It’s been a long, strange, mobile trip. Part of the appeal of iOS apps for music when they first arrived was doing just one thing at a time.
But what if you want that focus on music making – and still have multiple tools working at once?
Audiobus was the app that popularized the notion of interconnecting apps on mobile, patching together effects and instruments and mixers and production tools. And now, more than ever, the idea of a device like an iPad as an all-in-one studio is starting to seem pretty reasonable. Apple’s latest iPad Air delivers on the promise of desktop-class performance in a tablet, and it’s surely just the beginning.
Now Audiobus 2 is offering still more-powerful stuff. It also answers the question of why you’d want to buy a third-party app when Apple’s own OS is slowly baking in its own inter-app audio features. Audiobus 2 might cost a few extra bucks, but its developer support is unparalleled, and it can complement Apple’s own functionality with stuff the OS on its own doesn’t do – like building a centralized hub in which apps can connect.
In this version:
- Multi-Routing. (US$4.99 add-on, in-app purchase, though for power users probably worth it.) Connect an unlimited number of apps to other apps – perfect for those new iPads, or advanced chaining. And use multi-channel input hardware.
- Save and recall presets – even save them as recipes and share on email, Twitter, Facebook.
- State-Saving: in compatible apps, save/recall your workspace in apps like Nave, JamUp, Swoopster, Sector and DM1.
- New UI, with iOS 7-style colored shading to reflect the apps you’re using.
US$4.99, today.
I also hear from one tester that there’s a bit of a bug with the Multi-Routing in-app purchase. If the app is crashing for you after you buy the add-on, try deleting and reinstalling Audiobus. Your purchase will still be there, and everything works fine. This is unconfirmed, so your mileage may vary; I expect it’s something they’ll fix.
Now let’s watch some videos:
