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.

Which New iPad?

So I got a raise and a bonus. And I'm ready to update the VERY trusty iPad Air 2 (too many crackles in AUM).

I really like the form factor of the new mini. (The subways suck these days, and it's really hard to make music while standing and holding a full-size tablet.)

Nintey percent ready to pull the trigger on the 256GB mini, but the 128GB Air is more than $100 cheaper. (The Pro is kind of out of the question. I don't work for a bank; it's not that kind of bonus.)

Opinions?

Which iPad?
  1. Mini or the Air?13 votes
    1. Mini (256 GB)
      53.85%
    2. Air (128GB)
      46.15%

Comments

  • edited May 2019

    $100 more will give you the form factor you like and twice the storage. I imagine you will forget about that $100 pretty quick but at some point be all too often reminded of the lack of space and less ideal form factor.

  • edited May 2019

    what @AudioGus said !

    Recently upgraded from Air1 to Mini5 and i'm super amazed by form factor.. it fits perfectly to my hands, and everything is still big enough (i mean apps UI). Best size for me...

  • Form factor is very important. Theres just something about having a device (or anything) at just the size you want. Plus the space? Easy choice. $100 is not worth it in this case. Get what you want.

  • edited May 2019

    I have an Air Pro 10.5 and really think I'd prefer a Mini since you still cant multi-window-task on the Pro. It had me thinking that with all the full screen AUs now, there should be a gesture in the hosts (AUM, ApeMatrix, etc) to toggle between current window and previous window. It's absolutely tedious to switch between editing synth patches, and say, back to a MIDI keyboard app or effects app.

  • Good luck, and congratulations on the bonus. Would it be an option to take the bonus and keep saving until you can afford the iPad Pro? I have the mini 4, and the CPU is a little less than ideal, but if they have a newer version, it might be quite an improvement.

  • edited May 2019

    @Ripper7620 said:
    Good luck, and congratulations on the bonus. Would it be an option to take the bonus and keep saving until you can afford the iPad Pro? I have the mini 4, and the CPU is a little less than ideal, but if they have a newer version, it might be quite an improvement.

    iPad Mini5 (A12 cpu) have almost 3x bigger single core performance than Mini4 (A8 cpu) ;)

    1650 vs 4700 in Geekbench ;)

  • @dendy said:

    @Ripper7620 said:
    Good luck, and congratulations on the bonus. Would it be an option to take the bonus and keep saving until you can afford the iPad Pro? I have the mini 4, and the CPU is a little less than ideal, but if they have a newer version, it might be quite an improvement.

    iPad Mini5 (A12 cpu) have almost 3x bigger single core performance than Mini4 (A8 cpu) ;)

    1650 vs 4700 in Geekbench ;)

    I had absolutely no idea, that’s incredibly impressive. It sounds like we have a winner!

  • Unless you are sure about the mini size, I suggest really trying one at a store first.
    I imagine it would be great when not using it and transporting it around, but maybe frustrating to actually use, due to being familiar with the bigger screen.

    If you do like working on the smaller screen, get the Mini.

  • @CracklePot said:
    Unless you are sure about the mini size, I suggest really trying one at a store first.
    I imagine it would be great when not using it and transporting it around, but maybe frustrating to actually use, due to being familiar with the bigger screen.

    If you do like working on the smaller screen, get the Mini.

    Good point. I have an SE that I do some A train work on, but it's SO tiny. Moving AU windows around in AUM is a huge pain.
    I'll report back.
    Thanks for all this excellent advice.

  • So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

    Think it was @MonkeyDrummer but I could be mistaken. Though I’m not sure the reasons for his disappointment were accurate. I upgraded my pro 9.7 to an air 3 and I’m very happy. The air 3 can handle so many more instances of AUs and I’m able to push it a lot harder than I was the pro 9.7 before the crackles appear. It’s all to do with how the software behaves; as more demand is put on the cpu, so more power is provided.

  • Yes! It was @MonkeyDrummer
    Here was the thread, which ends happily with his problem being fixed (thought it's a little unclear exactly HOW it was fixed, but that's good news). And just to be clear, the new "Air" is actually the Air3?

  • edited May 2019

    Oh, man, now I'm all confused.
    There's the mini, the iPad and the Air. Is the iPad worth anything for making music? This iPad will be dedicated to music, and it'll be expected to be part of a system with an audio interface and a Mac, if that makes a difference.

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    Oh, man, now I'm all confused.
    There's the mini, the iPad and the Air. Is the iPad worth anything for making music? This iPad will be dedicated to music, and it'll be expected to be part of a system with an audio interface and a Mac, if that makes a difference.

    Unpopular opinion, but I personally I think the previous generation of devices is a better bet. All of the latest models have this stupid issue with sample rates leading to hassles with hosts and plugins not being able to set the sample rate to 44.1 without an audio interface being connected.

    The best bang-for-the-buck is the plain vanilla 2018 iPad, if you can live with a maximum of 128GB in storage. Otherwise I think the 2017 10.5 iPad Pro is the best all-round music device: it has 4GB of RAM, a headphone jack and no sample rate issues. The CPU is roughly 30% slower than the latest generation which probably adds up to one fewer instance of a hungry synth or plugin (and this obviously relatively significant), but it has far fewer issues than the latest gen IMO.

  • Dumb question, but what is the real-world effect of the sample rate hassle? Does this mean older projects at 44.1 won't load or play correctly? Or is everything just switched to 48kHz?

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

    I went from an Ipad2 to an Air1 to a 2017 base ipad to a 2017 10.5 pro and was super happy at each step. I have yet to max out the Pro in any significant way. Life is good.

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

    I wouldn't say "royally pissed", more like, "moderately miffed" :)

    Yea, the Air3 is significantly beefier than the Air2.

