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.

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

iPad Pro 11“ impressions

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Comments

  • edited November 2018

    @chandroji said:
    I’m really interested in the pro and cons in the 10.5’ vs 11’ iPads.

    I mean from a musician perspective, I know the technical specs. 😎
    Is it worth to upgrade?

    Thanks a lot for comparison! 🙏

    @chandroji I'm just going by what I've heard and my experience with my Air 2. I've had my Air 2 since Feb. 2015 and it's served me very well. I am going to upgrade to the previous version, an iPad Pro 10.5'' because to me the hassles with USB-C, the new screen resolution on the 11", the absence of a 3.5mm headphone jack, etc. aren't worth the negligible increase in power I could get from the "new" Pro.

    I think a 10.5" will have more than enough CPU & RAM for my needs (especially since my Air 2 is still going relatively strong) and I will take advantage of the reduced prices that previous generation tech always goes for.

    I have an interface I love & am happy to still use the USB3CCK lightning adapter to connect with it and the SanDisk Lightning iOS drive I use for back ups will still be in service too. USB-C hubs and the uncertainty surrounding it still just turns me off of these "latest and greatest", not to mention the fact that since the new Pro's are even thinner than the Air 2 durability is another question mark...

    I hope you figure it out as to what's best for you but that's where I'm heading.

  • Here is another. So sad and funny at the same time! The presenter is tooo much. I am laughing and aghast simultaneously. How do these folks throw away a grand?

  • edited November 2018

    @whiteout said:
    So I replaced my iPad Air 2 with a 11“ today. I still haven’t tested everything, but here are some tidbits I haven’t seen addressed yet.

    • The missing home button and the new app switcher don’t really affect music apps, even older ones. Updated apps like BeatMaker 3 (lol) can block the app switcher at the bottom so it doesn’t interfere with the keyboard. You have to swipe up to activate the switcher first, and then you can return to the home screen (swipe up) or switch apps (swipe left/right). If you don’t swipe, the active switcher (dark grey or bright, depending on the background) goes inactive (light grey) again after a few seconds. That’s pretty great! In older apps like TC-11 the App switcher stays active all the time, but it didn’t seem like a big deal in my first test.
    • Of all the apps BM3 (again: lol) seems to be the only non-Apple app to support the new ratio. Great! The iPad Pro 11“ isn’t 4:3 anymore, but a bit more widescreeny. So in BM3 the keyboard feels a little bit shorter than before, but actually the keys seem to be exactly as long as they used to be. All in all, you get the same keyboard as before, but everything — pads, AUv3s etc — is bigger thanks to the bigger display. See screenshot below.

    • Older apps don’t fill the screen completely. You get a black status bar at the top and the app switcher (~ 20 pixel) at the bottom. Not that big of a deal imho, but the new rounded corners look nice still.

    • I opened a BM3 project my Air 2 could barely handle: a bank with drum shots and 3 banks with Zeeon each. I added a Moog Model 15 and a few plug ins (RoughRider2, Limiter etc), and, unsurprisingly, it went without a glitch. Needs more testing though, it’s all about how stable the whole system is (looking at you, BM3).
    • IDAM between the 11“ and a MacBook Pro 13“ with an USB-C to USB-A cable works as you’d expect.
    • The speakers are far, far better and louder than on the Air 2. Still no bass, though.
    • Paradoxically, the 11“ feels just a tiny bit thicker than the Air 2, although it’s 2 mm (iirc) thinner. It’s also a tad heavier, but that’s barely noticeable.
    • It‘s still an iPad with iOS. The discrepancy between the obvious potential of this magical device and reality is getting ridiculous now. It’s not that easy, I guess, but imho Apple has to address those glaring shortcomings: we need an OS far better optimized for iPads (it’s a Pro after all!), we need access to external storage, Time Machine and some kind of a Finder, and Apple has to start listening to app developers and make it possible for them to sell $ 600+ apps with demo versions, paid (but cheaper than the initial price) upgrades etc etc etc. This machine is more than capable to run pro software, but there’s a reason we’re still missing Ableton, Native Instruments or a version of Cubase on par with the desktop version. Unless Apple starts working on it, I doubt it’ll ever change.

    Very good points. Probably one of my most wanted options is Time Machine. And yes iOS + iPAds have so much potential...

