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One of the big advantages of the new Macs with Apple Silicon M1 and M2 chips is that you can finally run iPad and iPhone apps on your Mac without the need for any emulation software.
This possibility is especially interesting for iOS music and audio processing apps that can work as an Audio unit (AUv3) and are adapted for use with macOS.
Many (but not yet all) DAWs and audio unit hosts on Mac already support the new format of audio plugins – AUv3 (do not confuse with regular AU plugins). Among them – Ableton Live (from version 11.2), Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, Cockos Reaper, Plogue Bidule, etc. With these hosts, iOS apps can work just as well as regular plugins.
But once again, the iOS audio apps must comply with the AUv3 standard and be adapted to work with macOS. In the App Store, the descriptions for each app have labels to tell you what platform the app was designed for. Many apps will also have a label that says, “Not verified for macOS,” which means you may encounter performance or interface issues while using it.
From these two articles you can learn how to run iOS apps on Mac:
>>> How to run your favorite iPhone and iPad apps on an M1 Mac
>>> How To Run iOS Apps On Mac (inc. M1/M2 Macs, Monterey, Big Sur & Catalina)
There is also an interesting article for fans of Ableton Live – “Why iPad Music App Support in Ableton Live is so Awesome”. Here you can replace Ableton on any other DAW that supports AUv3 plugins. For example GarageBand or Logic Pro.
>>> Why iPad Music App Support in Ableton Live is so Awesome
Another interesting option to use iOS audio apps on Mac standalone, even without AUv3, is routing audio between them. For this, you will need a third-party software on Mac that provides audio routing. There are several free and paid virtual audio routing apps for macOS.
This article lists popular options and gives an example of using such apps with Ableton Live.
>>> How to route audio between applications
My app SpaceFields already works as well on Mac as it does on iPad and iPhone. On macOS, SpaceFields can works both as a standalone app and as an audio unit with any DAWs and audio unit hosts that support AUv3 plugins. All app features are available on iOS and macOS, including MIDI support (with a midi learn option), audio unit parameters and importing samples from any directory on device.
Soon I plan to make all my audio unit apps available to the Mac. Next will be AltiSpace app.
SpaceFields – Space Ambient Machine >> App Store
SpaceFields is a mangler effect for creating slowly changing rhythmic sound structures in a deep reverb space from any external signal. Great for experimenting and designing ambient and noise backgrounds with rhythmic elements. >>> More about this app
