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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iOS 14 and audio units

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Comments

  • @Model10000 said:
    @uncledave a restart, so far, always fixes it. I'm trying to incorporate the ipad in a Live set and having the need to restart makes it a no go.

    @brambos Thanks for that. I wish you could send other people's crash logs in!

    @neonsilicon All of the Au's were missing. On a fresh AUM Session, on any of my idevices, putting Blackhole in the effects slot brings up the mix knob instantly like in this pic. Although, when I get the AU missing error, then delete/swipe closed the Blackhole icon from the AUM node, then open it's container outside of AUM, then reload it in the same effect slot in AUM I get the hamburger icon and not the mix knob. Weird.

    Next time this happens, I'll try opening containers other than Blackhole and see what the behavior is.

    This really seems to be related to what happens on macOS now with the AU cache information. I don't think it has to do with anything in RAM. The AU cache info on macOS is in the Library locations. (Well, at least some of it is there, maybe not all.) When an AU goes missing there, moving an AU container or opening a container app will cause the OS to relocate everything. Of course, you can't move an app's location on iOS, but opening the container app and having that work would seem to be related. So would rebooting the OS. Something must be causing the AU cache to be corrupted. I suspect that Apple has changed the way this is done in iOS 14 to prep for some future changes and this is showing up as an issue because of that.

  • wimwim
    edited January 2021

    @ExAsperis99 said:
    So if i haven’t updated, you’re saying shouldn’t?

    I'm waiting until the disappearing AU thing is resolved. There is an outstanding security issue that's pretty serious I hear, but I'm willing to risk that for a bit. Other than that, I can't think of a single iOS 14 feature I care about.

  • Yeah, I checked the sysdiagnose is there. So anyone that is actually having the problem can maybe get logs to Apple, but I’m not sure if the logs would have the information needed.

    Not once has this happened in several months for me at this point, but it was pretty annoying all through the iOS14 beta before public release and then the first month or so of iOS 14. I am currently backing up my iPad Pro on 13.7 and will update it at this point, as my Air 2 has been no issues and I even use the Air 2 for music more these days. I’ll have to see if the Pro gets the missing AUv3 icon. A missing icon is no big deal anyway. At no point when I did have the issue did it affect any of the apps I used, it just had a missing picture.

  • wimwim
    edited January 2021

    @DMan said:
    Yeah, I checked the sysdiagnose is there. So anyone that is actually having the problem can maybe get logs to Apple, but I’m not sure if the logs would have the information needed.

    Not once has this happened in several months for me at this point, but it was pretty annoying all through the iOS14 beta before public release and then the first month or so of iOS 14. I am currently backing up my iPad Pro on 13.7 and will update it at this point, as my Air 2 has been no issues and I even use the Air 2 for music more these days. I’ll have to see if the Pro gets the missing AUv3 icon. A missing icon is no big deal anyway. At no point when I did have the issue did it affect any of the apps I used, it just had a missing picture.

    It isn't just that an icon goes missing. All AUv3 apps go missing and can't be selected until you reboot the device.

  • Yeah , it’s not just the icons that go missing. All AUs can not be used as AUv3 guest until a device restart is made (but still would work in standalone mode). So happy to see other users that are experiencing this bug and are working together to try and somehow get to the button of this or even resolve this. Can anyone confirm that Apple definitely aware of this issue now? are they trying to fix it (or at least claiming they are)?

  • Oh, I’ve had that happen maybe 3 times on iOS and it always required a reboot. It was pre iOS 14 though.

    The logs can still be collected for whoever is having the issue. Volume up, down, and power at the same time for a brief moment. Less than half a second. Then you wait 10-15 min and then it shows up in Privacy and Analytics and Improvements as a file called sysdiagnose.

    Calling the Apple consumer support line if you are having the issue call in saying it’s about GarageBand and make sure the issue occurs there as well. I know when I had the missing icons it was happening there. Not sure about the missing apps entirely now that I have confirmed people aren’t talking about the missing icons as this affected a number of people as well.

