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.
Comments
I have an iconnect audio 4 for sale on eBay if anyone is looking for a decent deal.
Full disclosure, I never liked the iconnfig software or app. But the interface is good for sure.
It works, no need for a second cable anymore. I just tried it myself. Cool beans. Already bought the second cable long time ago, though.
I figured it would, but I've gone for the second cable anyway. For home use I'm sure it'd be fine but for live use, running the two devices and my MPD controller all directly from the interface off one power supply is a wonderful prospect, and I imagine also less subject to unpredictable results.
I use my powered CCK with an ICA4 for a 3rd IOS device for midi IO. Works fine.
So, @rad3d and others, are you connecting your 3rd iPad to the Host port for that MIDI?
Yes -
IOS device >> CCK >> Powered Hub >> Host Port
Ha. I had never thought of doing that until it had been talked about here.
Nice tip! 
Until the newest CCK came out, the only other way I was able to pull off powering my 3rd iOS device for midi was:
Lightning to 30 pin Adapter >> Original iRig Midi >> standard midi cables >> IC MIO >> Powered Hub >> Host Port --- and attach power to the iRig
It worked, but was a mess of cables. This is much simpler.
Have got hold of one of these now. The firmware/installation could be better.. to say the least..
Iconfig crashes when I try and update firmware, leaving the interface stuck in bootloader mode.
Anyone got any suggestions?
You might try this:
http://www.iconnectivity.com/downloads/whitepapers/WP-iCA4-FWUpdate.pdf
Thanks!
Just found that myself actually and updated with MIDI-OX
Satisfyingly 'old school'.
Next problem..
Device delivering audio at an extremely low level on only output one, even though it's been instructed to send on 1+2. Device does not respond to audio output level changes or mute commands (audio continues uninterrupted).
Have you checked the levels on the iconfig mixer page? that sometimes catches me out. The chaps at iconnectivity are usually pretty responsive if you raise a ticket for setting up issues.
Embarrassingly, it was a cabling issue!
Still working anyway. I'm sure I'll have a lot more issues before finally getting this thing set up correctly. Powerful in the best possible way, but not user friendly at all. It feels like 'real' MIDI work!!
Yes it's a really powerful device with a lot of possibilities but I agree that the software is not user friendly and I hope they update it more. I've now got 2 icA4+s for extra connectivity mayhem. Which sometimes means double head scratching!
Curious what folks find not user friendly about the software in particular. Can you elaborate? I'm sure the folks at iC would be glad to know what to accommodate in terms of user experience.
I say this as one who doesn't find it non-user-friendly
overall, so I'm interested in what other folks find difficult as I may be able to offer some specific input to the folks at iC.
I've also not had too hard of a time, but I feel that it's accessible for anyone with 5+ years of experience using MIDI hardware who understands that 95% of new equipment requires an in depth troubleshooting process.
Completely normal for 'the enlightened', but putting an 'i' in your product's name has connotations for ease of setup. I don't think that anyone who hasn't done their research and knows what to expect is going to buy this, but that was just my wandering thoughts during setup.
I'm not criticising the equipment at all by the way. I've got it working now and although I know I'm going to be doing a lot more manual reading and testing before I fully understand it, it's functioning. It's immediately enhanced what I can do with my equipment by 1000%.
You are using a USB cable with A connectors on both sides? Weird! I didn't even know this was possible!?
Most definitely possible. Plenty of cable vendors sell A-A cables. I actually run 2 iOS devices in my rig like this for midi only, on top of the other 2 iOS devices I have connected directly up to the ICA4 for audio/midi.
I think the target user for this type of device is going to be a bit more of a power user who needs wired/powered connectivity for their devices with seamless routing support for both audio and midi - as nothing else on the market provides this. I agree there are a few initially intimidating configuration options, but after a few hours you generally have most of it in hand - and then it becomes more of a set and forget device. I rarely have a need for iconfig anymore.
I just assumed 'connectivity.com' was already taken...
Good to hear you're up and running!
While I don't find it overly difficult, I do wish IC would hire/enlist a good UI person for their software. It's very utilitarian by today's standards.
I assumed i was for something to do with iDevices generally - not ease of setup.
There's very little which couldn't be improved in the iconfig software to be honest. But obviously it's the functionality which is the main thing. It's great if you don't have to use the software very much. but there have been many issues with preset saving. not being able to connect ICA4 and iConnectmidi2 to my laptop at the same time without iconfig getting confused, not loading, crashing etc But it seems happier when my iconnectmidi is connected to an iCA4 hub. 2xICA4 is fine attached to my laptop however. Still no preset saving and loading on iOS iconfig....
It's great when connected to just iPads but I still think there are issues when also attached to a Win10 Laptop which is how I'm running most of the time now as I'm integrating my ipads with Ableton Live. Also I do still get pops and clicks here and there but I'm bored troubleshooting so am living with it for now. It's hard to tell if it's my Laptop at fault as I need to test on another machine. (edit: think I fixed this now)
Well I bought a second one knowing the issues so I must still love them
That's an endorsement in my book, @Carnbot . Is anyone here successfully syncing loopy across two iOS devices using MIDI clock sync?
Anyone else's units 'hissing' when phantom power is in use? At first I thought it was adding some noise to the signal but after testing, the sound is DEFINITELY coming from the unit itself. Marginally more practical.. if worrying!!
@lukesleepwalker I've been easily performing MIDI sync across two devices, using MIDI Link Sync to align FLUX:FX on the other iPad to the general LINK tempo (on primary unit, no wifi required).
Do you mean an audible hiss from the unit - not an audio artifact in the signal?
Yeah
Hmmm. Could be a leaky capacitor. I'd raise it with iConnectivity - see what they say.
Just fired up my brand new unit and I don't hear any hiss when I turn on the phantom power.
Question for the power users: do I need the iConfig software open on both iPads in a two-iPad setup?
No - only one one, and, I would not keep it open indefinitely, only to perform your setup. If you need to do live mixing, set your default levels certainly in iConfig, but then use something like AUM or a DAW to do the fine-grain mixing. Leaving iConfig open will eat CPU power.