Some things I have learned incorporating Hardware with IOS

ralis

This is where I am at;
with valuable information from this site, Discchord, Jakob Haq, Nu-Trix, Doug, The Audio Dabbler, Todd Smith, Reaper Mania, Pete Johns, The GarageBand guide and Echo Opera. Thank you all!

I am a keyboardist/Vocalist
I love playing a keytar and running around onstage

Wow 20 YEARS ago!

Those day are over but at least I still have my hair.

Today in this pandemic I am writing, recording and producing by myself

I discovered IOS music because of iM1 from Korg. Long ago I sold my beloved M1 that I was using in the video above. Then I discovered I could buy it again on my iPad for $50 sold!
Then I busted out the old keytar and with the help of a CCK adapter and an M-Audio midi to usb dongle I was was dancing around the living room like a fool!

That was it. I was hooked and cooking with G.A.S.

I bought all the Korg apps, Nano Studio 2, Cubasis, Auria Pro, all the Jim Audio Apps, Some drum machine apps, sooo many synths and effects

Then the hardware started, A Roland TR8 drums machine, Roland SE-02, Behringer TD3, MS1, Oddysey, Deepmind 12D, Korg TR76, Alesis Vortex wireless 2 and an M-Audio Oxygen 61 midi controller, Korg nanoKontrol studio. I had to stop!

This started two years ago and went from fiddling around once in a while to building a studio in the Old wood working shack.

I quickly ran into limitations with the hardware and IOS.

My Digidesign interface that I had used with Protools was not class compliant and did not work with the iPad.

I did some research and bought a Behringer XR18 Digital mixer that can be used as a recording interface and is class compliant and has a USB port! YAY it also works with the XAir app to control the mixer from your iPad (I have just ordered the XTouch hardware controller for it)

Now I had ALL 6 synths- some mono some stereo, 4 outs from the TR8 Drum machine, 2 Vocal mics, 2 tracks from the iPad’s headphone out, filling up 16 tracks on the XR18. (Tracks 17/18 are used as Aux returns to hear playback)

I am not that quick with tech and it took me a few months to get the XR18 working! (The Manual Sucks!) The XR18 is not intuitive and I would get frustrated and just leave the damned thing sitting. But... I finally got it working.

My Next Issue was The Roland TR8 and iOS- I love the sound of this drum machine especially after the 7X7 upgrade, I am a sucker for the 909 sounds too! and I got a good deal on it. (I am also the only guy who LOVES the look of it!)

My Problem- No Song Mode! I could us the DM1 app (my favorite) but I want individual outs for recording.

I saw Todd Smith controlling external hardware with Gadget. I figured I could do my whole drum track in Gadget export the midi to the TR8 thus the iPad is a sequencer for my wonderful drum machine. But.... Roland has some type of thing where you need a driver to use the USB midi and I am on an iPad. So I bust out the M-Audio midi to usb dongle, select Taipei and painstakingly figure out which note correspond with which drum sound on the TR8, then I make a beat. This was not fun. To be honest Gadget is not my thing. I like the sounds but clip based just bugs me, I am a linear guy.

So this sits

I figured out how to record 16 tracks at once in Auria pro but I can really only play two synths at a time with the 4 drum machine tracks but it is progress.
Then I learn how to hook all this up to record track by track using the XR18’s tracks 17/18 as returns to hear the previously recorded tracks while recording new tracks.

I am also an old school guy so I have my synths hooked up via Midi 5 pin din cables. I can link some synths together run the audio to the mixer then play the ipad synths with another controller and hit play on the drum machine, fun but still limiting.

Then I see a video by Nutrix about hooking up your external hardware to you iPad via USB Midi. I quickly look at all my gear and viola! They all have USB! Well the Roland gear usb will not work but the usb midi dongles will. I order a 10 port powered USB hub from Amazon, then raid the house of all the USB Cables ( I was 2 short) I went to Sam ash and picked up some more usb cables and another midi to usb dongle for the Roland SE-02.
In the Video Nutrix hooks up all his hardware and the ipad in the same usb hub and then in Gadget, in the midi section ALL his hardware shows up by NAME!!! OMG! Not really a gadget guy but wait... he does this in NanoStudio2! (NanoStudio2 is my favorite sequencer synth app) and then he does it in Cubasis.

I rip out all the old 5 pin din midi cables in a frenzy! Then I slap in all the usb cables running around my studio like whirlwind and plug in the TR8 and SE-02 with two of the Same Midi to usb dongles, I don’t know if that will work but I am doing it- hold my beer!

