Let's talk about Audiobus 3

Sebastian

@Munibeast said:
So I guess it won't be possible to close running apps from current presets when launching a new preset? Would be very good, though. And to have folders for presets as well that can sync over iCloud... I'm in favour of launching AB3 asap too, but I hope most of these suggestions will make it into 3.1.

If all apps update to the new Audiobus 3 SDK you're not going to have to worry about manually closing apps. We've included some logic in it and have added some documentation so that apps shut themselves down in the right scenarios when in the background.

This is a super complex topic though.

Sebastian

@mannix said:

@ExAsperis99 said:

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

AS anxious as we all are, look at the calendar. This is the deadest of dead August. No one will drop a new product into this abyss. But early September, or Labor Day weekend, even? I mean, what do I know, but aren't things dead at your office? And haven't you always noticed that the marketing types are always on some sweet vacation? Nothing happens until they get back.

I've decided to trick myself and pretend that all the apps that haven't really grabbed me yet are actually NEW. That should keep me busy until September.

Looks like all devs just wait for iOS 10. There's so much updates coming up... Maybe not clever to wait for it as a dev, when everything is launched at the same time, people have to make choices.

True.

ExAsperis99

@mannix said:

.

Looks like all devs just wait for iOS 10. There's so much updates coming up... Maybe not clever to wait for it as a dev, when everything is launched at the same time, people have to make choices.

yeah that makes sense. But that won't be released till Sept. 30 (Last I heard).

And who here would update right away? Might be a long wait for that Cubasis 2.0 Toaster.

Munibeast

@Sebastian said:

If all apps update to the new Audiobus 3 SDK you're not going to have to worry about manually closing apps. We've included some logic in it and have added some documentation so that apps shut themselves down in the right scenarios when in the background.

Yay! Great news!

JohnnyGoodyear

@ExAsperis99 said:

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

AS anxious as we all are, look at the calendar. This is the deadest of dead August. No one will drop a new product into this abyss. But early September, or Labor Day weekend, even? I mean, what do I know, but aren't things dead at your office? And haven't you always noticed that the marketing types are always on some sweet vacation?

I believe, in Germany, this is known as the moment...

wim

@Sebastian said:

@wim said:

@Sebastian said:
We're planning to make some features Audiobus controllable by MIDI. We know that you want to switch apps with MIDI and change presets that way. I'm not sure it's going to be in version 3.0 but it's definitely on our list of stuff to add.

I really, really hope at least the global transport controls (or their equivalent) are MIDI controllable. The rest are less of a priority to me and sound a lot more difficult to implement.

But having global start/pause/stop available to either work with a choice of standard MMC messages or fixed or assignable MIDI messages seems like a key feature. I'd hate to see that one not make it into the initial release.

Every tiny new feature that we add tends to add one week at least of development and testing time. If we'd include even just half of the feature suggestions of this thread we'd launch some time in March next year, I think, which is definitely not the plan.

So we're just planning to launch with something that is just so much better than Audiobus 2. And then we're going to add additional features. We've been working on the MIDI stuff for at least a year and I've promised or hinted at us doing this for probably three years. That should give you an idea of the timeframes we're talking about.

Regarding preset management: I think we're at least going to include a search bar in it. That should be doable quickly. Folders... mhhh, maybe.

Yeh, totally get that. Believe me I understand scope creep well! But hey, you asked. You knew what you'd get around here!

Audiojunkie

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

I'm definitely not @Sebastian, but a little bird has whispered to me that September is the likely drop date. That could get moved to later, and @Sebastian could definitely correct me, but if I was a betting person, that would be my month of choice.

JohnnyGoodyear

@Audiojunkie said:

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

I'm definitely not @Sebastian, but a little bird has whispered to me that September is the likely drop date. That could get moved to later, and @Sebastian could definitely correct me, but if I was a betting person, that would be my month of choice.

Yup. September's going to be busy. Save your pennies or be ready to steal from the kiddie jar...

db909

So the deluge of new apps or updates begins in September? Where are y'all getting this information?

JohnnyGoodyear

@db909 said:
So the deluge of new apps or updates begins in September? Where are y'all getting this information?

The holy trinity: Vast experience, blind hope, incipient bullshit.

Sebastian

@Audiojunkie said:

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

I'm definitely not @Sebastian, but a little bird has whispered to me that September is the likely drop date. That could get moved to later, and @Sebastian could definitely correct me, but if I was a betting person, that would be my month of choice.

Launch was planned for September. But we're pushing it into the future a little further because we've decided to all take a vacation before launch since we most likely won't get to take time off after launch.

db909

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

@db909 said:
So the deluge of new apps or updates begins in September? Where are y'all getting this information?

The holy trinity: Vast experience, blind hope, incipient bullshit.

Alright alright alright.

Sebastian

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

@db909 said:
So the deluge of new apps or updates begins in September? Where are y'all getting this information?

The holy trinity: Vast experience, blind hope, incipient bullshit.

I can confirm that a few cool apps are going to be launched soon. It's always smart to wait after the new IOS version hits the public and it's also smart to have new apps ready for the holiday season.

Audiojunkie

@Sebastian said:

@Audiojunkie said:

@Goozoon said:
pardon me, only one question: when?

I'm definitely not @Sebastian, but a little bird has whispered to me that September is the likely drop date. That could get moved to later, and @Sebastian could definitely correct me, but if I was a betting person, that would be my month of choice.

Launch was planned for September. But we're pushing it into the future a little further because we've decided to all take a vacation before launch since we most likely won't get to take time off after launch.

