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 StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Comments
I'm all about transparency.
Yesterday, Digital D1 had a super day. We were #12 on the USA charts.
(We don't get many days in the Top 20). It was our best day this month.
Here's the proceeds from yesterday:
Not enough to live on. However, it's enough to sustain AudioKit. And, we're thankful for all the support.
🙏🙌
I welcome any fellow developer to try it, but I wouldn't bet on the success of that business case. As cool as Mutable Instruments stuff is (very!), it's far from mainstream and would probably have significantly less mass-appeal than something like a Moog Model 15 or Korg Gadget. I'd expect something like that to sell less than the average music app, even (especially because you can't brand it MI, you're just using the concept). But that's just my educated guess.
I'm thinking on Raspberry + Pisound + ORAC 2.0 to something that can mangle PD on midi and audio....
I want to avoid the down the rabbit hole that is Eurorack but...every time that I play with VCVrack or Audulus, I ended up open Modulargrid....
I'm not sure if speaking of possible revenue will bring us anywhere.
Take it as a fun project that's able to cover the slavery tax a developer has to pay to Apple annually.
PureData is just an example. It's free, and iOS-compatible development libraries are available too. Some iOS apps have already been built based on PureData and the only missing link is something like an AUv3 version of MobMuPlat.
OK, maybe I should give an example of what's already available on iOS today, for free.
These creations and more are available on
https://github.com/otem/mobMuPlat_patches
and after copying them to the iTunes file sharing folder of (or just "open in") MobMuPlat, you can set the app to run in the background and enable MIDI input from your DAW virtual MIDI out port, then run the .mmp file and in your DAW, send MIDI notes to MobMuPlat.
FM-2: A 2-op FM synth with reverb and delay FX, low pass filter with resonance:
SuperLooper: A live audio looper combined with a sample-based drum groovebox:
All done in PureData so you can edit everything to your liking.
Also rooting for a poly plaits and/or poly braids iOS synth, esp one that supports MPE. (IMO their sound engines are dream platforms for MPE. The way they distill such a broad range of musically valuable sound sculpting options into 3 (2 for braids) macro parameters per model embodies everything that's missing from the current crop of mpe synths. Praise Émilie Gillet!)
Most of the time I don't pull out the SnuXov card to answer questions on the forum because it would get very repetitive.
In this case it is the answer and we're just waiting for the promised AUv3 connectivity to be added.
Hmmm. AUv3 has been announced in July last year. Is it still in the oven?
I don't own SunVox but I've heard good things about it.
I have no idea though if it can replace PureData.
Indeed! That was more or less what I was hinting at, responding to the notion of something "printing money" on iOS
Your business case should revolve around fun, and that's what iOS as a music platform offers in spades
SunVox is very cool, but doesn't have the low-level computing options of PD or Audulus. Getting these to run as AU is a lot more work than people imagine. These are all built on stable platforms that evolved over years for a different architecture. Getting them to work as AU probably involves serious re-architecture. I'll just repeat what I said up-thread. The Audulus developer had AUv3 working pretty well and thought it was pretty close to release when he realized that getting getting what looked like the last 5% of the job done wasn't possible without major work.
It would probably be different if they were writing from scratch with the intention of making it AUv3 -- but then it would also be a huge amount of development, too.
I love those MI modules, but they really require modulation to open up. I don’t think iOS has the modulation sources needed to drive them in an AUM project just yet, aside from Rozeta LFOs.
And when you expect it the least, an angel knocks at your door and hands you over a neat ATB
To put this in perspective. If your revenue averaged this every day then you'd make $13000 a year. Now subtract the Apple Tax, device costs, a macbook...
I have a suspicion that things aren't better on the desktop, though I haven't seen figures.
That sounds an impressive statement.
What does it mean?
SunVox (as far as I know, but if you know different correct me) has elements such as various types of oscillators and filters and waveshapers and envelopes as its basic elements. Whereas Audulus, for example, provides more primitive (i.e. lower level, in programming terms) elements so that you can actually build your own filter types, oscillators and custom DSP.
