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.

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

Which Looks More Promising To You: AR (Augmented Reality) or VR (Virtual Reality)?

At some point, possibly in the near future, Apple is expected to unveil what is unofficially called "Apple Glasses". These "glasses" are rumored to fit and look like standard eyeglasses or sunglasses and will provide a layer of information on top of reality, making them "augmented reality" glasses. They supposedly will not completely obscure one's view of the surroundings.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Meta's virtual reality headset which is bulky, can cause tiredness and dizziness and has a limited range.

What is your opinion of where this is all headed?

Comments

  • I'll stick to my regular prescription glasses, lol.

  • @jwmmakerofmusic said:
    I'll stick to my regular prescription glasses, lol.

    Ha! As the rumors tell it, if you currently wear prescription glasses you would get a prescription version of the Apple Glasses. I'm not sure how the Oculus product works with glasses wearers.

  • Both are suitable for different things. AR will at some point be great for productivity and creation, and some entertainment, while VR is far more suitable for fully immersive entertainment - I love driving games in vive with a wheel, just a full world of difference to any other game experience, and elite dangerous, or other flying/space stuff is equally great, if you’ve got the stomach/ability to disconnect your inner ear from your vision - I’m pretty good for an hour or two, which is more than enough anyway, we did longer sessions of work on a VR project this year.

    We found quest headsets remarkably productive; gravity sketch used remotely allowed us to both create our asset base and prototype the locations for the VR film/experience we made. Madness considering the low price of entry…

    I think Apple will probably dominate the high end market, I can’t wait for a client to buy me a set, but I think quest or some other low cost headset will be the way it goes for the masses…

    Eventually headsets will be both, adapting to the content and use case as they need to.

  • Augmented or virtual, reality sucks anyway.

  • Firmly augmented reality here. I can imagine so, so many applications for it, both practical and entertainment-wise. The mind boggles.

    VR isn't a pleasant experience at all for me. I could sort of get used to it for games and maybe highly detailed virtual tours, etc. But the overall experience, and the cheesy quality of what I've seen so far just doesn't excite me.

  • @wim said:
    Firmly augmented reality here. I can imagine so, so many applications for it, both practical and entertainment-wise. The mind boggles.

    VR isn't a pleasant experience at all for me. I could sort of get used to it for games and maybe highly detailed virtual tours, etc. But the overall experience, and the cheesy quality of what I've seen so far just doesn't excite me.

    I'm in the same camp. Attempting to duplicate or exceed "reality" is beyond the capabilities of nearly all affordable hardware at this time. Perhaps in another 10 years systems won't groan and creak at the attempt and it will become just another means of interfacing with the world, but in the near term AR makes a lot more sense.

  • AR is already here and on your phone in your pocket. Google's initial attempt with glasses failed because they didn't target it properly at the use cases where its useful.
    Apple need to focus on:

    i) Visual Siri
    Searches enhanced by visual input.
    What's that tree? Where can I get a lamp like that?

    ii) Task assistance
    Provide task (app) specific visual assistance as requested by a user.
    i.e. fighter pilots have benefitted from this for decades.
    Useful in industrial settings (where I think Google took its glasses next) and for specific user initiated tasks. Translation, conversion, measurement, navigation, etc...

    For Google things got way more creepy when the glasses were used as a camera, and Apple need to avoid adding in advertising or other Apple curated points of interest to clutter the field of vision.

    I'm pretty sure Apple will learn from Google's initial attempt, and yeah their product will cost a fortune!

  • And for beginner piano players, AR could be useful to help with notes and fingering, particularly as a student tends to look at the keys, and piano keybeds are very standardised in appearance, so can't be hard!

  • @belldu said:
    And for beginner piano players, AR could be useful to help with notes and fingering, particularly as a student tends to look at the keys, and piano keybeds are very standardised in appearance, so can't be hard!

    That is an excellent suggestion and one which would be uniquely suited to AR glasses.

  • AR. I like the potential of VR but the bulky setup means we'd rather wear cool sunglasses than be in a pinata hitting contest.

  • VR in my experience is better suited for individual entertainment. With AR, as others have mentioned, the use cases are far more varied and less closed off.
    I know there are multiplayer VR games on Steam and that there have been attempts at using VR headsets in theme parks and in dedicated environments. I enjoy riding roller coasters and playing No Man's Sky and Skyrim in VR and those moments when you can forget about the headset and experience "presence" are magic. Unfortunately for many people VR is too big of an investment and more hassle than they want to deal with.
    If someone can eventually offer a comfortable set of AR glasses that can overlay useful information over reality with a battery life that doesn't suck, AR will be huge.

  • It isn’t an either/or situation in my opinion.

