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.

Switch between apps using MIDI controller

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Comments

  • No single app will be able to accomplish this because switching to other apps always has to be triggered from the app in the foreground. This is why you need an SDK for this that is part of the apps in your setup. Like Audiobus.

  • Or OMAC (and now Midibus) which already developed this feature.

  • I still vote for a midi mappable Audiobus sidepanel, now that would solve the issue once and for all :)

    Not sure if it's even possible or on Seb & Micks list though :(

  • I don't know how but I don't miss that feature at all. Once you've mapped your controller to your favorite controls on each synth and assigned each of them to a midi channel I find quite pointless to have the synth app opened in front of me. Quite the opposite, if I don't see it I can focus on the music or stare at the host program that is doing the sequencing/recording. To switch the synth you control you just switch the midi channel on the controller. I may be missing something though, am I?

  • @supadom i have 3 questions. how long last your public performances? how many apps you use at the same time? is your idevice your main device or is a computer and the idevice is a support?

    in my particular case i do performances of 80 minutes, completely alone. no technical support. no intermission. my idevice handles all audio responsibility, no computer support. sometimes i use 8 apps running at the same time, they are the link of a chain, if just one breaks, everything fails. when somethings goes wrong, i have to figure out where's the problem, taking a look to each one of them... in the middle of a performance!

    and between one piece and the next, sometimes i have to prepare very different app set ups with all audience waiting in silence. staring at you, mercilessly.

    when i work with technology, i take my devices to their limits (not talking of cpu or ram, those can be reached easily), and people like michael and sebastian work to make those limits more and more difficult to reach. i'm just asking them to not stop, because i have reached one limit here (in terms of workflow).

    i know sometimes i ask for features that the average user (i'm not saying you are...) won't even realize they exist. but hey, i left my computer back, and i make my music and my living using this app. i think we must push the limits. it's good for all.

    if someone implements this feature in the future, you will use it. i tell you.

  • @eccecelllo said:
    I'm totally with you. I'm sure these guys will do their best to deliver stuff to us (customers). They are making a reasonable living off their successful apps and they're also passionate about what they do. The problem is they have to be selective about the features they develop depending to demand. I am very similar to you in a way I often find seemingly obvious features missing from apps I.e. Beatmaker 2 missing names of tracks in mixer section. Either they're busy doing other stuff, there's no demand or they're plain lazy. Whatever it is it would be nice to have those features but in the meantime I prefer to have a moan (write to them) and get on with it regardless (which I'm sure is what you're doing).
    I admire your bravery to be using ios as the only machine for your performances.
    To answer your questions:
    I only use my ipad/controller in a duo with a guitarist and a percussionist and mainly use bm2 with magellan and animoog. I often use arpeggiators to go with acoustic instruments and run samples from beatmaker. I choose not to overindulge in ipad only music because I personally find it too fiddly and find it richer in conjunction with acoustic sounds and vocals. Saying that I am similarly to many other live musicians in favor of hardware machines as they are simply more stable. They may be less flexible in configuration but I often miss kassilator pro + novation x station jams with a mic plugged in and having ipad as a sound module etc. as they are simply glitchless which I can't say of ios environment as yet.
    Anyhow, good luck with your set I'm sure ios music will get stronger each year making it more fun for all of us.

  • You would be horrified to learn how far what the devs are earning falls short of what you seem to think they're earning...

  • Well, I don't know what developers you are talking about but I've read Michael's blog and seems like loopy served him VERY well. Now with increasing popularity of Audiobus I expect things aren't getting worse. I'm a little jealous but hey, he's living his dream and deservedly so. But I agree, not all apps sell like hot cross buns.

  • I guess I missed the entry where Michael bought himself a Ferrari...
    :)

  • @eccecelllo said:

    @supadom i have 3 questions. how long last your public performances? how many apps you use at the same time? is your idevice your main device or is a computer and the idevice is a support?

    in my particular case i do performances of 80 minutes, completely alone. no technical support. no intermission. my idevice handles all audio responsibility, no computer support. sometimes i use 8 apps running at the same time, they are the link of a chain, if just one breaks, everything fails. when somethings goes wrong, i have to figure out where's the problem, taking a look to each one of them... in the middle of a performance!

    and between one piece and the next, sometimes i have to prepare very different app set ups with all audience waiting in silence. staring at you, mercilessly.

    when i work with technology, i take my devices to their limits (not talking of cpu or ram, those can be reached easily), and people like michael and sebastian work to make those limits more and more difficult to reach. i'm just asking them to not stop, because i have reached one limit here (in terms of workflow).

    i know sometimes i ask for features that the average user (i'm not saying you are...) won't even realize they exist. but hey, i left my computer back, and i make my music and my living using this app. i think we must push the limits. it's good for all.

