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MIDI connections
Is there any videos that shows how to connect apps by midi channels? I know that lots of videos mentions about it or quickly moves forward. I want to understand it more.
Any help? Maybe some apps could help?
Comments
I don't have a video, but it is really quite simple: Two apps normally can only have a single MIDI connection between them. However, (almost) every MIDI message has a little "sticker" attached to it that contains a number (channel) from 1 to 16.
So, say you use a MIDI sequencer like Xequence to control a multi-timbral (several instruments in one) app like Gadget, even though there's only a single MIDI connection between them, you can load up to 16 synths in Gadget, attach a number (channel) from 1 to 16 to each, and then attach that "sticker" (channel) to outgoing notes etc. in Xequence, and that way choose which synth inside Gadget you wanna play.
That's all there is to it really. Most apps that receive MIDI call this "Channel filter" or something and have a dropdown / matrix with all 16 channels where you can choose which MIDI channels you want them to react to.
The challenge with your request is that while midi works the same way in different apps, the interface for accessing it is pretty much different in every app.
It can also vary in terms of how the apps are connecting; app to app usually fairly straight forward as SevenSystems describes above. App that are hosted as IAA or AU can connect "in the background" - as IAA and AU connect both audio and midi streams to the hosting app.
Then there's Audiobus 3 and AUM, which can automate midi connections.....
So reallly you need to ask for videos regarding the specific apps you are using. There's no universal way as yet....
But one thing in addition to SevenSystems great notes above - it may help to think of the midi connections as cables; midi has in and out, just like any stereo, so outs go to ins and they need to match on both ends......
Best of luck
The settings need to match, but only one end needs to select the other. If you select the destination in the source App, and also select the source in the destination App, you will get note doubling. And to further confuse the issue, some Apps only work with source selecting destination, and some only work with destination selecting source. I find MidiFlow to be a useful leveller for these problems.
This is a thing that caused me many headaches.
In iOS midi you often get plenty of ports like:
Synth(S) has 2 ports (in&out) but we will forget about the out for this example.
Controller/Host (C/H)has 2 ports aswell(in&out)
What I was used to do was:
Make C/H stream midi to S-in and then S listening to C/H-out.
And this was wrong. I was mismatching porta, sending data to a disconnected port and viceversa listening to a mute port. Why?
Because the data was sent to S-in where S was listening to C/H-out.
Doesn’t make much sense isn’t it? It should work. C/H is sending data out and S is listening. It should definitely work.
But what if we rename ours ports like this:
C/H-out = APPLE
S-in = ORANGE
Can you see where I’m heading?
If not.
There are two correct ways to solve this mistery:
Make the data exchange happen either on the APPLE or on the ORANGE.
AKA
If C/H sends MIDI to its own out port(APPLE) then S should point its ears to that. So, when your are setting your S incoming connection the right place will be APPLE AKA C/H-out.
The other way around will be that if S is listening to its own in port(ORANGE) then C/H will have to send it’s data to it. So when setting outgoing MIDI within C/H, it should point data to ORANGE AKA S-in.
@mschenkel.it you are correct - it is a mess.
Most of what you are describing has to do with Apple's CoreMidi. The instructions are built into the OS, and a big part of that, as you have pointed out, is the concept of Ports, which can allow each host or synth it's own handler for a set of 16 midi channels. (And in response to your post - the ports can handle a full set of 16 channels. So in the case of a multi timbral synth it can have 16 channels driving it via its port, and there could be 16 more channels running another synth. So your host may be sending two channel 2s, and the ports keep those separate. Make sense?)
The issue seems to be (from seeing comments over the years from various Devs), is that the CoreMidi part of things is not well documented. Once some creative dev has created some great sounding thingy done with a great UI, they are each on their own to wade through getting midi in and out of their app. And based on the results out there, it ain't easy.
Apple's answer to this mess was IAA midi; so hosting a synth in the IAA slot in Cubasis (or whatever) would automatically connect audio and midi streams. However, it seems this is equally poorly documented and difficult for devs to implement consistently as well.
And of course we have our talented host's answer - which is audiobus 3. Again, a commitment has to be made by each Dev to purchase and integrate the AB3 SDK, but when done well AB3 removes the need for in app settings.
So yes, it's a mess. But clearly not an easy one to fix.