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.

OT: Subscription strikes again

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Comments

  • edited August 2017

    @Zen210507 while I agree with all of your observations, that 'great opportunity' slipped away more than 2 decades ago imho.
    There's no need for mourning either - Apple serves exactly what the majority of customers demands. Stupidity rules and we may consider ourselves happy that it is this way.
    IOS still has the least annoyance factor of all (current) operating systems because it generates a lot of cash from crap in the store.
    Otherwise they'd certainly act even more Microsoft alike than they do now.
    (Permant connection to mothership comes to mind...)

    My favorite imagination are hybrid systems with an interactive IOS part and a custom, database driven backend to handle content.
    I give the Ulysses folks some credits they'd possibly step into that direction one day.
    They may appear self-overhyped, but at least they've (once) tried something new.
    And they shurely blurb far less than some major software providers, that literally fool the world for decades with bloatware.

    IOS itself will never be that single, perfect solution for whatever task.
    (because it's not intended to by it's makers and not even expected to by the vast majority of it's customers)

    We simply benefit from a cheap mass product (hardware plus OS) with amazing sound processing capabilities and great toolkits for interactivity.

    But we'll not save the world from it's current state of mind.
    Educated people believe in marketing hype and buzzwords to a frightening degree.
    I've written full (interactive) applications with far less lines of code than you'll find in Javascript on an average 'professional' website.
    You probably know the quotation 'I live in a world of shit... ' - but I won't blow my head off ;)

  • edited August 2017

    @Telefunky said:
    Stupidity rules and we may consider ourselves happy that it is this way.

    I know you are correct, but I wish you weren't. Maybe this bloke has got it right?

    https://youtu.be/MKJjLwMUPJI

  • @Zen210507 said:

    @lnikj said:
    Ulysses has not progressed much at all of late but that is because, IMHO, it doesn't have anywhwere significant left to go.It has always been high priced and has traded a lot on hype and style over substance.

    Yes. Ulysses, for me, has always been 'emperor's new clothes' and touted itself as being far above what it offers. The lack of progress, for what is not a cheap app, does make me wonder why the devs can't be bothered.

    Attempting to force subscription, at a price to existing users that is about a third more than the original cost, every year, and more than twice the original cost for new suckers, is IMHO a suicidal move.

    FWIW, Scrivener for IOS can be as straightforward or complex as you like, depending on what you want to do. I've also found Notability to be excellent for smaller projects. 1Writer is somewhere in the middle.

    we'll have to see if they have enough fans for this move to be sustainable. Many companies have tried to go subscription and gone back to one time payments because the market is just so much larger.

    for me personally, their move to subscription was good timing, it made me try Scrivener which turns out is much more flexible and I can work much faster in it in the project I'm working on.

  • @Zen210507 said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Stupidity rules and we may consider ourselves happy that it is this way.

    I know you are correct, but I wish you weren't. Maybe this bloke has got it right?

    he definitely hits it spot on - and owns a blue-white G3 like the one that runs my Pro Tools TDM oldie o:)
    The Quicksilver in the middle was the best G4 machine ever built, barely 50 bucks today.

  • @Zen210507 said:

    @lovadamusic said:
    As far as promoting creativity, I think Apple’s products do a fine job, but then I’m just a dopey peasant. I thought I was being creative, but maybe I still need more encouragement from a company that sells phones. :)

    No, what you need - what we all need - is for Apple to recognise and promote IOS music making and apps the way they do the Apple Pencil.

    I wasn't aware of this "need," and I don't expect Apple to put much of a larger emphasis on music making than they have. The Pencil apparently is and is going to be a key piece to interfacing with their devices, so of course that's a bigger focus for them, not to mention they ARE a business, first and foremost. Their tremendous success as a business is why they make these sophisticated devices, and the good fortune, at prices we can afford. How they accomplish that is more the real topic if anyone cares to get on their moral high horse.

    Because I use the iPad primarily for music, of course I'd like to see more development by Apple that creates a more solid and powerful foundation for that specific purpose. However, the reality is that the devices are not made for that niche. I enjoy what the system has to offer, which is amazing to me for what it is. Apple owes nothing to me other than to deliver what they're selling. If someone can do better, I'll buy accordingly.

  • @lovadamusic said:

    I wasn't aware of this "need,"

    Excellent. Then you have added to your knowledge.
    >

    if anyone cares to get on their moral high horse.

    On the horse, and away over the metaphorical hills at a gallop. Hi-ho, Silver!

    Have a lovely evening. :)

  • Everything about the iPad Pro, iOS11 and their marketing efforts points at Apple prioritizing visual/illustration arts over music. I'm not judging them, just managing my expectations accordingly.

  • @brambos said:
    Everything about the iPad Pro, iOS11 and their marketing efforts points at Apple prioritizing visual/illustration arts over music. I'm not judging them, just managing my expectations accordingly.

    I suspect that you are right. :'(

  • I don't follow everything Apple announces or talks about but, to a musician like myself, it's been obvious that music-making is way down the list of priorities. I watch those big events (keynotes) with all the self-congratulatory unveilings, and most times there's literally nothing about what we discuss here at the AB forum. Same with advertising. Maybe a brief look at GarageBand. Yet Apple makes devices that offer great music-making capabilities and, though flawed, an operating system that supports IAA, AU, MIDI, etc... Is there anything better for mobile music-making?

