Running two apps simultaneously?

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This is probably an absolutely dumb question, but as it's only my 2nd day as an iPad owner... I keep on reading stuff like "I started iMS-20 and jammed over on NLSynth" or whatever. So far I got Animoog and iMS-20 (and Phaedra, but I already asked the Phaedra dumb question in the appropriate thread :? ). But when I fire up iMS-20 playing a sequence, then push the home button to start Animoog, the iMS-20 sound cuts off. So how am I to run two audio apps at once?
Thanks in advance to all who might help!

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Depends on the app. iMS20 won't run in the background.
Some other apps (Animoog for instance) will, but you still have to enable that setting in the app.

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Like Aural Chaos says, it depends on the app. For those that do allow running in the background, check the prefs and make sure 'Background Audio' or 'Run in background' or something similar is enabled. Some apps will default to having that option turned off when you open them, regardless of what your settings were before. Thumbjam is like this. You have to enable background audio any time you want to use it with other programs.

It is funny to me how some of the larger companies and programs have still not implemented background audio, Virtual MIDI, etc., while the smaller developers have embraced all this and found ways to let their programs play nice with others.

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Thanks for replies! But does it mean that BOTH apps have to be able to run background audio? (sorry can't try myself before I get home from the office -- taking the iPad with me definitely meant no work could be done today :lol: )

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It shouldn't mean that both apps have to run background audio, just the one that you won't be playing while the second is running.

For instance, in theory... Garageband does not support background audio, but MoDrum does. You should be able to open MoDrum, get a beat playing (with background audio enabled), then open Garageband and play the smart instruments while MoDrum continues to play in the background.

One thing I've discovered is that some apps work better than others with this. If an app uses a lot of CPU, or audio resources that compete with a second app, there can be clicks and distortion. Alchemy mobile supports background audio, but is fairly CPU intensive. I haven't had a lot of luck using that with other apps.

AmpKit supports background audio, but can cause some of the synth apps to pop and crackle when running in the background.

Some work great, though. I use Geo Synthesizer to control both Thumbjam and SampleWiz simultaneously, and while both apps are running in the background. SoundPrism will control multiple apps while they run in the background, as will PolyChord. MoDrum and MoBass work really well together, and I've heard that FunkBox does, too... and the list goes on and on.

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Ah, that realy explains why I still couldn't get iMS-20 to play while playing Animoog. OK, will try other combinations ;)

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What I like doing is playing Sunrizer in the background then loading iMS-20 for bass and drums. If you map your external MIDI keyboard to any bus apart from 1, and assign the knobs to your preferred area meters using the "learn" function, you can close it down, and then return to iMS-20 and trigger a bass and drum loop whilst the keys and knobs still control the Sunrizer. It's awesome. Although I do long for the day Korg allow iMS-20 and iElectribe to run in the background.

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Awesome thread. Especially for those of us afraid to ask what we think are dumb questions. I really appreciate all the knowledge here.
:hail:
"All generalizations are false".
"Don't quantize me bro"!

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martygras wrote:Awesome thread. Especially for those of us afraid to ask what we think are dumb questions. I really appreciate all the knowledge here.
:hail:
Agreed! I'll still ask dumb questions, but they are usually the ones I've been desperately trying to understand alone, and can't figure out. ;-)

--Sean
Vendor‑Dependent Copy Protection: Customers lose. Pirates win.:mad:
(Also: I'm Accused of lying about Linux—it boots, runs my pro audio workflow, stays stable, updates--though yearly dismissed as “niche”. Yet I'm the deluded one.)
:roll:

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I've wanted korg to start playing nice with background and virtual midi for awhile. MidiBridge alleviates some issues, but geez korg, WIST? I never really ever even use that.

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Yep, WIST is an interesting techno but far away from esssential. The Korg guys really have to work to better integrate their apps in an iOS workflow.
Thinking that most of the needed features are quite easy to integrate, with APIs already available, I don't think they're willing to do so. They may see iOS music as a funny showroom and labtest, nothing more, but I hope that I am wrong.

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