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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new ipad pro / a14x m1 processor

https://www.imore.com/a14x-chip-appears-be-destined-2021-ipad-pro

after reading all the rumours , looks like the new ipad will be launched , just curious
if any developers on board have something to say about it and how this will impact compatibility ?

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Comments

  • The chances that the new iPad will have any impact on compatibility with audio applications is exceedingly small. If Apple were going to do anything big in this regard, it would have been talked about at the last WWDC. So, releasing a new iPad before June indicates that it is mainly going to be a generational upgrade over the current iPad Pro.

    Apple is all about supply chain management, that's going to be even more true right now with the world of CPU fab being a total mess. The processor in the iPad will almost definitely, as usual, be a slightly better or binned version of what's in the flagship iPhone.

    Processor generations right now do little for audio applications anyway. There is whatever the boost is in the number of instructions completed per clock tick and whatever clock rate increases, but that's about it. Unless you have an app that can use any of the new improved accelerators (e.g. AI) there isn't much that way. Don't get me wrong here, the processors do get better and better and the A14's are huge compared to everything else on the market, but it isn't going to revolutionize audio dev.

    The main rumor that has an outside chance of being true is that the Pro will get Thunderbolt. I think this may be true because of some things I've seen in the developer docs. If it is, this could have some big impact on certain developers of audio applications. It could bring new interface compatibility to iPad users too.

  • An A14X makes total sense. The M line of processors is for laptops, minis and iMacs as they can afford a higher TDP. The A line is for mobile devices that need a better energy efficiency.

  • So more dollar-grabbing incrementalism for Apple? I’m shocked (said no one ever). I’ll stick with my 12.9 2018 Pro until the wheels fall off or Apple decides to start making actual touchscreen computers.

  • I guess I can wait, though this 64GB IPP 11” (2018) is beyond ready for replacement. I’ll wait until this next round of new device releases before making the purchase.

  • edited March 2021

    Quick comparison between the leaked/assumed A14X specs vs A14 and M1

    A14 M1 A14X
    Transistors 11.8 16 ?
    Cores 6 8 8 *1
    GPU Cores 4 7/8 8 *1
    nm 5 5 5 *1
    TFLOPS 2 2.6 2.2 *1
    Geekbench single 1538 1744 1634 *2
    Geekbench multi 4198 7676 7220 *2
    • 1:assumtion, 2:leaked A14X specs
  • Bring it on. My decision is always 11" vs 12.9", and while I always try them both out and love the big screen of the 12.9, I always end up with 11 because of the portability plus being a wearer of progressive lens glasses I can only really focus on a small part of the screen anyway.

  • Presumably a faster iPad. The M1 chip is the first Mac chip, the X chips are the souped up iPhone chips for iPads. I don't think Apple were never going to put the M1 in an iPad as it would probably have horrible performance due to thermals/power.

    Developing for silicon Macs and iOS has felt the same to me. As with every new chip we see, we will get a performance boost on what was seen before. I'd like to see logic come with it though because if those leaked geek bench specs are real then there is certainly enough juice in it, my concern would be storage space and battery life. With the newer "touch" looking features in Logic and also the way it had to be rebuilt from scratch for silicon, I'd be very surprised if they don't have some sort of cross platform version working - they would be stupid not to. Also bringing Logic to iPad is a sure fire way for Apple to sell a ton more iPads, it makes huge business sense.

    If Apple continue their trend of shoving extra stuff in their system on a chip, it could be really exciting if they put some DSP chips in there. First, they would have to see the market is there for that sort of stuff - Logic Pro iOS downloads.

    David

  • wimwim
    edited March 2021

    @CaelumAudio said:
    With the newer "touch" looking features in Logic and also the way it had to be rebuilt from scratch for silicon...

    That's the second time I've read someone saying that. I don't believe that is true. Do you have a reference I can check out? I'm always happy to be wrong. B)

  • @Apex said:
    So more dollar-grabbing incrementalism for Apple? I’m shocked (said no one ever). I’ll stick with my 12.9 2018 Pro until the wheels fall off or Apple decides to start making actual touchscreen computers.

    What on earth is this comment about?

