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.
IAA = useless?
So at first it was great news, IAA looked like something that could be better then audiobus.
For me it is a big disappointment. Even Apple isn't telling any usefull info about this. I think audiobus is still nr 1 to use and that's gonna be so for at least the next year.
Comments
I played around with it in GarageBand, it was good fun routing Alchemy into the GB amp section, but on my iPad 2 I had to be careful to play only single notes, chords were too much of a strain on the hardware.
I think when the tech matures it will open up a lot of possibilities though.
I've been using IAA by starting up AB first. I just disconnect apps when I use IAA. This helps greatly with CPU overload because AB is setting the buffer to 512. AB is still in control.
Imagine if the AB guys had created some kind of "MIDIBus" app (works exactly like AB, but for MIDI instead of audio) before Apple introduced Virtual MIDI in iOS. And we were all using MIDIBus instead of Virtual MIDI to send MIDI between apps, configure routings etc. And then one day Apple adds Virtual MIDI to iOS, which works the way Virtual MIDI works today (need to configure routings in every app etc). I think it's safe to say that most people would just keep using MIDIBus instead of Virtual MIDI, since it offered a better UX. And I think that's what's happening right now with AB vs IAA...
The missing link in AB is the ability to create a project and save several routings for quick access. Once set, a single click from AB set it back + loads apps as required (as SIRI starts apps).
Each route will contain Input app + selected patch , FX apps + selected configurations + output App + Notes field for description/todo list or any other textual purpose.
I wouldn't say useless by any means. I did some recordings last night into Audioshare using all the various apps and effects I have that currently support IAA and everything went very smoothly. The Audioshare implementation of IAA is first rate. I'm on an iPad 4 so that may make some difference vs older hardware.
IAA is definitely not useless, it works well in AudioShare, Auria and GarageBand (haven't tested other hosts yet). The lack of effort from Apple to educate users on IAA is a big source of frustration for those having trouble using it. I've tried to do my part to help educate my users and IAA use in general by posting tutorials and a few tips for smoother experience.
Tips for using Inter-app Audio The videos feature my own app heavily as they are support tutorials for Echo Pad, but a lot of it currently applies to all IAA apps.
I think we've all been spoiled by the incredible job from the Audiobus team. It's quite a testament to how great Michael and Sebastian's work is, that even Apple failed to launch it's own product (IAA) as well as they launched Audiobus. You can also see the influence Audiobus had on IAA, as well as the aspects in which it is superior to IAA.
Michael and Sebastian created more than just an awesome app/technology, the community that sprung up from their efforts has been huge, to the point where most of the largest discussions about iOS music, new apps, new tech and standards are typically going on in this forum even when they have nothing to do with Audiobus.
They also put in a huge effort to help spread adoption and boost sales of all of our apps with a slick integrated list of compatible apps in the Audiobus app and website, as well as promoting apps on the Audiobus social media pages. I for one am extremely grateful for that, as I think many devs are (or certainly should be.)
I'm excited to see what Michael and Sebastian have been working on for the next version of Audiobus, I'm sure it will be great.
*Edited for clarification regarding IAA + Audiobus
@HoldernessMedia, well said. In fact, I have nothing to add to that. It was perfect. I would just say +1 to the post in its entirety.
^ Agreed! :-)
I originally thought that IAA would eventually overwhelm Audiobus, but I think that misunderstands what IAA is. Looking through some of the docs, IAA is just a protocol to make audio apps -- and particularly natural "hosts" like Audiobus -- higher performance and easier to code. Sebastian has explained in other posts that AB was essentially built on top of a URL-passing loophole in iOS, since apps are/were not allowed to pass any data other than URLs to each other. He and Michael figured out how to efficiently take audio packets, stuff them into a URL payload, send 'em, then unpack them on the other side, which cannot possibly be the most efficient way to do this. But it was the only way available. Apple has now given them a native path, via the IAA API, to perform this same transfer, adding in MIDI data as a bonus. So presumably the soon-to-be-released AB update will have replaced the URL passing for IAA passing of data as the underlying mechanism, which should be faster and better for all concerned.
I personally think the extras AB offers -- a routing-only "host", and a standardized AB sidebar -- make it a great foundation to build on. Of course, I'm looking forward to more complex routing options, presets, etc. But these all rightfully belong in Apps, not in the IAA protocol. At least that's what I think we'll see...
@JohnInBoston The only issue I see with this outlook is that, the way I understand it anyway, IAA will not allow for the same type of configurations that AB currently allows for. I think if you go the IAA route your talking about 1 app into 1 host only. That's been what I've taken away from all the IAA chatter anyway.
@JohnInBoston
This is completely untrue. I've never said this and we're not using URL-schemes for anything other than they were intended to be. Certainly not for streaming audio.
Audiobus uses standard technologies built into the operating system which were intended for exactly what we're doing with them - high quality low latency communication.
I appreciate your interest in how Audiobus works though.
@Sebastian He may be thinking of this thread where you said Audiobus uses URL schemes to launch apps.
http://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/3787#Comment_3787
@PaulB must be right on the source of my ignorance, though I would have sworn I read a discussion here or on Discchord about how the magic was accomplished. Must have been a dream...
Please forgive my ignorance.
One simple obsrvation:
The fact that IAA is 32 bit depth vs Audiobus being only 16 bit will eventually kill Audiobus. Unless of course Audiobus and other copy / paste apps update there bit depth to a higher more useful rate like 24 or 32 or more.
Most musicians stopped using 16 bit for pro level recording a decade ago. (Unless you are retro electronica of course.)
@holdernessmedia nailing it again. Really well said and thanks for saying it.
@Stewart Most listeners don't care and neither do I.
I am far from being an expert, but if you are recording a digital source such as a software synth via audiobus, then 16bit should be more than adequate.
There is no advantage to 24 bits resolution for the final output, or initial input, to a DSP system (which is what everything we use is, fundamentally). The greater bitwidth is important for mitigating the digital rounding errors that accumulate as a bit stream gets routed through multiple internal stages of processing and/or mixing. The DAW's like Auria up-width the incoming 16 bit to 32 or 64 bits (selectable) for the internal use. Where the 16 bit limitation on AB becomes a factor is when routing an Auria sub back to the AB Input slot. A hybrid AB/IAA configuration would make this a non-issue.
What is of much importance, to me at least, is the absence of 48K sampling rate, standard for Game Audio, DVD, and HDMI work. Also because my ADAT box has its 44.1 rate broken:(
Not useless, but I do wish more developers would employ MIDI with it, like Retronyms has in Tabletop. All the other hosts seem to only use the audio side. What I like most about IAA is not needing to mess around with settings. It just works. Maybe I've just been lucky but it hasn't given me any trouble at all, but there are only like 6 instruments, 1 effect, and 3 hosts , so it will be a long time before even the current version of AB could be replaced, and I have confidence that the next update for AB will ensure that IAA will never replace it, but become complimentary to each other.
"I think we've all been spoiled by the incredible job from the Audiobus team. "
Are you defending Apple here? "Raise the bar", NOT opposite.
@Qmishery - Perhaps I wasn't clear enough but did you read the next sentence, or that entire paragraph?
I meant that if Audiobus set new standards, how could be we "spoiled"?..
Personally, I foresee a lot of future potential in the development of AudioBus and I look forward to it!
@PaulB said:
Ya know this is an old thread and an old topic but since Brain reignited it, I CARE ABOUT 24 bit
Still love Audiobus but I CARE and know plenty of people who also do.
I'm sure you do, but then you move in those kind of circles.