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.
Any downside to using iPhone version apps on iPad?
So, I started getting hooked on all these wonderful synth apps, and since I knew I was going to "need" a bunch. My early strategy was to buy up some of the good iPhone synth apps. Two reasons for this: (a) my iPhone is a newer device (in addition to being always on me), and (b) the iPhone versions are cheaper (so, $2.99 vs. $9.99 for Sunrizer, $4.99 vs. $14.99 for Magellan).
But then a third advantage occured to me: iPhone apps can run on iPad, but not vice versa! And as I started to test them, most of them blew up in size quite nicely, and seemed to work. They were also recognized normally in AudioBus.
Other than the magnified graphics and maybe some stripped down features, any problems with doing this? For example, nLog Midi Synth (iPhone version) seemed to not to respond to all menu button presses on iPad. I will still buy the iPad versions of some apps I really support, of course.
Comments
Honestly, you might have a problem with it over time.
The market for music apps is much larger for iPads, since they have enough screen size to be comparable as virtual instruments to physical gear in live situations.
Because of that most of the major innovations and app updates happen on the ipad.
Also, apparently most music devs are not into producing universal apps for some reason. I can live with that, but what you'll typically find is that the iPhone version won't sell well and the dev won't update it because of being discouraged.
So I definitely wouldn't recommend an iPhone based approach. I'd have to suggest an ipad point of view, picking up the rare iPhone only music apps and up-scaling them.
No, there's no real downside. All of the points @aq808 made will get you to the app store soon enough though. I kept my iphone only apps for a while after getting an iPad but the draw of more controls on the screen at once got me to upgrade all of them where possible. Can't think of one I regret.
Fair point about app updates. But the risk of abandoned apps is problem for all apps, not just iPhone versions. Interaction in forums like this one from a dev and a history of frequent updates are good signs, but there's no guarantee.
Someone on this forum pointed out that owning both iPad and IPhone versions of an app would allow you to load two separate instances of one app into AudioBus on the iPad. Now we can have more than one pipeline that's an interesting prospect.
Not really a downside. But if you like the iphone version of an app a lot then you might want the iPad one later on, thus spending more cash ;D
@bennorland - That is an EXCELLENT point. I haven't yet played with the multiple pipeline functionality in AB 2, but that's an intriguing workaround if you really prefer the sounds of a particular app, since you obviously can't open Sunrizer iPad twice like you could open multiple versions of Google Chrome on a desktop computer.
@Sebastian - Agreed. And I am doing that. If an app is universal, (like AudioBus, obviously), it's easier for me to get over the hurdle of buying it. But there's a lot more design thought that needs to go into making something like a synth fit an iPhone screen, as opposed to taking up the additional iPad real estate.
In almost all cases, I don't fault developers for charging for separate iPad and iPhone versions. I really don't. But I'd rather own the phone version of an app than not own it at all, and something like 15 bucks for Magellan is a tough leap to make if you aren't confident it's an app you're going to like (or one that won't be redundant with what you already have).
I'm happy to support good developers, of course, so if it's a truly great app, I'll inevitably own the iPad version, as well.
Start with Nanostudio or bm2 add Audiobus and any other synth app etc.....include a sun lounger and some nice weather and good headphones and hey presto hours of fun and relaxation
@DaveMagoo said:
Ha, okay. We'll see how thing shake out with MT DAW. NanoStudio and Beatmaker 2 (both universal and under 20 dollars) would be the two likely replacements. NanoStudio, is at least about 70MB in size versus 500MB for BM2.
Nanostudio doesn't have audio tracks mind but is very streamline and productive.
It's great for sampling via Audiobus.
@StormJH1 said:
I use BM2 on the iPhone more or less just for syncing with BM2 on the iPad. And even the it takes up more than 800 MB. I think initally it had been 720 MB because of the (on unbroken iPhones) unremovabal build-in samples (btw: wich are of questionable quality, I think).
At times I actually prefer iphone versions on my ipad due to simplified controls for live use.
It's definitely nice to have both versions of a non-universal app available on ipad when you want it. Magellan and Magellan Jr are often in the input and effect slots respectively for me. Don't think I've ever tried to control both versions of the same synth via MIDI though. No idea if that's possible.
+1 on Nanostudio streamlined and productive and sampling. Hopefully NS2's keyboard sampler supports stereo recording and/or multi-samples.
@syrupcore said:
Yep, it's possible. I had Magellan for iPad and two instances of Animoog all being controlled by Fugue with virtual MIDI. On a iPad 2, no less
sexy. thanks.
I will say as the person who started this thread that I have found one significant problem as I've continued to try this. Depending on the layout of the app, many of the buttons at the top of the screen may become either hidden (such as by the red AudioBus (Recording) bar), or simply become non-responsive.
Sunrizer XS works perfectly fine, possibly because their buttons are situated lower.
nLog MIDI Synth and Magellan Jr. both sound great, but the buttons on top of the synth that you need for presets and all of the other setting menus don't respond, or don't respond well.
Perhaps there's something I could be doing differently.