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Water will flow (my thoughts on AU).
Some comments back and forth in another thread to the tune of “if it ain’t AU, I ain’t buyin’ it” made me want to continue this discussion in a non argumentative and respectful way. So just some thoughts from me.
I work in tech and have a saying which is “water will flow”. All I mean by this is that staff/users will find the most convenient way to get the job done. It doesn’t matter how much effort the tech team has put into building a solution, if there is a more convenient path, then just like water, staff will erode it, ignore it, route around it, etc. They won’t even realize they are doing it. It’s just our natural method of continuous improvement. A tech department can then try to either support or restrict the new flow, or build a new, more convenient, solution, etc.
Anyway... AU.
I have been working on a new track and my workflow is to build it in AUM and AB3 MIDI and then export the stems to BM3 for arranging and further sampling/tweaking/layering. I realized that I am, almost subconsciously, only choosing AU apps. Which is crazy as I have the most amazing IAA sound sources and effects on my iPad. But the convenience just always makes me choose the AU version if there are AU and IAA apps that do something similar. I hadn’t really registered just how helpful the AU state saving really is [edit: don’t forget that IAA has statesaving as well via Audiobus!]. And now with folders in AUM, version control of states is really useful. The low resource overhead of most AUs means I can have 20 AU channels running in AUM with no issues (half of them are Rozeta modules, mind). Often, introducing an IAA app into the mix will crash it much sooner than that. Then there is BM3 which naturally pulls you to AU also (and now AU MIDI as well).
Don’t get me wrong, some IAA apps (in my case apps like Navichord, Quantum, Xequence and DrumPerfect Pro) still make the cut. But, if I am honest, this is probably because there is currently no real AU alternative to these wonderful apps.
Now the respect part. I understand the effort that goes into development. I understand that developers may not have the resources to immediately upgrade their apps to AU. I also understand the endless desire that people have for ‘bright shiny objects’ and that some developers may want to watch to see where this lands before committing to AU. I just wanted to share an individual iOS workflow and how I seem to have chosen the AU path without really thinking about it. I am still very new to music production however so please take this a personal opinion piece. 
Comments
Very well written!
I am in agreement with all 3 of your paragraphs (thoughts). I too find my self going the AU route and have started to realize that maybe I am doing this is because of the “Newness” of Au and now AU Midi. Owning probably, without exaggeration, 98% of all the Audio Music Apps available for IOS (1254 and counting) so I definitely have everything and anything available to me for my projects, but as you say, I am going to AU a lot more BUT it is not a deal breaker if the new App coming out isn’t available as an AU
It evolves slowly but i also think that AU is the future of music production apps. It might end then beeing quite the same as it works on desktops and laptops now but of course the GUI is or should be optimized then.
The lack of these things on iOS had good parts because otherwise Audiobus, a lot stand alone apps with midi in/out and whatever wouldn´t exist by now.
But then if that all settles down the AU route might the one to focus on and DAW will handle all that routing of midi, FX channels, busses and whatever. So developers don´t have to do this part themselves for every AU.
But i also think it will be harder to get bug free apps out because each DAW might handle this different and so on.
At the end, yes, it will be quite the same as it exist now for mac and windows. Is this a good thing. Not sure yet.
The worst thing of iOS is still the app store. All other things might getting better (again).
I still wonder why Apple don´t let me use iOS on my mac since i´m sure it can´t be too hard and i could use all these tiny AUv3 apps inside Logic. That would open some doors.
But Apple is also good as not supporting their own things but telling us the opposite.
Uh...i´m going off topic.....so back......yes, if everything goes AU it might work all better together instead of having so much different workflows and apps don´t liking each other. IOS could even have the pro that it´s really only AU and not VST, AU, AAX and whatever to support.
@gusgranite Good stuff.
This is exactly it. It’s really that simple. Needs develop. Providers adjust. When there’s no other option, you deal with the limits. Once things start to advance, you either go with the flow or get left in the boat.
You’re the kind customer tech shops cringe at.