    VR for a lot of people is great for gaming and entertainment. It is useful for certain kinds of simulations for training — where an immersive experience is needed/desired.

    A/R has different applications.

    I imagine both technologies will be pretty commonplace at some point for what they are good at.

  • I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

  • @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

  • edited November 2022

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

  • @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind! 😊

  • edited November 2022

    @NeuM said:
    For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Great "what if" scenario, but most people really just use it to locate a bottle shop or KMart... :smiley:

    But, yes, it "could save lives". Still don't want it.

  • edited November 2022

    @rs2000 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind!

    Does that use case (and most other use cases listed in the topic) assume you want to wear/carry glasses all the time, in any weather etc.? If so, I think that's a rather strong assumption. Just ask people who have to wear glasses :)

  • Still awaiting a holodeck. Till then I think AR has more potential

  • @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind!

    Does that use case (and most other use cases listed in the topic) assume you want to wear/carry glasses all the time, in any weather etc.? If so, I think that's a rather strong assumption. Just ask people who have to wear glasses :)

    Why? I'd only wear them when I need them.

  • What will be amazing is when VR headsets can be reduced to the size of a pair of glasses. They will continue to get thinner over time, given the necessary investment. VR is a much more enticing prospect than AR, but the two can be combined in one device. We're in the very rudimentary stage of that now with the passthrough mode in the Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets, which over time (again!) should reach the point where the image has full colour, natural resolution and depth.

  • Who here remembers watching The Lawnmower Man around ‘92 or ‘93?
    (The film, not the short adaptation on the Steven King novel.)

  • @Blipsford_Baubie said:
    Who here remembers watching The Lawnmower Man around ‘92 or ‘93?
    (The film, not the short adaptation on the Steven King novel.)

    Saw it in the theater. The computer animation was a bit disappointing, but I still liked the movie overall.

  • @rs2000 said:

    @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind!

    Does that use case (and most other use cases listed in the topic) assume you want to wear/carry glasses all the time, in any weather etc.? If so, I think that's a rather strong assumption. Just ask people who have to wear glasses :)

    Why? I'd only wear them when I need them.

    In that case, would you carry them around in your back pocket, like people do with a phone today? Not practical with a pair of glasses. Or will people start walking around with bags again? Why even carry around another item when you already have your phone with you and will probably be able to use it for AR as well?

  • @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind!

    Does that use case (and most other use cases listed in the topic) assume you want to wear/carry glasses all the time, in any weather etc.? If so, I think that's a rather strong assumption. Just ask people who have to wear glasses :)

    Why? I'd only wear them when I need them.

    In that case, would you carry them around in your back pocket, like people do with a phone today? Not practical with a pair of glasses. Or will people start walking around with bags again? Why even carry around another item when you already have your phone with you and will probably be able to use it for AR as well?

    Presumably the lens glass would allow a person to turn off the display... but this is all speculation anyway. No product has been announced even though there is plenty of evidence they have been working on this product.

  • @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @ervin said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @NeuM said:

    @rs2000 said:

    @Simon said:
    I don't want either. I'll stick to "reality" reality. :smiley:

    Real reality is great indeed but I'm one of the strangers who tend to use the iPhone from time to time, often in situations where I'd prefer to have both hands free for other things to do.
    AR might help if it's customizable deep enough.

    Right. For example, if you had a map overlay of your surroundings with instructions how to get to the nearest hospital in an unfamiliar city in case of an emergency.

    Navigation is exactly the first application I had in mind!

    Does that use case (and most other use cases listed in the topic) assume you want to wear/carry glasses all the time, in any weather etc.? If so, I think that's a rather strong assumption. Just ask people who have to wear glasses :)

    Why? I'd only wear them when I need them.

    In that case, would you carry them around in your back pocket, like people do with a phone today? Not practical with a pair of glasses. Or will people start walking around with bags again? Why even carry around another item when you already have your phone with you and will probably be able to use it for AR as well?

    You're right, a small snap-on device to wear with any kind of glasses would make much more sense.

  • Plain Old is the one I’ll be sticking with.

  • @Blipsford_Baubie said:
    Who here remembers watching The Lawnmower Man around ‘92 or ‘93?
    (The film, not the short adaptation on the Steven King novel.)

    Sure, saw it in the cinema back then.
    We thought VR was right around the corner. 😄

  • @LarsDaniel said:

    @Blipsford_Baubie said:
    Who here remembers watching The Lawnmower Man around ‘92 or ‘93?
    (The film, not the short adaptation on the Steven King novel.)

    Sure, saw it in the cinema back then.
    We thought VR was right around the corner. 😄

    It was right around the corner, but the corner turned out to be somewhat lacking.

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