Waveform screen

1. Wave editor

The wave editor can be entered by double tapping an existing or adding a new audio track in the track list.

It is also used for editing samples in a user instrument.


There are 5 ways to fill an audio track:

  • Record with a microphone or any iOS audio accessory
  • Record other Audiobus-compatible apps running in the background (Unavailable in Music Studio Lite, only available in the full version)
  • Import a song from your iPod library
  • Import an existing audio file. Supported formats: wav, mp3, ogg, AAC (m4a)
  • AudioPaste from other apps on your device

An audio track can only be linked to one audio file. Opening another file in the wave editor will link it to the selected audio track. Editing in the wave editor always changes the original audio file in the Audio folder, unless you tap the “Save as” button to save it under a new name. This improves the workflow by not having to save and type filenames every time you change an audio file.

1.1 Wave editor menu

The menu buttons to the left to the display (for playback and undo) and the zoom buttons are the same as in the Keyboard screen. The loop button toggles looping, but in the sampler mode it toggles the loop markers to set the looped sample range.

1.1.1 Record button

Tap the record button to open the audio recording popup for recording a wav file into the Audio folder.

1.1.1.1 Supported hardware

See External Hardware.

1.1.1.2 Filename textfield

By default, a file name that doesn’t exist yet in the Audio folder is displayed. Tap it to change the name of the file you are going to record.

1.1.1.3 Input gain fader

The input gain fader is visible on top of the input levels only if your iOS device has input gain support or if the connected audio device offers input gain adjustment. Decrease the gain to avoid clipping, or increase it if the volume of your recordings is too low.

1.1.1.4 Input levels

Tap anywhere on the input level bars to reset the clipping indicators. The red clipping indicators light up if the stereo input level bars hit full gain. This means that clipping has occurred and there probably will be a clipping noise in the recorded file.

Note: Only the levels of the first 8 input channels are displayed.

1.1.1.5 Monitoring

Input monitoring outputs the input audio signal before and during audio recording. There are 2 modes:

  • No effects: skips the effect bus and directly outputs the raw input signal.
  • Track effects: routes the incoming audio signal through the effect bus of the selected track. This way you can listen with headphones to what you sing or play before and during recording, exactly as it will sound on the track.

Note: to prevent feedback, input monitoring is only available if headphones or an external microphone are connected.

Note: Monitoring is not available if Audiobus input is selected.

1.1.1.6 Input source

With the internal microphone, only mono is available. If an external microphone or CoreAudio device with more than 1 channels is connected, the following options are available:

  • Mono L/R: The left or right mono channel.
  • Stereo: Records both channels into one stereo file.
  • 2-24 mono files: Records all the available mono channels simultaneously into separate mono files.
  • 2-12 stereo files: Records pairs of 2 mono channels simultaneously into stereo files.
  • Audiobus: Every Audiobus input app is recorded to a separate stereo track. (Unavailable in Music Studio Lite, only available in the full version)
  • Inter-App Audio: A second menu appears where you can select all recordable IAA apps that are installed on your device. For more information read the chapter about Inter-App Audio.

1.1.1.7 Play song during recording

Listening to the song during recording is essential for singing or playing along. Situations where you wouldn’t enable this checkbox are if you start your song with an audio recording, or if you record snippets which will be used in multiple songs independently of the tempo.

1.1.1.8 Metronome button

Enable the metronome button to listen to the metronome during recording.

Note: If count-in is enabled in the metronome setup, it will kick in during audio recording too.

1.1.1.9 Record button

Tap the record button to start and stop audio recording.

Tip: Keep an eye on the input levels. Increase the distance to the microphone or decrease the input gain if they reach 100%.

Tip: If you want to trash the recording and re-recording, tap the undo button right after recording to delete the file.

1.1.2 Load button

The load audio file popup presents you with 4 options:


  • Audio folder
    The Audio folder holds all your audio recordings and can also be browsed in the Projects screen. You can use iTunes file sharing or the WiFi server to copy audio files from your computer to the Audio folder in Music Studio. Audio files can also be opened from Mail and Safari directly with Music Studio.
  • iPod library
    All the songs you synced with iTunes or downloaded from the iTunes Store are stored in the iPod library. Tapping the OK button shows the contents of your iPod library. Importing the file from the compressed format into the wav format can take up to a few minutes on older devices.
  • AudioPaste
    The AudioCopy clipboard allows to you copy and paste audio material between apps that have AudioCopy support. The AudioCopy app (available on the App Store) lets you manage the clipboard.
  • Files
    Audio files can be imported from the iOS Files app, which accesses local files, as well as iCloud Drive and other cloud services like Dropbox.

1.1.3 Save button

To save the current audio file under a new name, tap the save button and enter a file name. The original audio file will remain unchanged.

Tip: In many cases, enabling the Save selection only checkbox is more handy than using the trim button.

1.1.4 Delete file button (iPad only)

The delete button removes the current audio file from the Audio folder permanently. Undo is not possible after this action.

1.1.5 Display and ruler

Tap the display or the ruler to change the units between seconds and measures (= bar.beat).