“Oh, it must be easy.” No, not. To be able to get all the apps that currently work on iOS hardware to work on a version of iOS on a mac is a major undertaking. And OSX is a huge environment with massive support in it as well; how Apple would manage that, whether both environments would continue to survive, whether current users and software manufacturers who have support OSX would be pleased....
I’m an old fashioned kind when it comes to my music workflow. I work in my DAW, (Auria,) and my notation software. I don’t chain a bunch of apps together like you guys do. You’re in a very different environment there. For me, AU is pretty much inconsequential. Now, if I was starting over, I might think a bit different, just for flexibility down the road.
Couldn’t agree more about the user stuff (I’m an old IT guy myself). And for me, I use the tools that make sense at the moment to get the job done. A current example is a piece I have in Cubasis, where each track starts as midi: I have two AU Instruments, several AU effects, a few AudioBus routed Instruments, a Cubasis instrument, and some Cubasis effects. Sure, I’d love more AU apps, but I can get a lot done with what I have and thanks to AudioBus, with little hassle.
AU for me is almost a luxury. I started creating music on iPads before AudioBus so that factors a lot into my opinions and experiences on iOS.
Of course Apple likes customers which just buy the brand
IOS apps are beeing develped with macOS. 
Of course the main reason that still everything isn´t merged, at least a bit more, is they can earn more money this way. Sure Apple would and maybe will even ditch macOS for iOS since especially the iPhones are their main market now and the app store is a giant cow to melk.
Maybe i also should go more to hardware finally
I dreamed last night i was creating stuff on a windows device.....now i´m scared
Well said, @gusgranite. I see evidence of your analogy in both my work life and personal life. I have a friend who is an urban planner and he would stop and admire the impromptu paths people make in public spaces to take the shortest way across a landscape rather than take the inefficient "designed" path.
The definition of User Experience...
I hardly use any AU yet, maybe ˋcause I‘m used to other methods, I don‘t know. What I do know is, I trust the same principal (water will flow), and thus everything will be solved anyways..., now back into my karma-lounge and enjoy musicking, cheers everybody!
Indeed. I chuckled when I went to a UX presentation once and they used the shortest path as an illustration in the PPT deck. I thought, "hey, Jim pointed this out to me way back in the early 90's!" And then I mused that some smarty pants like Socrates probably observed this many years prior...
it’s a shame IAA doesn’t have state saving. would be convenient to use Ruismaker and sequencer in AUM without have to set up Rozeta. water will flow
Or ruismaker could inherit some integrated Rozeta...I’d love that
Audiobus statesaving is fully implemented for those who prefer standalone usage.
I still fully believe in the functional separation of sound source and sequencer; so users can mix and match as they prefer.
And besides, adding the sequencer inside the Ruismaker plugin would essentially mean rewriting the entire app from scratch. Everything would be different internally, even if the GUI would look similar to the end user. So the chance of that happening is zero
Thank you for the reminder, Bram! You know, I have focused so much on the awesome MIDI tricks that AB3 offers that I actually forgot it already does IAA statesaving... and on the AB forum no less... Doh! I have edited my original post to point this out. We are spoiled for choice!!!
@brambos aha, interesting. thanks!
Ha cool to know. So now it’s up to GB to support Rozeta. Fingers crossed for NAMM 2018
BramBos said it for me - “the separation of sound source and sequencer” and I will add, in a hosted environment with full recall of everything.
I no longer use any IAA apps in hosts - they make problems occur often.
I would prefer to always host an AU app than use an app in stand alone - I am just awaiting for all AU apps to get variable AU windows available.
I never use IAA midi apps anymore - try saving a hosted song with IAA midi apps in the mix, try reloading it - wait for the crashes!
Many great touch screen friendly controller UIs exist on iOS apps, but AU midi is where the real future is for onscreen control imo
I wanted to loop some house chords to test Perforator so I jumped to Deep House Session Band. It was working OK then I accidentally closed AUM. Session Band was still open so I tried to reload. This is what happens all the time with IAA.
You look at this for a while:
And then you get this:
I know there are technical reasons why this happens but it kills the workflow and I don’t get this with AU. AU just jumps back into the game.
