[NewsPoster]

iOS 7 includes new support for game controllers, and something called "inter-app audio," reports observe. The controller support was referenced briefly in a slide during Apple's WWDC keynote, listing "MFi game controllers" as an iOS 7 SDK feature. "Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad" is Apple's official certification program for iOS accessories and peripherals. Images of controllers also appear in the iOS 7 Developer Guide; the diagrams bear similarity to the look of Nintendo's 3DS handheld and Wii Classic Controller.

"The new Game Controller framework, added in iOS 7 and OS X v10.9, makes it easy to find controllers connected to a Mac or iOS device," Apple writes. "Once discovered, your game reads control inputs as part of its normal gameplay." Form-fitting and wireless controllers are supported, but must be optional for playing a game.

Inter-app audio will allow an app to serve as input and/or output for other titles. The change could be especially important for musicians, who may want or need multiple apps for the effects and recordings they're after.

The technology could create serious problems for A Tasty Pixel, the developer of Audiobus, a popular third-party app that serves a similar purpose. The company congratulates Apple in a new blog post, admitting that Apple is accomplishing things that "only a team at Apple with system-level access could achieve." Tasty Pixel does say however that Audiobus has some features inter-app audio is missing, even if it can't talk about them given the current non-disclosure agreement for iOS 7.

"We're actually pretty excited for the new features of iOS 7 and how we're going to be able to use them to build a great tool for musicians. We might even be able to help developers integrate Inter-App Audio while having access to Audiobus specific features but it's too early to be specific or certain," the developer elaborates.

[airmanchairman]

When Apple introduced CoreMIDI and generic Cut-and-Paste Clipboard functionality with iOS upgrades, it did not break, outlaw or obsolete Line 6-created MIDI Mobilizer or Sonoma WireWorks' AudioCopy and AudioPaste. All these frameworks utilise Objective-C libraries, have their pros and cons, and have all been improving and cross-collaborating to provide developers with a delightful smorgasbord of mix-and--match features for users' benefit.

So also will it be for the more generic inter-app audio and the music-app-specific AudioBus.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by airmanchairman 

When Apple introduced CoreMIDI and generic Cut-and-Paste Clipboard functionality with iOS upgrades, it did not break, outlaw or obsolete Line 6-created MIDI Mobilizer

Actually, it very much IS obsolete. It didn't break, but its usefulness is very limited, because none of the newer apps support it, as they're all built around the generic CoreMIDI protocol.

The original MIDI Mobilizer requires app developers to specifically code in direct support for the interface, while any app that supports CoreMIDI will work with ANY generic interface. MIDI Mobilizer is dead (which is why they killed it immediately and replaced it with MIDI Mobilizer II).

Originally Posted by airmanchairman 

When Apple introduced CoreMIDI and generic Cut-and-Paste Clipboard functionality with iOS upgrades, it did not break, outlaw or obsolete […] Sonoma WireWorks' AudioCopy and AudioPaste.

That supports functionality/metadata not available through the generic copy/paste, though. We'll see what inter-app audio can support, and where Audiobus has a leg up on them.

[airmanchairman]

Several apps still make use of MIDI Mobiliser, which was updated to MIDI Mobiliser II to actually take advantage of CoreMIDI features in the updated OS. There are features and usability aspects of the former that app developers like as well, like less complexity, for instance. So

Similarly, a majority of musical apps use Audiocopy and Audiopaste as a better and/or an additional solution for inter-app audio, increasing user choice.

AudioBus is not an entirely standalone solution; if Audio Streaming and Background Audio were not enabled system-wide in iOS6, it would not be feasible. There is a lot more going on behind the scenes than the ridiculous scenario of trying to get "a leg up on them"... us and them, really?