  • @DMan I'm not sure a sysdiagnose would contain any useful info with regard to this. I don't think I'd bother with it unless someone knowledgeable knew what to look for in it. There are other logs, crash logs, jetsam logs, that might be more informative, since they record specifically when something happens. The sysdiagnose is just a system snapshot at the time you take it.

    And yes, there are two (possibly related) problems:
    1. AUv3 host lists no AUv3 installed. Requires a restart to fix.
    2. AUv3 host cannot display an icon for an AUv3, resorts to a generic. May be fixed by loading an AUv3 in AUM.

  • edited February 2021

    If you tell GB support it’s happening in GarageBand, the standard MO for them is to tell you that if all the functions of GarageBand are working correctly, then to contact third-party developers. I just went through that again. So I should contact hundreds of devs because their apps are “broken?” I don’t use GarageBand, but this is what it looks like when I try to load AUV3, and then following the link to the apps store you can clearly see AUv3 are already purchased. Clicking open, they don’t load in project. So directing people to go buy things they already have, to use in an app that won’t load them and something isn’t broken about that? Kafka would be proud.

    Sent deep diagnostics through a profile. These logs will go to GB engineers though and doubtful they’ll get to core audio. Should be a way to directly send those where they need to go.


  • @Model10000 said:
    If you tell GB support it’s happening in GarageBand, the standard MO for them is to tell you that if all the functions of GarageBand are working correctly, then to contact third-party developers. I just went through that again. So I should contact hundreds of devs because their apps are “broken?” I don’t use GarageBand, but this is what it looks like when I try to load AUV3, and then following the link to the apps store you can clearly see AUv3 are already purchased. Clicking open, they don’t load in project. So directing people to go buy things they already have, to use in an app that won’t load them and something isn’t broken about that? Kafka would be proud.

    Sent deep diagnostics through a profile. These logs will go to GB engineers though and doubtful they’ll get to core audio. Should be a way to directly send those where they need to go.


    Well, I've sent a couple of these reports files as GarageBand bugs and haven't even gotten a response. So if you did get a response you are definitely of the lucky few .

  • I do wonder if the AUv3 situation would be the same if Tim Crook was an avid user of AUv3's and other Music Apps?

    My suspicion is still that iOS/iPadOS 'flushes out' AUv3 Caches from memory when it's needed for 'more important' things...
    ...and these caches are rebuilt during boot explaining why a 'reboot' fixes the missing AUv3's issue.

  • He might have a secret life making bangers on a gold plated iPad that doesn’t have these issues.

    Reality is he probably doesn’t know what auv3 are.

    Top tier GB support, after telling her I incorporate some iPads in live sets, “have you tried mainstage instead.” 😳 As if there aren’t reasons and advantages to iOS devices and yea it’d be nice to use the apps you spent thousands for.

    @samu I don’t want to believe this, but I think it might be onto something. That means it’s #352426352 on the to fix list.

  • @Model10000 said:
    He might have a secret life making bangers on a gold plated iPad that doesn’t have these issues.

    Reality is he probably doesn’t know what auv3 are.

    Top tier GB support, after telling her I incorporate some iPads in live sets, “have you tried mainstage instead.” 😳 As if there aren’t reasons and advantages to iOS devices and yea it’d be nice to use the apps you spent thousands for.

    @samu I don’t want to believe this, but I think it might be onto something. That means it’s #352426352 on the to fix list.

    You should let them know that you would be really happy to use MainStage if they would release it for the iPad.

  • edited February 2021

    @uncledave said:
    @DMan I'm not sure a sysdiagnose would contain any useful info with regard to this. I don't think I'd bother with it unless someone knowledgeable knew what to look for in it. There are other logs, crash logs, jetsam logs, that might be more informative, since they record specifically when something happens. The sysdiagnose is just a system snapshot at the time you take it.