I use IAA apps in BM3 like Egoist, Synthscaper or Turnado but typicaly just for sampling and I tend to unload them before saving the project. They have their place... but mostly in the past.
Can’t wait til the devs that make these great apps make some AU midi apps
I feel bad for the Patterning developer taking so much heat in the P2 thread because every developer with existing IAA apps will be having to review what this means. It’s just that P2 is the newest and if you are developing a new app then it seems very limiting to not make it AU compatible.
@kobamoto made a really good point that we need to think about as well. Be aware of the history and have patience. That’s the respect piece I was referring to in my OP. We’re all on the same team here. No tribes. This niche is too small to get tribal... ✌️
I like everything that works and sounds good. IAA included.
I get the embracing the future idea, and AU seems to be it. BUT, I doubt you guys are/were using drastically different IAA apps as me, so there seems to be a disproportionate amount of focus on IAA apps that screw up/lock up/crash. Beyond the complete teases of csGrain and csSpectral, the only thing I ever still have IAA problems with is opening and resuming either DAW (Cubasis or Auria) and my Patterning or Animoog, etc, won’t load. Which is admittedly a pain when having 8 separate outs set up with Patterning. But no big deal in the scheme of things; certainly not enough to declare ‘AU only!’
To be quite frank, my IAA problems nearly ceased when I retired Audiobus.
Water will flow. GarageBand don’t render properly AU, I host them in AUM as an IAA input for GarageBand. As there is no Link in GB, I use Midi Link Sync. Not AU perfection, but that works and water flow again!! Also, I’ve find some apps more stable and convenient in IAA form, that’s the case for BeatHawk. Some others like ifretless bass needs real fullscreen for correct playability, or some others like Gadget, Loopy, Blocs wave are IAA only and I like to use them together with Link/AB/AUM. That being said, all AU works really well in AUM, and use them everyday especially effects. Waiting for AU become really mature, water will flow with a mix of AU and IAA. I tend to adapt myself to iOS environnement, there are so much bugs here and there, this can lead to frustration sometimes so I force myself to use it as it is now. And water flow around me I’m like an iOS fish ... lol
Some IAA have problems, as do some AU. It’s a buggy app to blame usually.
Some IAA are more stable than some AU, but AU is more convenient overall.
Personally, the problem I have with AU is the uneven implementation. Meaning, some support fullscreen some don't. If the app works in stand-alone mode you can't access your presets in AU mode in some cases. And you can't access some features in AU mode that are in stand-alone mode.
I don't know if its a technical limitation of AU. I am just speaking from a user's perspective. Many times I find myself spending more time on technical hurdles than creating.
Those are not limitations or problems of AU per se. It's just a developer choosing not to implement something. In general AU implementations are a lot more consistent with each other across the board than IAA, where MIDI, Link, state saving and other things tend to be completely different from one app to the next.
I have certainly found IAA to be very problematic in many of my differing set ups. We can only say how things affect ourselves. I can count on one hand the amount of problematic AU apps I’ve had. I would need many more hands for the problematic IAA apps. Some of those IAA apps have been some of my favourites apps at one time or another, just couldn’t cope with the hair loss from them playing up
As said many times. It’s not an us or them scenario. It’s discussion on what makes sense to us as individuals based on our own use cases. Someone else may not have the problems I have had, but we all use our iOS devices differently.
I think this forum is a great resource for all to let their opinions be known to the developers.
This coincides with my general experience as well. For me, IAA apps are usually ok by themselves, and certain combos work well, but trying to mix and match various IAA apps to work together is a joke. Plus, it can be hard to figure out which app or combination of apps is causing the problems, and the problems always arise when you get too much going on at once, with too many apps involved.
AU apps work together really well most of the time. But AU seems to still be evolving and growing, so along with that come some growing pains. The recent rendering problems are still fresh in my mind. AU is definitely is the preferred workflow for me, but I have way too many non-AU apps that I still love. I can’t see myself tossing them out anytime soon. But if they do go AU, then all the better.
Why not the last 2%?