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @JRSIV @chandroji Can’t argue with much of what you’ve said, although I’ve drawn different conclusions as everyone has different needs, existing hardware etc. (I’ve asked myself the same question, coming from an Air 2: an „old“ iPad Pro or a new one? In my case I opted resoundingly for the 11“).

    One point is simply false, however: the CPU improvements aren’t „negligible“, they are huge. According to Geekbench the new one is nearly 30% faster in single core tests and nearly 100% (!) in multi core tests than the 2017 10.5“. The better performance will come in handy if you’re planning to use your iPad for at least 4 or 5 years as I intend to do.

    That being said, multi-threading is hard, especially when processing real time data like audio, afaik. I’m no programmer, but it seems to me that iOS is handling all the audio processing on a single core. At least in my use case, i.e. BM3 and a bunch of AUv3s. Vidgets.app is showing 4 cores, and only one of them is properly utilized when playing back a demanding project. Bummer, but still, I’ll take the 30% :smiley:

    Btw, I’ve played around a bit more and I’m happy to report that the 11“ can handle a complex 5 minute project with 4 Model 15s, 1 Model D, 3 Zeeons as well as single shot beats and a couple of plug ins like RoughRider2 like a champ. Quanta seems to be quite unstable, unfortunately, but I don’t think that’s 11“ specific. We‘re getting there, slowly ...

  • Thanks a lot for your feedback @JRSIV ! 😊
    I do own the 10.5 since it released and I’m very happy with it. It’s a very powerful iPad and fits my needs. That’s the reason why I’m interested in the question is it worth to upgrade to the new 11’?

    Is it so much more powerful that musicians have a real benefit when upgrading? I’m afraid the performance differences are just marginal, so it won’t worth the extra money to spend in it.

    I will be happy to get more information from users who switched from 10.5’ (old) to 11’ or 12.9’ (new)

    I think you will be happy with the 10.5 @JRSIV ! 👍

  • @JRSIV said:
    I think a 10.5" will have more than enough CPU & RAM for my needs (especially since my Air 2 is still going relatively strong) and I will take advantage of the reduced prices that previous generation tech always goes for.

    I'm thinking about doing the same thing. Second hand 10.5's are cheap now and even refurbs (with full guarantee) are going down in price.

  • @chandroji said:
    I do own the 10.5 since it released and I’m very happy with it. It’s a very powerful iPad and fits my needs. That’s the reason why I’m interested in the question is it worth to upgrade to the new 11’?

    If you're not running into CPU bottlenecks with your 10.5, I'd say you won't notice much practical improvement with the 11". That said, general day to day stuff sure seems faster here. Switching apps, loading apps, responsiveness with many website tabs open, etc. It's not a game changer, but then again these incremental releases rarely are.

  • @Tarekith said:

    @chandroji said:
    I do own the 10.5 since it released and I’m very happy with it. It’s a very powerful iPad and fits my needs. That’s the reason why I’m interested in the question is it worth to upgrade to the new 11’?

    If you're not running into CPU bottlenecks with your 10.5, I'd say you won't notice much practical improvement with the 11". That said, general day to day stuff sure seems faster here. Switching apps, loading apps, responsiveness with many website tabs open, etc. It's not a game changer, but then again these incremental releases rarely are.

    Mhhh....i know it might not be the most important thing for many here but i would be really interested in a kind of DAW benchmark or how many more instances of f.e. a Model D you can run on the 11" compared to the 10.5".
    For me it´s important because the 10.5" couldn´t handle some things i wanted to do but the 11" or 12.9" might be much better here.
    I don´t care much about geekbench and stuff but someone testing it with music apps and also if it will throttle under high loads etc.

  • @whiteout said:
    Btw, I’ve played around a bit more and I’m happy to report that the 11“ can handle a complex 5 minute project with 4 Model 15s, 1 Model D, 3 Zeeons as well as single shot beats and a couple of plug ins like RoughRider2 like a champ.

    Thanks a lot for your feedback @whiteout ! 😊
    This sounds good!

    I think a 10.5 can’t do this... 😎

    What host you was using in this project?

  • @LinearLineman said:
    Here is another. So sad and funny at the same time! The presenter is tooo much. I am laughing and aghast simultaneously. How do these folks throw away a grand?

