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.

How embarrassing!

When you’re trying to access the app switcher while trying to use IAA apps along with Drambo standalone, and you accidentally bang some sour notes on the piano loud as can be..

Imagine if I did this during a live performance lol (@:31)

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Comments

  • Map one to command and the other to tab. (Or send QWERTY from midi controller)

  • Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

  • @AlmostAnonymous said:

    Map one to command and the other to tab. (Or send QWERTY from midi controller)

    How to? That’s a beautiful device. I’m assuming you’re saying I can use a midi controller to switch apps.

    And the second part, mind explaining a little more?

  • edited May 2021

    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

  • @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

  • @AlmostAnonymous said:
    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

    Ok, I get that there’s keyboard shortcuts for it. It’s the scripts to convert notes to QWERTY keystrokes part that I don’t.

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

    Same as above, but where are these exposed QWERTY keyboard parameters? Or am I totally overthinking this?

  • @Intrepolicious said:

    @AlmostAnonymous said:
    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

    Ok, I get that there’s keyboard shortcuts for it. It’s the scripts to convert notes to QWERTY keystrokes part that I don’t.

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

    Same as above, but where are these exposed QWERTY keyboard parameters? Or am I totally overthinking this?

    I wasn’t speaking of using a qwerty keyboard...perhaps there is something. With AudioBus midi learn, you can map any midi to things like app switching. I have an ancient decommissioned iPhone and iPad that I use as control devices or something like an iK BlueBoard.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    @AlmostAnonymous said:
    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

    Ok, I get that there’s keyboard shortcuts for it. It’s the scripts to convert notes to QWERTY keystrokes part that I don’t.

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

    Same as above, but where are these exposed QWERTY keyboard parameters? Or am I totally overthinking this?

    I wasn’t speaking of using a qwerty keyboard...perhaps there is something. With AudioBus midi learn, you can map any midi to things like app switching. I have an ancient decommissioned iPhone and iPad that I use as control devices or something like an iK BlueBoard.

    So with AudioBus midi learn, the iOS app switch process is learnable?

  • @Intrepolicious said:

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    @AlmostAnonymous said:
    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

    Ok, I get that there’s keyboard shortcuts for it. It’s the scripts to convert notes to QWERTY keystrokes part that I don’t.

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

    Same as above, but where are these exposed QWERTY keyboard parameters? Or am I totally overthinking this?

    I wasn’t speaking of using a qwerty keyboard...perhaps there is something. With AudioBus midi learn, you can map any midi to things like app switching. I have an ancient decommissioned iPhone and iPad that I use as control devices or something like an iK BlueBoard.

    So with AudioBus midi learn, the iOS app switch process is learnable?

    Yes. You can switch between any apps loaded into an audiobus session. You can also learn many other functions for Audiobus aware apps.

  • Well, it’s a good track, Ed.

  • Mate, you're learning. In front of an audience. It's not easy. The first time I ever DJ'd it was with one 12 track best of R&S vinyl lp and 2 other 12"s. On my own. For the whole night. 4 hours, as the other dude couldn't find the place. Due to everyone being in an 'enhanced' state of mind they all loved it. Took about 5 years off my life but hey, gotta start somewhere!

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    @AlmostAnonymous said:
    It’s just a mappable 2 key USB keyboard. Find them for about 15$. Sits on the side of my live rig. Command + tab on a keyboard brings up the app switcher on iOS.
    (is also the reason I’d rather have a button than a headphone jack)

    There’s also scripts that will convert note to QWERTY keystroke. Same thing. Map one note to command and the other to tab.

    At 50sec:

    Ok, I get that there’s keyboard shortcuts for it. It’s the scripts to convert notes to QWERTY keystrokes part that I don’t.

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Is there a better way to switch apps besides the swipey gesture thing?

    Audiobus MIDI Learn and/or Audiobus remote

    Same as above, but where are these exposed QWERTY keyboard parameters? Or am I totally overthinking this?

    I wasn’t speaking of using a qwerty keyboard...perhaps there is something. With AudioBus midi learn, you can map any midi to things like app switching. I have an ancient decommissioned iPhone and iPad that I use as control devices or something like an iK BlueBoard.

    So with AudioBus midi learn, the iOS app switch process is learnable?

    Yes. You can switch between any apps loaded into an audiobus session. You can also learn many other functions for Audiobus aware apps.

