Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
iOS 8/9 causing music developers to abandon new iOS app development?
I just received sad news that the sequel to one of my favorite iOS games, Avernum 2, was pulled by the developer from the app store just a just few days after its release. They are ceaseing all development on iOS apps. It seems iOS 8.3 broke the game engine for all of his games, and there's at least 5 of them. You can read about it here:
Now I wonder will all of the problems with music apps and iOS 8, if it's causing app developers to shy away from making new apps in the iOS environment? I mean, who knows what's going to get broken when iOS 9 comes out.
Comments
It's the same with web development - every time the server software, or server side scripting, or browser, or CMS, or mySQL, or Wordpress etc. etc. etc. gets an update a whole bunch of stuff gets broke and we have to learn how to fix it and new techniques to keep our services up to date.
But that's the nature of the job, you just have to get on with it - I spend at least a third of my time, unpaid, learning new stuff. Adapt or die, because some other bugger will turn up to fill the gap.
Sad news indeed. I'm also a big fan of Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb games, and was very happy when they began porting their games to the iPad.
Speaking as a user, not a developer, who’s probably spent thousands of dollars over the years in iPad and iPhone apps, I have to say that the points Jeff makes are very valid and sad - not only regarding the impact of 8.3, but also the business model that Apple seems to favor in their app store.
I have totally ceased buying games for my iPad and iPhone, and recently became a very loyal Nintendo 3DS fanboy. I have no problems paying anywhere from USD 6 to USD 50 a game or app, if it’s the quality I’m looking for.
By the way, there are some very few but interesting music apps on that platform as well - for instance the Korg M01D music workstation. It’s a shame however that Nintendo manages to make their hardware even more walled than Apple.
As for the iPad, I still think it’s untouched for mobile music production and performance, but personally I’m only willing to invest in premium apps made by developers who have a history of actively maintaining their product and listening to their customer base.
bullshit.. new stuff is born everyday. If they won't update their few-year long used engine it not our fail. In these days all is changing you can use the same technology 5 years without updates
@Goozoon your point is valid; but reading Jeff's post and the ensuing discussion, I think his problem is more related to the App Store business model not providing enough return for a niche developer. If he was making enough money, I doubt he would care about periodically updating his stuff.
Look at how many apps are just fine. There will always be a few that don't make it for one reason or another. All of my favorite music apps work great in iOS 8.3 and those that don't can be easily replaced. I don't know of any single music app that can't be replaced by another app.
It's not like iOS8.3 hit the developers by 'surprise' if they cared to keep up with what's happening with the development of the platform they are developing on this would not be a problem.
We've all been thru this when some app just reach 'end of life' it has happened on both Windows and Mac platforms in the past and will most likely happen again. I personally remember the transition from PPC to Intel, and deprecation of the 'Classic environment' in later versions of OS X...
As for the Apps on iOS platform it just shows which developers are truly committed...
At some point we learn to see and accept that apps are not an 'investment' they are commodity with an expiration date just like music is now days a 'consumable product' and not an investment like it used the be when vinyl was popular...
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/uk-s-first-official-vinyl-charts-launch-as-vinyl-sales-soar-in-2015__8906/
Sales of vinyl now are a drop in the bucket compared to when vinyl was the primary medium to distribute music. How many individual artists in the 60's and 70's sold in excess of 1.29 million vinyl LP's? Quite a few I'm sure. Just sayin'...
"014 witnessed vinyl LP sales reaching a 20-year high in the UK at 1.29 million"
In one sense I like updates to OS if they make my computer (and tablets and smartphones are essentially computers too) run faster and better, more intuitive, open up more functionality. On the other hand it means software developers often have to go through the trouble of making sure their application functions in the updated environment, which I'm sure is a pain in the arse. As well, sometimes you find with an update that your computer becomes slower and less capable or worse buggy. I think Apple is pushing updates and new versions of OSs exponentially in hopes that it will force people to upgrade their hardware, thus more profits for Apple.
Ha...I forgot the demographic here lol
I think I’ll go back to hardware. At least it usually keeps some sort of resale value decades later.
It is harder and easier than the old days. When we were writing for Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, and the like, we knew that we were dealing with pretty much set hardware (1 or 1.79 MHz 6502 respectively, RAM, video memory in a fixed location, etc.), and that it was going to be the same for years.
On the other hand, we could spend hours or days optimizing 20 lines of assembly language.
Samplr and Impaktor just came to mind
Not happening with audio apps.
Everything changes, it's just here on iOS the pace sometimes seems to be more revolutionary than evolutionary.
First there is an upgrade, then there is no upgrade, then there is
Probably not too cryptic reference for the average age of this forum. @u0421793
No--first there is a mountain, then there is an upgrade, then there is a downgrade, then there is no mountain.
i like to think of it as the 'ebb and flow' of iOS expectation levels
Cast adrift on a Apple juice sea, mmmm, wonder if these seeds will grow?
This. As a web application developer I have almost zero sympathy for someone complaining about having to upgrade their code. Even less when I think about it being one code base. You should try keeping up with java updates, browser patches, ad blockers, grandma jones and her disabled javascript that's killing the internet, and the army of shit that I'm currently unaware of but is nonetheless forming into battalions outside my peaceful door right now. But then I also agree that the model for making money on iOS is similar to trying to chase a leprechaun down a hole and steal his gold.