    Apple's an easy target for criticism, from the labor they use to make these things, to their App Store policies, even to the pure evil of removing headphone and USB ports [sarcasm] -- but we wouldn't be talking here if they didn't make a lot of musicians happy. Slowly they've made progress, so why not be optimistic that it'll get even better?

  • edited August 2017

    @lovadamusic said:
    I don't follow everything Apple announces or talks about but, to a musician like myself, it's been obvious that music-making is way down the list of priorities. I watch those big events (keynotes) with all the self-congratulatory unveilings, and most times there's literally nothing about what we discuss here at the AB forum. Same with advertising. Maybe a brief look at GarageBand. Yet Apple makes devices that offer great music-making capabilities and, though flawed, an operating system that supports IAA, AU, MIDI, etc... Is there anything better for mobile music-making?

    Apple's an easy target for criticism, from the labor they use to make these things, to their App Store policies, even to the pure evil of removing headphone and USB ports [sarcasm] -- but we wouldn't be talking here if they didn't make a lot of musicians happy. Slowly they've made progress, so why not be optimistic that it'll get even better?

    Better, but always short of its potential.

    Opium for the people.

  • @MonzoPro said:

    Better, but always short of its potential.

    I believe we can say that about everything in this world. Apple's failure to fully indulge every musician's dream is somewhere on the list of tragedies.

  • edited August 2017

    @lovadamusic said:

    @MonzoPro said:

    Better, but always short of its potential.

    I believe we can say that about everything in this world. Apple's failure to fully indulge every musician's dream is somewhere on the list of tragedies.

    Nah, some do the best they can. A defeatist 'just about good enough' acceptance won't change anything.

    I've voted with my wallet (though to be fair it's empty anyway). I was going to move my home office from Windows to Mac - replacing my elderly PC with an iMac. Not happening now, I'll be upgrading parts in the PC and my laptop. And instead of the 'app a week' purchasing of the last few years, this year it's been an app every two months.

    For the price of ten average iOS apps Komplete has provided me with enough synths and samples to keep me entertained for years, and a few parts for the PC will cost a tenth of a new iMac.

    Not much of a dent in the profits of the Worlds biggest tech company, but my wallet's happy.

    If they stop charging UK customers silly hardware and software prices, reclaim their once-excellent customer support and stop crippling my hardware with updates that break things then I might give them another look. Won't happen though.

  • @MonzoPro said:

    @lovadamusic said:

    @MonzoPro said:

    Better, but always short of its potential.

    I believe we can say that about everything in this world. Apple's failure to fully indulge every musician's dream is somewhere on the list of tragedies.

    Nah, some do the best they can. A defeatist 'just about good enough' acceptance won't change anything.

    I've voted with my wallet (though to be fair it's empty anyway). I was going to move my home office from Windows to Mac - replacing my elderly PC with an iMac. Not happening now, I'll be upgrading parts in the PC and my laptop. And instead of the 'app a week' purchasing of the last few years, this year it's been an app every two months.

    For the price of ten average iOS apps Komplete has provided me with enough synths and samples to keep me entertained for years, and a few parts for the PC will cost a tenth of a new iMac.

    Not much of a dent in the profits of the Worlds biggest tech company, but my wallet's happy.

    If they stop charging UK customers silly hardware and software prices, reclaim their once-excellent customer support and stop crippling my hardware with updates that break things then I might give them another look. Won't happen though.

    I've been a PC user for decades, and I have my list of bad experiences. I finally went to Mac because of Logic Pro and the idea that Macs were supposed to be more reliable. No regrets at all with Logic. My iMac still runs well, better than most PC's I've had, and customer support has been good, but Apple certainly hasn't been perfect. I think they must have gone downhill a bit since they were smaller and more focused on computers.

    Apple prices are relatively high. It's hard for me to quantify the monetary value, but I can understand why PC pricing is attractive to many. It's good that Apple has competition. However, I don't compare desktops and iOS. If we're talking mobile devices for music, I like the iPad. I accept that there are some big compromises to be made with iOS.

  • @lovadamusic said:

    @MonzoPro said:

    @lovadamusic said:

    @MonzoPro said:

    Better, but always short of its potential.

    I believe we can say that about everything in this world. Apple's failure to fully indulge every musician's dream is somewhere on the list of tragedies.

    Nah, some do the best they can. A defeatist 'just about good enough' acceptance won't change anything.

    I've voted with my wallet (though to be fair it's empty anyway). I was going to move my home office from Windows to Mac - replacing my elderly PC with an iMac. Not happening now, I'll be upgrading parts in the PC and my laptop. And instead of the 'app a week' purchasing of the last few years, this year it's been an app every two months.

    For the price of ten average iOS apps Komplete has provided me with enough synths and samples to keep me entertained for years, and a few parts for the PC will cost a tenth of a new iMac.

    Not much of a dent in the profits of the Worlds biggest tech company, but my wallet's happy.