    Ah! So I’d have to have the apps loaded into AudioBus slots in order to switch between them?

    So that tells me that’s it’s NOT the iOS system level “app switching process” that’s being learned, but rather an “AudioBus app switch process”?

    What about Drambo standalone? No IAA here so no loading into AB slot. How to map a switch back and forth?

    Thanks for the tips, I guess I just need to setup a few things to try, and figure out the best way to go about this app switch process.

    In the world of iOS music production, this is something people need to know how to do, especially if they’re performing live and if they’re using multiple IAA apps.

    @LinearLineman said:
    Well, it’s a good track, Ed.

    Thank you Mike. I was trying to think of a clever way to “market” the piece here and figured maybe a “troubleshooting” or “help needed” topic would get me some listens.

    Good practice in using apps outside of the comfort of an AUv3 host, and only using AUs.

    These Luis Martinez apps are too good not to be using them!

  • @ashh said:
    Mate, you're learning. In front of an audience. It's not easy. The first time I ever DJ'd it was with one 12 track best of R&S vinyl lp and 2 other 12"s. On my own. For the whole night. 4 hours, as the other dude couldn't find the place. Due to everyone being in an 'enhanced' state of mind they all loved it. Took about 5 years off my life but hey, gotta start somewhere!

    More of an old dog learning new tricks. I was in an ‘enhanced’ state of mind composing this piece, so that might have had a lot to do with it lol..

    wakes up groggy and confused - wait, I uploaded videos to YouTube last night???

  • @Intrepolicious said:

    @ashh said:
    Mate, you're learning. In front of an audience. It's not easy. The first time I ever DJ'd it was with one 12 track best of R&S vinyl lp and 2 other 12"s. On my own. For the whole night. 4 hours, as the other dude couldn't find the place. Due to everyone being in an 'enhanced' state of mind they all loved it. Took about 5 years off my life but hey, gotta start somewhere!

    More of an old dog learning new tricks. I was in an ‘enhanced’ state of mind composing this piece, so that might have had a lot to do with it lol..

    wakes up groggy and confused - wait, I uploaded videos to YouTube last night???

    Ah! Yes, mind enhancement always seems like such a good idea.

  • So, here was the first attempt in recording this particular piece. The “experiment” or reason for the “testing” originally was to have IAA apps loaded in AUM running in sync with Drambo standalone.

    In this recording, my “Brass” tracks got out of sync with where I wanted them to be. The new version corrects this, but I decided to just leave this one, as it had a different feel.

    In both pieces however, you can see me struggle with the “app switching”, so I think I’ve discovered a good topic for the thread anyway.

    I’ll be looking into which methods work best for this type of scenario with the help of you amazing people here.

    Thank you so much for listening and offering the expert advice!

  • @ashh said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    @ashh said:
    Mate, you're learning. In front of an audience. It's not easy. The first time I ever DJ'd it was with one 12 track best of R&S vinyl lp and 2 other 12"s. On my own. For the whole night. 4 hours, as the other dude couldn't find the place. Due to everyone being in an 'enhanced' state of mind they all loved it. Took about 5 years off my life but hey, gotta start somewhere!

    More of an old dog learning new tricks. I was in an ‘enhanced’ state of mind composing this piece, so that might have had a lot to do with it lol..

    wakes up groggy and confused - wait, I uploaded videos to YouTube last night???

    Ah! Yes, mind enhancement always seems like such a good idea.

    Well, it did at the time anyway.

  • Another option would be yelling “Hey Siri, open Patterning 2”
    (But she’d probably show you what she found on the web for ‘Pat Turning, the 2nd’)

  • @AlmostAnonymous said:
    Another option would be yelling “Hey Siri, open Patterning 2”
    (But she’d probably show you what she found on the web for ‘Pat Turning, the 2nd’)

    Out of everything so far, I think the AudioBus midi learn for IAA app switching would work... for switching between IAA apps that are loaded in AudioBus.... But what about switching between AudioBus and Drambo Stand-alone?

  • Remember Drambo Stand-alone can’t be loaded into AudioBus.

  • @Intrepolicious said:
    Remember Drambo Stand-alone can’t be loaded into AudioBus.

    I wonder if there is some sort accessibility option that lets you switch apps with an Apple remote.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Remember Drambo Stand-alone can’t be loaded into AudioBus.

