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 Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Random MacOS questions from a Windows user

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Comments

  • tjatja
    edited February 2022

    Apple is killing me.

    After some more file syncing to OneDrive and cleaning up afterwards - including deleting those strange snapshots, it looks like this:

    Yes 574 GB from 494 GB are available!!!
    Yes, on a 500 GB drive.

    And while over 400 GB are used by "Other Users".

    This get's confirmed here:

    436 GB used by other users.

  • But it does not end there:

    Yes, there are still 74 GB purgeable - but there are no snapshots anymore!

    How to purge this now?!?

    What can I say ...

  • I'm not sure I'd trust a system that can't even calculate its free disk space, but then again, you've probably "butchered" it so throroughly with your "common sense experiments" that it doesn't even remember it HAS a disk 😂

  • tjatja
    edited February 2022

    @SevenSystems said:
    I'm not sure I'd trust a system that can't even calculate its free disk space, but then again, you've probably "butchered" it so throroughly with your "common sense experiments" that it doesn't even remember it HAS a disk 😂

    hehehe

    Really, not in this case!

    I was just syncing stuff to and from OneDrive.

    But I found part of the problem:

    (base) tja@mini:/Volumes/XTRMQ$ ls -ald OneDrive*/OneDrive
    lrwxr-xr-x   1 tja  staff   49 Feb 26 23:54 OneDriveTB6/OneDrive@ -> /Users/tb6/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal
    drwx------@ 15 tja  staff  480 Feb 27 10:44 OneDriveTB4/OneDrive/
    lrwxr-xr-x   1 tja  staff   49 Feb 27 15:22 OneDriveTB2/OneDrive@ -> /Users/tb2/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal
    

    Those two with the SymLink also have the new cache directory:

    (base) tja@mini:/Volumes/XTRMQ$ ls -ald OneDrive*/.OD*
    drwxrwxrwx  4 tja  staff  128 Feb 26 23:54 OneDriveTB6/.ODContainer-OneDrive/
    drwxrwxrwx  4 tja  staff  128 Feb 27 15:22 OneDriveTB2/.ODContainer-OneDrive/
    

    So, while two of the accounts have the new SymLink method for the OneDrive Sync Location, one account looks old-style!

    Buttttt ...

    The other, while without SymLink and without cache directory, may look like an older OneDrive installation - like my my main account - but it still has the new-style sync location:

    (base) tja@mini:/Users$ ls -ald */Library/CloudStorage
    drwxr-xr-x+ 4 tb6  staff  128 Feb 26 23:56 tb6/Library/CloudStorage/
    

    And yes, there is even content!

    tb4@mini CloudStorage % du -ks OneDrive-Personal
    59548336    OneDrive-Personal
    

    I can only assume that this is the "purgeable" content.

    Will need to remove this account.

    Not that this will be of interest for many, but I still wanted to document this :-)

  • @tja said:
    But it does not end there:

    Yes, there are still 74 GB purgeable - but there are no snapshots anymore!

    How to purge this now?!?

    What can I say ...

    Disk Utility.app is, as far as I know, a GUI around diskutil. You might be able to get more real info out of directly using diskutil.

    Some of what is considered purgeable is files that can be recovered from other storage. Like iCloud files that are currently held locally but are really supposed to be local for caching only. Some media stuff like movies can fall into this area too. It could be from OneDrive, maybe. I think some of the Xcode builds can end up being counted as purgeable too. I do sometimes need to go and manually blow away the build files from inactive projects to regain space. They most likely are in ~/Library /Developer/Xcode/DerivedData.

  • tjatja
    edited February 2022

    Thanks @NeonSilicon

    After deleting the user and the new snapshot that got created:

    (base) tja@mini:~$ df -h /Users
    Filesystem     Size   Used  Avail Capacity iused      ifree %iused  Mounted on
    /dev/disk3s5  460Gi   91Gi  353Gi    21% 1341020 3703643680    0%   /System/Volumes/Data
    

    Back to 21% :smile:

    My bigger staff sits there:

    (base) tja@mini:~$ df -h /Volumes/XTRMQ
    Filesystem     Size   Used  Avail Capacity iused      ifree %iused  Mounted on
    /dev/disk7s1  1.8Ti  1.2Ti  677Gi    64% 2468232 7104012720    0%   /Volumes/XTRMQ
    

    Will later try again and check if the user get's a proper new OneDrive configuration with SymLinked Sync Location and Cache Directory.

    Hopefully it is not a problem that my main account is not migrated to this new concept for OneDrive.

  • It does not work.
    OneDrive seems to be buggy with this new Sync Location / SymLink / Cache method.

    I have no energy left to post the details.

    I may try to contact Onedrive support.