  • edited March 2021

    @wim said:

    @CaelumAudio said:
    With the newer "touch" looking features in Logic and also the way it had to be rebuilt from scratch for silicon...

    That's the second time I've read someone saying that. I don't believe that is true. Do you have a reference I can check out? I'm always happy to be wrong. B)

    About it being rebuilt from scratch? That is by belief from personal experience (I may be completely wrong) but sorry, NDA stuff...

    David

  • @drcongo said:

    @Apex said:
    So more dollar-grabbing incrementalism for Apple? I’m shocked (said no one ever). I’ll stick with my 12.9 2018 Pro until the wheels fall off or Apple decides to start making actual touchscreen computers.

    What on earth is this comment about?

    LOL. Right? Every computing advance is about incremental improvement. Chip fabs cost many billions to ramp up and manufacture and there are very few capable of doing what Apple is doing today. In fact, there are no real competitors in the iPad “tablet” space. Ever try to use a Microsoft Surface? It’s awful.

  • I’ve got an Air4 that does everything I need, never a problem. I wish Apple well with whatever new stuff they throw out.

  • Apple naming chips with 'X' has always been pretty arbitrary - like how the ipad pro 2017 had an A10X while the ipad air 2019 had an A12, but they benchmarked pretty much the same (the A12 added some AI mcguffins) - so I wouldn't read much into the name.

    Actually chip names from all companies are pretty ridiculous, Intel has a whole page explaining their CPU names and it's like something from the bloody Davinci Code >_<

  • @NeuM said:

    @drcongo said:

    @Apex said:
    So more dollar-grabbing incrementalism for Apple? I’m shocked (said no one ever). I’ll stick with my 12.9 2018 Pro until the wheels fall off or Apple decides to start making actual touchscreen computers.

    What on earth is this comment about?

    LOL. Right? Every computing advance is about incremental improvement. Chip fabs cost many billions to ramp up and manufacture and there are very few capable of doing what Apple is doing today. In fact, there are no real competitors in the iPad “tablet” space. Ever try to use a Microsoft Surface? It’s awful.

    Totes true. Huge leaps in performance like the Intel to M1 switch are pretty much once in a generation. From what I’ve heard, the A14X is basically an M1 with lower TDP, which makes this comment is even more baffling.

  • @Apex said:
    So more dollar-grabbing incrementalism for Apple? I’m shocked (said no one ever).

    No one is being forced to update. If you were in the market for a new iPad already, nice to get updated hardware for the same price, no?

  • @krassmann said:
    Quick comparison between the leaked/assumed A14X specs vs A14 and M1

    A14 M1 A14X
    Transistors 11.8 16 ?
    Cores 6 8 8 *1
    GPU Cores 4 7/8 8 *1
    nm 5 5 5 *1
    TFLOPS 2 2.6 2.2 *1
    Geekbench single 1538 1744 1634 *2
    Geekbench multi 4198 7676 7220 *2
    • 1:assumtion, 2:leaked A14X specs

    Speculative specs? Too meta. Markdown table though? 100.

  • @syrupcore said:

    @krassmann said:
    Quick comparison between the leaked/assumed A14X specs vs A14 and M1

    A14 M1 A14X
    Transistors 11.8 16 ?
    Cores 6 8 8 *1
    GPU Cores 4 7/8 8 *1
    nm 5 5 5 *1
    TFLOPS 2 2.6 2.2 *1
    Geekbench single 1538 1744 1634 *2
    Geekbench multi 4198 7676 7220 *2
    • 1:assumtion, 2:leaked A14X specs

    Speculative specs? Too meta. Markdown table though? 100.

    😂😂😂

  • edited March 2021

    @syrupcore said:

    @krassmann said:
    Quick comparison between the leaked/assumed A14X specs vs A14 and M1

    A14 M1 A14X
    Transistors 11.8 16 ?
    Cores 6 8 8 *1
    GPU Cores 4 7/8 8 *1
    nm 5 5 5 *1
    TFLOPS 2 2.6 2.2 *1
    Geekbench single 1538 1744 1634 *2
    Geekbench multi 4198 7676 7220 *2
    • 1:assumtion, 2:leaked A14X specs

    Speculative specs? Too meta. Markdown table though? 100.

