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.
Money, money, money....
I just checked my bank statements for the last 3 months and found I've been billed over £120 (200$) for mostly exclusively music apps! This has been happening since my solid frequenting of this forum. While some may say it's a bargain compared to osx or windows still, I have no choice but to go on a diet, lock the door and throw away the key, or at least ask my GF to put in a new password on my account. I hope nothing too saucy comes up in the next couple of months. Of course my detox plan does not include ab2.
Comments
Yea I'm scared to even check that because I don't just crave music apps but also keep up with the new game releases every Wednesday. AppZapp shows a total price of all apps you mark as owned and that number is really scary...granted most were purchased either on sale or free but still the number is high enough that even a third of it scares me..
You shouldn't have told me about that app...I just saw my overall total. It's not good.
Haha it's honestly great because you can mark apps that you want and it will notify you whenever they go on sale or free and then you can pick them up but I've amassed so many apps Pom embarrassed to even say the number of apps and/or cost
Exactly, appzapp is a drug, I spent many time downloading any free app (that I don't need)
http://time.com/21470/shaq-spends-1000-a-week-on-apps/
An attempt to make you feel better about spending? Mind you, he bought into google before the ipo. Things that make you go hmmm.
More money, more problems dude, consider app addiction as a necessary evil on the path towards the blessings of poverty. I figured I spent about $500 last year on apps and sometimes it seems like I only use one or two of them (mostly DevoBots). I'm definitely more conscious of what I need and don't need, but if I let myself I'd buy every app Doug did a video for.
I had to stop reading discchord and palm sounds. And I don't watch Doug's videos unless I'm already interested.
Estimated to be over €350. But I am slowly recovering!.
This thread feels like a AA meeting.
It really does! Hahaha! But now that I have most of the things I need, and since I have limited space, any new apps I buy have to be really impressive or be better than what I already have in order for me to purchase them. Those developers who raise the bar are still going to have me buying their apps though. :-).
I have hard imposed a limit of max $5 or super max of $7 ;-)
Anything other than that I will wait for a month or maybe just get when I really really need it or when it goes on Sale.
So that's why Sliver and Sector were instant buy but I waited on alchemy pack, electrify nxt,zors,drumperfect and all the latest ones....hoping for some sales which will solve the craving !!
I've gotten into the habit of watching for iTunes gift cards when they go on sale, usually 20% off and then only buying apps off my gift card credit, never my credit card. It soothes my conscious a bit knowing that everything I've bought is always 20% off.
Welcome to the club.
I do the same as the credit cards: monthly limit, usually 20€ (max). With such crysis, even this limit has fell down 'till about 10 (or less). March, with "father's day" excuse, I get Caustic and maybe Boom 808.
They're are hard times, right now. Gadget have to wait 'till my birthday.
Yup. Feel your pain.. Worst is then looking at all these apps that I bought that I haven't used on even ONE track. What I try do now when a new app is launched/discovered, is just add to my wish list rather than buy it. A week later (after all the hype has died.. or hasn't ) I finally buy it if I really, really still want it.
This has helped a bit.. Not a lot... But a bit
Ha! I hear ya. I actually started my "diet" at the beginning of the year. There were all those "sales" on the Auria plugins, and I went a little cray cray apparently. Didn't realize until the wife came in and said, "um, honey...I'm looking at our iTunes bill and it's...um...well...are we not eating this month?" Have been in a holding pattern since then mostly (except for drum perfect which I'm sure she'll understand. Surely).
@boone51 So you didn't cave to the Gadget pressure? If so, that's seriously admirable
Ps: Gadget is AWESOME!
Yeah, I didn't bite on Gadget. Not really my style of music I create honestly. I believe you about it being awesome. There are like 800 pages of folks who clearly agree with you on here. ;-)
More like a 1000! My gadget fever subsided pretty quickly. Still, I don't regret spending the hard earned if it lets me lay down an idea I have in my head within seconds. Once it has audio capabilities it will be really hard to beat as a sketchbook. I know what you mean though, it is stylistically and creatively restrictive.
im too scared to check how much i've spent on apps but i'm sure its much much less than i've spent in the pub over the years
The trick is to buy what you NEED rather than what people are awesoming about. For example, the new iVCS3. I listened to all the demos and realised it will get zero use from me. I didn't need it. The prices for apps are much much lower people say but it all adds up: little drops of water make a mighty ocean.
The other thing I've done which is helping is categorisation. For example: drums, bass, guitars, vocals, samplers, synths, sound generators etc. I get the "best" apps for each category and try and make music with them. Not easy to do but how much salt do you need for that gravy :-) Half a spoon or a bag of salt?
I'm trying not to become an app collector just because I can actually afford 69p. App Museum or Music Maker? That is the question.
