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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iConnectivity ConnectAUDIO2/4 vs 4+

Just got a vague feeling that I’d use something like this and I can only find the former but I’m not sure if they’re pretty much the same thing, just with less inputs...

Does anyone know the difference, and if they’re still viable? I’d be looking to use it with an iPad Pro 9.7 and a Windows laptop from around 2014...

Comments

  • @Krupa said:
    Just got a vague feeling that I’d use something like this and I can only find the former but I’m not sure if they’re pretty much the same thing, just with less inputs...

    Does anyone know the difference, and if they’re still viable? I’d be looking to use it with an iPad Pro 9.7 and a Windows laptop from around 2014...

    You can still download the manuals from https://www.iconnectivity.com/downloads.

  • Looks like iConnectivity finally threw the towel... all retired according to their website.
    The 4+ ist still a viable option (imho) if you want to connect an iPad to a 2nd host (iDevice, PC, Mac).
    Admittedly - it‘s a tough task to support 3 different OSes in multiple versions, and noone else dared to dive into that territory.
    I‘ve used a 4+ for years and never had a true problem with it. The control panel isn‘t the most brilliant implementation, but does the job.
    The circuit board looks solid (recently opened mine) - so get a sellout item or 2nd hand.
    I run it under IOS 13, not sure about 14 and nothing to expect beyond that.

  • @uncledave said:

    @Krupa said:
    Just got a vague feeling that I’d use something like this and I can only find the former but I’m not sure if they’re pretty much the same thing, just with less inputs...

    Does anyone know the difference, and if they’re still viable? I’d be looking to use it with an iPad Pro 9.7 and a Windows laptop from around 2014...

    You can still download the manuals from https://www.iconnectivity.com/downloads.

    Ah cheers, I’d not looked in that section of their site, nice one!

  • edited February 2021

    Sure they are viable. They need quite some to get used to. The 4+ is great, despite heating a lot, but is doing fine. I think you can grab them cheap. If you have 2 idevices to connect you can find an iconnectmidi2+ (which has passthrough between the 2 idevices and your pc), but you need another sound card to aggregate (no audio outputs). Compared to the iCA4+, the 2/4 loses 2 outputs, and the ability to share a usb host port which is a must have imho. I would go with the 4+ even if it's discontinued. Hope they are planning the sequel, of the 4+ (midi ou audio), they are great to merge both pc and iOS world :-)

  • @Telefunky said:
    Looks like iConnectivity finally threw the towel... all retired according to their website.
    The 4+ ist still a viable option (imho) if you want to connect an iPad to a 2nd host (iDevice, PC, Mac).
    Admittedly - it‘s a tough task to support 3 different OSes in multiple versions, and noone else dared to dive into that territory.
    I‘ve used a 4+ for years and never had a true problem with it. The control panel isn‘t the most brilliant implementation, but does the job.
    The circuit board looks solid (recently opened mine) - so get a sellout item or 2nd hand.
    I run it under IOS 13, not sure about 14 and nothing to expect beyond that.

    Cheers, looks from the manuals that the store new one I’ve actually sourced (2/4+) iOS a little newer, I’ll have a good read of them, but at a quick glance they look very similar...

  • @Telefunky said:
    Looks like iConnectivity finally threw the towel... all retired according to their website.
    The 4+ ist still a viable option (imho) if you want to connect an iPad to a 2nd host (iDevice, PC, Mac).
    Admittedly - it‘s a tough task to support 3 different OSes in multiple versions, and noone else dared to dive into that territory.
    I‘ve used a 4+ for years and never had a true problem with it. The control panel isn‘t the most brilliant implementation, but does the job.
    The circuit board looks solid (recently opened mine) - so get a sellout item or 2nd hand.
    I run it under IOS 13, not sure about 14 and nothing to expect beyond that.

    14 is fine ;-)

  • I find those units way more reliable than studiomux, which has only brought me garbled audio... The routing you can achieved the tconnectivity units are insane.