    They make much more than that from ad revenue :smile: whether they crash-test it or just review it

  • My IPad 4 was a beast!

  • edited November 2018

    @Cib said:
    Mhhh....i know it might not be the most important thing for many here but i would be really interested in a kind of DAW benchmark or how many more instances of f.e. a Model D you can run on the 11" compared to the 10.5".

    I wouldn’t read too much into it, but here it goes:

    After a reboot I opened BM3, created a bank and assigned a Model D to a pad. I deactivated the Keys mode and continued dragging Model Ds on separate pads. The 11“ started glitching when I added the 8th D. [EDIT: tested with a buffer size of 1024 samples]

    I don´t care much about geekbench and stuff but someone testing it with music apps and also if it will throttle under high loads etc.

    Yeah, there’s just too many variables there. It depends on the complexity of the preset/patch, how hot the iPad is, how full the battery is (afaik iOS starts to throttle below 50%, but I’m not sure) and several other things.

  • @chandroji said:
    What host you was using in this project?

    BeatMaker 3

  • @chandroji said:
    Thanks a lot for your feedback @JRSIV ! 😊
    I do own the 10.5 since it released and I’m very happy with it. It’s a very powerful iPad and fits my needs. That’s the reason why I’m interested in the question is it worth to upgrade to the new 11’?

    Is it so much more powerful that musicians have a real benefit when upgrading? I’m afraid the performance differences are just marginal, so it won’t worth the extra money to spend in it.

    I will be happy to get more information from users who switched from 10.5’ (old) to 11’ or 12.9’ (new)

    I think you will be happy with the 10.5 @JRSIV ! 👍

    Thanks brother but what @whiteout posted re: the CPU differences were startling. I hadn’t seen the cold data just read several times pundits pointing out the 2018 Pro’s indeed have much more CPU power but that the “how much power do you need?” angle should be considered. Well seeing that I’m nearing 4 years on my Air 2 I certainly want an iPad that’ll give me relatively the same amount of use, so seeing those 2018 Pro numbers gives me pause because they’re pretty much future proof for a long while...USB-C hassles or not. Mmmmm...

  • @JRSIV said:

    @chandroji said:
    Thanks a lot for your feedback @JRSIV ! 😊
    I do own the 10.5 since it released and I’m very happy with it. It’s a very powerful iPad and fits my needs. That’s the reason why I’m interested in the question is it worth to upgrade to the new 11’?

    Is it so much more powerful that musicians have a real benefit when upgrading? I’m afraid the performance differences are just marginal, so it won’t worth the extra money to spend in it.

    I will be happy to get more information from users who switched from 10.5’ (old) to 11’ or 12.9’ (new)

    I think you will be happy with the 10.5 @JRSIV ! 👍

    Thanks brother but what @whiteout posted re: the CPU differences were startling. I hadn’t seen the cold data just read several times pundits pointing out the 2018 Pro’s indeed have much more CPU power but that the “how much power do you need?” angle should be considered. Well seeing that I’m nearing 4 years on my Air 2 I certainly want an iPad that’ll give me relatively the same amount of use, so seeing those 2018 Pro numbers gives me pause because they’re pretty much future proof for a long while...USB-C hassles or not. Mmmmm...

    @JRSIV
    I agree with you! What @whiteout said can change my mind too, the overall performance improvement counts for me. If there is a huge difference... 😊

    So I if I came from the Air2 like you I would go definitely with the new 11‘ if the extra money is no problem.

  • edited November 2018

    @whiteout said:

    @Cib said:
    Mhhh....i know it might not be the most important thing for many here but i would be really interested in a kind of DAW benchmark or how many more instances of f.e. a Model D you can run on the 11" compared to the 10.5".

    I wouldn’t read too much into it, but here it goes:

    After a reboot I opened BM3, created a bank and assigned a Model D to a pad. I deactivated the Keys mode and continued dragging Model Ds on separate pads. The 11“ started glitching when I added the 8th D.

    I don´t care much about geekbench and stuff but someone testing it with music apps and also if it will throttle under high loads etc.

    Yeah, there’s just too many variables there. It depends on the complexity of the preset/patch, how hot the iPad is, how full the battery is (afaik iOS starts to throttle below 50%, but I’m not sure) and several other things.

