Even if I’m not a musician, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept behind Audiobus and its implementation on iOS. Audiobus is the premier iOS ecosystem for inter-app audio – it’s an app and an SDK for third-party developers to create audio apps that can collaborate with each other in complex workflows and routines. The developers of Audiobus describe it as creating “virtual cables” between apps, and it’s an apt analogy. Take a look at the hundreds of apps that integrate with Audiobus (over 900). Audiobus has fostered an entire mini-ecosystem inside iOS that also includes Apple’s own GarageBand.

Audiobus launched a major version 3.0 today and it comes with some deep changes. The MIDI routing system has been rewritten with support for Apple’s Audio Unit Extensions, a built-in mixer, superior preset management, and a new feature that can launch audio apps in the background. Just watch the video below to see how impressive Audiobus’ inter-app communication based on compatible apps and extensions can be:

I’m surprised every time I come across Audiobus and consider that Apple didn’t build this functionality natively into iOS. From a mere technical standpoint, Audiobus is one of the most intriguing and powerful additions to the iPad’s music ecosystem. If you’re a musician or like to play around with music apps, you should check out Audiobus 3.