    if someone implements this feature in the future, you will use it. i tell you.

    image

  • @supadom uuuuhhhhh!, hey, your girlfriend must be very upset to have the living room like that. xD looks great. by the way, i use a cello with my idevice, i meant that this is the only "computing" device i have. i abandoned computers in favor of idevices.

    you just launch the app, and it works... my mac/ableton/maxMSP/foot controller setup was sucking my blood. there were 50 steps to follow and take into consideration before a gig, or everything would go wrong. using an idevice, the steps are reduced to 10. a children game. i love it! i can focus on music!!

    you are right. ab team have to focus con the most demanded features. and this is not one of them. i get very obsessed with these little details when i am working for weeks... i must admit.

    but it will come, i am sure. and i will be there to use it compulsively! hahahaaa

  • Check out MIDI Designer's new feature:

    URL launching (via AudioBus, but other URLs work too)

    I think this might mean we are getting some progress toward MIDI controlled app switching.

  • edited July 2014

    thanks! but this was already possible with midistuff, as the developer kindly added it on my request, but as far as I know, only works if you have the app (midi designer or midistuff) in front. so it makes no sense.

    the useful thing would be to change from, let's say, loopy to BM2 using a pedal or button with a midi assignment (not having to touch the screen at all). for that, the apps must implement inside themselves a protocol allowing to be recalled to front from other apps, as they do when let audiobus to put a floating window on the side.

    given the amount of apps out there, only audiobus could do the task with success.

    but I didn't test it, maybe this guys have done a workaround... can anyone confirm midi designer can call other apps to front, being itself in background?

    thanks again.

  • I believe an app can only call other apps to the foreground if it is itself in the foreground when it does so.

  • yeah. that's exactly what I was saying. but I'm a bit too redundant.

    nothing changed then.

    midistuff was during one week working on this, also nic from midibridge has a hole protocol integrated in his apps to do this, and a sdk available for other developers to make possible be recalled to the foreground from the background. but he's been no lucky with massive implementation it seems.

    only audiobus could succeed with something like this.
    let's wait someday it will add midi.

  • Audeonics implements the OMAC App switching protocol in his MidiBus library and all hisApps; any App that chooses to solve their MIDI problems using MidiBus gets OMAC switching included. midiSequencer for example. Switching can be done via MIDI.

    Thew biggest problems facing any controller that wants to do this are (1) only the program that is front can initiate a switch, which means (2) all the Apps you want to cycle through need code to do it, and (3) App le does not allow any App to shut own any other App.

  • edited July 2014

    Yep, I've confirmed that MIDI designer works fine to open another app. But it only works when MIDI designer is in the foreground.

  • Yep, we need the Audiobus fellas to handle this for us because absolutely nothing else is going to get its level of penetration. Might turn out to be a good first (public) toe dip into MIDI for the project.

  • Hi.
    I found this on the internet. A few people are talking about it.

    Although this is not a direct answer to our problems I find that, if it is real, it might help.

    I'm talking about a split screen option that may or may not come implemented on ios 8.

    Here's the link for the first thing that pops up in google:

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/12/5803210/ipad-split-screen-multitasking-hidden-in-ios-8-beta-video

  • That'd be nice if it is true!

  • All of a sudden having a full size ipad makes helluva more sense.

  • edited May 2015

    Hello there,

    I really do like and use both, Audiobus, and Midibus.

    This problem is still bugging all of us for too long !

    Please cut the crap, shake your hands, integrate this feature and take our money.

    BTW, it seems MiMix should handle that , am I wrong ?

    Best regards :)

  • Still seems like it'd have to be in the Audiobus SDK. It'd be real nice to midi-learn the side panel like @DaveMagoo stated

  • http://9to5mac.com/2015/11/20/ipad-keyboard-shortcuts-cheat-sheet/

    With the arrival of IOS 9 it is now possible to switch between the applications through a bluetooth keyboard: ( command+tab ). What is missing to be able to do this through a pedal board midi, like as FCB1010?

  • @santosgera Just an app that transforms midi into keyboard shortcuts! There's already some Mac desktop apps which do this task.

    Is there any dev (midibridge, midistuff...) considering this??

    It would be great!

  • @Dubbylabby said:
    Midiflow?

    Well, with (the most awesome) MidiFlow you can indeed switch between apps as far as midi signals go, and if you've created your set-up cunningly that could dictate where the audio comes from too of course. However, I think he is asking for switching what app that is "in front" (visible, or in focus) of the actual iPad screen though.

  • Can midiflow change apps receiving midi being itself in the background??
    :/

    I think we will have to wait until 203"!!!

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