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 Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

How do you become a music app beta tester?

edited January 2014 in General App Discussion

Subject line says it all. Edit: Subject line edited to reflect what I really meant

Thanks

Comments

  • Tester for the next version of iOS? Become a dev and pay $99

  • No sorry I meant beta tester for music apps not iOS itself.

  • I'm beta testing a fourth coming app from Adobe. One of the developers posted on a forum I frequent asking for volunteers.
    I signed up and within days I had a link to download the app.

  • You can always try contacting the dev directly.

    Beta testing can be quite a lot of work, because you have to narrow down the steps to find reproducible bugs.

  • Signing up with Testflight and downloading the app is a step in the right direction.

  • I registered to test Positive Grids Mastering App but received no reply. It's been a while.

  • I can't speak for all developers but I personally acquire all my beta testers by first indoctrinating them into my small cult that I run as a side business. Once they are properly "educated" enough to sign over their homes and all earthly positions to me, then and ONLY then do I begin to seriously consider them as a potential beta tester.

  • edited January 2014

    ...."again, did you say two or three coats of wax on your car sir? I'm always forgetting these things...." ;-)

  • as richardyot said, beta testing can involve a lot of work. Only apply as tester if you have enough time.

  • "That's two coats, right Biff..."

    "Yes Mr. McFly, I'm finishing the second coat right now."

  • I've done testing for everyone from Roland to Access to Ableton. I usually get asked by the developers, though it's always a hard decision. Yes you get access to new software before anyone else, and people think that's really cool. But often it crashes or is buggy a lot, so you spend a lot of time tracking down bugs. If you don;t want to stop working on your own music to try and duplicate an error you saw, then you shouldn't apply.

  • @Tarekith said:

    Yes you get access to new software before anyone else, and people think that's really cool. But often it crashes or is buggy a lot, so you spend a lot of time tracking down bugs. If you don;t want to stop working on your own music to try and duplicate an error you saw, then you shouldn't apply.

    This.

  • The nice thing though about beta testing with a cool developer, is that you get a chance to give input that can make an app that you are passionate about better than it would be. (Most) developers are human and don't think of everything. They may not think the way you do, and may not use the app the way you do. Your perspective can really add polish to an already fine app.

  • yeah, that's the good part. If you have ideas, good ones of course, and realistic ones, then it's grand to be in a beta program. You shape the end result with your input, without knowing anything about programming. That's what I like most. But I repeat, you really have to be some kind of nerd, some kind of obsessed, to justify the huge amount of time you'll have to invest into this.

  • I'm a beta tester for a couple of graphics programs, and it really is a time consuming process: finding bugs, reproducing them reliably, filling out bug reports etc...

    And yes, while you do have some say in the direction of the app, this is usually fairly limited. Even really good companies are going to have priorities so not every suggestion is going to be included (far far from it!). And the bigger the company, the less likely beta testers will be able to influence them.

  • edited January 2014

    How do you become a music app beta tester?

    This is a hard one to answer.
    The problem with iOS apps is that a slot for a beta tester is incredibly valuable because there are only 100 devices that developers can register for beta testing - including their own. Beta devices can only be deleted from the pool once a year.

    I have about 4 iPads, 2 iPods, 2 iPhones to test with. Every other developer who I'm working together with has a similar amount (maybe less, maybe more). So there go about 10-30 devices slots, which makes the remaining 70-90 even more valuable.

    My personal perspective which might insult a few of you (sorry!) is the following:
    The typical person who wants to beta test apps doesn't really want to beta test them. He or she just wants to get access to new apps before everyone else.
    Beta testing isn't actually that fun. You have to document bugs, ideally even make walkthrough videos of how to reproduce the bug and engage in multiple conversations with the developer in question to make yourself a beta tester who's worth another slot.

    Remember - that slot will be blocked for up to a year before you can delete it again. Also: beta testers should ideally be able to test on multiple devices. So it's not just one slot.

    For developers it's really hard to know who will make a good beta tester and who won't. I only pick people who have shown a genuine interest in my apps and who have been helpful in the past. This is also one of the reasons why Tim Webb can actually CHARGE for being a beta tester. He's got a reputation and he has shown that he can provide valuable input for developers.

