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.
Is NanoStudio 2 going to be updated ever again? Resolved.
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Just had a quick mess around with the iPhone version. It’s actually usable and the fact that you can transfer projects between devices is cool. Like you’re saying @rs2000 the dev gets a lot of important details right.
Last year before the Ns2 iphone version came out I gave NS1 a shot on my iPhone 4S and was stunned at how usable it was with one hand, just making tunes with a thumb. Stunning.
It’s the “easiest to get along with“ production app on iOS for me.
I just use ENSO for audio tracks if that’s needed. 👌
I'm php/js developer for many years (my job is not classic "websites", but large scale complex applications which are often processing big data, stuff like "operating system inside browser" and so on - my current app has few hundreds of thousands of lines of code, so codebase size it's comparable to DAW apps
) - i tried make also some iOS app stuff (just for myself, nothing officially published) and i have to said developing and debugging iOS apps is many orders magnitude more PITA than with server/browser based technologies .. It's painful and boring process ... I can see why developing complex iOS apps takes so much time ... my big respect to all fellow devs who are fighting in iOS area...
It’s a case of be careful what you ask for. The original plan was audio tracks and a convolution reverb IAP’s as the next features after initial release if I remember correctly. Then NS2 got sidetracked into AU automation which created a lot of issues to be overcome and everyone seemed to be clamoring for a universal version even though a recent poll on this forum suggested the vast majority of users are on iPads. As they say, don't change horses midstream. There probably would have been audio tracks a long time ago if the original plan had been followed.
I imagine it is more about a devs personal choices of how they want to develop their software but there is nothing stopping someone putting together a continuous integration pipeline on a Mac. Half of my office use Macs for developing enterprise software (not native however) and we don't see any major stumbling blocks.
So Music Studio got an update after 2 years - and we all thought it was abandonware. Samplr got an update after 6 years...
The moral? Never give up hope....
Pre-announcing products or sharing an intended roadmap never seems to work out.
Software estimation: predicting how long it will take to finish is really total guess work.
There are too many unknowns.
In mid-stream the original announced roadmap (which was not a great idea) highlighted
adding audio tracks but the top priorities changed to iPhone support (DONE) and AU FX Automation (NOT SURE).
But as we learned before NS2 shipped... this developer likes to focus on the work and
announce when it's ready. I'm sure he regrets ever putting out the roadmap which boxes
him in. It's a no win situation now.
We should also realize were not talking about a team of developers that can add or loose
staff without impacting general timelines. Most DAW's are developed by teams of developers. A few "Pseudo-DAW's" are developed by individuals: NS2, Xequence 2, AUM,
and sometimes BM3.
SO, I expect audio tracks to be added but only when they are ready to go. This question has been asked on the Blip Interactive Forum and the developer is wise enough NOT to talk about the future. It only makes the noise floor rise. It's better to just use a Noise Gate
for random heat generated noise when you can't accurately predict when or even if a complex feature will be finished.
Maybe we should drive @Michael crazy for telling us Loopy Pro is almost done. Big mistake.
He has since taken a detour into automated loop detection and is inventing new technology to solve the problem.
Science is hard and unpredictable. Good science doesn't run on time schedules. Engineering projects will often use estimation and still be late by months or years. NS2 is a work of art like a sculptor adding or deleting material to finish a project. It involves engineering processes to write software but if it was predictable there would be more software writing software.
With respect to "automated testing" of IOS apps, it involves "Human User Interface" and
that's not a well defined science. The best approach is still giving the application to a "user"
and getting feedback with actual in use testing. Testing server software is easier because the "client" is typically another computer and the interfaces are all digital protocols. What protocols will you use to put audio files into use? Will you also want little touches like "Time Stretch", Track Freezing, Transient Detection and Loop triggering?
It's still the best DAW in it's intended use case. And that took a lot of work and discipline.
I really feel sorry for Matt... typing away while the mob circulates around the castle
with pitchforks.
"Give us our update or at least a progress report." Guesstimating progress just compounds
the original sin. The smart move is to focus on the goal.
I'm sure he stops occasionally to see how the app is doing on iTunes. Not much encouragement there, I'd guess.