    Thank´s for the info.
    So it´s hard to compare geekbench numbers etc. for DAW performance and other things.
    I try to compare the same apps/tools.
    F.e. i could run the default DRC preset with 3 note chords on 69 instances in Logic (512 samples) at the same time.
    The 70th and i got crackle after some time (too much heat and cpu throttles). It´s using about 5,5 GB RAM for everything running.
    By pure numbers you should be able to top that with an iPad 1TB or run out of RAM before CPU drops.
    For some reasons i can´t believe that such a small and thin device can handle it....but maybe it can?
    A bit strange how all people are raving about the awesome cpu on you-tube and how much faster it is as even current core i7 (mobile) chips. But it´s a bit reality distortion. Nothing wrong with is but is mankind really so stupid? :D

  • @chandroji @JRSIV Just want to clarify that I have no idea how big the jump in „real world“ performance is compared to an older IPP. And, of course, i have no idea how you use your iPad currently, how you want to use it and for how long. I’m happy to run more tests though as long as i own the apps you want me to test.

    And again, while the new 11“ is a truly fascinating device (imho), it still runs iOS and the audio ecosystem is unstable and unpredictable as it ever was. Some of that can be circumvented or solved quite easily, some of that not so much. Ymmv.

    A few additional observations, using Beatmaker 3.0.12 as AUv3 host:

    • Quanta is unusable, it kills audio after a few minutes and you have to reboot your iPad to get it back. I don’t know if that’s „normal“, I haven’t used it that much with my old Air 2 as it always seemed demanding and buggy.

    • Currently you can’t really use Model 15‘s internal keyboard. You only get the miniature version and the button to expand it doesn’t show up. I suspect this is caused by the new aspect ratio, similar to Model D‘s problem that @MoogMusicInc acknowledged above. The button does show up in the standalone version though — which you can’t use because Model 15“ crackles for some reason (not really a problem for me personally, but others might want to use standalone).

    • Bonus, although it has nothing to do with the 11“: in BM3 you can finally automate the first AUv3 parameter, i.e. the filter cutoff in Model 15. Wohoo!

    • I’m really loving Face ID and the tap display to wake feature.

    • A minor thing, but still: while I think the new design and bezels are great and the way to go, I’m finding myself searching for the volume buttons quite often. Previously you always knew instinctively where they were due to the home button, but that’s gone now.

    • Even more minor: the placement of the volume buttons in combination with the on/off button is not ideal in some situations. I‘ve accidentally taken screenshots or put it to sleep a couple of times when trying to set the volume with one hand.

    • After a few days the 11“ still feels thicker than the Air 2 (and maybe older IPPs as well). I guess this won’t go away. Previously you had just one sharp edge which gave you the illusion of thinness, even if it was thicker overall. Not that big of a deal imho, but noticeable and I can’t seem to shake it off.

  • edited November 2018

    They should have upped RAM to 8 GB on 1 TB model and 6 GB on 512 GB model. That would be future proof to last longer time. People buying iPad Pros wouldn’t mind paying a few more $$ for these extras. They should hire me!

  • @Cib said:
    F.e. i could run the default DRC preset with 3 note chords on 69 instances in Logic (512 samples) at the same time.
    The 70th and i got crackle after some time (too much heat and cpu throttles). It´s using about 5,5 GB RAM for everything running.
    By pure numbers you should be able to top that with an iPad 1TB or run out of RAM before CPU drops.
    For some reasons i can´t believe that such a small and thin device can handle it....but maybe it can?

    Unfortunately I don’t own DRC so i can’t test it. But even the Model D test above is limited as the app isn’t optimized for the 11“ at the moment.

  • I find that BM3 is a lot more stable on the new 12.9 in comparison to the 10.5 Pro I had. The CPU power in this thing is crazy. 5 instances of Zeeon going with no crashes or crackles. Everything exports like it should and plays smooth and I haven’t even pushed it to its limits yet.

  • @YZJustDatGuy said:
    I find that BM3 is a lot more stable on the new 12.9 in comparison to the 10.5 Pro I had. The CPU power in this thing is crazy. 5 instances of Zeeon going with no crashes or crackles. Everything exports like it should and plays smooth and I haven’t even pushed it to its limits yet.

