What if any iOS app could talk to any gear, and any gear could talk to any app – none of this stumbling around with wireless, but over good, stable wires and plugs?
What if, from your Mac, you could see any app or connected hardware on your iPad or iPhone? And what if on your iPad or iPhone, you could see any MIDI device connected to your computer? (Mmm… remember when Apple talked about “hubs of your digital life”? Well, for MIDI now.)
I bet if you could do that, if you could make any instrument talk to any other instrument, you might be what we call in the business reasonably happy. Instead of apps being things you open up, mess about with, and then close, forgetting the original intention, you might actually spin melodies and rhythms into actual tracks.
Let’s be blunt: part of the reason we keep talking about the iPad is that it has some catching up to do. It’s a computer, but it doesn’t always do things we take for granted on conventional computers. And so a lot of the saga of the device has been following as it’s trained, slowly, to be as good as your laptop – or even better.
This feels like one of those moments. It’s a simple tool, but it really opens up the device to connecting to the other things you use. And in doing so, it could change the way you think about the iPad in your music making.
So, in addition to today being the first to get to reveal Modstep, touchAble creator Christian Blomert’s step sequencer app (with Benjamin Weiss), we also get to see the MIDI-connecting offspring of that project. It’s also coming very soon.
First, let’s talk about what Midimux doesn’t need. It doesn’t require external hardware adapters. It doesn’t require a cold sweat-inducing wireless connection. (Seriously, am I the only one who’s had these things totally blow up live?)
What it does do is connect stuff that’s connected to your computer to apps. Here’s how Christian neatly describes it:
In short: midimux creates virtual copies of MIDI devices connected to the Mac or the iPad.
In long: If you have a MIDI device connected to your Mac, midimux will create a copy of it on the iDevice – thus allowing other apps to talk to it directly. Any byte of MIDI received by the MIDI device on the Mac will be piped to and received on the virtual copy of that device on the iOS device – and is then usable by its apps.
Data sent out by apps to the virtual copy on the iOS device will be piped back via usb, and then sent to the real device on the Mac.
The same is true the other way around. If an app creates a virtual MIDI port (e.G. Animoog), midimux will create a copy of that port on the Mac, naming it ‘Animoog @ iPad’.
If an app does not create a virtual MIDI port, midimux always gives the possibility to create virtual ports manually. these can then be used by any apps on any of the iOS devices to pipe data to the Mac. or other iDevices. or both. and back. at the same time 😉
Full description:
midimux talks MIDI to your Mac – using the standard usb to lightning or 30 pin cable.
Finally.With midimux, you are no longer forced to rely on wifi-packets or external hardware to communicate MIDI data between a Mac and an iOS Device.
It seamlessly integrates your iPad/iPhone into your studio. worry-free, reliable and at an ultra low-latency.
And it works with all apps that speak MIDI.midimux lets you..
– control iOS apps with hardware controllers that are connected to your Mac.
– sequence and play iOS apps using a DAW running on your Mac.
– control Mac applications or hardware connected to it, using Lemur, TouchOSC or any other app that uses MIDI.
– use iOS apps to play and sequence hardware instruments that are connected to your Mac.
– create virtual MIDI ports on the iPad/iPhone that can be mirrored to the Mac or other iDevices.
– connect more than one iOS device to the Mac – and send MIDI data between them.all this wired – via the simple usb to lightning/30 pin cable.
In short: midimux creates virtual copies of MIDI devices connected to the other si.
In long: If you have a MIDI device connected to your Mac, midimux will create a copy of it on the iDevice – and thus allowing other apps to talk to it directly. Any byte of MIDI received by the MIDI device on the Mac will be piped to and received on the virtual copy of that device on the iOS device – and is then usable by its apps.
Data sent out by apps to the virtual copy on the iOS device will be piped back via usb, and then sent to the real device on the Mac.The same is true the other way around. If an app creates a virtual MIDI port (e.G. Animoog), midimux will create a copy of that port on the Mac, naming it ‘Animoog @ iPad’.
If an app does not create a virtual MIDI port, midimux always gives the possibility to create virtual ports manually. these can then be used by any apps on any of the iOS devices to pipe data to the Mac. or other iDevices. or both. and back. at the same time 😉
Features:
– Creates Mirrors of all MIDI devices that are connected to the computer on the connected iOS devices.
– Creates Mirrors of all MIDI devices that are connected to the iOS devices on the Mac.
– Lets you create custom virtual Ports that can be used by both sides of the connection to communicate.
– does it all via a wired usb connection – using the standard charge & sync cable.*** midimux currently only works with Mac ***
To work, a lightweight server app has to be installed on the Mac.
Download it from here: http://www.midimux.com/ –
Or find it in the apps documents folder via iTunes file sharing.
In case you hadn’t guessed, this magic is exactly what’s allowing the Modstep sequencer to connect to anything, anywhere, conveniently. It’s nothing new for computer users (hello, JACK on Linux!), but it’s fantastic that the iPad finally has the same functionality.
“Soon” is when we get this. You can follow the official site:
http://www.midimux.com/
– or the latest is on the associated Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/midimuxapp/
And of course, you can keep up with the latest simply by staying on CDM, because I will haunt the app developers like a shadow — drifting after them by day and night, everywhere they go. (Creepy!)
MIDI 4EVER!!