Thanks for the update @Sebastian !!! (also good to know that my source was correct! Hahaha!!)

Will

@Sebastian said:

@Munibeast said:
So I guess it won't be possible to close running apps from current presets when launching a new preset? Would be very good, though. And to have folders for presets as well that can sync over iCloud... I'm in favour of launching AB3 asap too, but I hope most of these suggestions will make it into 3.1.

If all apps update to the new Audiobus 3 SDK you're not going to have to worry about manually closing apps. We've included some logic in it and have added some documentation so that apps shut themselves down in the right scenarios when in the background.

This is a super complex topic though.

Holy. Shit. Crushing it.

Will

@Sebastian said:
Regarding preset management: I think we're at least going to include a search bar in it. That should be doable quickly.

Search sounds awesome! Would loooooove to be able to search the state's metadata, mainly so that I can search by app. "Hey Siri, show me all of the saved states with Nave".

Folders... mhhh, maybe.

If the ability to sort by name is added, users can fake folders by prefixing names with what would be a folder name. "live--first-synth-setup", "live--second-synth-setup"...

You guys prolly already know this but I had to do it last year so I'll share anyway: the prefix thing is also a way of hacking UI 'folders' into flat key:value lists for devs. Just takes a little UI hocus pocus. No idea if that's how saved states are stored but it's a pretty common pattern on iOS so I'm going to presume it is.

Anyway, here's what I did. 'Folders' are really just name prefixes with some known key/string around them so they can be parsed out, say %%foldername%%preset-name. The %%foldername%% part of the name is, of course, hidden from users.

When building the UI, loop through the list and insert a ghost item into the list for each %%foldername%% found as well as hiding any item with a %%foldername%% prefix. When one of those ghost items are tapped, hide everything in the list except for any items with that prefix. Add a 'back button' that really just clears the prefix filter.

For the folder creation UI, I created blank list items with that prefix. Then the folder appears in the list but there's nothing 'under' it, just like a regular file system. When saving an item, a user can pick from a list of existing prefixes, like doing a 'save as'. That prefix is prepended to the saved item, refresh the list and march on. I never added a 'move' UI but that'd be the same basic idea.

The same UI hack can be applied to tags. It's pretty caveman but it works!

[Deleted User]

hm, as i understand it the siri api isn't available for ab, sadly
or is it???
hell I'd love that, search on iOS is a total mess, it doesn't find anything as is
that would really be a breakthrough (HELLO APPLE, LISTEN UP!)
I guess @Sebastian is talking about internal search in ab, not siri ...

[Deleted User]

btw. meh about cubasis 2.0
probably won't support link (doesn't really fit into their concept) so I don't care
can't imagine they switch to realtime stretch engine; steinberg is really old school here
I want the funky fresh future stuff (hello ab3) not the look what I found under the desktops carpet thing

aaronpc

@Sebastian @JohannesD I see more iOS midi in my future. How about a global MIDI panic button so I don't have to track down the stuck note while my neighbors call the police?

Nkersov

@Sebastian said:
How many presets to you have? I'd really like to know.

>

I have closing on 150. They're just so useful, with state saving apps.

BTW, if possible could you do something about one irritating side effect of opening the App Store from the AB compatible apps page. At the moment, this not only opens the App Store page, but also a page in Safari...which I then need to close down manually.

crony

@aaronpc said:
@Sebastian @JohannesD I see more iOS midi in my future. How about a global MIDI panic button so I don't have to track down the stuck note while my neighbors call the police?

+10

Nkersov

@lala said:
I don't use anything anymore that doesn't support state saving

>

Yes, I have promising apps such as RemixLive, which are too much of a pain to use without state saving. Who wants to waste thier life setting up apps every time.

brambos

@Nkersov said:
Who wants to waste thier life setting up apps every time.

Modular guys...

Sebastian

@brambos said:

@Nkersov said:
Who wants to waste thier life setting up apps every time.

Modular guys...

Modular guys only have one state: masochistic musical bliss.

gonekrazy3000

As a person that loves modular and using a bunch of synths like volcas mixed with iPads laptops and desktops I might have to agree with that assessment

Munibeast

@crony said:

@aaronpc said:
@Sebastian @JohannesD I see more iOS midi in my future. How about a global MIDI panic button so I don't have to track down the stuck note while my neighbors call the police?

+10

+100

JohnnyGoodyear

@Sebastian As regard 'presets' saved, I'm well past 300 and have got to the point where I try NOT to save even though I want to. Would use/benefit a lot more with a little better organization etc. Might be worth the candle (from a development viewpoint) because it does make AB The Place To Start etc.

[Deleted User]

@gonekrazy3000 said:
As a person that loves modular and using a bunch of synths like volcas mixed with iPads laptops and desktops I might have to agree with that assessment

As long as you don't sing lovesongs to the haptics of patchcords you are fine ...

lovadamusic

No way I'm giving up a good app because I might have to lift an extra finger or spend a few minutes setting it up. That said, any convenience added is appreciated. As I get my head around more complex set-ups, I could see state-saving in AB as something in my future.

Nkersov

@lovadamusic said:
As I get my head around more complex set-ups, I could see state-saving in AB as something in my future.

Launchpad and RemixLive essentially do the same job. But, with Launchpad I can state save whatever I'm doing under AB, confident that I can literally recall this next time I return to the project. Alas, with RemixLive I'd have to take a screen shot, or manually note settings, then recreate them every time I load the app. This, is a tedious waste of my time. So, I use Launchpad far more often. RemixLive is a good app, potentially great, but at the moment it's not on the same level.