    😅😂 I love markdown - ascii forever.

    I‘m a bit in a ‚happy expectation‘ fever as I wanna buy the new iPad Pro. These specs actually do make sense, I think.

  • @krassmann said:
    Quick comparison between the leaked/assumed A14X specs vs A14 and M1

    A14 M1 A14X
    Transistors 11.8 16 ?
    Cores 6 8 8 *1
    GPU Cores 4 7/8 8 *1
    nm 5 5 5 *1
    TFLOPS 2 2.6 2.2 *1
    Geekbench single 1538 1744 1634 *2
    Geekbench multi 4198 7676 7220 *2
    • 1:assumtion, 2:leaked A14X specs

    It’d be interesting to see a comparison against the A12X and A12Z

  • edited March 2021

    This is easy ;) The A14 is almost on par with the A12Z although it has got less cores.

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/de/compare_cpu-apple_a14_bionic-1693-vs-apple_a12z_bionic-1651

  • @krassmann said:
    This is easy ;) The A14 is almost on par with the A12Z although it has got less cores.

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/de/compare_cpu-apple_a14_bionic-1693-vs-apple_a12z_bionic-1651

    :) thanks!
    I’m guessing that single core performance is what’s most important for audio apps right now, until devs start taking advantage of multiple cores (Cubasis seems to have added that recently and I saw it in the roadmap for Drambo)

  • So .. it’s an M1 after all :)

  • edited April 2021

    @jblock said:
    Bring it on. My decision is always 11" vs 12.9", and while I always try them both out and love the big screen of the 12.9, I always end up with 11 because of the portability plus being a wearer of progressive lens glasses I can only really focus on a small part of the screen anyway.

    Yeah, I’m experiencing a little buyer’s remorse on a 2020 12.9 right now. I should’ve stuck with the smaller 11 inch...I always gravitate towards compactness. But I guess I just had to try something different.

    It’s great for vision but I find myself longing for the sleeker form factor. I mean, this thing is giant with my old 10.5 sitting on top of it. I picked the old one up the other day and it was like holding a phone.

  • @don_turbulente said:
    So .. it’s an M1 after all :)

    My iPad Air 4 has as M ½. :)

  • One surprise for me was that I was expecting the new iPad Pro 11" models to be more expensive.

    Given that an iPad Air with 256GB is £729 I was expecting the new Pros to be more than £749 with 128G. I thought Apple would take the opportunity to shift the 11" Pro to at least £849.

    I bought an Air with 256G. Given the choice today I'd spend an extra £20 and get a Pro, even with half the storage.

  • @NoiseFloored said:

    @krassmann said:
    This is easy ;) The A14 is almost on par with the A12Z although it has got less cores.

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/de/compare_cpu-apple_a14_bionic-1693-vs-apple_a12z_bionic-1651

    :) thanks!
    I’m guessing that single core performance is what’s most important for audio apps right now, until devs start taking advantage of multiple cores (Cubasis seems to have added that recently and I saw it in the roadmap for Drambo)

    Benchmarks are starting to come out. Not sure it’s worth the price of admission for audio:

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m1-1804-vs-apple_a14_bionic-1693

  • Two more cores will make a difference if the AUv3 host does support multi-core.

  • @AlmostAnonymous said:

    @NoiseFloored said:

    @krassmann said:
    This is easy ;) The A14 is almost on par with the A12Z although it has got less cores.

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/de/compare_cpu-apple_a14_bionic-1693-vs-apple_a12z_bionic-1651

    :) thanks!
    I’m guessing that single core performance is what’s most important for audio apps right now, until devs start taking advantage of multiple cores (Cubasis seems to have added that recently and I saw it in the roadmap for Drambo)

    Benchmarks are starting to come out. Not sure it’s worth the price of admission for audio:

    https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m1-1804-vs-apple_a14_bionic-1693

    That's a bit disappointing, I was hoping to see a bigger leap.

  • edited April 2021

    Single core benchmark differences always look less impressive than multicore. I'd wait to see benchmarks around actual process like encoding etc.

  • Look at the link. But multicore is basically useless for audio on iOS at the moment.

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