  • You are all making my head spin… I don’t want to use Linux anymore for daily computing and definitely not for music, that was a disaster (a first world type disaster of course) for me.

    Anyway, I just want the OS to stay out of the way of making music. My only window management wish is that the OS would remember how different windows of apps were open on certain desktops on last close- I like my logic mixer on a different space than the edit window, and sometimes on a separate screen when I can. I have to do it manually every time I open a project, although I have the main logic window set to always open on desktop 2. Still, in the grand scheme, it’s not terribly hard to do manually.

    With better touch tool, which is really handy, there is a shortcut where you drag the window to the top of a desktop and it automatically fills that desktop- that is something I really miss when working on a Mac that isn’t mine.

    The speakerfood apps have been enormously helpful in logic as well.

  • @mrufino1 In my experience, macOS was not good in remembering windows and desktops.
    My two monitors have not the same speed when connecting, and macOS seems to each time believe that there is only one monitor at first and switches all windows in a messy way.
    When the second monitor connects, macOS partly switches windows back - but terminal windows or Safari windows and other Apps are messy after that.
    Apple is trying to be "intelligent" here, but such automatisms never work well.
    The OS should be able to see the monitors early and just do what it did last time.
    To be honest it would be fine for me to do always the same - even if indeed one monitor was missing.
    In this case I would need to clean things up and reconfigure the setting.

  • @tja said:
    @mrufino1 In my experience, macOS was not good in remembering windows and desktops.
    My two monitors have not the same speed when connecting, and macOS seems to each time believe that there is only one monitor at first and switches all windows in a messy way.
    When the second monitor connects, macOS partly switches windows back - but terminal windows or Safari windows and other Apps are messy after that.
    Apple is trying to be "intelligent" here, but such automatisms never work well.
    The OS should be able to see the monitors early and just do what it did last time.
    To be honest it would be fine for me to do always the same - even if indeed one monitor was missing.
    In this case I would need to clean things up and reconfigure the setting.

    While I agree that macOS window management could be improved, part of what you are seeing might be because the OS provides an API for applications to remember their window states and how and what to do with this is up to the application. In my old MIDI control I would grab the window location for each saved MIDI controller document. So, what happened with the window location when the app was brought up or screens changed depended on the documents that were opened.

  • I tested Alacritty as alternative to kitty or iTerm (or Apple Terminal) and noticed something great.

    While Alacritty is a pure horror in regards to it's configuration file and default configuration, it offers something apparently unique on macOS:

    Opening mulitple instances shows each of them as single instance in the Dock!

    This means, that you can click any of them and get them to the front, whatever other App is currently in there.
    It does NOT pop all of it's windows to the front, as usual on macOS.

    This allows for the flexibility from Windows, without needing to arrange Apps in MIssion Control and different Desktops.

    So, it IS possible to do this on macOS!

    Mabye there is even a way to configure this for all Apps - which would be heaven.

  • tjatja
    edited November 2022

    The longer I use iOS / iPadOS and now macOS, the more I think that Apple has lots of serious quality issues.

    Small things like that BlueTooth is always re-enabled after an OS update, or that updating Apps in the App Store on iDevices disables the way to rate the Apps after all are updated and you need to press "done" and then re-open the list to rate the Apps, or the fact that an iPadOS update results in asking for the password, but simply never offers the keyboard to enter it.
    You need to press the power button, press it again and only then can enter the passwords ...

    But it shows in numerous moments.

    Right now, I needed to use rsync on a not-so-stable network volume ....

    Apple's rsync constantly stops working with messages like this:

    rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at /AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/a0876c02-1788-11ed-b9c4-96898e02b808/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/rsync/rsync/receiver.c(674) [receiver=2.6.9]
    rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (4433904 bytes received so far) [generator]
    rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/a0876c02-1788-11ed-b9c4-96898e02b808/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/rsync/rsync/io.c(453) [generator=2.6.9]
    rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (1086 bytes received so far) [sender]
    rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /AppleInternal/Library/BuildRoots/a0876c02-1788-11ed-b9c4-96898e02b808/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/rsync/rsync/io.c(453) [sender=2.6.9]

    I finally issued "sudo port install rsync" and tried the same with the binary from "MacPorts" ...

    And Bammm, no problems anymore!

  • I have 4 FLAC files in the following format:

    file.flac.z01
    file.flac.z02
    file.flac.z03
    file.flac.zip

    And I have no idea how to unpack this on macOS.

    I tried "cat" in two different orders (*.zip first and *.zip last) to create a new file.flac.zip file from all 4 parts, but that did not work.

    Any idea?

  • cat file.flac.zip file.flac.z01 file.flac.z02 file.flac.z03 > fullfile.zip ; unzip fullfile.zip

    Doesn't work?

