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.

LINK: Learn me?

So, is LINK a patented technological system that is not able to be replicated?

Or is it that most companies accept Ableton is gonna handle this?

I guess, I ponder why hasn't there been a rival option?

Why don't a handful of companies come up with their own if they won't .....WON'T...or can't...use LINK with their software?

Is there a big licensing fee for using LINK?

Is there a financial motive to design a competitive program?

Thanks!

Comments

  • I appreciate your eagerness to utilize your intellectual superiority and sense of understanding. Unfortunately, it appears that the links you provided are not relevant to my interests.

    Thanks fo being a helpful member.

    I hate to Google and look at obvious things. It is so silly.

    Oddly enough asking a question that on its face appears silly and mundane. That is the component you addressed with your "links".

    In fact, it is a slightly more evolved question, probing into some other related areas or product comparisons.

    Appreciate you help.
    Best

  • @RUST( i )K said:

    I appreciate your eagerness to utilize your intellectual superiority and sense of understanding. Unfortunately, it appears that the links you provided are not relevant to my interests.

    Thanks fo being a helpful member.

    I hate to Google and look at obvious things. It is so silly.

    Oddly enough asking a question that on its face appears silly and mundane. That is the component you addressed with your "links".

    In fact, it is a slightly more evolved question, probing into some other related areas or product comparisons.

    Appreciate you help.
    Best

    Beautiful response.

    I would imagine it’s largely a matter of effort over return. Why put in so much effort to do what’s already done when there likely isn’t much return on the investment?

    Also there are so many existing apps that use Link that would need to make modifications to support a new syncing tool. How likely are they to do that? I don’t know.

    Name recognition is also a factor. People know Ableton. Licensing something from Ableton comes with the sense of quality and reliability that people expect from a well known company. As much as we on this forum may love our indie devs, their names aren’t anywhere near the size of Ableton.

    So if I’m developing an app and want to license a sync tool, I’m going to likely go for the name that I know and that everyone else uses.

    That’s not to say a competitor couldn’t be successful, I just don’t think anyone has the motivation or know-how to really make it work right now.

    I would also imagine there’s a glimmer of hope out there that Ableton may some day release a solid mobile DAW. If they do, Link will be a necessity.

  • edited March 2020

    Ableton is the software leader when it comes to live performance and they will be setting standards.

    I’m not sure what you’re after. What functionality do you need that isn’t covered by link?

    I guess there is the old fashioned midi sync. If not there’s errrr. ..Link? 😂

  • Would be cool if Link was extended to include time signatures, key/scale info, maybe swing?

  • I mean... there was WIST. That's not around anymore (I think that was Korg?)

    I don't know how complex it is to integrate Link support into an app, it seems more trivial than AUv3-i-fying something since so many more apps just bolted Link on after the fact.

    Ableton is a big name, they've done all this work that seems like has no cost to implement (much like Audiobus support in music apps). I'm not sure why someone would re-invent the already pretty good wheel..

  • @YourJunk said:
    So if I’m developing an app and want to license a sync tool, I’m going to likely go for the name that I know and that everyone else uses.

    While technically it is "licensing", there's no licensing fee. But, as you say, it has successfully gained trust and momentum.

    That’s not to say a competitor couldn’t be successful, I just don’t think anyone has the motivation or know-how to really make it work right now.

    A competitor would need to work better, supply something that Link is missing, be free like Link, be even easier to integrate into apps, and have enough name recognition to gain momentum. Tough job. And, like you say, who would have the motivation?

    Link originally was missing Start/Stop yet it still exploded onto the scene. When they added start/stop, from what I've read, it wasn't trivial to adapt apps to the new Link version. Yet the continuing momentum behind Link caused many developers to eventually integrate it.

    @lukesleepwalker said:
    Would be cool if Link was extended to include time signatures, key/scale info, maybe swing?

    Yep.

    I don't really understand what it's saying, but the quote below seems to indicate that time signatures don't matter with Link. Make of it what you will?

    About using different time signatures with Ableton Link
    Using a different time signature than the other devices/applications in the Ableton Link network works just fine. The sync progress bar on the Transport panel always shows the sync phase of one single Bar, regardless of selected time signature. Using different time signatures may of course generate interesting rhythmical results, though.

    What I'd love to see is Song Position Pointer, so that apps could know where in a timeline the collective whole is. But that's a tough concept to translate since any app can join at any time and there is no "Master" to decide what that timeline is.

    In that respect, good ol' midi clock is better ... though support for SPP in most apps isn't there.

    @iammane said:
    I mean... there was WIST. That's not around anymore (I think that was Korg?)

    Yeh, funny that one. I wonder why it never caught on like Link did. Oh well, that ship has sailed ...

    I don't know how complex it is to integrate Link support into an app, it seems more trivial than AUv3-i-fying something since so many more apps just bolted Link on after the fact.

    From what I've read, it can be a lot of work. It also seems that going from v2 (no start/stop) to v3 was a big deal. Nowhere near the magnitude of refitting an app to be to AUv3 though.

    Ableton is a big name, they've done all this work that seems like has no cost to implement (much like Audiobus support in music apps). I'm not sure why someone would re-invent the already pretty good wheel..

    It does seem that they've gained the initiative and that it will last. It's pretty amazing to watch, really. It's much like Steinberg and the VST standard emergence back in the day.

  • @RUST( i )K I'm pretty sure link is free and open source now. So makes no sense building a competitor to a free solution that works and is also actively developed.

  • There probably isn't a lot of rival options because there's ALREADY many concurrent such technologies, each with their own advantages, drawbacks and legacy, and implementing such a technology is complicated, and making it gain adoption is even more complicated, and making it open will mean that nobody makes any money with it, and it's a small technological niche anyway, so that's probably why there are "only" approximately four such technologies right now ;) (Ableton Link, MIDI Sync, MTC, Host Sync).

  • @gonekrazy3000 said:
    @RUST( i )K I'm pretty sure link is free and open source now. So makes no sense building a competitor to a free solution that works and is also actively developed.

    That was exactly my point but nevermind...

  • OpenSoundControl but very few adopted it. Then there are propietary technologies like ArtNet.

    Ableton made it easy for developers to implement that was the trigger point to adoption.

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