    And yes, there are two (possibly related) problems:
    1. AUv3 host lists no AUv3 installed. Requires a restart to fix.
    2. AUv3 host cannot display an icon for an AUv3, resorts to a generic. May be fixed by loading an AUv3 in AUM.

    I don’t think we’re going to see a resolution on this anytime soon. Based on the ticket I submitted, the issue was unable to be diagnosed despite sending the sysdiagnose from 3 devices that were experiencing this bug. If it can’t be diagnosed through the diagnostics send from Feedback, some engineer will probably have to stumble on it by accident.

    Hopes that it’s fixed in the new beta of 14.5, but I’m not holding my breath.

  • @ahallam said:

    @uncledave said:
    @DMan I'm not sure a sysdiagnose would contain any useful info with regard to this. I don't think I'd bother with it unless someone knowledgeable knew what to look for in it. There are other logs, crash logs, jetsam logs, that might be more informative, since they record specifically when something happens. The sysdiagnose is just a system snapshot at the time you take it.

    And yes, there are two (possibly related) problems:
    1. AUv3 host lists no AUv3 installed. Requires a restart to fix.
    2. AUv3 host cannot display an icon for an AUv3, resorts to a generic. May be fixed by loading an AUv3 in AUM.

    I don’t think we’re going to see a resolution on this anytime soon. Based on the ticket I submitted, the issue was unable to be diagnosed despite sending the sysdiagnose from 3 devices that were experiencing this bug. If it can’t be diagnosed through the diagnostics send from Feedback, some engineer will probably have to stumble on it by accident.

    Hopes that it’s fixed in the new beta of 14.5, but I’m not holding my breath.

    So frustrating 😞 😢

    They simply can not seem to reproduce this bug on their end. But they also don’t seem to be very willing to try. Some bugs like this I guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️
    I hope I won’t have to do a device restart every day until the end of time.

  • @ahallam Not holding my breath either. Looks like you sent sysdiagnostics through the beta feedback app. I did that before and it was a similar story. Not sure how different the beta profile is compared to the profile they sent me today on stock iOS. It did take a good half hour to compile and compress so the diagnostics might be deeper. Waiting to hear back from an engineer now.

  • Safari has been rather buggy with iOS 13.7 already. Hoping for fixes with the iOS 14 release, I've now been waiting for 5 months and I'm still wondering if it's a good idea to upgrade 🤔
    I wish Apple would reduce the pace of adding new features in favor of fixing bugs if they can't afford enough developers.
    Those "Please send a crash report" responses sound like they don't even have the human resources to do proper internal testing. So much about code quality. Sorry for the rant.

  • wimwim
    edited February 2021

    Humm ... occasional Safari bugs or occasional loss of access to all Audio Units without a reboot? I know my choice.

    Has it really been five months?? Five months and they still haven't even acknowledged the disappearing AUv3 thing!?? I don't recall them dropping the ball this bad on any previous release.

  • @ahallam said:

    @uncledave said:
    @DMan I'm not sure a sysdiagnose would contain any useful info with regard to this. I don't think I'd bother with it unless someone knowledgeable knew what to look for in it. There are other logs, crash logs, jetsam logs, that might be more informative, since they record specifically when something happens. The sysdiagnose is just a system snapshot at the time you take it.

    And yes, there are two (possibly related) problems:
    1. AUv3 host lists no AUv3 installed. Requires a restart to fix.
    2. AUv3 host cannot display an icon for an AUv3, resorts to a generic. May be fixed by loading an AUv3 in AUM.

    I don’t think we’re going to see a resolution on this anytime soon. Based on the ticket I submitted, the issue was unable to be diagnosed despite sending the sysdiagnose from 3 devices that were experiencing this bug. If it can’t be diagnosed through the diagnostics send from Feedback, some engineer will probably have to stumble on it by accident.

    Hopes that it’s fixed in the new beta of 14.5, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Oh man. So, I don’t know if the feedback site is any good. It seems the issue happens pretty regularly for you. Does it happen in GarageBand? If it does you can just call their support and work with the engineering until they finally have you erase the entire iPad and set it up as new, or tell you that they are looking into it, but have no promise it will be fixed.