  • @SevenSystems said:
    cat file.flac.zip file.flac.z01 file.flac.z02 file.flac.z03 > fullfile.zip ; unzip fullfile.zip

    Doesn't work?

    Nope, as I wrote, I tried both directions, with the *.zip first or last.

    With your sequence:

    unzip -l file.zip
    Archive:  file.zip
      End-of-central-directory signature not found.  Either this file is not
      a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive.  In the
      latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
      the last disk(s) of this archive.
    unzip:  cannot find zipfile directory in one of file.zip or
            file.zip.zip, and cannot find file.zip.ZIP, period.
    

    And with the *.zip as last file:

    unzip -l file.zip
    Archive:  file.zip
    warning [file.zip]:  zipfile claims to be last disk of a multi-part archive;
      attempting to process anyway, assuming all parts have been concatenated
      together in order.  Expect "errors" and warnings...true multi-part support
      doesn't exist yet (coming soon).
    warning [file.zip]:  1572864000 extra bytes at beginning or within zipfile
      (attempting to process anyway)
      Length      Date    Time    Name
    
  • Trying to extract the last version gives lots of those:

    file #22:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  13941955
      (attempting to re-compensate)
    file #22:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  13941955
    file #23:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  1626627714
    file #24:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  1665319869
    file #25:  bad zipfile offset (local header sig):  1702689491
    file #26:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1735974912
    file #27:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1767587840
    file #28:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1798021120
    file #29:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1825333248
    file #30:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1851523072
    file #31:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1872363520
    file #32:  bad zipfile offset (lseek):  1890926592
    
  • tjatja
    edited November 2022

    Hmm. Maybe just parts of the files are bad ...
    I will try to find them again and repeat the process :-)

    If using "cat" is the right way to handle this, it can only be a bad file.

    Thanks for your attention :)

    EDIT: At least one of the files is broken ... I found another source :)

  • edited December 2022

    This should be something for you, @tja

    The below, BLOCKING dialog appears EVERY SINGLE TIME that you pull the lightning cable from your device while you're debugging your app on it. It is SO blocking that it ALSO INDEFINITELY BLOCKS a computer shutdown! (when you click "Try again", it'll just immediately reappear).

    (further info: The fact that you unplug your device during debugging is completely unimportant. Well, unplugging it unfortunately kills the app instead of just detaching the debugger, which is stupid in its own right. But in any case, you just literally unplugged the cable and your app disappeared from the iPad screen, so a DOUBLY BLOCKING DIALOG telling you that this just happened is just completely ridiculous.)

  • @SevenSystems said:
    This should be something for you, @tja

    The below, BLOCKING dialog appears EVERY SINGLE TIME that you pull the lightning cable from your device while you're debugging your app on it. It is SO blocking that it ALSO INDEFINITELY BLOCKS a computer shutdown! (when you click "Try again", it'll just immediately reappear).

    (further info: The fact that you unplug your device during debugging is completely unimportant. Well, unplugging it unfortunately kills the app instead of just detaching the debugger, which is stupid in its own right. But in any case, you just literally unplugged the cable and your app disappeared from the iPad screen, so a DOUBLY BLOCKING DIALOG telling you that this just happened is just completely ridiculous.)

    Great 😅

    You can do this over WiFi.

    This should also prevent the problems with the cable.

    Cannot remember where to configure this - somewhere in Xcode...

  • @tja said:
    I tested Alacritty as alternative to kitty or iTerm (or Apple Terminal) and noticed something great.

    While Alacritty is a pure horror in regards to it's configuration file and default configuration, it offers something apparently unique on macOS:

    Opening mulitple instances shows each of them as single instance in the Dock!

    This means, that you can click any of them and get them to the front, whatever other App is currently in there.
    It does NOT pop all of it's windows to the front, as usual on macOS.

    This allows for the flexibility from Windows, without needing to arrange Apps in MIssion Control and different Desktops.

    So, it IS possible to do this on macOS!

    Mabye there is even a way to configure this for all Apps - which would be heaven.

    I've tried numerous alternative terminal apps but came back to the native one. Apple have silently added a few nice features over the years and it's not too bad now.
    I found "New window with profile" (with slightly different colors, just enough to separate the windows from each other), saving window sets, renaming tabs and switching tabs using keyboard shortcuts to be good enough for regular work. Everything else is done by aliases and scripts. I only have to remember closing unneeded windows and tabs 😉

    Anyway:
    open -n -a Terminal.app
    (And you will want window sets!)

  • @tja said:

    @SevenSystems said:
    This should be something for you, @tja

    The below, BLOCKING dialog appears EVERY SINGLE TIME that you pull the lightning cable from your device while you're debugging your app on it. It is SO blocking that it ALSO INDEFINITELY BLOCKS a computer shutdown! (when you click "Try again", it'll just immediately reappear).