    If they stop charging UK customers silly hardware and software prices, reclaim their once-excellent customer support and stop crippling my hardware with updates that break things then I might give them another look. Won't happen though.

    I've been a PC user for decades, and I have my list of bad experiences. I finally went to Mac because of Logic Pro and the idea that Macs were supposed to be more reliable. No regrets at all with Logic. My iMac still runs well, better than most PC's I've had, and customer support has been good, but Apple certainly hasn't been perfect. I think they must have gone downhill a bit since they were smaller and more focused on computers.

    Apple prices are relatively high. It's hard for me to quantify the monetary value, but I can understand why PC pricing is attractive to many. It's good that Apple has competition. However, I don't compare desktops and iOS. If we're talking mobile devices for music, I like the iPad. I accept that there are some big compromises to be made with iOS.

    Oh don't get me wrong I've loved making music on the iPad - being able to make tunes sitting in an armchair with a little drinkie has been wonderful. Problem is app and hardware prices are going up, and I'm not sure if I'll get (or be able to afford) another iPad after this one. Which means I'll have to stick with this iOS now, as each update cripples the performance a little more.

    And funnily enough I'm getting used to making music at the desktop again. In the middle of my iPad phase it seemed a chore, but it feels more natural again.

    Obviously we can't predict the future - Apple may pull something amazing out of the bag again to tempt me back, but for the near future at least iOS pricing and bugs are pushing me back to desktop land.

  • @MonzoPro said:
    ...and I'm not sure if I'll get (or be able to afford) another iPad after this one.

    FWIW, despite my publicised troubles with the IPad Pro 10.5, when it's working it is good kit. Going back to the Air 2 briefly really brought it home how much faster this gizmo is, how much more responsive, and that I no longer have any issues with storage or RAM.

    So it might be worth keeping an eye on Hoxton Macs, to see if they come up with a Pro that fits your budget. Then you'd have the best of both worlds.

  • @MonzoPro said:
    ...and I'm not sure if I'll get (or be able to afford) another iPad after this one.

    FWIW, despite my publicised troubles with the IPad Pro 10.5, when it's working it is good kit. Going back to the Air 2 briefly really brought it home how much faster this gizmo is, how much more responsive, and that I no longer have any issues with storage or RAM.

    So it might be worth keeping an eye on Hoxton Macs, to see if they come up with a Pro that fits your budget. Then you'd have the best of both worlds.

  • @Zen210507 said:

    @MonzoPro said:
    ...and I'm not sure if I'll get (or be able to afford) another iPad after this one.

    FWIW, despite my publicised troubles with the IPad Pro 10.5, when it's working it is good kit. Going back to the Air 2 briefly really brought it home how much faster this gizmo is, how much more responsive, and that I no longer have any issues with storage or RAM.

    So it might be worth keeping an eye on Hoxton Macs, to see if they come up with a Pro that fits your budget. Then you'd have the best of both worlds.

    Yeah I will - it'll be interesting to hear how you and the other Pro owners get on with them over time. Or I might do a sideways move to a cheaper Air2 type thing, like I did when my iPhone 5 died and I bought an SE.

    This Air 2 is fine (touch wood) for now though, aside from app and system software glitches (still getting the ruddy rotation bug), and the update nag always ruins things, but it's still usable for the silly iOS stuff I do. Komplete is giving me much better tools to work with though - the quality of the sampled instruments is stunning, and makes me up my game when I use them. I dread to think how much it'd cost me to replicate them via apps, if it's even possible.

    Best of both Worlds at the moment though - I'm in music making heaven at the moment.

  • edited August 2017

    The iPad is a wonderful tool for portable music making. However, because Apple's awful policy of making it impossible to downgrade to an earlier iOS version makes the iPad not perfect. If only Apple could permanently sign earlier iOS versions then the iPad would be perfect and there wouldn't be any worries about future versions being incompatible with favourite music DAWs and apps.

  • @Zen210507 said:
    I know you are correct, but I wish you weren't. Maybe this bloke has got it right?

    He does not say anything that's wrong, or?

    And there is so much more to complain about...

    Ever tried to select a larger or small amount of text to copy or delete?
    The implementation is sooo buggy and useless.

    Ever tried to search for those mailing list mails or whatever and then select and delete them?
    There is just NO way to select them all!
    This is so stupid, that I could get aggressive.

    WiFi Hotspot anybody?
    Just stops working if not used for a short time - and also stops offering the hotspot itself.
    You need to stop it and the start it again to be able to use it.

    The blocking of ways to reinstall an older IOS...

    Calculator for iPad?
    The iPhone binary was too small for the larger display - do you think they managed to fix that in such many years?
    Noooo, they don't even think about this

    And so on, and on,....

  • @tja said:
    And so on, and on,....

    Yes. Since Jobs passed away, the has been no real innovation. The trash can Mac has been left to rot, the iMac and Mac Mini are glued and soldered so as not to be user serviceable, the iPhone has lost its headphone socket somApple can sell another dongle, and the Mac Book now has a touch bar that no one wants!

    As for the iPad...well, that has improved in terms of hardware - flaky though it can be - but the CONTROL ethos is just getting worse all the time.

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