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.

PSA: Don't update to iOS 12.4 if you use apps in AB output slot or IAA apps that use the mic.

edited October 2019 in Support and Feedback

It may be too late for some of you, but I've just discovered a late-breaking issue with iOS 12.4 which seems to affect at least some output apps and their ability to receive audio through Audiobus.

Still investigating, but for those of you lucky enough to still be on pre-12.4, I urge you to hold off updating for now. Will update this thread with details as they emerge.

Update: I've applied an emergency stop-gap, which forces manual "Tap to launch" launching of all apps that can be put in the audio output slot in Audiobus. This seems to resolve the issue for now, although it's a little inconvenient.

The stop-gap has been applied immediately, as it's a modification of the Audiobus database, so it will work right away.

Update: The issue discussed in this thread is fixed in iOS 13.1, and in iOS 12.4.2.

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Comments

  • For those technically minded: the problem is that iOS is incorrectly refusing record permissions to the output app, until it is manually brought to the foreground. Even then, the audio system of the output app will only start working if the app starts its audio engine on UIApplicationDidBecomeActiveNotification. Some apps do this on UIApplicationWillEnterForegroundNotification (including Loopy), and this seems to experience the same problem.

    Reporting this to Apple now and having a think about how I can work around the problem from my end: probably by requiring manual "Tap to launch" of all output apps, so that they launch into the foreground.

    Stand by.

  • edited July 2019

    I was ready to install this since I hadn't noticed any complaints here.
    Audiobus into AUM is my go to when I want to pile on effects and see what happens next.
    The results end up in AudioShare and I can recall the session, truly the best of both worlds

    You are a lifesaver Michael, hope Apple will fix this quickly!

  • @Michael said:
    For those technically minded: the problem is that iOS is incorrectly refusing record permissions to the output app, until it is manually brought to the foreground.

    Or ‘by design’ to avoid apps being launched in the background capable of streaming audio to a remote server making it easy to create ‘spy apps’ that require minimal user interaction...

  • @Samu said:

    @Michael said:
    For those technically minded: the problem is that iOS is incorrectly refusing record permissions to the output app, until it is manually brought to the foreground.

    Or ‘by design’ to avoid apps being launched in the background capable of streaming audio to a remote server making it easy to create ‘spy apps’ that require minimal user interaction...

    That's all well and good, but it shouldn't happen when the app is hosted through IAA (and judging by the console messages, that's what Apple intended, it's just not working right).

  • edited July 2019

    Update: I've applied an emergency stop-gap, which forces manual "Tap to launch" launching of all apps that can be put in the audio output slot in Audiobus. This seems to resolve the issue for now, although it's a little inconvenient.

    The stop-gap has been applied immediately, as it's a modification of the Audiobus database, so it will work right away.

  • edited July 2019

    @Michael said:
    For those technically minded: the problem is that iOS is incorrectly refusing record permissions to the output app, until it is manually brought to the foreground. Even then, the audio system of the output app will only start working if the app starts its audio engine on UIApplicationDidBecomeActiveNotification. Some apps do this on UIApplicationWillEnterForegroundNotification (including Loopy), and this seems to experience the same problem.

    Reporting this to Apple now and having a think about how I can work around the problem from my end: probably by requiring manual "Tap to launch" of all output apps, so that they launch into the foreground.

    Stand by.

    Apple should really stop treating an iPad like an iPhone.
    On the iPhone, security is very important and I welcome such decisions.
    On the iPad, we want the opposite: Freedom for apps we choose to trust. :D

  • I've just sent this email out to the Audiobus developers mailing list, for those interested: https://drop.michael.tyson.id.au/1564381336/mail.html

  • This should put some pressure on Apple too as it affects GarageBand when it's making connections to IAA apps :)
    (Especially when opening saved sessions that connect to to IAA apps as it's crash-time for GarageBand).

    I do wonder if this 'bug' is still present in iPadOS/iOS13?

  • Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're gonna want to fix it!

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • edited July 2019

    Time will tell! There may well come a time when they won't, though.

  • That's surely a first sign of the IAA deprecation "materializing", i.e. not as much testing time allocated for features or APIs that interact with it.

  • @SevenSystems said:
    That's surely a first sign of the IAA deprecation "materializing", i.e. not as much testing time allocated for features or APIs that interact with it.

    Yeah, that occurred to me as well.

  • Thanks for the warning man!

  • Super frustrating, GarageBand is broken. AUM, Loopy and Blocswave still work. For production it’s already an issue, can’t imagine for those who have a live setup broken. Hopefully mine is not.

  • edited July 2019

    Especially in times when IAA is put to rest people who heavily depend on audio apps should be careful with updating iOS. @Michael or others on ths list that do beta testing iOS 13 or iPadOS are these audio problems that now popup in 12.4 also present in 13?

  • Whew! Thanks for the update Michael! And thank goodness I’ve developed this uncontrollable compulsion to check this forum at least 22 times everyday!

