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iOS synths with MIDI Out...
A quick question to confirm something that I think I discovered last night, and which I found incredibly surprising: the number of iOS synths that do MIDI Out are few. Is this consistent with everyone's experience?
Four synths I've found with pretty solid MIDI Out are ThumbJam (the absolute king); PPG WaveGenerator; NLog Pro; and Animoog (requires MIDI Out purchase expansion). I thought that Nave would have been a contender since you can select the ports and whether it's used for MIDI In/Out, but I had no luck in getting MIDI Out.
The set up I was using is as follows: iPad --> Duet --> iConnect Mio --> Octatrack
It is entirely possible that some apps failed because of the Duet, which is sometimes a serious diva when it comes to MIDI In/Out.
Anyone else have any thoughts/experiences?
M
Comments
I think most synth apps have some sort of midi functionality. There is variability in the midi implementation as some have virtual ports and others don't as well as listening and being able to configure the midi settings. This can require some trial and error to get the right settings between apps, DAWS, sequencers, and controllers. MidiBridge and/or Midiflow apps can almost always fill in the gaps in how midi is implemented. You might want to take notes about your setups to minimize these sorts of hassles. Midi sync can be the most problematic issue.
Xynthesizer and Geo Synth come to mind. Also Cubasis.
funny, i just made a similar observation yesterday and today -- with a different setup, I was trying which synths I can play as midi into cubasis, I was surprised how few synths can do this. NLog, Nave, iSEM can do it, and Animoog and Thor send midi out as well
I think the Duet is playing a large part of mishandling the MIDI Out signal from some of the synths I'm trying to use, so I intend to run "ghetto" -- using the headphone out and CCK the Mio -- to see if I get better results. A shame, really, as the Duet is really really nice and i'd like to stick with it to record the OT into Auria...
Thanks for chiming in given your similar experience. I'm still floored that the VirSyn synths don't seem to have MIDI Out. I'll post any findings back to this thread in case it helps you out!
yes --- especially Tera not having midi out is a big disappointment
^ ...at least it gives me another criteria I can use to purge synths...?
Don't forget about Magellan! It has decent MIDI, in/ out.
Guitarism, SoundPrism Pro
If you have synth apps that don't send midi but receive it, you can play them with a midi controller app or an external midi keyboard with a CCK. For example you can setup a midi track in Cubasis and set the midi source to your controller app or midi keyboard and set the instrument to a VirSyn app. Record the track while playing midi and you'll hear the VirSyn app sounds as the midi notes are recorded into the Cubasis track. When you're ready you can render the track or song to an audio file.
Thanks, Paulinko, but my goal is to get MIDI from iOS synths into the Octatrack. Sorry if that wasn't clear from my original post.
You might want to check out apps that are midi-centric like chordpolypad and arpeggionome.
Or lemur and midi designer.
@papertiger I'm not sure what the benefit of getting midi out of a synth would be? Are you maybe more interested in midi sequencers, arpegiators, or other midi controllers? I'm curious about what you're planning to do with this setup.
@Paulinko
What I'm trying to do is very simple, but fairly specific. I am using the iPad with an Octatrack. I would like to play the iPad synth and record the MIDI from that synth onto one of the MIDI tracks of the Octatrack. That way, I can edit the performance if I need to and I have more control over sampling the synth's audio than if I try to play live and sample at the same time. For this set up to work as efficiently as possible, the iPad synth must output MIDI. I'm not interested in playing around with MIDIBridge, etc. I have many of those apps, but my patience with iOS music thin -- I want a workflow that's as direct as possible. One synth, one app.
I've compiled a list of the synths that meet my needs after some testing today. Of all of the iOS synths that I own, which is an embarrassingly high number, these are the synths that allow users to select both the MIDI input and output ports, and the MIDI channel:
Nave
ThumbJam
WaveGenerator
WaveMapper
Animoog
NLog Pro
That is a very short list and I'm surprised by how short it is. Apparently, MIDI Out is NOT something that is standard on iOS synths. I sort of knew that already, but I proved it to myself today.
@papertiger Thanks for sharing your approach with me.
It can be an extra step and getting the sync can be tricky when you treat synth apps as sound modules which you control via keyboard or other apps. For my flow, I rarely find the synth app keyboard to be as serviceable as the synth itself so I find myself using a keyboard and apps to play them and record that midi while I play them. The advantage for me is that the same keyboard and apps will work for any number of synths so I don't have to get used to playing a new keyboard every time I want to use a new synth.
There are a number of good synths in your app list so you should be able to create quite a bit with them.
mh. I'm new to ThumbJam. Fascinating app. How do you get midi out with TJ? Did not see that anywhere.
Preferences (bottom right)=> midi control then scroll halfway down the list of stuff
ah, those black squares are buttons that can be turned on. nice. thanks!
:
it is interesting that those synths that do support midi out are almost all from 2013 or earlier -- and even the best synths from last year like Z3TA+ or Tera don't find this feature necessary
The most painful omissions for me are Thor and iSem. I love the way both sound and find programming Thor to be a pleasure. Maybe I'll ping Propellerheads again, but i'm not hopeful.
TJ is really quite something. Don't sleep on the additional sounds you can download for free within the app!
Oh, well these two are actually working well in my setup. Thor doesn't have IAA but sends midi, and iSEM is doing both quite well unless it crashes.
i agree both sound great, and I think I'll use iSEM more knowing its inter app features are so rare . . .
@papertiger-I'm curious about why you want to go from iPad to Octatrack, instead of the other way around. I always sequence my iOS synths from my OT, so I'm curious about benefits of trying what you have in mind.
Also, are you the same Papertiger that used to post on Elektron-Users? Haven't seen you on Elektronauts-didn't know if you were still using the gear or not.
Because I do like to "play" rather than enter things in step by step or by playing the OT chiclet keys. plus, most iOS synths have keyboards or playing surfaces that you can constrain to a particular key which is good for theory challenged people like me.
So I will jam a bit on the iPad and record the MIDI into the OT sequencer, fix it if I need to, then sample the audio once I'm happy with how the sequence, etc. sounds. Make sense?
Yep, that's me. I moved away from Elektron gear after the release of the OT and the end of EU. I'm back to the OT because it's the closest all-in-one box I can find that's not a laptop. I'm hoping that it and the iPad are enough for me since I have a lot less time for music nowadays...
I have no idea why Thor doesn't work for me, same with iSem, but I have confirmed that neither work how I need them to work, so away they go.
Honestly, it's not like the list of things that will work for me is not an embarrassment of riches, synth-wise!
Oscilab is getting midi out in update i think
that would be an extremely welcome feature! Is it a rumour only or something that has been anounced?
I think they were looking for beta testers for midi out update you could contact them if interested
totally. thanks for this info! I really like oscilab but what's missing is the option to use it with other sounds than the internal ones
another older synth app, SynthX, has excellent MIDI output (poly AT, poly pitch bend).
I've tweeted BeepStreet and Propellerheads/Kalle P. regarding MIDI Out from Sunrizer and Thor, respectively. I didn't bother with iSem and iProphet, but would encourage others to ping BeepStreet and Propellerheads if you're interested in MIDI Out from their synths...