iOS Synths and DP

[stubbsonic]

I'd like to see MIDI get a nice backward compatible facelift.--

Even if backward compatibility required some cheap box or adaptor. For example, if MIDI was USB-only or Ethernet only, we'd just need a box to interface with 5-pin (3 used) DIN gear.

And the steps to transition from DIN to whatever the next format is might take a while.

In emails to the developer of the new VAX keyboard controller, (just before the NAMM talk about new MIDI specs)-- he was saying he'd put hi-def ethernet MIDI on the keyboard. I told him that was a deal breaker for me. He pretty quickly did an about-face and said it would be DIN only. Keeping two standards on one piece of equipment may prove to be expensive and/or tricky.

[Babz]

A big part of it is just the sheer pace at which the iOS platform is moving. This kind of exponentially growth has its own pro/con duality to it. Trying to keep up can be almost overwhelming, but at the same time it also means more and more great new products than ever.

We've already seen several cool new apps just in the first weeks of this year. Check out this stuff, for example (killer effects, adroit use of the touch interface, and $4 to get into the game ... I'm hooked.):

http://www.thesoundtestroom.com/dfx-dig ... rial-ipad/

Eventually, the strengths of each platform (desktop and touch) and how they best interact will start to emerge, but for now it's still the wild wild west, and it is probably only going to intensify. One things for sure, iOS ain't going away, and if MOTU is smart they will jump on board while the frontier is still being settled, both in terms of connectivity with their hardware, and with apps.

[cuttime]

Have you checked out MIDI Designer and their layouts? Much goodness:

http://mididesigner.com/
http://mididesigner.com/qa/
http://mididesigner.com/qa/3452/layout- ... 3452#q3452

[stubbsonic]

Auria is about to release a "Pro" upgrade with "full MIDI" capability. I expect it will be quite good. But I can also imagine they won't nail everything (at least in the first go). I was relieved to hear that CPU wouldn't be hit too much harder.

With Auria, the more I can do inside the app, the better, because I'm not able to run any apps outside Auria without glitches.

Unless there are significant deal breakers, I'll probably get it.

[bayswater]

Have you checked out MIDI Designer and their layouts? Much goodness:

http://mididesigner.com/
http://mididesigner.com/qa/
http://mididesigner.com/qa/3452/layout- ... 3452#q3452

Great. All they need is a paragraph to say what it is.

[Babz]

[W]hat is revolutionary about the iConnectMIDI is the Audio passThru feature. ...this is the first device that lets you record both the MIDI and the audio in your DAW. It involves both the interface and some routing software.

What I don't get is why this is all such a difficult thing. Ultimately both the audio and the MIDI are traveling through the same 30-pin/Lightning connection. Why can't you do all of this with one simple Apple cable? Couldn't all of this just be built into iOS? It's some limitation imposed by Apple, I guess.

If you recall this thread from a while back... We were talking about using iOS instruments in DP, and I mentioned how you needed a hardware interface like the iConnectMIDI, but why couldn't you do all this with a simple Lightning/30-pin cable?

WELL, NOW YOU CAN!

New product just appeared today called MIDI over USB. You can read about it here:

http://www.musicappblog.com/music-io-launched/

Basically, it's a $2.99 app, and a free helper app for your Mac. It allows you to send MIDI to your iPad with just a standard iPad cable -- no hardware interface or Camera Connection Kit needed!

I've been testing it with DP and it's working great! I've got the Korg Module Ivory Grand Piano (and other instruments) and I'm able to record and playback MIDI! So far no MIDI issues or latency or anything.

So far it's just MIDI, and I've been monitoring w/ the headphone out on the iPad. But they say they will soon be adding audio, so the dream of being able to interface your DAW and iOS apps with just a simple cable is close at hand.

This is all very new. Just came out today, but so far ... AMAZING!

I'll keep testing.

Best,
Babz

[James Steele]

iOS software & hardware

PROS:
1. Often intuitive/logical GUI's
2. Huge selection of fun, inexpensive apps
3. improving inter-app connections (via AudioBus)
4. 3rd party gadgets for connection-while-charging are improving

CONS;
1. Your hands block the display as you work.
2. CPU power limits are easily reached and exceeded.
3. Very few apps with rhythmic flexibility
3. Lack of connectivity options
4. File management can be limited without 3rd party
5. I have to tap the screen multiple times before it responds.

iOS seems best for running as an external synth and fx host. It is also good for setting up custom MIDI controls. It is sadly pretty weak for sequencing.