Pre-announcing a complex feature becomes a kind of "death march" for the person (or team) responsible to make the plan a reality. I'd just just to send my best wishes for the
long, lonely vigil and hope it works out for us all.
I think if he just popped his head up and said: "I am working on NS2; don't know when I will have the next update but I am working on it." would mean a lot to people.
Today long development cycles is just not the way to go if you want to meet the demands of customers. More frequent smaller releases is the way to go imho. Big features (audio) may offcourse take time but in the meantime smaller features should be released. More frequent releases with smaller features will likely result in less bugs.
I usually interpret a developer going dark as a clue to their character. I have found a lot
of private developers that don't care about other people to be well made for the challenge of large scale projects.
It also provides a clue to the "business acumen" of the app creator. It would be good for business to ship a "status report".
Death march projects often go into a communication lock down in an effort to maintain focus.
Let's consider the worst case scenario: Imagine, Matt has given up on audio. NS2 gets maintenance updates and other valued enhancements but audio is still just on the roadmap.
If it's on the roadmap you just stay silent, IMHO. Sometimes, no news is just no news.
All vacuums make nice residences for our worst fears. I don't fear an NS2 without audio.
But I don't use it either. But I still bought it to play around with Obsidian and those free
sampled instruments. They are really good. I'd go crazy for an AUv3 Obsidian. That would be a nice surprise.
The Atom Dev had exactly these same things said about his app ( abandonware etc ) he then popped up in the thread and said " I'm working on it but I can't give you a date" literally two posts later someone goes "Ok, but could you at least give us a ballpark eta? "
Can't see much point in telling people " I can't give you a date " if they're just going to rephrase the same question.
If and when it drops, the naysayers will be using it/redownloading it/buying it. It's not really bad business when you look at the state of iOS DAWs. Supply and demand. When it drops they will come in droves. Until then, enjoy what we have.
I can’t imagine what you’re talking about, @McD - it’s a doddle! (I recently rewatched the Loopy Masterpiece announcement; “It won’t be finished overnight; it might take six months or a year...” 🤣)
So ... it’s done?? I don’t see it in the App Store yet?!!
I had to Google "doddle" for it's meaning (and to get the joke):
doddle
noun Chiefly British Informal (that explains a lot)
something easily done, fixed, etc.:
Example:
"He was really worried about my finishing the fence repairs on my own, but it was a doddle."
Ha-ha... I'm no worried about @Michael finishing a project. It will ship when it's done. I also won't listen to any clues and about it might reach that state of perfection. I'll just be happy when it is.
I feel the same about any NS2 updates. Something really good will do more for me.
I do get a kick from @giku_beepstreet's pre-annoucing of features. I do however remember the waiting period before Drambo dropped. There were even beta testers that said how much we should want it before we could get it. An ugly thread of "blue ball" anticipation that
grew and grew (200 pages was it?). All is forgiven.
I’m fairly confident that NS is going to be updated. Next update is an OS14 fix. No date announced.
https://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/community/index.php?p=/discussion/1678/dont-update-to-ios-14-if-you-can-avoid-it#latest
EEEEK! (So i guess the thread title should be updated with "Resolved:")
The fact is basic features were promised at release of the app. Some people purchased it on the idea that there would be updates. There are r a r e l y updates to NS2. Simply advising his customers on the progress of NS2 without an eta would be a sound strategy.
On the other side, If i made a product and at products release promised key features would be added and then i went silent for 18 + months I would fully expect my customers to feel like they were lied to. A simple, “hi, I am working on NS2 still, no timeframe can be given but rest assured I am working to make this product that you spent your money on as complete as I can.” If that is too much to ask then I will happily accept NS2 as a glorified sequencer, sampler and synth. Not a DAW, and i will seek out an alternative daw to invest in. Its not difficult, its proper business etiquette.
I enjoy NS2 for what it is and will use it occasionally still. I am not pleased by the devs manner in which he utilizes to keep his customers in the dark. Its very simple and shows his customers that he cares.
A roadmap is a statement of intention. I read it as such. A promise is more of a contract.
