else you want to keep some movement happening. The app only supports 4 LFOs at a time, but you can easily add more instances.

mLFO

mLFO is midiLFOs on steroids. It supports 16 simultaneous LFOs in 9 factory shapes or 16 custom user-defined ADSR-style shapes. It also has an awesome little dice button for randomizing LFOs.

PatternBud

PatternBud by Cem Olcay is a spartan CC sequencer, but the power really is in the simplicity. This app makes it dead simple to send specific values over time, and it also has some useful randomization options.

FAC Envolver

FAC Envolver is a really useful app that is kind of hard to explain, but the gist is that it allows you to use an envelope follower on an audio signal to define a MIDI CC value which can be used to control whatever you want. In the video above, I’m using Envolver to duck the signal of a synth app when my guitar signal is present by controlling the channel level control in AUM.

Self-contained apps

If it hasn’t been apparent so far that there are a handful of developers who are really catering to us experimental types, it’s about to get crystal clear. When it comes to effects automation and sequencing, there are a couple of developers who do it right every time. Of course, there are also plenty of great apps with automation features by other developers, but the following apps economize the learning curve by providing familiar interfaces across multiple apps.

apeSoft and Amazing Noises

I’ll cover these two companies together because they share developer Alessandro Petrolati, and because they’ve collectively released over a dozen apps that share the same automation capabilities and control interfaces.

Double-tapping almost any control in any of these apps will show a pop-up dialog with options for modulation, automation and MIDI mapping. Aside from color, these panels are almost identical for all controls across the entire range of apps. Controls can be set to react to keyboard aftertouch or to tilting the device, or they can be modulated using independent LFOs for each control. You can set the LFO frequency, choose from a number of different waveforms, and define minimum and maximum values for the associated parameter.

apeSoft

apeMatrix

This is the non-standard host app I promised to cover earlier. apeMatrix uses a matrix interface (thus the name) to enable routing of audio between apps, as well as device inputs and outputs. The big bonus is that any exposed MIDI parameter can easily be automated using the same modulation options available in all of Alessandro’s apps.

apeDelay

apeDelay is a spectral delay which allows you to draw custom delay time and feedback curves, while also providing a bunch of other advanced spectral manipulators such as blur, granulate, decimate, and freeze. This app is great for creating drones and soundscapes from simple sources.

apeFilter

apeFilter is a sophisticated equalizer with powerful and intuitive touch-based manipulation.

iVCS3

iVCS3 from apeSoft is an emulation of the famous EMS VCS3 synthesizer. The retro interface with its large knobs, control input matrix, and joystick is blast to tweak. Hidden away in the back panel are two sample players and a sequencer. It’s possible to mix the sound from the synth, the samples, and even other apps (via AUv3, Audiobus or IAA) and filter the mix through the app’s vintage-style effects.

Stria

Another synth app in this group, also by apeSoft, is the “multilevel interactive sound synthesizer” Stria. Besides generating cool sounds via the oscillators and spectral pitch grid generators, this app also has some cool unconventional effects like a Doppler effect, a chopper, a glitch generator, sync grain, and a spectral arpeggiator.

iPulsaret

The third synth by apeSoft is iPulsaret, a granular synth that can chop up sound from several different sources: morphing wavepad, trainlet, sample, or live audio via the microphone, Audiobus, or inter-app audio.

mood

mood is Alessandro Petrolati’s “personal interpretation of the legendary Analog Synthesizer by Eugenio Giordani.” I honestly haven’t spent much time with it, but it has Jordan Rudess’ seal of approval.

Accordion Vintage

Ok, I wouldn’t be caught dead buying an accordion app if it were made by anyone other than apeSoft, but if you need an accordion, Accordion Vintage is definitely the one.

Electric Vintage

Like the accordion app, Electric Vintage is not a sci-fi cool app like most of the other apeSoft apps, but it does what it does really well, and it does still provide all of the MIDI/LFO/Accelerometer mapping present in the rest of the apeSoft/Amazing Noises line.

Sparkle

apeSoft’s Sparkle is a unique tool that creates a hybrid sound from two different samples, or from a target sample and live audio. It works by applying the temporal structure of the source audio to the audio from the target sample. The resulting sound can be somewhat similar to what you might get from a vocoder, or something else altogether.

The final two apeSoft apps available at time of writing are the previously covered granular sample manipulator iDensity, and SOLO [Nr. 19], which is a study of a Stockhausen composition and not overly relevant.

Amazing Noises

Most of the Amazing Noises apps are designed to fill up the effects slot in your chain, but all of them do include the familiar sample player for standalone use. The exception is Moebius Lab, which is in a class of its own.

Moebius Lab

Moebius Lab is a “multimorphic sound processor” that can operate as an inter-app audio sound source or effect inside a host app, or can act as an AUv3 / IAA host for up to 8 other instrument or effects apps. Moebius has 16 different built-in effects, and everything can be modulated with the standard apeSoft LFO interface. There’s a built-in keyboard that can be routed to the built-in synth or any of the remote apps, and it supports custom scales. This app is amazingly deep and capable.

Dedalus - Delay Audio Mangler

Dedalus is a “delay audio mangler” with multiple delays that are granulated and modulated in various ways. DubFilter is a dual low-pass / high-pass filter. Limiter offers a brick-wall peak limiter and live normalizer. Finally, GliderVerb, described as a “reverberator with glissandos”, is a unique reverb app that simulates a gradually shifting space.

DubFilter

DubFilter is a dual low-pass/high-pass filter with a bunch of bells and whistles. Hands-on, this is a great sounding DJ effect app, and the LFO modulation functionality makes it equally useful as a background effects app.

GliderVerb

GliderVerb is a “Reverberator with Glissandos simulating a room gradually changing its shape.” The result is some amazing ambient reverb that moves with the music.

Limiter - Audio Processor

Limiter is a brickwall peak limiter with a wide range of dynamic processing.

Reverb - FDN

Amazing Noises Reverb is a feedback delay network (FDN) reverb unit with the expected parameters plus FDN-specific controls and a section of “twisting params”. Automating the controls in this app creates some truly strange and beautiful ambiences.

Continued…