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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"Tap to fix" with ICA4+, Apogee Quartet

This discussion was created from comments split from: Audiobus3 update.
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Comments

  • Still not working for me with an Apogee Quartet...

    @nytjadens said:

    the setup...

    iPad 4 / 128 gig
    IOS 10.3.2
    Apogee Quartet
    hardware v 1.0.0
    firmware v 1.2.18
    all music apps current

    I just picked up the Apogee Quartet about a week ago and have been running it with Cubasis 2 to get a feel for it and to work out any issues. Everything was going great so I decided to load up Audiobus 3 and shake things up a bit... no love! I couldn't get Cubasis 2 to load so I went back to Audiobus 2 and tried again. Everything worked as expected. I did a little research on this (SUPER AMAZING) forum and found others were having issues with their interfaces well. One solution I saw was to start Audiobus first then connect the audio interface... this seems to be working for me. Is this issue on a fix list?

    Thank you for an AWESOME app :-)

    Stephen

  • Interesting stuff, @nytjadens: nope that's new to us. I just tried it out with my NI Komplete Audio 6, and everything's working as expected, so I might need to do some more digging. Going to PM you for more deets.

  • @Michael said:
    Interesting stuff, @nytjadens: nope that's new to us. I just tried it out with my NI Komplete Audio 6, and everything's working as expected, so I might need to do some more digging. Going to PM you for more deets.

    That's exactly what happens with the ICA4+. Please do look into it.

  • I just tried the updated AB3 on iPad mini 4, iPhone SE and iPad Pro 12.9". To my surprise it worked perfectly on the mini 4 but the other 2 devices still show tap to fix for everything possible when the ICA4+ is connected. This needs to get fixed.

  • Tried the Pro again and some apps are working now. Tonestack only seems to work when opening it outside AB3 first here. Will need more testing and bug fixing.

  • @Munibeast said:
    Tried the Pro again and some apps are working now. Tonestack only seems to work when opening it outside AB3 first here. Will need more testing and bug fixing.

    Has iconnectivity given any feedback on this? Since they can test it on the their devices too.
    I'm still in the same position as before, most of the time it works fine for me but I do get times when I get the tap to fix on some apps or presets fail to load first time.

  • edited May 2017

    @Carnbot said:

    @Munibeast said:
    Tried the Pro again and some apps are working now. Tonestack only seems to work when opening it outside AB3 first here. Will need more testing and bug fixing.

    Has iconnectivity given any feedback on this? Since they can test it on the their devices too.
    I'm still in the same position as before, most of the time it works fine for me but I do get times when I get the tap to fix on some apps or presets fail to load first time.

    All I got from iConnectivity is this from April 5th:

    Hi Christian, thanks for contacting us.

    I have not used the newest version of audiobus yet so I’ll have to take a look at that. I’ve also sent the info to my manager and firmware developer to take a look at.

    Thanks for the information and we will be looking into it.

    Travis Short
    Support Technician - iConnectivity

  • I also would have expected @nickbatz to have something to say about this. Maybe he doesn't work for them anymore, though.

  • Ah, how annoying, looks like I have the wrong hardware to test this! I just tried it with my Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 and that's working fine too; well, fine for the Scarlett, anyway, with its 0.8s of playthrough latency.

    @Munibeast, @nytjadens, @Carnbot, Is it all Audiobus setups that fail to work with the Quartet and the ICA4+? What about the basic mic to speaker setup? Or with, say, Loopy to speaker? Or is it happening with just certain apps?

  • I've not yet had one app load successfully with iCA4+. I've not been paying much attention to this problem so far as although I'm really enjoying AB3 on my iPhone, lack of AB:Remote means I have to wait for that feature to be ready before I could use it live anyway (and realistically I need a few more apps to optimise for AB3 too).

    Have been sitting tight hoping that one day soon we'll see an update with Audiobus Remote and iCA4+ compatibility, and possibly a few more apps on the new bus by that point too!

  • @OscarSouth, do you have Loopy on your device? If so, would you mind starting it up with the iCA4+ plugged in, and then use the help, contact support feature to send me some diagnostic information? Trying to figure out what it is about that hardware that makes things not work!

  • @Michael said:
    @OscarSouth, do you have Loopy on your device? If so, would you mind starting it up with the iCA4+ plugged in, and then use the help, contact support feature to send me some diagnostic information? Trying to figure out what it is about that hardware that makes things not work!

    Yeah I have it. I'll do that when I get the chance today.

