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.
Help, which refurbished iPhone best meets my happy price / performance ratio?
I’m considering buying a refurbished iPhone for music, as my Samsung Galaxy S3 is OK as a phone but not for music. I already have an iPad Air 2 128gb so if the iPhone could supplement / compliment my iPad, that would also be nice.
I expect that there is a happy price / performance ratio, but I’m not sure where that would be and I might just keep my Samsung Galaxy S3 as a phone or I might consider selling the Samsung Galaxy S3 and using the iPhone for both music and as a phone but I am not sure if that would compromise its effectiveness for music usage.
I would appreciate your recommendations on the model number and memory amount to allow reasonable functionally and future proofing, without spending too much money, given that in some few years iOS will likely force a hardware upgrade (unless I prohibit iOS updates at some point).
I’ll probably buy it from eBay and I live in Canada, this looks interesting but I am really not sure
Obliged, The Pup
Comments
If you are used to the iPad, anything except the Plus size iPhones might seem tiny. It does to me now, having started this wonderful addiction with Bebot on an iPod touch.
OK good point, but again I am not sure if it will meet my above particulars, hence why I posted.
You linked to a refurbished iPhone 6 and the cheapest model in your link, the 16 GB is $189 Canadian it seems.
A much better choice would be a brand new, sealed in the box iPhone SE for $204 Canadian and that's 32 GB.
Like this one, for example: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-sealed-box-APPLE-IPHONE-SE-32GB-SPACE-GREY-TOTAL-WIRELESS-With-SIM-CARD/183229200888?hash=item2aa94fb9f8:g:aW4AAOSwM2Ja549N
The iPhone SE is vastly superior to the 6 in many areas and it's more future proof, including double the RAM, double the storage space (32 vs 16) a better, newer, faster processor (A9 vs A8), better camera, better video (4k recording), motion processor etc, etc etc.............
And also it's brand new VS refurbished. Unless the refurb is directly from Apple, I would never buy any refurb or used iPhone. The battery might be crap and might need replacing soon and there might be other issues, since it's used after all.
I agree with CrazySynthMan, the SE is much better and 16GB is barely functional, 32GB should be minimum.
The smaller screen size is a factor but I use a iPhone 6s along with my iPad and just divide the apps appropriately, its not like its your only device.
Thank you gentle posters an SE it is then!
I am not very aware of all the hardware differences between the various iPhone models, as I've never owned any Apple products except my iPad Air 2 128 (and that I got from work) and thus my foray into all things iOS music.
FYI I was thinking of going for 128 gb (or at least as much as I my wallet can handle) and I'll take your advice that it's much better to get a brand new, sealed in the box iPhone SE vs. an iPhone 6.
FYI the actual price of that SE 32gb is $240.89 not $204 Cdn
In terms of performance, the SE is more powerful than your iPad Air 2 on single core Geekbench benchmarks and the SE and Air 2 are around the same in multicore, so that should give you an idea of what you can expect from it, since you know your iPad Air 2 already.
Keep an eye on prices, I heard the discounts we are seeing now are because a new SE is coming out soon. The old ones may get even cheaper when it actually launches, especially if you can find a Canadian deal.
Hmm... I just noticed (pun) "The iPhone SE sacrifices screen real estate in favor of better components and faster processing power. The inner hardware is designed to go head to head with the flagship iPhone 6S"
Why not an iPhone 6S if its hardware is the same as the SE but the screen is bigger? I am 62 years old and the SE's screen is pretty small, it seems see here https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-se-vs-iphone-6/
Since you mentioned a refurbished phone in your OP, I had assumed that you were looking to get the cheapest possible.
A 6S will probably go for a bit more, but if that's not an issue for you, then sure, that would be a great choice too, if you feel that the iPhone SE screen might be too small.
Do you actually need the phone functions? For the cost of a 6s you are in iPad Air 2 territory.
Im starting to think you may hate the small SE screen.
SE too small. Just get the new 9.7 iPad
Theres always something a little better for a little more...but bit by bit that $150 idea becomes a $600 idea pretty quickly
If you are accustomed to a modern size Android phone, the SE will feel very small. If you can go for a 6S I think the bigger screen would be much better for daily phone use and for music.
Then again, if you like tucking your phone in your front pocket, the SE might be perfect.
Personally, I’ve been using SE for years. I would upgrade to a 6s Plus if I got the chance. Screen size matters more than portability for me at this point.
Thanks so much everyone, now I have an idea about price / performance / hardware!
I might just keep my Samsung Galaxy S3 as a phone or I might consider selling the Samsung Galaxy S3 and using the iPhone for both music and as a phone, but would that compromise its effectiveness for music usage?