I open AUM;...Nutrix didn’t show AUM but hey, I am taking risks now! I don’t know what to do with the channels as I am not using any iOS synths. So I go to the Midi routing matrix and....Whoa! Becky did you see that MIDI?!

Everything was there! Even two of the M-Audio uno midi dongles I don’t know which is which yet.
I don’t know which way the midi goes? Every piece of gear is listed along the top and along the right side. I click on a square inline with the oxygen midi controller. I see the midi goes from the top row to the right row. So I select the square where the midi controller and Deepmind 12 converge. Whoohoo! I am playing the Deepmind, then I connect everything to the midi controller in the matrix everything works except the TR8 drum machine. I remember the TR8 is natively on midi channel 10, everything else is midi channel 1. I change the controller to midi channel 10 and the TR8 works! I jam a bit with the new midi router set up I have discovered! I still don’t know what to do with the channels, that is for another day but I can play all my gear from one controller -double Yay.

Then last night. It was time for NanoStudio2. I opened a new project deleted all the tracks but the one slate drum track. I recorded a simple 2 bar beat with kick, snare and hi hat. I created a new External Midi Track. I copied the beat and pulled it into the external midi track. I muted the slate track. Then I double clicked the track name on the left (external midi track) the keyboard popped up, then I clicked the tiny keyboard in the upper left, I selected the M audio Uno midi thing, saw it was on midi channel out 1 hit play- ooops that is the SE-02. Selected the the second M Audio midi thing hit play... nothing, changed the midi out channel to 10, hit play; I hear something, not the beat but something. Go back to the track double click the notes to show the midi. AH Ha! the kick in slate was note C-2 most drum machines the kick Is C-1 so I select the kick row and drop it an octave. Yay! it works there is my kick. I then have to drop the snare to D-1 and the hi hat to F#-1. There it is I have the whole beat!

By double clicking the track in the mix window, I could change the name from external midi track to TR8 and the track color

I do the same for a simple bass line and assign it to the MS1 on Midi channel 13
I did this for all the synths, I had to switch the midi channels on all the hardware except the TR8. All the Behringer synths were easy with the SYNTHTRIBE app but the DeepMind12 app did not change the midi channel on the synth (I will have to figure that out later) But I did it on the synth itself. Switching the midi channel on the Korg TR76 was a bitch, I could find no info in the manual or online I just poked around menu diving until I found it!. Finally I set the midi channel on The SE-02 on the synth itself as well.

A huge step forward for me. I now have a very powerful sequencer that is versatile and easily editable that can control all my hardware at once. The IPad with NanoStudio2

My workflow has been Jamming live with one beat on the drum machine coming up with riffs, then fleshing those ideas out and arranging in NS2 with all iOS synths and drums but then I was stuck.

Now I intend to use those arrangements and trigger hardware then record it into Reaper on my Mac. Then export the iOS synth tracks from the ipad as stems into Reaper, record Vocals and mix.

I will let you know when I get there.

ralis

I am open to any and all advice

Svetlovska

@ralis: very inspiring to hear your journey into all this madness

I too have had that experience of buying a thing (in my case the Iconnect audio 4+ audio/midi/iPad/Mac interface) then tearing my hair out trying how to work the damn thing.

As a masochist I am now thinking of getting the XR 18 / X touch set up you have. What would be your top aha or eureka moments with it that helped you get on top of it, or recommends for YouTube tutorial or articles or whatever that helped you work it out?

ralis

Ooooh down the rabbit hole we go!

My XTouch Unversal should arrive tomorrow they are currently on sale at Sweetwater for less than you can buy a used one!

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XTouch--behringer-by-touch-universal-control-surface

One of my main forms of frustration came from the two different XAir Apps!

One for the computer and one for the ipad- they are not the same! They look just similar enough to throw you off but when watching a video or talking to someone first determine which app they are using. I suggest using the computer app to set it up then you can use the ipad app for small adjustments

Next was just trying to get sound out of the damn thing. It does not just work out of the box, you must route the signals to the mains there is an inconspicuous little L-R tab on each channel in the output section of the channel and if not selected it will not go to the mains.

When recording it is easiest to route the main outs of your daw to the input of channels 17/18 To hear play back and when tracking a new tack with playback you will need to disable live monitoring in the daw or you will get a double signal.

There is another way that I have set up for Pro Tools but I don’t remember it exactly now, Pro Tools mains are 1&2 So I believe I had to route those to the mains, but I had to monitor everything through Pro tools then to the XR18

I use the Aux out 1&2 XLR’s to some powered speakers for live jamming and the Main XLR outs go to my studio monitors.

This guys videos helped me a lot: