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.

Does Apple know what they have?

With iOS losing ground to Android, I've wondered why Apple hasn't promoted music more than they have. Yes, they've done so to some degree, but I think it's always been woefully short of reality, and I imagine their inter-app audio is an acknowledgement of sorts, but I've thought that the appeal for anyone to play music, regardless of skill or knowledge, has been underplayed by them and would be compelling to many.

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Comments

  • I wholeheartedly agree. Missed opportunity.

  • Yea I also agree and believe if they truly grabbed hold of the reality of the current state of music making on iOS they could really promote it and make something of it...

  • I'm not an Apple "fan boy", by any stretch. I love their products, but I don't always agree with their policies, but given their quality products, I'd hate to have a repeat of the Microft/Apple wars with Google. I suspect it would just lead to developers abandoning iOS, even though it's a great platform. Does anyone have any thoughts on how we could help promote it? I plan on contacting Apple to mention this, but I believe there are other paths that might be more meaningful.

  • Android is the new Windows. A lot of people use it because it's cheap and it's everywhere, but not many love it.

  • I'm no fanboy either but music on android is still lightyears behind IOS & Apple knows it.
    Would dearly love android to catch up as it may jolt Apple into addressing IOS limitations for musicians like lack of file-management ,connectivity,external memory to name but 3 ....but somehow I doubt it :-(

  • I read an article not so long ago that stated that while android has more users and volume IOS users tend to spend way more. Games on the app store make the most money,followed by music apps and something else,really can't remember. No doubt Apple is aware of that,but here in Holland they don't even advertize. No commercials,no billboards,nothing. So i'm not really suprised by the fact that they don't promote the musical abillities of their hardware,i guess it's different across the ocean commercial and promotion wise?

  • They do tv commercials in the US, but not as many as other computer and smartphone manufacturers. Sometimes they'll throw in something music related, but nothing that goes beyond scratching the surface.

  • edited August 2013

    The fact is that music apps are a small fraction of the iOS app market, and Apple basically has that market locked down, as there are so few decent music apps for Android (and this is unlikely to change, for reasons that have been discussed elsewhere). That leaves Apple little reason to advertise.

    I do hope that future hardware and OS updates will make us happy ;)

  • I don't see it the same @eyeballjackson. I do agree that Apple has a lock on the market, however I think they're missing an opportunity to capture more users who aren't even aware that the music capabilities exist, and from the people I've spoken to, that's the majority.

  • iOS losing ground to Android? In what sense? Apple has never been about the bottom of the market. Steve Jobs once said that Apple wanted only 10% of market share. That says it all about the Apple strategy. Innovative high end products sold at premium prices; either you can afford it or you buy elsewhere. Profit share? Now you are talking Apple business. They don't have all that $100+ billion dollars cash by going for the low end of the market. That is for Android, Microsoft et al to go after. A new low cost iPhone is on the horizon though but may not be as cheap as Android phones.

    In terms of music on iOS, there is no comparison. All the best music music developers are on iOS! All the best music apps are on iOS! Facts. The music apps on iOS are the envy of those with Android devices. The high latency on android devices is a killer for music making :( Why? There are zillions of android devices running so many different versions of Android and with some Android manufacturers including software not found on other Droid devices, any audio manufacturer trying to make a universal audio hardware for use on those devices will struggle for consistency. Such fragmentation means Android has some way to go to iOS music standard. Witness the plethora of music hardware for iOS devices.

    Day 1 user of iPad in the UK and I could make music straight away because although the original iPad is now seen as slow, it was no slouch. A great advert for all things music on iOS is Audiobus and this site. Grammy Award winning rock guitarist, Vernon Reid uses AB and that is good enough for me.

    In answer to the question on this thread, yes Apple really does know what they have and what they are doing. Cue Logic Pro X and its integration with the iPad. Amazing stuff. Hear the plethora of amazing music created by posters on this site with their iPads and iPhones. That's the magic of Apple in motion. Cue the new Mac Pro round the corner. Professionals will be falling over themselves for buying it. Apple IS the bench mark. Apple innovates and others follow. Excellent customer service, a portfolio of small but high end high premium products, the best software and hardware ecosystem, from iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac to the MacBook, Airs and Mac Pro etc you probably have the most valuable company on the planet :)

  • Well, to be fair, Vernon Reid uses LiveFX and an iRig - neither of which is good enough for me ;) Ymmv.

    I do really like his work!

  • I understand and agree with your points @FrankieJay, but my point is that Apple doesn't seem to be doing much to market the music side which should increase market share, since there are a lot of people who still are unaware of what they could do with music on a mobile device.

    In regards to Apple losing market share, I understand this has been the case when looking at the world-wide market. Last I heard, they're still faring well when looking at the US market.

  • "iOS losing ground to Android? In what sense? " there are more Android users than iOS users. That's one metric. The revenue for the Android market has been steadily catching up with Apple. The number of apps available on the Android app store are increasing faster than iOS. There are lots of ways that Android is catching up with Apple. I can't imagine that anyone at Apple today is trying to capture only 10% of the market, and I'm absolutely positive that they wouldn't say that in a shareholders meeting. Apple is great, but Android is catching up fast. Because of the way Android is designed they won't ever be much competition on the music app front, but as mentioned before, that only represents a small fraction of iOS apps out there. If developers stop developing for iOS first, that's bad news for the entire ecosystem.

