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.
iOS Audio units that have identical desktop versions
So, I wanted to start this thread to list out ios plugins that have desktop versions. I've been a making music for a few years now. I mainly use Macs for music production. For reference if anyone wants to check out my music here is a link: X3LA.com
Over the last few months I have tested out ALL the ios DAWS with alll the add-ons. Some better then others. My favourite ios DAWS are:
Nano Studio 2
Audio Evolution
and maybe Auria Pro.
Although these DAWS are great they do not compare in any way to Logic Pro X on any Mac. I use Mac pro macbook pro and Mac book air as well as the ipad. Due to limited functionality of ios and ios apps. I mainly use the ipad for beat creation.
Now that leads me to my next point.
I find for me garageband on ios is my best option for many reasons. Mainly because it can take full advantage of CPU and DSP with ways not allowed for any ios delopers not to mention they have been doing it longer than anyone else and it's there hardware.
For this same reason I use Logic Pro X on the Mac because it does the same.
So I have found starting projects in ios garageband then opening and completing them in logic. When I do this I only use plugins on iOS that have a desktop counter part. That way when I open the projects in Logic I don't need to change anything or get any messages saying that a plug in is missing.
So I wanted to start this thread to create such list. Here are some that I have use and are very good and yes I am aware of the new chips coming in the new Macs. Please add any new ones or any that I may have missed.
TESTED ON GARAGEBAND IOS
and
LOGIC Pro X 10.4.8 and 10.5.1
EVENTIDE all of them
FABFILTER all of them
TONEBOOSTERS all of them
SUGAR BYTES all of them
FAC CHOURS
FAC MAXIMIZER
FAC TRANSIENT
FAC ALTEZE
AUDIO DAMAGE all of them
TAL-U-NO-LX
SYNTHMASTER ONE
WIDER TOUCH
NEMBRINI 808
NEMBRINI THEBOSS
NEMBRINI DELAY3000
NEMBRINI ANALOG CHOURS
NEMBRINI ANALOG DELAY
NEMBRINI ANALOG CLEANER
NEMBRINI KRUNCK V2
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK FLANGER
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK NOISE GATE
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK REVERB
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK TREMOLO
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK SCREAMER
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK GUITAR EQ
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK FUZZ
NEMBRINI ANALOG RACK COMPRESSOR
AND SOME OF THE NEMBRINI AMPS, but I have not tested those yet.
Also I would love see more developers making more desktop versions especially all ICEWORKS, all YONAC, LAYR, VOLT, SHOCKWAVE, ZEEON, and ADDICTIVE SYNTH.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Sorry if I missed any.
Comments
MiRack.
Yes. I forgot about that one and it's also free.
http://www.virsyn.de/de/Products/products.html
I tried those and they didn't work they are different than the ios versions.
Btw, some apps/AU that exist on both MacOS and iOS are not truly identical. At least a few have higher quality anti-aliasing on MacOS than iOS. I noticed this and asked a dev who confirmed that it was true with his app.
Which app is that? I know for sure this is not the case with Eventide, Fabfilter, Sugar bytes and toneboosters. They are identical.
Also the desktop version have more CPU to use.
You can get Sunrizer for Mac desktop as well.
That's right. kinda expensive though.
Mood is also available but I have not tested it as I have the others
Note that the FAC ones are AUv3 on the Mac and will only work in a limited number of hosts (e.g. Logic). I use GigPerformer and they won't load in that - nor is there any plan yet to support AUv3 (sobs quietly).
Practically all AUs on desktop are AUv2.
Good to know.
I wouldn't use anything but logic on the mac.
I don’t think the developer would be happy about my sharing the info. So I won’t.
It is possible that all those plugins are identical. But if you haven’t actually tested them, I wouldn’t be 100% positive. The developer I am speaking of gives people the impression the apps are identical. The aliasing isn’t bad in the case I am speaking of, but it clearly isn’t identical. Running a sine sweep through it in desktop and iOS at same sample rate yielded distinctly different results.
Also DRC and FRMS
This is an obvious one, but the Nembrini amps for iOS and desktop are not identical. While it may be true that the same exact preset sounds identical, because of cpu headroom and other factors the desktop version offers a lot more functionality. IR loading, microphone config, mixer, just to name a few. The BOSS is also different on desktop and features a rack. Since I don’t use desktop I don’t know exactly how it would translate to have a desktop preset with your own IR and mic config switch to iOS, but I don’t see how it would possibly work without disabling those settings. So identical sounding, yes, but identical features, no. I think you will find many apps that can sound identical in the same setting as their desktop counterpart, but rarely will you find the same feature set.
FWIW, I love the iOS Nembrinis because of how great they sound, and don’t have desktop to compare. And it seems like many iOS apps get updated over time to catch up in functionality to their desktop versions, but some don’t even try because it’s not possible.
Koala, Zenbeats
Let me clarify something I created this thread to catalog plugins that can be used in garageband ios then opened in Logic Pro X without changing anything and not so much about if the plugins performance is excat. As far as desktop plugin versions go they may be better in many ways because of more CPU, RAM, DAC, and DSP. To do a side by side comparisons is not exact as there are many variable like DACs and differences in OS versions and if there are developers out there that are being deciptive claiming both versions of the plugins are the same and they are not then shame on them. I figured this could be helpful to some. Not to compare platform versions.
I tried koal sampler on the mac and it does not work. None of the buttons work.
Yes, forgot about zenbeats Its cool but, I don't use it.
What I find odd is that I looks like most developers are already building these apps on Mac, but not many offer the desktop version. I would be a good way for them to earn extra revenue and expand to other platforms. Maybe some devs can chime in on this.
Audiomodern (Riffer/Playbeat/Filterstep)
Nice! I was just checking out the demo of the the desktop version of riffer. I already own the ios version and I like it a lot.
Not AU but Caustic and Nanostudio 1. I use both on my laptop occasionally.
Thanks! There is a major update for Riffer coming in December, stay tuned!
It would be super cool if you could run RIFFER and PLAYBEAT as a AU in GB ios then be able to route midi to AU instruments in GB ios. Kinda like midi flow does.
Maybe a future IAP🙏
Klevgrand
https://klevgrand.se/
Here is one from my original list:
Audio Damage DubStaion 2
https://novationmusic.com/en/news/sound-collective-dubstation-ii
You can get the desktop version for free right now. Same version for both ios and Mac. See link for details.
I wanted to give Audio Damage some love
❤️
Very Nice! I need to try those. Good selection too.
One massive benefit of iOS is the ease of installation. Not having to deal with installs limited to one HD, serial numbers or ilok makes me realise how much I hate most copy protection systems on the Mac.
I end up spending way more on iOS plugins than Mac even though Logic is my main DAW (and iOS plugins are cheaper).
I’ve also deleted some expensive plugins as ilok is more bother than its worth. Much more bother.
No ilok. No more kexts. No more kernel panics. No more eventide on Mac :-(
That sucks. That hasn't been my experience with Eventide. There stuff is super solid for me. NEVER ever crashed because of them on ios or desktop. And why I'm not a big fan of ilok I use ilok cloud without any issues 462 licenses.
Eventide, Solid State Logic, Air Music, and more. I own all of there desktop plugins I use omnipresser and the H910 on nearly every track. (these are secret weapons so keep this on the down low🤫) I wish Sound Toys, Ohmforce, GeForce, and U-HE would do some ios stuff. Top notch as well. I can only dream😴
It would be nice to see free amp on ios.