  • At a cost of sounding melodramatic. I sense the end of an era. In a cliff edge kind of way.
    I'm definitely putting my pro 10.5 on a permanent flight mode until I see a solid way forward. I finally found my solid live work flow with a bit of a wobble about a month ago. I'm honestly not prepared to risk that for some random ios or apps uodates.

  • @Janosax said:
    Super frustrating, GarageBand is broken. AUM, Loopy and Blocswave still work. For production it’s already an issue, can’t imagine for those who have a live setup broken. Hopefully mine is not.

    Last time made me gone hardware and monolithic apps. I keep updating but forgot iOS for live use outside that approach.

  • edited July 2019

    Glad I was lazy about the 12.4 upgrade!
    :D

    @EyeOhEss said:

    @Samu said:
    This should put some pressure on Apple too as it affects GarageBand when it's making connections to IAA apps :)
    (Especially when opening saved sessions that connect to to IAA apps as it's crash-time for GarageBand).

    I do wonder if this 'bug' is still present in iPadOS/iOS13?

    Will Apple even care about this kind of stuff now if IAA is officially bye-bye?

    Isn’t that happening, starting with iOS 13/iPad OS?
    I realize it currently sucks 🤣, but I thought it was supposed to be still supported (for lack of a better term).

  • Seems like it's time for Audiobus to lead a "secret double life" with that "Audio over SysEx" implementation again, just in case ;)

  • @SevenSystems said:
    Seems like it's time for Audiobus to lead a "secret double life" with that "Audio over SysEx" implementation again, just in case ;)

    Nah, more like time for Apple to give 'Soundflower for iPadOS' where each app automagically shows up as Audio Input or Output depending on it's capabilities...

  • Apple has messed up audio stuff plenty of times prior to IAA deprecation that wasn't caught in testing. I suspect this wasn't an intentional shot across the bow of IAA.

    If there are enough formal complaints, however, it might remind Apple of the many apps affected.

    There were deprecated APIs whose actual removal was slowed once Apple realized how many popular apps still relied on them.

  • @Samu said:

    @SevenSystems said:
    Seems like it's time for Audiobus to lead a "secret double life" with that "Audio over SysEx" implementation again, just in case ;)

    Nah, more like time for Apple to give 'Soundflower for iPadOS' where each app automagically shows up as Audio Input or Output depending on it's capabilities...

    This.

  • Thinking about dooms day scenarios...

    I guess if the day comes where Apps can't share audio through internal connectivity, maybe some kind of hardware device could be made that could bounce an iPad's own output back in as a hardware input?

    Otherwise I guess everything will have to be AU-v3..

    I'm also considering "freezing" my iPad at the current OS so it will become like a vintage synth.

  • @horsetrainer said:
    Thinking about dooms day scenarios...

    I guess if the day comes where Apps can't share audio through internal connectivity, maybe some kind of hardware device could be made that could bounce an iPad's own output back in as a hardware input?

    Otherwise I guess everything will have to be AU-v3..

    I'm also considering "freezing" my iPad at the current OS so it will become like a vintage synth.

    Audio interfaces can do that today.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @horsetrainer said:
    Thinking about dooms day scenarios...

    I guess if the day comes where Apps can't share audio through internal connectivity, maybe some kind of hardware device could be made that could bounce an iPad's own output back in as a hardware input?

    Otherwise I guess everything will have to be AU-v3..

    I'm also considering "freezing" my iPad at the current OS so it will become like a vintage synth.

    Audio interfaces can do that today.

    Yea! :)

  • @espiegel123 said:
    Apple has messed up audio stuff plenty of times prior to IAA deprecation that wasn't caught in testing. I suspect this wasn't an intentional shot across the bow of IAA.

    If there are enough formal complaints, however, it might remind Apple of the many apps affected.

    There were deprecated APIs whose actual removal was slowed once Apple realized how many popular apps still relied on them.

    This.

  • @greengrocer said:
    Especially in times when IAA is put to rest people who heavily depend on audio apps should be careful with updating iOS. @Michael or others on ths list that do beta testing iOS 13 or iPadOS are these audio problems that now popup in 12.4 also present in 13?

    I haven't tried this in 13 yet; dunno. But I'd be surprised if it were any different.

  • edited July 2019

    @Janosax said:
    Super frustrating, GarageBand is broken. AUM, Loopy and Blocswave still work. For production it’s already an issue, can’t imagine for those who have a live setup broken. Hopefully mine is not.

    Oh can you tell me more about GB being broken? The bug as I understand it means that apps that are launched into the background which use the mic are busted 'till they're brought into the foreground. But GarageBand (a) must be launched into the foreground in Audiobus because it doesn't support background launching, so it's fine there (and works for me), and (b) GarageBand immediately launches IAA apps it hosts into the foreground, so that bypasses the issue from the other end. So, should be fine as far as I understand it.

    Edit: Oh - that's weird. (b) is totally false, dunno what happened the first time I tried it. Yeah, that would break.

This discussion has been closed.