  • @wim said:
    Humm ... occasional Safari bugs or occasional loss of access to all Audio Units without a reboot? I know my choice.

    Has it really been five months?? Five months and they still haven't even acknowledged the disappearing AUv3 thing!?? I don't recall them dropping the ball this bad on any previous release.

    My Pro 2nd gen Safari bugs are gone as far as I can tell going from 13.7 to 14.4. I definitely had those on 13.7. I have yet to have disappearing AUv3, so I cannot attest to why or how this issue is not reproduced because I have never had it. I had missing AUv3 icon, which is apparently something different and that is gone as well. Now, both my pro and Air 2 are up to date.

    I will say there are numerous M1 Mac issues, I’m not sure where engineering support is, but CA USA is locked down last I checked. It’s been taking forever to “fix” these. My HDMI to DVI is finally fixed after the last firmware.

  • @rs2000 said:
    Safari has been rather buggy with iOS 13.7 already. Hoping for fixes with the iOS 14 release, I've now been waiting for 5 months and I'm still wondering if it's a good idea to upgrade 🤔
    I wish Apple would reduce the pace of adding new features in favor of fixing bugs if they can't afford enough developers.
    Those "Please send a crash report" responses sound like they don't even have the human resources to do proper internal testing. So much about code quality. Sorry for the rant.

    Yeah, this sounds just about right. They have added quite a few new features in iOS 14. Maybe this means that iOS 15 will be more of a “fortification” release, though. The same way iOS 13 was.

  • For those having the issue, does the issue return if you do a backup (encrypt it if you are using a computer and not iCloud and you need saved passwords, call history, home data, health data), and then you do an erase and set up as new (don’t transfer apps and data) and then reload apps, does the issue return?

    The problem with tests is they do blank installs and don’t migrate data. If you do a migration they will never be able to reproduce the issue. They will do this back and forth it seems.

  • @DMan said:
    For those having the issue, does the issue return if you do a backup (encrypt it if you are using a computer and not iCloud and you need saved passwords, call history, home data, health data), and then you do an erase and set up as new (don’t transfer apps and data) and then reload apps, does the issue return?

    The problem with tests is they do blank installs and don’t migrate data. If you do a migration they will never be able to reproduce the issue. They will do this back and forth it seems.

    TBH Doing a full backup/restore is going to be WAY too much hassle for me and there is no guarantee that it will solve the issue. I have a feeling that it would, thought. But without guarantee I think I’m just gonna suffer through.

  • @DMan said:

    @ahallam said:

    @uncledave said:
    @DMan I'm not sure a sysdiagnose would contain any useful info with regard to this. I don't think I'd bother with it unless someone knowledgeable knew what to look for in it. There are other logs, crash logs, jetsam logs, that might be more informative, since they record specifically when something happens. The sysdiagnose is just a system snapshot at the time you take it.

    And yes, there are two (possibly related) problems:
    1. AUv3 host lists no AUv3 installed. Requires a restart to fix.
    2. AUv3 host cannot display an icon for an AUv3, resorts to a generic. May be fixed by loading an AUv3 in AUM.

    I don’t think we’re going to see a resolution on this anytime soon. Based on the ticket I submitted, the issue was unable to be diagnosed despite sending the sysdiagnose from 3 devices that were experiencing this bug. If it can’t be diagnosed through the diagnostics send from Feedback, some engineer will probably have to stumble on it by accident.

    Hopes that it’s fixed in the new beta of 14.5, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Oh man. So, I don’t know if the feedback site is any good. It seems the issue happens pretty regularly for you. Does it happen in GarageBand? If it does you can just call their support and work with the engineering until they finally have you erase the entire iPad and set it up as new, or tell you that they are looking into it, but have no promise it will be fixed.

    I don’t use GarageBand, but since it’s happened with every single AU host I own, I assume it would also happen in GB. I’m not going to go wiping 3 different devices over this, I’ll just use Ableton.