  • edited May 2017

    Here are the results after testing my 5 guitar-FX apps on an iPad Air 1 via AB3 to my iCA4+:
    All tests with INPUT = sys1, the guitar-FX app in the EFFECT slot and OUPUT = System Audio Output
    FX app 1: Flying Haggis: msg = "Tap to launch"; result: no problem (everything works).
    FX app 2: BIAS FX: msg = "Launching" (for 1 second) and then "Tap to launch" and then "Tap to fix" (with Audio error); after tap to fix ("Switch to BIAS FX") BIAS FX loads and everything works ok.
    FX app 3: Tonestack: msg = "Launching" and then "Tap to fix"; after tap to fix ("Switch to Tonestack") AB3 crashes.... (so this doesn't work at all).
    FX app 4: Amplitube Acoustic: msg = "Tap to launch"; result: no problem (everything works).
    FX app 5: Tonebridge: msg = "Tap to launch"; result: no problem (everything works).

    My conclusion: BIAS FX and Tonestack are the only FX apps that give the (first) message: "Launching" - as if they are AB3 compatible and can be 'autolaunched', which they are not!) and these are the apps that are causing problems. So after all I doubt that this has something to do with the iCA4+ (?).

  • For me it's working ok right now with my ICA4 but I do get occasions of non starting apps. Will notice when it occurs again. I'm not using the guitar FX apps at all these days though.

  • @Michael is there any way for me to send this info without needing to configure apple's mail app? I don't use these iPads for any non performance related tasks so I've never set it up

  • Hey Michael. Could you just clarify something me? I've got a scarlet 6i6 which i haven't used with my ipad yet (I've only just started using the ipad for music) and I'm bit disturbed about the 0.8 second play through you mentioned. How come the latency is so bad? I haven't got the cable to hook it up and see. Any info appreciated

  • Thanks for the info, guys. That's frustratingly inconsistent! So, Cubasis 2, BIAS FX and Tonestack are having problems - any other apps? Any others that are AB 3 optimised?

    @OscarSouth Certainly - just copy and paste into the communication system of your choice =)

    @mrcanister - I know depressingly little about this, I'm afraid. It got fixed in iOS 9.3.2 for a short time, then came back at some point later. I bought it to the attention of folks at Apple and Focusrite prior to this, but I must confess I haven't followed up. It can be worked around every time by power-cycling the hardware once it's plugged in, if memory serves, so it's not a show-stopper.

  • @Michael said:
    Thanks for the info, guys. That's frustratingly inconsistent! So, Cubasis 2, BIAS FX and Tonestack are having problems - any other apps? Any others that are AB 3 optimised?

    @OscarSouth Certainly - just copy and paste into the communication system of your choice =)

    @mrcanister - I know depressingly little about this, I'm afraid. It got fixed in iOS 9.3.2 for a short time, then came back at some point later. I bought it to the attention of folks at Apple and Focusrite prior to this, but I must confess I haven't followed up. It can be worked around every time by power-cycling the hardware once it's plugged in, if memory serves, so it's not a show-stopper.

    I'm getting this from all choices:

    I'll set it up sometime and get the feedback over to you, but I've got a hectic schedule on at the minute (I've got a run of 8 concerts in the next 12 days, 4 of them requiring different iOS setups which between now and then I need to create, troubleshoot, and rehearse!) .. so I'm a bit snowed under at the min!

  • Ooh, I see! I didn't realise it wouldn't even show the compose window. Bugger! One alternative approach: connect your device to your desktop via Lightning cable, and use the iOS Console app to capture Loopy's console output

  • Thanks for the info Michael . I'll have to get it hooked up and see what's what. I really don't want to have to buy another sound card! My little mini ipad's struggling so i was coming to terms with shelling out for an upgrade. Can't do both tho. Technology lol. I should just buy an old joanna o_O

  • edited May 2017

    @Harro Some very interesting observations there. Tonestack launching into the background makes sense because it is actually using the AB 3 SDK (it's just that Yonac have forgotten to go live with their latest version on our registry to broadcast that fact, but I can see in our database that it's indeed AB 3 optimised). BIAS FX though isn't at all, so I don't understand why it's trying to launch it into the background.

    Just tried BIAS FX here and it's just showing "Tap to Launch" as expected. Would you mind trying again? Was it already running in the background, perhaps?

    Tonestack also seems to be working as expected with both the Scarlett and the Komplete Audio 6...So, I guess there's still something funny going on with the iCA4+

  • @mrcanister I know, right! What's wrong with a stick with bottle caps nailed to it, honestly, kids these days =D

  • i'm still getting tap to fix on the occasional midiflow app like randomiser.....
    and Patterning sometimes...