Will you be a power user?
Ie: hammer the cpu with tons of apps running together
I don't think I'll be a power user (tons of apps running together) with the iPhone. The plan is to increase portability over my iPad Air 2 128 (and of course over any of my PC based laptops).
I am most likely to run Korg Gadget or ThumbJam or Fugue Machine alone, or maybe linked together, but mostly I want to use the iPhone as a super-portable sketchpad and/or linked to my iPad to expand on the iPad's functionality.
I could take the iPhone to work (or parked in the car) more easily than my iPad because it's so small and ubiquitous people would not give it a second thought. Also my Galaxy S3 is an adequate phone, but I have had it for years and I would not mind a more advanced phone; would using the iPhone as a phone compromise its effectiveness for music usage?
Once you get an iPhone there's no way you'll want to hang on to the Galaxy.
Seems pretty simple to me, decide how much you want to spend, then get get the biggest newest one you can afford on that budget.
Nope, it does not make sense to decide ahead of time how much I want to spend, because that amount not only might not meet my goals, but that amount would be in truth zero. What makes sense, is to decide what I want to accomplish, and then find the hardware that best meets that goal, at the lowest cost, and that of course is the purpose of this thread, My appreciation extends to all respondents!
I was in the same boat a few weeks ago. My primary device is a 9'7 Ipad Pro. Running apps on my Iphone 6 (64Gb) was like a scene out of Zoolander. I ended up grabbing a 128Gb Iphone 6S Plus from Ebay for $299 - an additional 15% during their early May 15% discount on all purchases. So I ended up getting it for $254 US. It was in A1 condition. The only flaw was the battery health was only at 70%. I took it to the Applestore to get a new battery for $29. When I got it home after the battery replacement I discovered that the internal speaker wasn't working. The technician must have forgotten to reconnect the ribbon cable. I took it back the next day. It was near closing time so they ended up giving me a new phone! lol
I must say, running music apps. on the bigger screen is now a joy. Not quite as good as running them on my Ipad, but close. Having 128gb for music, samples and apps. is also really nice too.
That sounds like a super plan and I’ll try and do the same (minus the lucky break of a new iPhone I’d imagine)! Question: as long as it's unlocked does it matter if it's Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile, etc? I would be using the phone with 7-11 Speakout which is Fido (I think?).
I bought a 6S plus 128 with original box and accessories on my local Craigslist for $400 Cdn and I am in the process of transferring all my music apps from my iPad. Thanks for the kindness everyone!
Plus iPhones are not called phablets for nothing, they’re really micro iPads. You can do lot of things with it, I don’t feel any limitations on my 7 Plus. Okay some apps misses, any work on a daw is challenging at beginning but 100% possible. Using AUM is pure joy on a Plus. Mobility factor is even more a pleasure. Have fun with your 6s Plus!!
Obliged for the encouraging words janoax!
Total newb question but … what’s the best way to ensure that any apps I have on my iPad are loaded onto my iPhone? There’s Family Sharing but I’m not sure that’s best for what we do.
Just use the same Apple ID on both devices. If it’s for a different Apple ID, family sharing do the trick, but usually only for apps, not iaps.
I did use the same Apple ID on both devices but there was no automatic downloading of all apps and all music data and all IAP's. Isn't there a way to do it all, with just a few measly swipes for all apps and all music data from those apps and all IAP's? I forgot to add I do not like iTunes and keep it off all my PC's and I do not have a Mac thus the only place I have iTunes is on my iPad and my new iPhone.
@puppychumful to do that you basically want to back up your old device then do a restore when setting up the new one. I usually use iTunes which you wanted to avoid but I think you can do the same thing with iCloud backups. I also haven't tried a restore from iPad to iPhone so not sure if that is a factor.
I do have iTunes on both my iPad and my iPhone just not on any PC's because it slows them down, it's always running in the background, and it's invasive in operation; but I guess I can sacrifice one PC on the altar of iTunes (oh the horror!).
Are you saying backup my iPad via iTunes on my PC, and then restore from iTunes on my PC to my iPhone?
iCloud backups (5 GB total) won't work because it's much too limited in terms of capacity given I've got 113.5 GB of apps out of 128 GB on my iPad (or am I wrong here?).
5GB might not be enough, if you've got photos, videos and other data stored, but I don't think that the app size itself counts towards the total storage. If you've got a 5 GB app for example and no extra user data stored in the app, then the app itself will take almost nothing.
If you want to back up everything through iCloud and 5gb is not enough, I guess you could always just get the 50 GB plan and that should be enough. It's like 99 cents.