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.
AUM - can i switch between fullscreen IAA apps in AUM via midi control?
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It took me way too long to work out how to word that question.
I have a few regularly used apps, GTL, Soft Drummer, plus some AU ones. Can I bring the IAA ones in particular to the foreground with a midi control rather than stabbing wildly at an icon that may or may not respond with any urgency? And then go back to AUM with another control? The same I guess applies for AU ones, but I'm not sue if that's the same question.
Touch screens are wonderful but there's something about a dedicated hardware button when you're busy AF and trying to be inspired while playing...
I can't see anything obvious in this regard so I'm worried the answer's a big fat no.
Comments
No, you can’t. But this is precisely why many of us use Audiobus in conjunction with AUM. With Audiobus you can switch to IAA apps under MIDI control. It’s just generally superior dealing with IAA apps (especially since most have Audiobus features such as State Saving and additional AB Remote controls). But then the IAA apps are routed to AUM for its superior mixing and stem recording.
I do have audiobus but I tend to only use it when certain apps demand it.
I wonder if it adds much processor load to have them both running. I guess I'll experiment with that but maybe the increased complexity will outweigh the switching benefits...
I did find also that I can open AU plugin windows from within AUM so that at least is covered off. But it tends to be the IAA ones where I think I'd find it most useful.
It requires the midi control IAP, is that right?
Just answered my own question and bought it! works very well too.
It's easy for me to add MIDI control to switch to an IAA app from AUM. However, there's no way (that I know of) to do the opposite, make AUM switch back from another app to itself. I believe this is by Apple design, they don't want an app to be able to put itself into foreground (imagine how disturbing that might be if used by evil apps).
Is that somehow different for Audiobus? I seem to be able to switch back and forth between all the apps easily now. I have a button GTL, SD, AUM, all hosted in AB. I don't even see Audiobus, unless I hit one of the buttons twice, and it takes me there.
I am sure you know about URL-Schemes to bring other apps to front. I also know the „target“ app needs to implement this.
But maybe you could wrap up something in your Developer guidelines of AUM or something like that?
Just an idea - do not hurt me
Audiobus implements it in their own SDK, so it sends a message to the IAA app to open Audiobus from there.
AUM does not have any SDK but works solely with the standard API for IAA.
An app has no official way to bring itself to foreground, it can't call its own URL scheme when running in the background. That said... I just spent my birthday finding and implementing a hack that works around this
Congratulations! 🎊🎈 To both events 🤓
Congrats!!!
@j_liljedahl happy Bday, had one myself recently, they are not as fun as they used to be
Nice to hear you put it in good use, got aum only recently and am enjoying it very much!
🎂 🍾 🥂
Happy Birthday @j_liljedahl!
Happy birthday to you @j_liljedahl!
That's great, but I hope my question wasn't the instigation for you spending your birthday doing this rather than celebrating riotously!
Would you care to share this knowledge?
I don't know his secrets but what should work indeed is using an iOS feature: Accessibility Switch Control.
You can assign MIDI notes to freely definable gestures which can include switching to a different app and back and anything else that your fingers can do on screen.
Thanks rs2000....I will look into that.
In the midi controls for each channel in AUM there is a 'open plug in window' (or some name to that effect). One for each channel. At the bottom of the main list (not the plug in sub-list) is something like 'return to AUM'.
I have those mapped to a controller and they seem to work reliably. Also I might have the menu item names a bit wrong but you should be able to find them.
In fact I just remember I made a video of it in action. Hopefully this is the kind of thing you're referring to.
This is exactly what I want to accomplish! Thanks for the pointers SimonSomeone . I will give it a try.
So the options that need to be controlled by MIDI are "switch to app" and "switchn to AUM". I can't believe I never saw those before. Silly me. Anyhow it works beauty!
yeh it does huh! It's good. And I think not widely known.
hmm. Iv switched to iaa app via midi but dont know how to switch to aum from an IAA.
Ah excellent.
When you midi map an iaa or auv3. I usually press (chan ) under output of channel ) but in top right where settings are ( files, notes etc )Theres an additional midi control and its cool because switching back to aum isnt needed ( a mapping ) for every instance of iaa.
Yes, the MIDI control menu in the main menu is the "root" of all MIDI controls in AUM, where you'll find the controls for global stuff such as "switch to AUM" and transport control, and the controls of channels and their nodes are sub-sections.
Thanks.
Good upgrade to my system.
Can I midi map to switch to an Audio Unit tho? To open it?
Yes you can. Under Parameters of the channel where your plug-in sits you will find a “show plugin” option that you can map.