    I wonder if there is some sort accessibility option that lets you switch apps with an Apple remote.

    I don’t have the patience to try it now, but under Settings/Accessibility/Switch Control/Switches/Add New Switch/External
    It lists MIDI as a control device (Along with bluetooth and other options)
    Apparently you can use Switch Control to record gestures that you can trigger with it, so just maybe it’s possible to record the app switch gesture and trigger it with midi. Maybe?

  • @Eschatone said:

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Remember Drambo Stand-alone can’t be loaded into AudioBus.

    I wonder if there is some sort accessibility option that lets you switch apps with an Apple remote.

    I don’t have the patience to try it now, but under Settings/Accessibility/Switch Control/Switches/Add New Switch/External
    It lists MIDI as a control device (Along with bluetooth and other options)
    Apparently you can use Switch Control to record gestures that you can trigger with it, so just maybe it’s possible to record the app switch gesture and trigger it with midi. Maybe?

    Ah hah! This is exactly what I was hoping for and it was there the whole time? Yup, this is definitely the way I was thinking; a system level “app switch”. Now I’ve just got to go figure out how to wire this up.

    Why it never occurred to me to look in the accessibility settings, I couldn’t tell you, but now I’m wondering... what else is in there that we can control?

    Thank you so much for pointing me in this direction!

  • edited May 2021

    @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Remember Drambo Stand-alone can’t be loaded into AudioBus.

    I wonder if there is some sort accessibility option that lets you switch apps with an Apple remote.

    Apparently there are accessibility options. The “Switch Controls” that @Eschatone mentions sound like the solution.

    I’ll report back if it works or not later..

  • edited May 2021

    Damn I don’t know now.. I was just looking at all of those settings and it looks like “switch control” needs to be on and that had my iPad doing all kinds of crazy stuff.

    Off to do some reading...

  • @Intrepolicious said:
    Damn I don’t know now.. I was just looking at all of those settings and it looks like “switch control” needs to be on and that had my iPad doing all kinds of crazy stuff.

    Off to do some reading...

    If you start a thread asking about app switching of non IAA apps, you might get the eyeballs of someone that knows definitively.

  • edited May 2021

    You tried to tell me the solution right off the bat; a keyboard. Even a simple blue tooth keyboard would work. Thanks 🙏 I don’t know why I was making this more complicated than it should be.

  • edited May 2021

    @Intrepolicious said:

    You tried to tell me the solution right off the bat; a keyboard. Even a simple blue tooth keyboard would work. Thanks 🙏 I don’t know why I was making this more complicated than it should be.

    Just get a 2 key keyboard. All you need is tab and command. Just set the 2 keys to those. No need for a huge keyboard.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Intrepolicious said:
    Damn I don’t know now.. I was just looking at all of those settings and it looks like “switch control” needs to be on and that had my iPad doing all kinds of crazy stuff.

    Off to do some reading...

    If you start a thread asking about app switching of non IAA apps, you might get the eyeballs of someone that knows definitively.

    I think I’ve got it figured out. Sometimes I need to slow down and listen to what people are telling me lol.

    @AlmostAnonymous said:

    @Intrepolicious said:

    You tried to tell me the solution right off the bat; a keyboard. Even a simple blue tooth keyboard would work. Thanks 🙏 I don’t know why I was making this more complicated than it should be.

    Just get a 2 key keyboard. All you need is tab and command. Just set the 2 keys to those. No need for a huge keyboard.

    Gotcha! Yeah, I’m finding all kinds now, 2, 4, 8 key variants, rgb etc

    I think when I get my new iPad Pro, I’ll be getting the new apple keyboard with it anyway, so I’ll eventually have this “app switch during a performance” issue down to a science by then.

  • I actually discovered the perfect solution for “app switching” without buying a keyboard or two button controller that nobody mentioned here. There’s an accessibility feature in iOS called “Assistive Touch” where you can create a button on your screen that you can assign to different things (up to 8 things/gestures).

    I have it setup with just one function: the App Switcher!

  • @Edward_Alexander said:
    I actually discovered the perfect solution for “app switching” without buying a keyboard or two button controller that nobody mentioned here. There’s an accessibility feature in iOS called “Assistive Touch” where you can create a button on your screen that you can assign to different things (up to 8 things/gestures).

    I have it setup with just one function: the App Switcher!

    Cools beans.

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