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.
To developers making ipad only apps
I am not a developer so i really dont know how difficult it is to do this but if it is not that difficult, to pls make your apps iphone compatible instead of ipad only. im sure there must be marketing reports that show ipad users are where the bang for your buck is but from my perspetive, iphone users should be too. Lemme explain, i used to have a decent home studio, 1/2 ince reel to reel (where no digital will ever be able to emulate), pro tools, ableton, hardware mixer, expensive ass preamps and compressors like ua 1176 (digital plug in is shit compared to actual one) and an mpc but due to my budget had to let it all go. once i get more money, i will rebuild a similar set up. in meantime, i discovered wonderul world of ios music making apps. in addition to cheaper costs, i found the portability to be very helpful to my creativity. in fact, even when im at home i am still used to makin music on my phone since im so damiliar with it. now if i have a $1000 to spend, truthfully i personally would get a nice laptop and bootleg copy of ableton or protools (just being honest. im sure youve all downloaded illegal mp3s, well as a musician toushe') that have features that have much better sound quality, stability and features. But i think i will always use my iphone on some level and buy apps that are made for iphone. if i do end up getting an ipad mini or have EXTRA cash for actual ipad, i will want to support the developers who made apps on my little iphone while i was broke since it allowed me to stay creative.
to all you devs that make these revolutionary apps for iphone, on behalf of all the broke musicians in the world, thank you!
Comments
The iPad definitely is where the money is at for music app developers, so I don't blame some devs for focusing on just that. That said, I've owned iPhones and iPod touches over the years, and it's definitely convenient to be able to use the same apps on those that I use on my iPad.
I've lost count of the times I've been somewhere without my iPad and had time to kill, so I pulled out my iPod/iPhone and my headphones and worked on an Animoog preset or a track in BeatMaker 2. It's for this very reason that I tend to only buy universal apps, or apps that offer both iPhone and iPad versions. I use Dropbox to keep my samples, presets and projects synced between devices, so I can continue working on things regardless of which device I have with me.
Right now I own a 4th gen iPad and a 5th gen iPod touch, and being able to use the same apps on both is fantastic. That said, I know most people don't have this kind of workflow, so I understand why app devs focus on the iPad. But, I am far more likely to buy a universal app than an iPad only one.
iPad's are more powerful than iPhone's are (google specs). Between that, screensize and the fact that some devs only own iPad and not iPhone, it's no surprise to me that a lot of apps are iPad only. If size was the only difference I'm sure you'd have these things for your iPhone as well.
@gjcyrus- "now if i have a $1000 to spend, truthfully i personally would get a nice laptop and bootleg copy of ableton or protools (just being honest. im sure youve all downloaded illegal mp3s, well as a musician toushe')"
So what's to stop you from stealing apps?
It's bad enough talking about stealing desktop software, but stating that you plan on doing it in the future?!?
I call BS...
while i have an iphone and iPad i must say that i appreciate and prefer to work with dedicated iPad apps.Good example is Beatmaker,it's nice to have it universal but it means that it stil feels more like an iphone app even on an iPad.Not really intuitive on the bigger screen.And i hate this little quirks of that.Something like Cubasis or Auria wouldn't be possible without a totally rewritten GUI.It just doesnt make sense in a lot of cases.Cubasis has an amazing"one window"operation.Nothing is more then one click away and the edit screen stays always visible.How could they do it oniPhone?
Have to say that i like Beatmaker on my phone,the GUI makes totally sense there.And i prefer to use some iPhone apps on my iPad because of the bigger knobs.Magellan for example (and i own both versions for iPad/iPhone).
@Ryan: iPads aren't necessarily more powerful than iPhones. The iPhone 5 and 4th gen iPad both use the same A6 CPU. The only difference is the iPad A6 is clocked slightly higher (and includes beefier graphics, but that has no effect on music apps).
The iPad mini uses the same A5 chip as the iPhone 4S and the current iPod touch.
That said, I do prefer to use music apps on my iPad, because the bigger screen does provide a better music composition experience.
I have an iPad mini and an iPhone 4S. I much prefer working on the iPad, the bigger screen makes so much difference, particularly for anything with a keyboard. I'm all for universal apps though
@dubhaus - because i am an idiot and have no idea on how to even steal apps (is that possible?) But i am okay paying $5 for a great tool, $500, sorry. As a musician who is now used to idea that songs will no longer be valued the way they once were thanks to technology, time for new biz models. I'd be happy to have a Pizza hut banner on the side of my pro tools setup.
Is that the part you were calling me out on BS?
I just find it distasteful to even hint at an intention to used pirated software.
Maybe i was reading to far into it, but I called BS because you obviously have no problem paying for hardware, given your previous gear list.
It's the software you'd rather not pay for. And demand the most from, oddly enough.
I am just being completely honest. Pls dont shoot the messenger. Unless you or anybody here has never, ever watched a pirated movie (yes youtube counts), illegal mp3, Microsoft word, etc, we're all guilty. If you want to get really technical about it, if you so much as made a cassette copy of a recording back in the day, you just ripped off some producer, distributor, publisher, and of course the artist. But this is the new economy and these are the new rules. Bootlegging is rampant in China but if youve got filmmaking talent or great music, you can gain fame in a few days because of this new model. Netscape became a powerful competitor to Microsoft because they gave it away for free.
Sorry for the long rant but to accuse me of bad taste is being a little naive. I'm guessing there are many ppl here who are just like me but all I'm doing is letting the devs know whats up. If I have a business, I would rather hear the harsh realities and work within that system rather
than staying oblivious in lalaland and not having a viable business model. It's like listening to a indie band/artist complaining that people should pay for their music. Aint gonna happen. Better to earn revenue from touring and other creative ways.
Anyways to end on a positive note, if i'm doing better financially, i will gladly pay $1000 for great software. How many people here who make decent cash have paid for an indie album where the band members are probably washing your dishes, cooking your food, cleaning your shit? Cuz that's what many of my good, talented friends are doing.
@haunted You are right. My point is that developers can't assume that everyone has the newest device and in general iPads are more powerful. Designing you're app for only iPad cuts out a lot of that problem. Even Audiobus has had it's issues with that as people with iPhone3 and iPods were buying it and getting pissed off. Developers don't have control over the compatible device list that appears on the appstore. That's why when you view AB in the store it has a big button on the screen shot with the REAL recommended devices. :-)
I move back and forth between iPad and iPod Touch a lot. Yes, the iPad screen is better, but it doesn't fit in my jacket pocket or come with me to work. I prefer universal apps -- when there are two versions, the iPhone-sized version often lags behind in updates -- but I understand that it's more work to maintain two or three UIs, and that work needs to be paid for somehow.
gjcyrus: You say "I am just being completely honest" as if that were some kind of excuse for stealing. The thief who stole something from your studio would still be a thief. Even if he got away with it, and even if his friends were doing the same thing, I doubt you would call him an "honest" person.
In a lot of ways I think BM2 would benefit from seperate versions, as someone earlier said- the iPad interface suffers as a result of it being universal.
I also love having the option of using it on the iPhone, but there is no reason they couldn't still be compatible.