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help me understand AUs?
What are AUs? I see that some apps are AUs and that iOS can use AUs and that some AUs are on OSX. Does that mean we can use an OSX AU on iOS? is an AU different from an app like Bias or Tonestac? Is it something like IAA?
Comments
Sadly, no.
In a loose sense, as a user, yes.
The most commonly cited benefit of an AU over a stand alone or AB or IAA only app is that you can load multiple instances of the same app within an AU compatible host. So, for instance, if you have an AU synth like Viking and an AU host like Cubasis or midiSteps, you can have several different completely discreet versions of Viking loaded at once. With AB or IAA apps you can only ever load a single instance.
AU apps also automatically save their state within the host app (when you save the host app's session or whatever). No need to recall settings for each app, etc.
There are other benefits but I think those two are the ones people are generally most excited about.
Very cool info. so it will take a developer to actually develop the AU plugin before we can use it. I wonder if any of the guitar amp sim companies are going to leverage this tech
I love words like "leverage" .. and "tech". Especially inside the same sentence.
..
They make me want to go on twitter and tweet cryptic statements like "data is just people in disguise", then fill my remaining characters with loads of abstractly motivational hashtags
Within Auria you have Overloud THM which acts as an AU within Auria. Basically you could record your guitar dry and then re-amp it in there, with as many amps as your device can handle.
I would also add that AUs have some restrictions:
Thx! I also was not sure about the iOS AUs.
Mmhhh, especially point 4 and 6 are interesting.
So that seems to answer my question about midi FX AUs. They will not exist anytime soon then(?)
All of my points and discussion were about iOS AUs.
Unless Apple decides to change their iOS AU structure, there won't be any MIDI FX AUs as AUs only receive and respond to MIDI but don't filter or transmit MIDI.
Yes, thank´s. I thought there were mainly the same like the macOS versions. So they are not of course then.
Especially midi FX AU´s would be awesome since you could in combination with Audiobus 3, DAW´s etc. achieve some really complex things. Midi Fx are (mostly) light on cpu but offer some great things.
Since Apple´s Logic has some of these great midi FX included and you can load third party ones too i hoped iOS will get that too in near future.
What about automation parameters of iOS AU´s. Are there iOS DAWs which can use this?
There are some controls in the GUI that the DAWs can automate and there are others that the DAW has to provide additional access to. Although it's not a timeline based DAW and doesn't transmit or record MIDI at all, AUM does exposes these additional AU app parameters which can be controlled via MIDI; however, since AUM does have a good MIDI routing matrix and you can filter out channels and assign MIDI notes or CC to controls or use MIDI learn, it provides a lot of automation possibilities when combined with apps that do send MIDI or with MIDI hardware.
As near as I can tell, Cubasis does not provide this additional AU MIDI parameter access. The workaround is to route audio in AUM to Cubasis via Audiobus. It will be very interesting to see what additional options Audiobus 3 will provide in this regard. You can setup a MIDI track(s) to receive/record automation and send this out to AUM with the loaded AU's you're automating and route the audio output back to a Cubasis audio track(s) via Audiobus. This way you can use state savings in Audiobus, AUs, and your Cubasis project to remember your setup. A similar approach would work with other DAWs which have audio and MIDI tracks but not full AU MIDI parameter access.
Correction: there are no CPU limitations for AU plugins. A plugin can take 100% CPU if it wants to.
I'm surprised that the biggest advantage of AU plugins hasn't been mentioned yet: the fact that all this gawdawful app switching between many standalone apps isn't necessary anymore. Just like on desktop DAWs, your entire music project can now be neatly integrated into a single DAW environment - which only needs to be set up once, which you won't need to leave while you're making music and which can be instantly recalled when you get back to it the next time.
Interesting.
What about multi-core support?
And RAM?
Sorry, can of worms open
But yeah, the app switching is a workflow killer if you won't stay in a single self contained app.
>
No limitations on cores either. AU extensions are just like little apps. The render functionality is on a high-priority system thread, but nothing stops an extension (nor a host) from using multiple threads.
Apparently there is a limitation of 360Mb of RAM per AU instance. But I have not seen this figure in official documentation (only in a pre-launch discussion) and I have never personally encountered this limitation. Mostly because my plugins are 100% synthesis based and use virtually nothing in terms of RAM (Troublemaker is only 3.5Mb as a universal app, and its RAM requirements are only a tiny fraction of that).
Since we're also beginning to see massive sampled piano plugins as plugins (presumably using streaming techniques), the RAM limitations aren't a big hurdle either.
As a developer, the only real limitations I currently see are a missing unified preset management system, the limited available screen real estate (which is tiny, particularly on phones) and the lagging uptake of AU parameter automation by hosts.
Is it likely that Apple will update AUv3 to allow for full screen plugins? I've really taken to the Touch instruments in GB...it would be nice if 3rd party plugins could do the same
All it needs is a clearly described behavior that all host- and plugin designers agree on. Technically there is no limitation; e.g. AUM allows plugin GUIs of any dimension, and in both landscape and portrait orientations. Nothing in the AU framework dictates fixed dimensions.
However...
Currently all hosts (except AUM) are designed around the current fixed AU GUI dimensions which were prescribed by Apple (possibly arbitrarily derived from Garageband's interface design). The last thing anyone wants is fragmentation; plugins only working in some hosts and not in others, developers having to design a custom plugin GUI for every host or [possibly worse] having to design a hideous scalable GUI that adapts to whatever arbitrary dimensions the current host likes best.
Apple imho are the only ones with the authority to set the rules regarding 'good behavior'; it's their format.
I have hinted to them it may be good to organize a focus group session with people who are actively involved in working with the format and reflect on our learnings. After all, it's in everyone's best interest to make this AU thing a success: for Apple, for developers, and for the growing scene of iOS musicians.
iPad only though. Im working on an iphone 6