    For Audiobus it becomes even more problematic. Audiobus needs to be tested against multiple apps. And sometimes (like right now) we're not only releasing a new app, but also a new SDK that will have to be included in other third party apps. So other third party developers will have to give our beta testers access to their beta builds. That means a good beta tester will ideally not only be on our beta team but also in other developers' beta pools for the developers that we're working together closely.

    And those beta testers need to beta test as many third pary beta apps in combination with the Audiobus beta app to be a good beta tester.

    Which is why we have so few beta testers and have to do most of the beta testing on our own.

  • Thanks to everyone for your insight. Great to see both the up and down sides to iOS beta testing.

    I have done some informal beta testing probably about 15 years ago. This was for the Lexicon JamMan one of the first hardware loopers that was on the market in the 90's. A guy named Bob Sellon had a large role in developing the JamMan when he worked at Lexicon and after he left the company decided to upgrade and add more features to the "official" software version. He would send me an ROM chip with the new version that I put into the JamMan and after using it for a while and reporting bugs (mostly MIDI) he would send me another ROM with his latest version and I would send the previous chip back to be used again. It was fairly casual as didn't have to fill out bug reports or create videos etc. Every time I thought of something or noticed a issue I would email him. I remember suggesting several new features and finding a lot of MIDI issues almost all of which were eventually fixed. I still use my JamMan today with his ROM in it.

    In case anyone cares he still offers the software but I don't have an EPROM burner to update the last chip I got from him. I should contact him again maybe he can hook me up.

    http://www.StecRecords.com/?Name=Lexicon JamMan Enhancement ROM

    I currently do software and hardware troubleshooting and support for my day gig so I feel like I'm beta testing and troubleshooting something every day. Currently just waiting to retire so I can be a full time musician again :)

    I did register at Testflight so who knows. If any devs have an open slot and are interested let me know. I have lots of apps to test with.

  • The only software beta testing I have done (when you get old it's hard to remember) is for a RT3D (Real Time Three Dimensional) program called GameStudio. It was very interesting but took a bit of time out of my schedule and less time producing 3D animations I was striving for.

    Why I am sharing this must because it is Friday after beating my brother in golf today. Alcohol gets a bad rap but sometimes it is not so bad.

    Carry on...

  • edited January 2014

    Beta testing is hard work, which is why you have to love doing it, and doing it for the right reasons. I love the evolving of a music app, although by the time it's ready for beta testing, the Dev has completed most of the work. The opportunity to make suggestions, whether they are implemented or not, is very rewarding. December was a very busy month of beta testing for me, with 4 different apps, but I welcomed the challenge. It can be very time consuming as mentioned earlier. So I guess my point is to do it for the right reasons. One other thing is, it gives you a small window into the amount of work, and time these Devs put into developing these apps.

  • edited January 2014

    well said. When users get the opportunity, they often bombard the developer with requests, which can be fruitful and boring. To see how it is to develop and maintain a software is quite reveiling.

  • I agree with everything Sebastian said (even the "insulting" bits). For Caustic 3, I ran an open beta for Windows and Android, available to anyone registered on my forum. Android has easy sideloading (no jailbreak or root required) and isn't limited to 100 devices. I didn't run any stats on downloads but I'd suspect of the people who downloaded the betas, most just wanted to get their hands on the app before anyone else and I never heard back from them.

    The people who WERE useful were the regular forum members. I gave clear instructions as to what to expect from the builds and what I expected from them and we got a LOT of bugs squashed, I'm really happy with how it went.

    For my initial iOS release, I did get a handful of people on board via Testflight, mostly Android users who also had iDevices. I only have a few Apple test devices so I was happier to give out a few slots to users, especially ones I can count on to be there for the next round. But with ~5 iOS testers, combined with my lack of experience on the platform means I DID have more .0 release bugs on iOS than on Android.

    BTW, the bugfix build is in submission and should go out in the next few days. After that, I'm on to v3.1 and Audiobus integration, promise.

    If you're used to the app by now and would like to help test 3.1 when it goes into beta, hang around my forums to jump in when the time comes.

  • You can count on me to sign up!

  • I was lucky enough to sign up as a tester of MIDI Designer and I thought it was really cool, until I found out the complexity of that app and how I can barely use 1/100th of its capabilities! I think my value as a tester is very small compared to some of the others, I have yet to submit a single bug report... :-(

    So one other thing to consider is if you are a power user with enough knowledge to put the app through its paces or just a hobbyist user. One may be more useful to the developer than the other, and best not to take a slot if tester slots are limited.

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