    (further info: The fact that you unplug your device during debugging is completely unimportant. Well, unplugging it unfortunately kills the app instead of just detaching the debugger, which is stupid in its own right. But in any case, you just literally unplugged the cable and your app disappeared from the iPad screen, so a DOUBLY BLOCKING DIALOG telling you that this just happened is just completely ridiculous.)

    Great 😅

    You can do this over WiFi.

    Tried it back then, but it was a bit unstable and, above all, much slower than over cable... but I might try again!

  • tjatja
    edited January 2023

    I'm back with a new experience :-D

    I wanted to open some files from my Downloads folder, just to check what they are about.

    To my surprise, Lumafusion got started and seemingly imported the file - not even showing it.

    I closed Lumafusion and searched around in the right-mouse menu for some option to open the file with VLC and found it.
    Good.

    Next file... Lumafusion got started again.

    So, I tried some keyboard buttons while using the right-mouse menu and found "Always open in ..."
    Great! I thought ...

    Next file... Lumafusion opens again.

    :-O

    As it seems, this ONLY changes for ONE file!
    Why?!?
    Who would open 1.m4v with one Application and 2.m4v with an different Application?!?
    Normal would be one file type -> one application

    This time, I had enough and just moved all the remaining video files to my cloud storage and started to google for a solution.
    I found one: Right-click on one of the fles, use "Get Info" and and change the "Open With" entry.

    Why?!?

    I wanted to change this in general - this way, I first need to find at least one file of any type and change this!
    What if I cannot find a *.mov file - at the next occusion, Lumafusion would start again!

    So stupid again from Apple, I thought and did what Google recommended.
    No.

    I tried!

    Of course, it did not work.

    As it seems, such a configuration not only needs an actual file to change the linking between file type and application to be started, noooooo - this also cannot be a file "somewhere"!
    I needed to first copy back one file from each type to my Downloads folder - and THEN I could change this!

    And now tell me, that Apple has ANY clue about computers and conventience!
    They DONT!

    And in general, how did Lumafusion changed this setting for seemingly any and all video formats?
    Why can't I change this globally and generally?

  • @tja said:
    I have 4 FLAC files in the following format:

    file.flac.z01
    file.flac.z02
    file.flac.z03
    file.flac.zip

    And I have no idea how to unpack this on macOS.

    I tried "cat" in two different orders (*.zip first and *.zip last) to create a new file.flac.zip file from all 4 parts, but that did not work.

    Any idea?

    If you don’t already have it installed, The Unarchiver is a really useful app for unpacking various types of compressed files.

  • @michael_m said:

    @tja said:
    I have 4 FLAC files in the following format:

    file.flac.z01
    file.flac.z02
    file.flac.z03
    file.flac.zip

    And I have no idea how to unpack this on macOS.

    I tried "cat" in two different orders (*.zip first and *.zip last) to create a new file.flac.zip file from all 4 parts, but that did not work.

    Any idea?

    If you don’t already have it installed, The Unarchiver is a really useful app for unpacking various types of compressed files.

    Thanks, I finally found that at least one of the archives was bad, but I found another source and could uncompress them!

    I installed The Unarchiver nevertheless, thanks!

  • This entire thread is incredible.

  • @NoncompliantBryant said:
    This entire thread is incredible.

    Yes 😅🤗

  • @tja To always open files with that extension in the same app, make sure you also hit the "Change All..." button.

  • @tja said:
    As it seems, such a configuration not only needs an actual file to change the linking between file type and application to be started, noooooo - this also cannot be a file "somewhere"!
    I needed to first copy back one file from each type to my Downloads folder - and THEN I could change this!

    And now tell me, that Apple has ANY clue about computers and conventience!
    They DONT!

    And in general, how did Lumafusion changed this setting for seemingly any and all video formats?
    Why can't I change this globally and generally?

    defaults write ?

  • @rs2000 said:
    @tja To always open files with that extension in the same app, make sure you also hit the "Change All..." button.

    Yes, but first, you would need to actually find one of the files for any type ... and it cannot be on any type of file system for you to be able to change the default!

    I just wanted to express my disbelieve in what Apple feels is The Right Thing to do ..ßß

  • @cazel said:

    @tja said:
    As it seems, such a configuration not only needs an actual file to change the linking between file type and application to be started, noooooo - this also cannot be a file "somewhere"!
    I needed to first copy back one file from each type to my Downloads folder - and THEN I could change this!

    And now tell me, that Apple has ANY clue about computers and conventience!
    They DONT!

    And in general, how did Lumafusion changed this setting for seemingly any and all video formats?
    Why can't I change this globally and generally?

    defaults write ?

    Ahh, that's a good idea - Google did not offer this ...
    I am going to research!

    Many thanks 🤗

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