    In fact, because it's so much more powerful, my AUM-based, Eno-inspired mega-mixer setup is now growing to absurd levels of complexity (thanks to AUM's additional sends post-update).

    So now my setup is 4 "source" channels (used to just be two) and 8 sends (that are matrixed so each send can send to any of the other 7 sends including itself... used to only be 4 on Air2). And then an FX bus and a clean bus with EQ/limiting and finally a master channel with various doodads hanging off it.

    And so far, as long as I'm not running like 4 instances of ModelD or Model15, it seems pretty stable.

    And because the beast has grown, it's now no longer feasable to control it all with my 96 encoder FaderFox box, I'm using a "vintage" OG iPad running MidiDesignerPro over BT as the mixer master control.

    Fucking amazeballs Morty!

    Seriously, it's mind-blowing to have so much power in two little glass things the sice of typing paper!

    So much power to make music/noise that no one but me likes!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    Dumb question, but what is the real-world effect of the sample rate hassle? Does this mean older projects at 44.1 won't load or play correctly? Or is everything just switched to 48kHz?

    The only thing I've EVER run into is if you are going to bring the music into a video editing app and try to sync with the live video of your playing.

    For me, the camera I was using (various go-pro's or knock-offs), I was having a stroke trying to get the shit to sync. Then I read on the interwebs that it's best to use 48 to sync to video and voila, it worked perfectly.

    So while I can't change it, I don't care since I always used 48 anyway...

    Beyond that issue, I don't think you need to worry, unless you get in an "internet discussion" with one of those "types" that will try to convince you they can hear the difference between regular speaker wire and $1000 speaker wire... :)

  • Used 256 Pro2. Just keep using your phone on the subway.

  • I’ve had the gen 2 Pro, gen 3 Pro, and the new mini.

    Since you are coming from a significantly older generation I think they would all be an improvement. For me the best performer of all was the gen 2 Pro.

    I absolutely love the mini size but I wouldn’t want one as my only iPad. Im a train commuter too and I think it’s an amazing commuting second iPad if you can swing it. But when I want to really get into a larger music session I really value the extra screen real estate.

  • edited May 2019
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • @Beathoven said:

    @ExAsperis99 said:
    So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

    Think it was @MonkeyDrummer but I could be mistaken. Though I’m not sure the reasons for his disappointment were accurate. I upgraded my pro 9.7 to an air 3 and I’m very happy. The air 3 can handle so many more instances of AUs and I’m able to push it a lot harder than I was the pro 9.7 before the crackles appear. It’s all to do with how the software behaves; as more demand is put on the cpu, so more power is provided.

    I guess you didn't follow the thread to its conclusion. His surprise was based on his mistaken belief that comparing the number on the CPU meter in AUM between two different iPads was giving a meaningful comparison of their CPU power. That belief was mistaken.

    When he finally did a valid comparison, he found that the Air 3 was in fact a far more powerful computer than his previous computer. Comparing the CPU meter readings doesn't tell you much until you are the threshold of crackle-land.

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    Yes! It was @MonkeyDrummer
    Here was the thread, which ends happily with his problem being fixed (thought it's a little unclear exactly HOW it was fixed, but that's good news). And just to be clear, the new "Air" is actually the Air3?

    There was no problem to fix. His initial comparison was meaningless. He compared the CPU use of the two iPads without pushing them to their limits. The CPU meter doesn't tell you about the relative computing power if you aren't pushing the CPU to its limit.

    Once he pushed the Air 3 to the limit of breaking up and tried the same on the Air 2, he saw that there was a significant difference.

    There was nothing to fix with the hardware. What got fixed was his understanding of how to compare the processing limits in a more meaningful way.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Beathoven said:

    @ExAsperis99 said:
    So after this discussion (and before the actual bonus appeared in the bank), there was a thread started by a guy who bought a new iPad expecting it to blow away his Air2. And he was royally pissed that it wasn't an improvement at all. But I can't remember who it was! I thought it was @AudioGus, but nothing in his history suggests it.

    I just want to make sure that the Air2 can be improved upon before head to the Apple store.

    Think it was @MonkeyDrummer but I could be mistaken. Though I’m not sure the reasons for his disappointment were accurate. I upgraded my pro 9.7 to an air 3 and I’m very happy. The air 3 can handle so many more instances of AUs and I’m able to push it a lot harder than I was the pro 9.7 before the crackles appear. It’s all to do with how the software behaves; as more demand is put on the cpu, so more power is provided.

    I guess you didn't follow the thread to its conclusion. His surprise was based on his mistaken belief that comparing the number on the CPU meter in AUM between two different iPads was giving a meaningful comparison of their CPU power. That belief was mistaken.

    When he finally did a valid comparison, he found that the Air 3 was in fact a far more powerful computer than his previous computer. Comparing the CPU meter readings doesn't tell you much until you are the threshold of crackle-land.

    If you read my comment through to its conclusion, you’ll see that that’s pretty much what I said. The harder you push the air 3, the more power becomes available. Thus his disappointment was unfounded.

  • @Beathoven : sorry for the annoying tone of my earlier reply.

    I guess I was thrown by the sentence "I am not sure the reasons for his disappointment were accurate".

    I was intending to emphasize the certainty that the complaint that started that thread was unfounded .

    So, sorry for the tone.

  • @espiegel123 said:
    @Beathoven : sorry for the annoying tone of my earlier reply.

    I guess I was thrown by the sentence "I am not sure the reasons for his disappointment were accurate".

    I was intending to emphasize the certainty that the complaint that started that thread was unfounded .

    So, sorry for the tone.

    Absolutely no need to apologise! It was my attempt at being funny. :)

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