So far the most full featured MIDI sequencer (just for generating compositional ideas) is an app called MultiTrack Studio. Which allows changes in Time Signature and Tempo. It is decent for piano roll editing, but has some problematic limitations with quantizing and with the snap grid that are a little weak.

As Babz said, there are apps that can really give you a fun spark of inspiration. But I've not seen anything that holds a candle to my laptop. For me, my iPad is about 40% entertaining, 40% interesting, and 20% disappointing.

I have to agree. I tried for a while to us a iPad 2 for sequencing backing tracks. I had the camera connection kit and an external interface, but ran into issues with it and pretty much gave up. It was underpowered and a laptop is not much bigger, and really there's nothing that can beat DP for the ability to recall each song as a chunk. I now relegate the iPad to remote control of DP. I was using an iOS DAW called Meteor which I found was quite good for what it was, but it just couldn't replace DP on a laptop.

Interested in this new software Babz posted about above, however. iPads have always seemed like an awesome solution in search of a problem.

[Babz]

iOS is a rapidly evolving platform with many major changes just in the last 6 month-a year. It started as basically a bunch of toys priced from free to 99 cents. By contrast, Mac OS is an extremely mature platform in which not much new has happened in many years.

The DAW/VI model evolved as a replacement for expensive hardware. A laptop replaced racks of hardware gear. The touch screen and inexpensive apps are showing the promise of a similar revolution, especially when the larger and more powerful iPad Pros get here.

These are all interesting questions. Hardware synths, VIs, external computer slaves, iOS … They all have their pros and cons.

But these are all tangential issues … My point in starting this thread was how to use iOS synths in DP. The main issue is making the two worlds (DP and iOS synths) talk to each other, both audio and MIDI. And that just got a lot easier.

For me, what is revolutionary is, I was about to buy a hardware device in the $100 range, and now it appears that is unnecessary thanks to a $2.99 app. Also remarkable is something like the Korg Module app that came out last year -- iOS version of keyboard instruments (Pianos, EP, Clav, Organ, etc.) which appears to be higher quality than a ROMpler, and as good as or better than many VIs that I've heard. With an IAP, I picked up a 2GB Ivory sampled piano for it on sale for $14.99. And now with this $2.99 app, I can easily use this great piano (and many other great instruments) in DP! And this is just the beginning …

Best,
Babz

[bayswater]

This all looks pretty tempting. Is MIDI Over USB as efficient as using a more hardware oriented link? Normally it wouldn't be.

[Babz]

I never got a chance to test the iConnectMIDI unit, and I have only been testing MIDI over USB app for a couple of hours. But so far, it's been great. I'm using an iPad Air, which is the 2nd to latest model. I can't say how it might work with older iPads.

The big test will be if they can also add audio to the stream. If they can pull that off, it will be one cable for MIDI, audio -- and it keeps the iPad charged. Set up is super easy. Download the app, download the Mac OS app, launch both and they are talking to each other. You see Music IO as a MIDI destination in DP. Just assign your MIDI track to that, and it's just as if it's talking to a hardware module. 2 GB piano loads instantly on the iPad, it is not dependent on low buffer settings in DP like a VI.

The $2.99 is an introductory price, but early adopters will also get the free update when they incorporate audio. This is bleeding edge stuff. Not my usual MO, but this is such a breakthrough for iOS, I had to go for it to see what it's all about. I'll keep testing.... So far, I'm impressed, but this is like the first day on the market.

By contrast, the iConnectMIDI4+ is about $90, plus another $30 for a power adapter if you want it be able to charge the iPad. Of course, it gives you a lot more i/o options than you're going to get with just a single Lightning cable.

There is supposedly another app called "midimux" that is promises to offer similar capabilities. So that is another thing to keep an eye out for. I guess the big breakthrough is that Apple has finally allowed MIDI and audio on the standard cable, or these companies found a way around it.

Best,
Babz

[bayswater]

Thanks for this. Please let us know your conclusions after a few days. Looks like its time for an iPad. Or two?