If the feature does arrive then both intention and promise will be assured. If not, then
intention is probably still valid.
We shall see. Patience is a virtue. Sometimes even maintenance of app becomes difficult:
Samplr (it worked out), Alchemy, Ani-Moog, Thumbjam and many more. Lifetime maintenance cannot be conveyed but it's always hoped for. What if a developer's circumstance change and development becomes difficult or impossible?
I still feel sorry for Matt and rarely feel that way for NS2 owners. I waited for NS but when it went on sale I jumped just to see what all the fuss was about. I rarely use it but don't begrudge Matt the pittance I paid for his efforts. The only apps I ever felt pained to buy were
IK Multimedia's BX-3 and StaffPad. Both have exceeded my expectations for product quality and sound fidelity.
All this bitching about promised app updates/features. This is beer money price bracket...
Try waiting 2 years for promised features on an $8500 synth. 🍺
Can anyone tell me what date audio tracks was promised to be delivered by? If there was no date given, how does that mean ‘it’s not happening’ or must be ‘abandonware’? Last update was 10 months ago according to the App Store, with another update was just announced re IOS14, so that addresses the question in the title. Also, the Dev was already notorious for taking his time, getting things right before release, hence six years between NS1 & NS2. I wouldn’t be surprised if NS3 with audio tracks and midi clock sync is still another 1-4 years off. Cue the outrage.
Let me sum whole story and note few things to calm down a little bit some speculations or some missinformation ...
released at the end of 2018, with plans for releasing iPhone version as first update spring 2019, then audio tracks later that year. No specific date given, some people incorrectly translated "later this year" to "september 2019" - of course, i cannot deny optimistic plans were fall 2019. As turned out, optimism is always bad thing when comes to development of app. But that were plans, and Matt (as so as we -beta team) really believed it will be fulfilled.
soon after release there was a HUGE amount of requests for AudioBus compatibility and a LOT of complains about issues with AU plugins. So plans changed and basically first half of 2019 was spend by fixes of AU issues, which consumed huge amount of energy and time (Matt very carefully debugged every single case and communicated with plugin devs a lot, it consumed really lot of time, what was worst and demotivating in many many cases at the end turned out that fix needs to be done in plugin not in NS, often there was infamous "wrong plugin sample rate / buffer size handling" issue - long and nasty story, Matt even wrote article about this - https://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/community/index.php?p=/discussion/479/some-notes-for-au-developers ) ..
AudioBus integration wasn't painless too, at least few weeks, including stuck phase with one particular issue where again turned on it needs to be fixed in AudioBus (if i good remember Apple broken something at that time, again something related to sample rate handling but not sure with that)
Anyway, in May 2019 there was delivered AudioBus + AU improvement fixes (and some other tweaks *) + UI optimised for iPad Pro models (which was often requested too) ... then, without taking any break or rest, that guy stated to hard work on finalising iPhone version which was delivered in october 2019 - it took tiny bit more than initially planed but not much ..
Now, i can't comment anything what followed, but i'm pretty sure when Matt will be ready to reveal any new info he will do it. He is alive and healthy (which is good info in terms of all Corona shit around:)).
(*) funny fact. In first release NS2 internally processed all audio at 44khz rate and only at the end of chain, final mix was upsampled to 48khz if device or connected soundcard requested that. This is actually how most desktop DAWs are handling sample rate, and it is the right way how to do it - project/internal sample rate shouldn't be affected by connected audio interface, that is nonsense to be hooked/fixed to soundcard D/A rate.
Unfortunately because LOT of plugins on iOS were (and some still are) ignoring sample rate set by host and were (are) locked to device sample rate, in combination with fact that literally all other iOS DAWs are working same way (dynamically switching internal sample rate based on device sample rate), Matt at the end capitulated and completely reworked how NS2 internally processes audio to match (very bad in my opinion) standards on iOS. Which one again took a significant amount time. This is example of few things which common user doesn't see, but which consumed a lot of time to sort out. And lot of frustration.
Whats beer money tomyou isnt beer money to everyone. Take off the tunnel vision glasses “bro”.