  • @Michael said:
    @Harro Some very interesting observations there. Tonestack launching into the background makes sense because it is actually using the AB 3 SDK (it's just that Yonac have forgotten to go live with their latest version on our registry to broadcast that fact, but I can see in our database that it's indeed AB 3 optimised). BIAS FX though isn't at all, so I don't understand why it's trying to launch it into the background.

    Just tried BIAS FX here and it's just showing "Tap to Launch" as expected. Would you mind trying again? Was it already running in the background, perhaps?

    Tonestack also seems to be working as expected with both the Scarlett and the Komplete Audio 6...So, I guess there's still something funny going on with the iCA4+

    Hello @Michael, I tried another setup and maybe that helps finding clues: now I put the resp. guitar-FX apps in the INPUT slot (and nothing in the EFFECT slot):
    1. BIAS FX gives msg "Tap to launch" and loads ok and there's automatically an OUTPUT with the small loudspeaker icon (!); everything ok.
    2. Tonestack gives msg "Launching" and loads ok and (idem) there's automatically an OUTPUT with the small loudspeaker icon (!); everything ok.
    3. Amplitube Acoustic gives msg "Tap to launch", but there is not automatically an OUTPUT (no small loudspeaker icon); but it works ok when I choose "System Audio Output" for the OUTPUT slot (with the BIG loudspeaker icon) .
    (4. and 5. Flying Haggis and Tonebridge don't show up in the AB3 INPUT list (who knows why), so that's a no go)

    NB. In my previous setup when the FX apps where in the EFFECT slot, the OUTPUT slot was never 'automatically' filled with the default OUTPUT port.... Maybe there's something missing?

    All in all rather complicated stuff and not very reliable, but I have noted the ways that work!

  • Cheers for the update, @Harro - I'm going to play with this on my end, see if I can reproduce it

  • @mrcanister said:
    Hey Michael. Could you just clarify something me? I've got a scarlet 6i6 which i haven't used with my ipad yet (I've only just started using the ipad for music) and I'm bit disturbed about the 0.8 second play through you mentioned. How come the latency is so bad? I haven't got the cable to hook it up and see. Any info appreciated

    @Michael said:

    @mrcanister - I know depressingly little about this, I'm afraid. It got fixed in iOS 9.3.2 for a short time, then came back at some point later. I bought it to the attention of folks at Apple and Focusrite prior to this, but I must confess I haven't followed up. It can be worked around every time by power-cycling the hardware once it's plugged in, if memory serves, so it's not a show-stopper.

    This seems to be an issue with some of the Focusrite interfaces on iOS... when you first plug it in, the latency is awful - but you can simply plug any 1/8" cable into the iPad headphone socket, then unplug it again, and that usually fixes it. Certainly for me!

  • Been getting some issues starting the midiflow or other midi filter apps on a preset recall when connected to ica4 just now again. Although it's not only when connected, if I disconnect it has a similar issue but with less apps sometimes. I did a reset before trying. Resetting a second time and they all started ok....

  • @Harro, I know it's not a permanent solution, but out of curiosity, what happens if you reboot your iPad, then try those scenarios that were causing problems?

  • Plug unplug. Well that's not too much of a hassle but still is one. hehe. I like Focusrite/Novation as a company and I do like the soundcard, so I'll have to put up with its quirks. My setups is an electribe and an ipad, no need for a card at mo. I'm too lazy to rec stuff. Thanks for the tip

  • @Michael said:
    @Harro, I know it's not a permanent solution, but out of curiosity, what happens if you reboot your iPad, then try those scenarios that were causing problems?

    The problem scenarios were BIAS FX and Tonestack as EFFECT with a iCA4+ system-port (I use sys 1) as INPUT.
    After rebooting the iPad:

    • BIAS FX gives msg "Tap to launch" and loads and shows the AB3 controlbar and works fine.
    • Tonestack gives msg "Launching" and then "Tap to fix" and after tapping Tonestack loads, but doesn't show the AB3 controlbar; after manually switching back to AB3 it gives (again) msg "Launching" and Tonestack loads in AB3 and works fine.

    NB.
    Is it by design that when I choose a system input for INPUT (in my case sys 1 from the iCA4+) that the 'default' OUTPUT port is NOT automaticaly choosen by AB3 (showing the small loudspeaker icon)?

    Also I noticed a small bug: On the MIDI page of AB3 a (abreviated) port name and the midi channel number are shown on the midi INPUT icon, but on the AUDIO page the icon for a system input port shows nothing (should be 'sys 1', etc.

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