[Shooshie]

Things are warming up for the iOS! It really is sounding like there are exciting things in the pipeline. One of the problems I've run into in iOS is the fact that your finger covers up what you're working on. That's fairly easily gotten around if you do a pop-up like Apple does for word correction, where that circle pops up above your finger, allowing you to see where you are placing the cursor.

Some arrow keys on the keyboard would be VERY nice. But care has to be taken in all controls of a DAW so that you can always see the result of what you're doing, as you're doing it. That could be a challenge for some operations, such as radio buttons, knobs — small things whose state has to be seen to know for sure if you changed it.

Getting MIDI and Audio over the same cable is a great innovation, but I'd still like to see someone come up with a "continuous" MIDI controller, that is, one without stepwise movements. I guess anything becomes stepwise after a point, whether that point is the resolution of the pixels on your screen, or the resolution of your mouse or trackball. But if we got it that far, that would be a HUGE improvement over MIDI.

I know people are rooted in their MIDI equipment, and we all have a fortune invested in them, but let's face it, the limitations posed by MIDI are severe and not conducive to musical results. We need a better system, and as long as iOS is developing, THAT would be the place to focus on something revolutionary, like doing away with MIDI. I mean, it should be backward compatible, but forward changing.

Shooshie

[mikehalloran]

The $2.99 is an introductory price, but early adopters will also get the free update when they incorporate audio.

I don't mind investing $3 to see what happens. I'm in.

Some arrow keys on the keyboard would be VERY nice. But care has to be taken in all controls of a DAW so that you can always see the result of what you're doing, as you're doing it. That could be a challenge for some operations, such as radio buttons, knobs — small things whose state has to be seen to know for sure if you changed it.

Lack of arrow keys is a big frustration with me.

Fortunately, you can pair an iPad with most Bluetooth keyboards including the Apple Wireless to get the arrow keys.

I also have an iPad case with a detachable keyboard attached to the inside cover. If you can handle the smaller keys, these work great. I have this one that uses a magnet to attach the keyboard to the cover and turn the iPad on/off.

http://www.amazon.com/Ionic-Bluetooth-K ... r+keyboard

[James Steele]

I need to catch up on this stuff. I looked up Module and it's about $40 now, so I may just hold off. It almost feels like to me that we're going back to having a bunch of external hardware synths attached, and I'm not sure that would be convenient for me personally. True... latency isn't a problem during playback and it does take some load of the Mac's processor because it's not a VI. Seems like it's an interesting technology though, and if you already have an iPad laying about, it's cool.

It *did* get me thinking though about making an iPad into a live guitar synth. There's now an iOS zoo version of the MIDI Guitar plugin that can take incoming audio from a guitar and convert it to MIDI. It's pretty low latency. So if you could then pipe the MIDI internally to a virtual synth on the same iPad and then patch the audio output to your amp or PA, you have a Guitar Synth. Definitely something that I could incorporate into my setup as I'm already using the TC Polytune app on my iPad 2 for a tuner.

[Babz]

Here some updated news, on midimux ...

This review has all the details:

http://www.musicappblog.com/midimux-launched/

To highlight just a couple of points ...

Acc. to the review, Midimux offers "virtual ports" so that you can address individual apps. This would mean you could see like "Animoog@Babz iPad" or "Korg Module@Babz iPad" as MIDI outputs in DP and have multiple independent MIDI port streams all traveling over a single cable. There are, of course, limits on polyphony and bandwidth on an iPad. On my iPad Air 1, 4-5 dense tracks in iOS GarageBand and I start to get note stealing. But midimux allows you to hook up additional iOS devices through a second cable. By contrast, MIDI over USB is very basic, but reportedly multiport capability will be added.

Midimux appears to be a more full-featured and finished product, but it is also 3 times the price ($9.99). Neither product offers audio yet. It looks like audio will be a separate product, "audiomux" -- I am guessing that will cost an additional $9.99. MIDI over USB promises audio as a free upgrade for the $2.99 "early adopters" today.

What I think happened is that both teams came up with similar solutions around the same time. Midimux is slightly ahead of the game, and Music IO: MIDI over USB is playing catch up. It's a rapidly evolving situation, and it's hard to know if one or the other product will come out ahead in the end. I've already taken the MIDI over USB route, so that's where I'm at for now.

I'm just really stoked that it looks like we FINALLY have the simple solution for everyone who has ever wanted to use iOS and a DAW together.

Best,
Babz