    I can’t speak to that comparison but yeah, it’s far, far better than ever before. I’ve spent the day with Ruismaker Noir, a couple of Model 15s here, a couple of Zeeons there, some plugins on top of that, connected with USB with a MacBook. The 11“ and BM3 didn’t break a sweat (ignoring some non-showstopping bugs) and sounded great. It’s very much fantastic actually.

  • Great review @whiteout

    That being said, multi-threading is hard, especially when processing real time data like audio, afaik. I’m no programmer, but it seems to me that iOS is handling all the audio processing on a single core. At least in my use case, i.e. BM3 and a bunch of AUv3s. Vidgets.app is showing 4 cores, and only one of them is properly utilized when playing back a demanding project. Bummer, but still, I’ll take the 30%

    Considering that the A12x has 2x the multi-core processing power of the A10x, but a ~30% increase in single-core performance, when will we start seeing iOS DAWs that make use of more than 1 core?

    After a reboot I opened BM3, created a bank and assigned a Model D to a pad. I deactivated the Keys mode and continued dragging Model Ds on separate pads. The 11“ started glitching when I added the 8th D.

    For comprison, it's 3 or 4 Model Ds on the 2017 10.5" before it starts glitching? Taking sample buffer into consideration?

    Thanks again @whiteout

  • His videos are jaw-dropping and remarkable! His cool/dark intros and fat music along with slick editing put the commercial ads from those manufacturing companies (Apple, DJI, etc) to SHAME!!

    :smiley:

  • @whiteout said:

    @YZJustDatGuy said:
    I find that BM3 is a lot more stable on the new 12.9 in comparison to the 10.5 Pro I had. The CPU power in this thing is crazy. 5 instances of Zeeon going with no crashes or crackles. Everything exports like it should and plays smooth and I haven’t even pushed it to its limits yet.

    I can’t speak to that comparison but yeah, it’s far, far better than ever before. I’ve spent the day with Ruismaker Noir, a couple of Model 15s here, a couple of Zeeons there, some plugins on top of that, connected with USB with a MacBook. The 11“ and BM3 didn’t break a sweat (ignoring some non-showstopping bugs) and sounded great. It’s very much fantastic actually.

    So, iOS' memory limit for AU's is based dynamically on the configuration of the device being used.

  • @whiteout said:
    Btw, I’ve played around a bit more and I’m happy to report that the 11“ can handle a complex 5 minute project with 4 Model 15s, 1 Model D, 3 Zeeons as well as single shot beats and a couple of plug ins like RoughRider2 like a champ. Quanta seems to be quite unstable, unfortunately, but I don’t think that’s 11“ specific. We‘re getting there, slowly ...

    Hi, could you specify the latency used ? 256 I suppose ? I'd like to know how far he could go on 128...

  • @MobileMusic said:

    @whiteout said:

    @YZJustDatGuy said:
    I find that BM3 is a lot more stable on the new 12.9 in comparison to the 10.5 Pro I had. The CPU power in this thing is crazy. 5 instances of Zeeon going with no crashes or crackles. Everything exports like it should and plays smooth and I haven’t even pushed it to its limits yet.

    I can’t speak to that comparison but yeah, it’s far, far better than ever before. I’ve spent the day with Ruismaker Noir, a couple of Model 15s here, a couple of Zeeons there, some plugins on top of that, connected with USB with a MacBook. The 11“ and BM3 didn’t break a sweat (ignoring some non-showstopping bugs) and sounded great. It’s very much fantastic actually.

    So, iOS' memory limit for AU's is based dynamically on the configuration of the device being used.

    Probably. I’m sure its based on CPU performance just like on a desktop

  • 2019 iPhone XI - Inspired By The New iPad design

  • @ocelot @crony Damn, I ran those tests with a buffer size of....1024 samples without noticing :neutral: Thanks for asking this rather important question.

    Turns out I can’t run a single crackle free instance of Model D with a 256 samples buffer in BM3 right now. My project from yesterday (2 Model 15s, 3 Zeeons, 1 Ruismaker Noir, some FX plugins) runs ok-ish with a buffer of 512, but glitches from time to time. So, not really ok.

    I‘m sorry for not noticing earlier. It seems I’ve checked every little detail of the new 11“ but for the buffer size. lol, facepalm etc pp. I’m getting old.

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