Meanwhile, Apple are smiling all the way to the bank. Who says life is not exciting :-)
The new mastering app from Positive Grid is on the horizon ......................££££
Well put @FrankieJay. Agree 100% on iVCS3. Wrt the Positive Grid mastering app, I'm not sure how it can better iMusicAlbum's Audio Mastering app, which I heart like teenage girl...
Yep, I'll get to skip that one too. I record into Auria mostly when I'm playing guitar, and I can't imagine something being better than those plugins, especially ProQ and Saturn, that would cause me to want that one. More power to those that do though.
I've only really gotten into this recently and I've probably already spent close to $100. I had a lot of iTunes credit anyways from gift cards that have been just sitting there for a while barely used but I certainly never expected this! I enjoyed using my iPad before but in a matter of probably just a week this is easily become my favorite activity on it. The creative possibilities with this are just mind blowing!
I'm trying to slow down now although it's going to be difficult. Even if I don't really need a particular app just tinkering with them is a great deal of fun, even if they're not used to produce a full piece. I haven't managed to produce an entire song or anything yet but I am quickly filling up AudioShare with a bunch of awesome sounding loops and snippets. At the very least all this tinkering and experimenting has allowed me to find favorites in almost every category, much like @FrankieJay above. This has, in turn, helped me to start to find some kind of workflow that ultimately I hope to be able to use to produce a full song.
And also much like @RJB I tend to grab iTunes gift cards on occasion when they have those 20% off sales. I purchased two $100 ones for $80 each in the last year which means that ultimately I'll get $40 of free credit to spend on IOS or Mac stuff. Of course this was all before I got into this music stuff so what seemed like something that might take me at least two years to use all of the sudden doesn't look like quite as much. ;-)
@boone51 ProQ is definitely a great EQ, but Saturn is the x-factor, secret sauce of plug-ins. Add it on a track and it just comes alive.
As a developer who's receiving some share of that money, I'd like to thank you for spending money on iOS music apps. That expense on your bank account pays our rent and food.
Thanks.
@Schrodinger said:
Yeah man, I kinda knew I wasn't going to use it much but I'm too weak. My app purchase immune system is on the low side with uk winter blues etc.
I'm with you @FrankieJay collecting time is over, now it's time to make some grooves. With all the top ios synths, effects, beat boxes, loopers and audiobus there isn't much to ask for...maybe apart from the midi sync
which can't be bought.
I went from spending nothing on apps 2 years ago to actually giving Apple my credit card and in 2013 spent a whole bunch. I generally wait until an app is at least 50% off, but really I feel like I am at the limit of my skill level and am not even using the apps that I have to their full capabilities. The max I spent was $15 on Animoog, and I've felt guilty about that ever since. Anything new is just to get some neat toys or different workflow that I may nor may not need, so I've imposed a limit on any new purchases until my skill level improves. But I do track big sales where apps go down to $1 or free and will definitely download at that price point.
I don't want to hear any more about how much of a bargain these apps are compared with hard-copy versions of synths and pedals when I have over $200 in apps plus $100 for an Apogee Jam plus $500 for the iPad2 at the time.
@fprintf , well the price point thing is still completely valid. If you weren't making music on an iPad you'd be using a computer, I assume, which aren't cheap. You'll also need a recording interface as well, since most computers don't have them built in. Comparatively you might find that the Jam is inexpensive. Then you'd need to purchase the software counterpart to whichever apps you feel are must-have's, and they're going to be considerably more expensive on the PC or Mac. I used to have an obsession with guitar pedals. Now I can buy an app with a whole cabinet of pedals for less than half of what those pedals used to set me back. For me, it's a MUCH better price point all around generally since switching to the iPad.
@Sebastian said:
And we'd like to thank you for developing and changing/enriching our creative lives (think I'm speaking for many of us). Still, from my perspective, I find it very worrying to find out that I've spent quite a lot of my limited (food and rent) funds simply by daily treats of a few ££ here and there. While I find it to be a 'real world' problem I'm extremely glad ios app prices are nowhere near as massive as osx equivalents as that would pretty much make it completely prohibitive for me.
I am a creative musician. This is why ios suits me so well so it pleases me enormously that ios music is not just for the privileged.
Edit: @Sebastian thanks man! your efforts are totally appreciated.
@Sebastian you're welcome. Now please stop faffing about here, get AB2 finished so I can spend some money.
Well my iOS journey started way back in early 2011 when I became hooked on mobile music making (which suits my lifestyle as I travel for work) and I switched from hardware sequencers, modules, synths the lot. I initially invested around £1000 on apps and I have spent at least £50 per month since. I've never stopped to work out how much I have spent although I know around £500 on Auria including plugins but I have no regret whatsoever. This is my serious hobby and I am astounded at what can be achieved on an object I can carry under my arm. Talking of which in that time I have gone from iPad 1 to 3 to 4 to Air so the investment goes much further than apps.