  • edited February 2021

    The missing AUv3 just happened to me for the first time. Pretty amazing, since I've been current on iPadOS 14 since November 7. I've had iPadOS 14.4 since Jan. 26, so this isn't due to a system update. When they go, they are really gone, in all apps: Audiobus, AUM, GarageBand, Drambo, AUMediaPlayer. No tricks will restore them: viewing IAA, opening AUv3 stand-alone, installing new AUv3. As already reported, restarting the iPad brings them back. Reported to Apple, of course; may not help, but cannot hurt.

    This seems to have been triggered by jetsam restarting the pkd daemon for using too much memory (highwater), logged just before. pkd maintains a database of "extensions", which include AUv3 and dozens of others. Since I've seen pkd restarted before, with no ill effect, I suspect it may be unreliable when restarted in this way, while it works properly on system startup. It might be related to the number of AUv3; I have been gradually adding them, and I may have stepped over the boundary.

    Edit: I counted 145 entries in the various AU menus of Audiobus (Audio Source, Audio FX, MIDI Source, MIDI FX). Guessing that each item is a different database entry even if the name shown is the same.

  • @uncledave said:
    The missing AUv3 just happened to me for the first time. Pretty amazing, since I've been current on iPadOS 14 since November 7. I've had iPadOS 14.4 since Jan. 26, so this isn't due to a system update. When they go, they are really gone, in all apps: Audiobus, AUM, GarageBand, Drambo, AUMediaPlayer. No tricks will restore them: viewing IAA, opening AUv3 stand-alone, installing new AUv3. As already reported, restarting the iPad brings them back. Reported to Apple, of course; may not help, but cannot hurt.

    This seems to have been triggered by jetsam restarting the pkd daemon for using too much memory (highwater), logged just before. pkd maintains a database of "extensions", which include AUv3 and dozens of others. Since I've seen pkd restarted before, with no ill effect, I suspect it may be unreliable when restarted in this way, while it works properly on system startup. It might be related to the number of AUv3; I have been gradually adding them, and I may have stepped over the boundary.

    Edit: I counted 145 entries in the various AU menus of Audiobus (Audio Source, Audio FX, MIDI Source, MIDI FX). Guessing that each item is a different database entry even if the name shown is the same.

    This seems like a likely path. Strange though, I just did some observing of pkd on macOS and the memory barely moves with loading of AU instances. I have three instances of pkd running at the moment, one is owned by spotlight and two by me. I can kill the two owned by me and the relaunch as expected. The are all in the about 10MB range or less. Seems weird that jetsam would restart them unless there is a memory leak.

    According to the man page for pkd, the BUGS entry lists "None yet." I'm sure we can trust that ;).

    I need to try loading up a bigger project and see if I can get the thing to take up more RAM.

  • @uncledave said:
    The missing AUv3 just happened to me for the first time. Pretty amazing, since I've been current on iPadOS 14 since November 7. I've had iPadOS 14.4 since Jan. 26, so this isn't due to a system update. When they go, they are really gone, in all apps: Audiobus, AUM, GarageBand, Drambo, AUMediaPlayer. No tricks will restore them: viewing IAA, opening AUv3 stand-alone, installing new AUv3. As already reported, restarting the iPad brings them back. Reported to Apple, of course; may not help, but cannot hurt.

    This seems to have been triggered by jetsam restarting the pkd daemon for using too much memory (highwater), logged just before. pkd maintains a database of "extensions", which include AUv3 and dozens of others. Since I've seen pkd restarted before, with no ill effect, I suspect it may be unreliable when restarted in this way, while it works properly on system startup. It might be related to the number of AUv3; I have been gradually adding them, and I may have stepped over the boundary.

    Edit: I counted 145 entries in the various AU menus of Audiobus (Audio Source, Audio FX, MIDI Source, MIDI FX). Guessing that each item is a different database entry even if the name shown is the same.

    Sad to hear this bug got you too and happy to hear that you’ve sent a report to Apple. We’ve been sending them reports for months now and with every new iOS release our hopes for a fix get shattered again. I doubt they’ll get this fixed for 14.5. 😞

  • @NeonSilicon said:

    @uncledave said:
    The missing AUv3 just happened to me for the first time. Pretty amazing, since I've been current on iPadOS 14 since November 7. I've had iPadOS 14.4 since Jan. 26, so this isn't due to a system update. When they go, they are really gone, in all apps: Audiobus, AUM, GarageBand, Drambo, AUMediaPlayer. No tricks will restore them: viewing IAA, opening AUv3 stand-alone, installing new AUv3. As already reported, restarting the iPad brings them back. Reported to Apple, of course; may not help, but cannot hurt.

    This seems to have been triggered by jetsam restarting the pkd daemon for using too much memory (highwater), logged just before. pkd maintains a database of "extensions", which include AUv3 and dozens of others. Since I've seen pkd restarted before, with no ill effect, I suspect it may be unreliable when restarted in this way, while it works properly on system startup. It might be related to the number of AUv3; I have been gradually adding them, and I may have stepped over the boundary.

    Edit: I counted 145 entries in the various AU menus of Audiobus (Audio Source, Audio FX, MIDI Source, MIDI FX). Guessing that each item is a different database entry even if the name shown is the same.

    This seems like a likely path. Strange though, I just did some observing of pkd on macOS and the memory barely moves with loading of AU instances. I have three instances of pkd running at the moment, one is owned by spotlight and two by me. I can kill the two owned by me and the relaunch as expected. The are all in the about 10MB range or less. Seems weird that jetsam would restart them unless there is a memory leak.

    According to the man page for pkd, the BUGS entry lists "None yet." I'm sure we can trust that ;).

    I need to try loading up a bigger project and see if I can get the thing to take up more RAM.

    In iPadOS, pkd runs about 550 pages (8.5 MB), jetsam restarts it when it reaches 960 pages (15 MB). I get this from various jetsam logs. I suspect that if they fixed the apparent memory leak, the restarting problem would go away.

  • wimwim
    edited February 2021

    I will be amused to no end if two forum members find the root cause before Apple even officially acknowledges this issue (which I don't believe has happened). :D

  • @wim said:
    I will be amused (and annoyed) to no end if two forum members find the root cause before Apple even officially acknowledges this issue (which I don't believe has happened). :D

    Has Apple's audio team ever acknowledged a bug in any product?

  • @NeonSilicon said:

    @uncledave said:
    The missing AUv3 just happened to me for the first time. Pretty amazing, since I've been current on iPadOS 14 since November 7. I've had iPadOS 14.4 since Jan. 26, so this isn't due to a system update. When they go, they are really gone, in all apps: Audiobus, AUM, GarageBand, Drambo, AUMediaPlayer. No tricks will restore them: viewing IAA, opening AUv3 stand-alone, installing new AUv3. As already reported, restarting the iPad brings them back. Reported to Apple, of course; may not help, but cannot hurt.

    This seems to have been triggered by jetsam restarting the pkd daemon for using too much memory (highwater), logged just before. pkd maintains a database of "extensions", which include AUv3 and dozens of others. Since I've seen pkd restarted before, with no ill effect, I suspect it may be unreliable when restarted in this way, while it works properly on system startup. It might be related to the number of AUv3; I have been gradually adding them, and I may have stepped over the boundary.

    ...

    This seems like a likely path. Strange though, I just did some observing of pkd on macOS and the memory barely moves with loading of AU instances. I have three instances of pkd running at the moment, one is owned by spotlight and two by me. I can kill the two owned by me and the relaunch as expected. The are all in the about 10MB range or less. Seems weird that jetsam would restart them unless there is a memory leak.

    Does Apple provide a memory tracing tool like Valgrind to developers (both internal and external devs)?
    Tracing memory calls is expensive but it’s useful to find obscure memory leaks. I would not know where to begin debugging this one on iOS...

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