hi !
are you using koala on android ?
I try to use koala via usb but I can only for midi sequencing for the moment.
can you use koala midi sequenced+ audio routing via the same usb ?
thank you
I guess this is my “first time caller, long time listener” moment as far as this forum goes and I love that this thread exists here. Marek has done (and continues to do) truly amazing things with this app.
I will scroll back up and read the thread in its entirety but just quick thoughts/tips:
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If you are on iOS and want to sidechain in Koala, hard pan your drums one side and everything else to the other, then load Koala on a channel in AUM and send the L and R to sub channels. Job done. You’ve now got a drum bus and an everything else bus. Stick AD Pumphouse or Bleass Sidekick on the latter and sidechain to your heart’s content.
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Koala loves single cycle waveforms. Like, REALLY loves them. It’s very easy to make your own out any sound whatsoever.
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The timestretch engine in Samurai mode is literally worth several times the admission alone.
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There’s a very vibrant community centres upon Koala including a Twitch/YouTube channel, official Discord and various hashtags on social media (koalagang or koalasampler is always worth a look, especially on Twitter and Instagram)
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iOS for me, cant speak for how well it functions in android. but yeah audio and midi over usb. If using the app in standalone sometimes i found i had to turn digitakt on after opening koala so it recognised the digitakt.
and also midi note offset C2 in koala settings = digitakt keyboard octave at -24 for all the pads to line up on the default setting. (otherwise you hear silence).
but normally I actually use AUM to route the midi from digitakt into koala, because working in tyhe AUM environment kicks ass.
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I really want to use it with octa and maxfornlive personally.
Thank you for your indications, I will try to use it, I just found a routing app called “lesser audioswitch”, could work with sounddevice or usb direct.
Looks a great setup so have fun !
(I just wish elektron machines have tuner in FX section)
Not just for Koala but iOS in general - I just got a used iConnectivity 4+ which apparently allows you to connect to Mac/PC at the same time as iOS devices, sharing resources and audio seamlessly. I literally only connected it up yesterday so haven’t had chance to do a lot of testing yet but it could well be an interesting solution for bringing iOS closer to your desktop/laptop DAW.
Oh hi again. Those things are interesting! How does it sound? Heard conflicting opinions.
Honestly, I’m trying it as a regular interface first so that I don’t get wowed by the iOS connectivity and overlook shortcomings.
My first thoughts (comparing it to the MOTU M2) are:
- It’s noisy. Not crazily noisy, but the noisefloor is noticeably louder than the M2
- It seems to launch at a high volume which makes my monitors crack if I forget to turn them off before booting up my PC. Perhaps I should always ensure that I have my monitors off when booting my PC but my M2 does not do this
- The routing app is a PITA initially but actually quite powerful once you figure it out
I still need to check out:
- Whether the loopback functionality means I can screen record Ableton using OBS
- How much I love the iOS connection/charging
At present, mainly because of the noisefloor, I’m leaning towards putting it back on eBay, if I’m honest
Such a shame, I wish someone would release a higher quality interface with similar features.
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Does my experience thus far pretty mirror what you’d heard elsewhere?
yeah for the most part! I’m already worried about the drop down from my Audient to stuff that is generally considered to ‘sound pretty good’ for more I/O; and a lot of stuff these days does sound just fine, even this behringer ADAT is good enough for most line level stuff - so any time I hear complaints about sound quality I am very apprehensive. It made a big difference (to nothing more than my personal enjoyment, really haha) moving up from a meh interface to one built with quality components and I don’t wanna go back lol!
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That’s exactly how I feel! I can still remember when I moved from the SB Live to my first proper audio interface (Audiophile 192) - just having the headphones on with nothing playing and hearing (relative) silence was amazing!
I really REALLY want to like this iConnectivity box but I’m already feeling as though its days with me are numbered
These are quite popular with the iOS crowd. I never really got along with the iConnect stuff myself. Although its really the only one that will charge the ios device, a powered cck with a extension cable (so the dongle is by the interface rather than hanging off the ios device) works too.
AVB interfaces will allow you to pass audio from ios and mac at the same time (mac connected via ethernet, ios via usb).
Theres also these (sold out at the moment, prolly due to chip shortage) https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/usbstreamer-box which are class compliant. Connect ios via ADAT. Route accordingly in your interface. New motu ultralite mk5’s have a loopback function I believe.
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Honestly, I’ve never had an issue with using the CCK (the one with lightning and USB ports) and I even use AUM with Ableton Link to pipe audio into the desktop without need for editing loops etc, but for some reason I decided that I needed an iConnectivity device…
The USBstreamer looks like an interesting little device. ADAT was the height of recording technology when I first went into a proper studio. Compared to the 4 track we used at home it seemed like digital witchcraft.
The MOTU M2 has loopback that works beautifully btw. I’m am idiot for even contemplating switching from that
The mini streamer is nice to have in your bag. Super simple and easy to connect 8 channels of your rig to someone else’s.
Been a lifesaver in a lot of studio situations.
I kinda though iConnect was dunzo for a while when they discontinued all that stuff. I get they’re class compliant, but I didn’t want to build around something that was so specialized and that apple could possibly render useless with a software update (by accident or on purpose)
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That and they’re not amazing sounding by any means. Not that I need RMEs, but they were a little disappointing.
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What MIDI sequence do you use to trigger the Koala slot for recording?
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No, likewise. I don’t need to be spending upwards of a couple of hundred on an interface either but the difference in quality between the M2 and 4+ is significant (and the 4+ is/was actually more expensive)
a midi track from the digitakt. i dont really put much planning into it… more random sampling/happy accidents. but if you map say 16 steps (16 notes)to 16 pads in koala, and press play. koala will both play the digitakt, and sample its audio at the same time, chopped across 16 pads… remixing happiness.
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That’s even more rad than I imagined.
It is very cool. As if u can imagine there is digitakt audio playing as well as a midi sequence with the pre-mapped notes (its C3 upwards with koalas default settings)… once koala has recorded on to an empty pad the sample is loaded and will continue playing as long as the digitakt midi sequence is playing.
but then waht is cool is as you evolve/change the digitake audio, you can drag individual koala pads to the bin and just that pad will resample the new audio only for that pad. So it is a way of gradually evolving the koala audio.
or of course once recorded you can mute the digitakt midi track and play koala chops manually - or have play a different sequence with a diffrent digitakt midi track
combine this with the the save/reload pattern funtion of the digitakt while making use of the koala effects and it is a performance/live jam beast beast
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