SunVox (and correct me if I am wrong) is more like a modular synth and effects box with lots of modules to choose from and combine in a wide variety of ways -- but you don't have access to the tools to actually build modules like oscillators and filters from scratch.
I’m not sure if this applies to what you said or not, but the latest ApeMatrix just included an AU module with six LFO’s. There’s an XY pad to control each pair of LFOs as well. You can use it in any host, not just ApeMatrix. I still prefer Rozeta LFO, but it’s nice to have alternatives.
It’d be interesting to learn what other modulation possibilities you’re looking for. I have two ideas cooking for modulation sources built in Mozaic, but would be interested in knowing what people might be looking for.
Ah I see. Yes you are probably right.
In practice I'm not sure that going to that low a level is needed for most audio applications and the range of effects you can achieve with combinations of oscillators, waveshapers, modulators, delays and filters in any configuration you like would probably cover most bases.
I don't know when or in what form the AUv3 version will appear but I have always been awed by the developer's ingenuity and look forward to it arriving.
Well, folks can use that number as an estimate:
That's the proceeds for the #12 music app in the app store yesterday.
(Out of thousands and thousands of music apps in the app store).
That's also the sales figure for the biggest-selling iOS Synth in the United States yesterday.
(Digital D1 sold more copies yesterday than any other iPad synth. Including those by by Moog, Korg, etc.)
Only 11 music apps in the app store sold more copies.
For those doing the math, you can probably calculate that most apps (including D1) aren't making that much. Which is Okay!
Of course, yesterday was a good day. Today, D1 isn't even in the top 60...
Heck, there have been synth apps released the past year that have been featured by Doug, on this forum, etc that have sold only 100-200 copies total. The developers still plan on making more apps – As most folks here know, music app developers aren't driven by money. It's fueled by a love of creating music instruments and community.
Absolutely. There was really no call for anyone with any real inside knowledge to wade in and disagree with you...
@EyeOhEss
He gave the figures for a #12 download. A successful new synth app from an unknown developer isn't going to be much above #12 even when they launch.
So I came up with the best case scenario for an app designer based upon those figures, where they averaged at #12 for an entire year. Clearly this is unrealistically good - but even assuming this the revenue is awful. This development model only makes sense for:
1. People living in developing nations (Turkey, Brazil, Russia) - maybe.
2. People whose hobby is writing synths, who wouldn't mind some extra pocket money. This incidentally is why you should be nice to people making music apps - it's a hobby.
3. People who are insanely good at writing code, don't mind living on a low income and who love creating music software for the iPad. Clearly they exist, but my god...
4. Companies that already write plugins for another platform, where the cost of porting it is considerably less than they money you can make (JUCE is probably making this more viable).
Hmm. Nobody who isn't into Eurorack/modular has heard of Mutable Instruments. That's already a pretty small group of people. Now you need to look at the sub-section of that group who have an iPad and would be interested in having it on an iPad. I think you're are overestimating the popularity of this thing because you would like it, and are making the classic business amateur's mistake of thinking that for this reason other people would like it too.
@EyeOhEss : think about the implications of what you've said: an app like what you describe might do as well as popular music apps. But such an app would be like an order of magnitude (or significantly more) additional work to do well compared to those apps.
The cost/benefit analysis makes this seem like not such a profitable venture. Even if it manages to consistently be a top 10 app.
Dude - he presented a figure for a day when he was #12 in the app store. NUMBER 12. For a lot of apps Number 12 IS THE SALES SPIKE. So here I'm assuming a sales spike which lasts for an entire year. Which is pretty unrealistic (e.g. the reality is worse than this). And also ignoring things like sales (further reducing income), etc.
On the one hand we have various developers who over the years have shared sales figures. On the other we have you, who is not a developer, has never run a software business and has no experience with IOS.
If you want to lose your shirt on making a non-branded clone of a Mutable instrument be my guest. Prove us all wrong.
@EyeOhEss : spend some time finding the even more detailed posts that @analog_matt . Read through comments by other top developers about their income.
There is concurrence among them.