1.1.6 Selection buttons

Tap the leftmost selection button and slide over an area in the wave form to select it. Use the markers on the ruler to adjust the selection, or tap one of the other two selection buttons to extend the selection to the beginning or the end of the audio file.

1.1.7 Trim button

The trim button cuts the areas outside of the selection away from the audio file.

1.1.8 Delete button

The delete button cuts the selected area from the audio file.

1.1.9 Insert silence button

Place the playhead at the point where you wish to insert silence, by moving your finger on the ruler. Then tap the insert silence button and enter the length in seconds.

Tip: tap and slide your finger on the display to quickly adjust the length of the silence.

1.1.10 Reverse button

The reverse button reverts the selected area of the audio file, so that it sounds backwards when played back.

1.1.11 Normalization button

Normalization modifies the audio file’s volume to that the peak is at the desired percentage of the maximum volume.

Here are a few examples:

  • Normalizing a quiet recording to 100% will boost its volume without clipping the wave form.
  • If a quiet recording contains a spike that has a peak value of 100%, normalizing to 100% won’t change the file.
  • Normalizing to 50% will set the peak to 50% of the maximum available volume. Repeating this procedure won’t change the file because the peak will already be at 50%.

Limiter (soft knee)
The limiter checkbox becomes available at a percentage of over 100%, where clipping would occur. Applying a soft knee limiter prevents clipping (crackling), but it introduces some artifacts that reduce the quality of the audio file.

1.1.12 Fade buttons

Tapping the fade in or out button unfolds a sub menu with 3 choices for the gradient: slow, linear, or fast.

The two most common cases are fading in the beginning and fading out the ending of an audio file. Try out the different gradients and tap the undo button in between.

1.2 Audiobus

(Unavailable in Music Studio Lite, only available in the full version)

Audiobus is an iOS app (available on the App Store) that enables app-to-app audio and MIDI routing between iOS apps that support Audiobus. Music Studio can send and receive audio and MIDI to and from other apps, through Audiobus. For more information see http://www.audiob.us

Music Studio is an Audiobus input and an output:

  • When used as an audio input, an Audiobus output app can record Music Studio's stereo audio output. Music Studio provides 2 play and rewind buttons in the Audiobus panel which can be accessed from other Audiobus apps.
  • When used as an audio output, other Audiobus ports (= apps) can be recorded to separate stereo tracks. The Audiobus option is available in the channel menu of the wave editor’s recording window. In this mode, Music Studio automatically shows the recording window, preselects Audiobus and enables the metronome and song playback during recording. As an output, Music Studio provides a record buttons in the Audiobus panel which can be accessed from other Audiobus apps. The input levels of all Audiobus apps are summed and displayed in the level metering bars. Input monitoring for Audiobus tracks is not available (the background app's sound is audible anyway).
  • When used as MIDI input or output, other MIDI connections (to hardware or other apps) are not available in Music Studio because all the routing is done by Audiobus.


 Audio workflow example:

  • Launch the Audiobus app
  • Select 2 input apps and launch them
  • Select Music Studio as the output app and tap to launch it
  • Switch to one of the input apps
  • In the Audiobus panel, tap the Music Studio icon, then tap the record button to start recording
  • Play something in the app, then switch to the other input app and play something too
  • In the Audiobus panel, tap Music Studio’s record button again to stop recording
  • Switch to Music Studio to view and edit your recording

1.3 Inter-App Audio

(Unavailable in Music Studio Lite, only available in the full version) Inter-App Audio (IAA) was introduced by Apple in iOS 7.0. It provides universal audio routing across apps. It's not as reliable as Audiobus, but IAA doesn't require a separate app, in other words it's free. There are 4 kinds of Inter-App Audio apps:

  • Hosts

Music Studio is a host, it can record and utilize other IAA node apps.

  • Generators

Generators produce audio can be recorded onto audio tracks. Many IAA instruments can also be recorded as if they were generators. Examples are drum machines or apps that don't feature a keyboard. To record an IAA generator app in Music Studio, add an audio track, tap the Record button and select "Inter-App Audio" instead of "Mono" as input source. A second menu appears where you can select all recordable IAA apps that are installed on your device.

  • Instruments

IAA instruments receive MIDI from the host (Music Studio) and produce audio output. All installed instrument apps are listed in the Inter-App folder in the Instruments screen. They can be assigned to MIDI tracks the same way as internal instruments.

  • Effects

Effect apps process audio signals. All installed IAA effect apps can be selected as track, send or global effects.

Known limitations and issues

  • An IAA app can only be connected once. For example, it's impossible to assign an IAA effect app twice in the same project.
  • Connection problems can occur if connected apps always remain in the background, due to a bug in iOS. To prevent this, Music Studio automatically switches to any IAA app that you manually connect to. To prevent connection problems, manually tap the icon of every IAA app used in a project after loading the project. This way, iOS displays every IAA app once and connection issues won't occur.
  • If the connection to an IAA app cannot be established, quit all audio apps (press the home button twice and swipe the apps up), launch Music Studio and then connect the IAA app again. Don't launch other IAA apps manually before launching Music Studio.