Record/Play MIDI in sync with external audio recorder

dsrw

I have a Tascam Model 12 plugged into my phone that I'm using for both live performance and recording. Dry audio comes into a track on the model 12, processed through AUv3 effects hosted by AUM on my phone, then sent back to a separate track on the model 12 which is routed to the master out. When recording I save both the wet and the dry track, for future re-amping.

This mostly works well, but I also have a foot controller that I use to switch effects, which is where things fall down a bit. The model 12 doesn't record MIDI, so when re-amping I still have to switch effects at appropriate times using my foot controller. Not the end of the world, but I'd like to find a way around that. I also plan to introduce synth apps into my setup at some point, which will probably necessitate some kind of MIDI recording.

(I know I could just record everything with Cubasis or something instead of the Model 12 and avoid this problem entirely, but I don't want to do that. As much as possible I'd like for my phone to just be a simple FX processor.)

I can think of two ways to solve this, but I don't know if either is viable:

• The Model 12 sends MIDI Timecode and Clock/SPP. I know very little about these technologies, but it seems like it could be possible to have an app on my phone that is able to record and play back MIDI in sync with the model 12 based on the timecode/clock. Does such an app exist? If not, could it exist?

• When recording, an app could encode MIDI data to an audio track that gets recorded by the Model 12. On playback it would decode the audio back into MIDI. This would be similar to how a modem works, but as it's digital all the way and very low bitrate I assume it would be a very simple conversion. I'm almost positive this could work, but I'd be surprised if there's an existing app that does it.

Do either of these apps exist, or is there another approach that I'm not thinking of?

rs2000

Yes, a few apps come to mind that can record MIDI while following MIDI clock from the Model 12.
I know a few apps that can do it:
Loopy Pro
Drambo
Beatmaker 3

If you use an app that can read MIDI clock and control an Ableton LINK session, that would give you much more choice.
Cubasis, Nanostudio 2, LK and certainly a few other DAWs/MIDI Recorders would sync to LINK.

Another, maybe better option would be to use the mixer as a multichannel audio interface and record audio and MIDI on the iPad.
I honestly wouldn't want to mess with recordings on SD card when I can have everything on the iPad.

That MIDI to audio conversion sounds interesting, a bit like SMPTE code but for a higher bit rate. Technically no problem to do, but maybe this use case is too rare to make it into a product so far?

Edit: Just found a product from 1989 😂
https://www.atarimagazines.com/startv4n1/midimagic.php

and

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/musicsoft-midiman/103

wim

That will be a bit of a challenge with what we have to work with on iOS.

SPP is the most promising candidate. I think a Mozaic script that has pads to change FX and would record the SPP at the time of the last press might work. Then on playback it would send the saved FX changes when it detected the matching SPP.

The complexity would depend greatly on how complicated the FX changes needed and how many of them there would be. You'd want to stick to FX changes that are saved as presets so that Mozaic you wouldn't have to configure and send out too many midi commands for each pad. But I think it could work.

wim

I wonder if Camelot Pro can follow SPP? I expect it can. That could be a full-featured (though expensive) solution if so.

I'd say that is worth looking into as a Mozaic script would either become very complicated or involve diving into the code to configure FX change midi messages. The actual method of working with the SPP messages and sending out midi on detecting them isn't tough, it's configuring the midi out messages for FX changes that would drive the complexity and maintenance.