  • Trying the beta for studiomux was what led me back to these units just now, the combination of what seems unreliable in software and my laptop’s seeming dislike of usb to idevice connections I think I might be better off this way, and to think that I was just trying to find a way to use velocity keyboard with Ableton lite this afternoon, long strange roads :)

  • Like Don what I’ve read that the 2/4 device only has a single USB so just acts as a normal audio interface, or perhaps needs a hub... I think I’ll look out for one of the + ones, probably the 2+ s as I’ll make do with the inputs, maybe add another using my irig on the computer and it will power the iPad at the same time...

  • @Krupa said:
    Like Don what I’ve read that the 2/4 device only has a single USB so just acts as a normal audio interface, or perhaps needs a hub... I think I’ll look out for one of the + ones, probably the 2+ s as I’ll make do with the inputs, maybe add another using my irig on the computer and it will power the iPad at the same time...

    Just to reaffirm, the 2/4 with one USB can only work as an interface; a hub wouldn't help. Those two USB ports on the (+) units are special because the device acts as a slave to two hosts simultaneously. The internal processor looks after playing the slave to both masters at once.

  • @uncledave said:

    @Krupa said:
    Like Don what I’ve read that the 2/4 device only has a single USB so just acts as a normal audio interface, or perhaps needs a hub... I think I’ll look out for one of the + ones, probably the 2+ s as I’ll make do with the inputs, maybe add another using my irig on the computer and it will power the iPad at the same time...

    Just to reaffirm, the 2/4 with one USB can only work as an interface; a hub wouldn't help. Those two USB ports on the (+) units are special because the device acts as a slave to two hosts simultaneously. The internal processor looks after playing the slave to both masters at once.

    Nice one for that uncle, good to have it confirmed, now to source a plus, they seem rare these days!

  • Beware, one of the iOS updates broke the control panel app for the 4+, like iOS 12. They explicitly gave up on fixing it. No end to the connectivity issues. If you get one you MUST have a computer or an older OS iPad. Otherwise you can’t access the mixer or routing or midi or anything. Which is a shame, it is a unique and valuable piece of gear, being able to pass digital audio between two iPads.

    The computer app is good. Better than the iOS app, even when you can get it to work.

  • @Processaurus said:
    Beware, one of the iOS updates broke the control panel app for the 4+, like iOS 12. They explicitly gave up on fixing it. No end to the connectivity issues. If you get one you MUST have a computer or an older OS iPad. Otherwise you can’t access the mixer or routing or midi or anything. Which is a shame, it is a unique and valuable piece of gear, being able to pass digital audio between two iPads.

    The computer app is good. Better than the iOS app, even when you can get it to work.

    Ah cheers, good to know, I’m definitely thinking of it as a bridge between iOS and the desktop world, play on the iPad, record and arrange on the laptop. Might even get away with ableton lite rather than upgrading to the full kahuna as well...

  • @Processaurus said:
    Beware, one of the iOS updates broke the control panel app for the 4+, like iOS 12. They explicitly gave up on fixing it. No end to the connectivity issues. If you get one you MUST have a computer or an older OS iPad. Otherwise you can’t access the mixer or routing or midi or anything. Which is a shame, it is a unique and valuable piece of gear, being able to pass digital audio between two iPads.

    The computer app is good. Better than the iOS app, even when you can get it to work.

    I am still lucky with the 4+, but afraid to update from IOS 14.3 to 14.4.
    One question: I only use the mixer/routing app in IOS. On the desktop (windows) I only have a rudimentary App (control panel) where I am able to set the ASIO-buffer. Did I miss something?

  • edited February 2021

    @Satie said:

    @Processaurus said:
    Beware, one of the iOS updates broke the control panel app for the 4+, like iOS 12. They explicitly gave up on fixing it. No end to the connectivity issues. If you get one you MUST have a computer or an older OS iPad. Otherwise you can’t access the mixer or routing or midi or anything. Which is a shame, it is a unique and valuable piece of gear, being able to pass digital audio between two iPads.

    The computer app is good. Better than the iOS app, even when you can get it to work.

    I am still lucky with the 4+, but afraid to update from IOS 14.3 to 14.4.
    One question: I only use the mixer/routing app in IOS. On the desktop (windows) I only have a rudimentary App (control panel) where I am able to set the ASIO-buffer. Did I miss something?

    Yes the iconfig tool ! It really nice.

  • @Processaurus said:
    Beware, one of the iOS updates broke the control panel app for the 4+, like iOS 12. They explicitly gave up on fixing it. No end to the connectivity issues. If you get one you MUST have a computer or an older OS iPad. Otherwise you can’t access the mixer or routing or midi or anything. Which is a shame, it is a unique and valuable piece of gear, being able to pass digital audio between two iPads.

    The computer app is good. Better than the iOS app, even when you can get it to work.

    Aha. Thanks for this. I thought it was just me being daft. I seem to forget how to use the config app every time I load it (which has been rare) so I assumed it was just me being forgetful.

    Bummer that the app abandoned on iOS but can’t say I blame them. Quite the beast. This is kind of my favorite use case/argument for WebMIDI vs native apps when it comes to configuration apps. They’d only have to maintain a single “app” across all devices. A reasonably well coded web app from 2001 still loads just fine in any browser. And, if they need to abandon it, they could open source it and it would be fairly easy for other users to fork/fix/extend. It’s not like iConfig ever felt particularly “native” on iOS (or OS X for that matter).

  • The ipad app is still working for me on 14.4, just tested on my Air 2. I don't think it's as reliable as it used to be though. I always use the desktop app anyway as it's much easier to use.

  • The connectivity issue shows a fairly reliable pattern on my Air-2 in IOS-13: if AUM is active, iConfig doesn‘t find the interface, quit AUM and it pops up again in most cases.
    Iirc in IOS 9 it seemed to fail with Safari running, but AUM didn‘t confuse it.
    @syrupcore did you ever check the sysex documentation by iConnectivity ?
    Looks like each and every item of the interface is covered - it‘s a huge read, though.

  • Btw if anyone hears of any for sale in the UK, please let me know as I can’t find any old or new stock. I’ve got watches set on eBay and reverb but they only seem to come up sporadically...

  • I have the 2+ and the app is working for me but sometimes I struggle with it. Sometimes it happens that the app does not find the device. Usually I have to unplug everything from my iPad and then connect the device. Last resort is reboot.

  • @Carnbot said:
    The ipad app is still working for me on 14.4, just tested on my Air 2. I don't think it's as reliable as it used to be though. I always use the desktop app anyway as it's much easier to use.

    All parts of the app? If I recall correctly, the app loaded fine and some patching/editing worked but I couldn’t switch destinations on the audio mixer page.

  • @Telefunky said:
    @syrupcore did you ever check the sysex documentation by iConnectivity ?
    Looks like each and every item of the interface is covered - it‘s a huge read, though.

    I didn’t. Well, I did but sysex control was only a pipe dream at that point. I will definitely check again though, thank you.

  • @syrupcore said:

    @Carnbot said:
    The ipad app is still working for me on 14.4, just tested on my Air 2. I don't think it's as reliable as it used to be though. I always use the desktop app anyway as it's much easier to use.

    All parts of the app? If I recall correctly, the app loaded fine and some patching/editing worked but I couldn’t switch destinations on the audio mixer page.

    Not sure about the mixer destinations, yeah can't seem to change those, but everything else seems to work ok in the app.

  • @Krupa said:
    Btw if anyone hears of any for sale in the UK, please let me know as I can’t find any old or new stock. I’ve got watches set on eBay and reverb but they only seem to come up sporadically...

    @Svetlovska has very kindly ripped her 4+ from the heart of her studio and sold it to me - apparently it wasn’t being put to the envisioned use so hopefully won’t be missed too much.

    It arrived a couple of hours ago and I’ve been head first in it all afternoon, I love it, great sound through the inputs and the routing seems fairly straightforward, though I haven’t really touched it beyond adjusting levels so far.

    I’ve managed to get inputs effected in both aum and ableton and recorded as such, midi playing back vsts in ableton and effected in aum and recorded back in ableton, not tried a live fully external send yet but i think they’ll properly be even more straightforward.

    All in all, a great piece of kit that I’m going to get lost in for many a moon,

    Thank you @Svetlovska !

  • @krupa: glad to hear it survived the courier, and that it has clearly gone to a good home :)

  • It certainly has, I’ve just come up for air again, loving it 😄

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