  • Apple markets its platform very well. Specific marketing to musicians? that's something else. Market share is not everything. How can you market iPad for music to folks who cannot afford to buy iPad or iPad mini?

    Cost and choice, that is the question. Put it this way, if you are serious about making music on your mobile device, iOS is the way to go. Ultimately not everyone can afford to buy an iOS music making device. If you think Apple is not doing enough to promote the music side of its business then think how far behind Android will be.

    A good analogy - cars. Most working people in the US have a car or a truck but how many have a Ferrari? Selling a few Ferraris as compared to selling lots of Renault. What would you rather be doing?

    Another analogy. Selling music online. You get about 10p or less for every time your song is played on Spotify. Scary? I know !! How many times would your song have to be played before you earn say £5k? Sell say 500 albums on Amazon or iTunes for £5. Workout the maths. Many more people will have to play your song for you to earn a decent amount. This is akin to the Android strategy hence why I say market share is not every thing.

    Suggestion: why don't we get forum posters here on AB to contribute to a video about music making on iOS and send it to Apple boss Tim Cook? I will be up for that. Seriously. Massive project.

  • @boone51 - but Android users don't want to pay for apps. How can you make an app for a platform where people want stuff free of charge. For example, I put my album out and people paid for it on iTunes and Amazon but on Google, folks wanted it for free. So although many people are buying Android they are buying because it is cheap but when it comes to buying apps from developers that's another story. How can developers don't want to earn money? Developers on iOS make far more money so they will never stop making developing for iOS.

  • edited August 2013

    "Does Apple know what they have"...i'm sure yes...BUT... i think often they doesn't know what they don't have! I don't like all the windows, android, iOS wars but my 2 cents are: There is only ONE reason to use an idevice (for me). Mobile Music Produktion! I also would prefer an android device but sadly "issue 3434" will be never solved...or?!? If they ever solve this problem in near future i think i would have no reason to use an apple product. It's a hate/love thing ;)

  • What I'm referring to is all those Ferrari owners that don't know how to turn on the stereo. They already own it, but they don't know what capabilities exist or how to use them. I'm up to making a video to promote it. Do you have Cook's email address?

  • @Galaxyexplorer, I don't know what "issue 3434" is but it might be related to high latency? I currently work in IT but I'm no expert. When you have a platform that is fragmented like Android, way too many different iterations of the software and hardware, you will be faced with a situation of high running costs when there are problems affecting the myriad of hardware. High running costs because you will have to employ a lot of people to deal with an avalanche of customer queries. So what do you do? Nothing. Make a new version of the hardware and the old hardware becomes obsolete very very quickly and hope customers ditch the old and buy the new. .

  • edited August 2013

    I was very surprised to see Animoog on Blackberry phones. I would have though it would hit Android first. You just never know.

    http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/28277801/

  • "issue 3434" that @Galaxyexplorer is talking about is the thread at google that started back in 09 that relates to this latency issue as you suspected. Until that's resolved there won't be any competition from any Android devices as far as audio apps are concerned. http://bit.ly/152ZNC1 ;-)

  • @boone51 - thanks for that info. 09 says it all. It is not priority.

  • I didn't get a chance to read everything so not sure if its been mentioned but one reason people spend more on iOS than on Android is because its ten times easier to pirate apps. You just have to check "allow from unknown resources" download the .apk file, click the file and install. I don't think you even have to be rooted. Now developers are making it more difficult and putting there owns systems/practices in place to help avoid it

  • Exactly. I think it's just a massive change to the kernel. From what I've read it hasn't even sounded like something they would even remotely consider doing. I've also heard the term "complete rewrite" thrown around when talking about it, but maybe that was just some fanboy frothing at the mouth.

  • In ref to Animoog on Blackberry....I think that's more of a move by Blackberry trying to stay relevant even though they're going under

  • Isn't BB a single manufacturer, like Apple? Easier version control for devs I suppose. And perhaps it doesn't have the latency issues that Android has...
    Unless I'm mistaken, many manufacturers like Samsung also use their own shell on Android, possibly adding to the latency problem...

  • edited August 2013

    Your right, Android is a open-source software, not even specifically for phones, it can be used for anything but manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and etc use the software and modify some things to make it unique to them. Heck, if I wanted to make a cell phone I could use their software in it. That's the problem (not related to latency or anything else) in why people buy a cheap android phone then are unhappy with it, because you bought from a no name developer and not a higher model and more known manufacturer.

    I'm not a fanboy either because I have both and like both for there own reasons. I like my android phone because I can do way more on it and have more freedom than an iPhone. The reverse of that is Apple which is why they succeed so well, they lock their stuff down but that makes things more simple and sleek for everyday users. They def make a good product and I desperately love my iPad, but would rather have an android phone for usage purposes.

  • "Sonoma" solved the latency issue a while ago with their own thing...i think also there where some others with their own project about this. But as long there is nothing native in the OS it's not the best deal. Android was and perhaps will be never an OS for low latency real time (audio). And once that is solved there is still the whole midi thing missing. Android, Windows(RT) and the others need something like core audio! And it seems that iOS audio will take another step forward with iOS 7 (i hope so). But i need finally a 5" iPhone with real horsepower, at least 2GB ram, and at least 128GB space for my apps ;)
    An ipad is no option for me.

  • Android was never fully "open source" and has been becoming increasingly closed for a while now: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/

  • Didn't get a chance to read what you linked but it's way more open than iOS

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