And one of the coolest things about this app is that its one of the first to use DSMI (DS Music Interface) code to control MIDI wirelessly. I expect to see more apps like this as DSMI catches on. There is about a 17ms latency on OSX, but thats good enough for all but the most time-critical stuff.
Haven't purchased AG-7 yet, but plan to soon! The video on their website is quite impressive. You can control any instrument samples, so you are not limited to guitar...
Ummmm ..... you might want to wait on buying the AG-7, I have not been able to get any sound out of it and I've tried my iPod Touch, my iPhone 3G and my iPhone 3GS. I emailed the dev. before leaving negative iTunes feedback but I haven't heard back yet.
Opps .... I think I need to hook this up to my Mac for it to work ... just a little brain delay after a hard day at work. Please delete my last post and after I plug this into Garageband I'll give a review.
I wonder how many, like me, will overlook the need for the DSMI server? It didn't take me too long to realize that this wasn't a pick up and play on your iPhone app. I'm downloading the server now and looking forward to playing this through Garageband. Maybe some day I'll learn to read the instructions before using :) .... then again .... probably not.
hey, I just purchased AG-7, but I couldn't get it to work. the app seems to work fine, but the dsmi-server does not receive any data. I've tried using a computer-to-computer wlan, but that didn't help either. I don't use a firewall. I can even see the udp packets sent by AG-7 coming in, so I am a bit confused. any tips would be appreciated...
@ johannes - The AG-7 broadcasts the Midi info to all computers it can find on the same wireless network. So if your iphone/ipod touch is connected to the same network as the computer, the DSMI app will receive the data. As you're on a mac, it's also dead easy to setup an ad-hoc wireless network just for the iphone/ipod touch. Good luck with it!
Interesting idea and really nice graphics but not at all practical to play. Too many issues to list them all here, but only buy if you are interested in proving out the concept rather than actually play a song. For the latter wait until version 2 or another app enters the space.
I am finding this app very useful for DAW recording and composition.
In my case, I do most recording on stringed instruments, and woodwinds, but my keyboard skills are lacking. With this app I can lay down a MIDI track , playing the chords as close to real time as possible. Afterwards, I can clean up the midi timing of notes in the DAW, and also change voicings, and apply any instrument to the MIDI I want.
It would be nice if the developer offered the ability to do a push button chord (eg, hit an E chord, with modifiers for sus, dim, 7th, etc).
And you do have to futz around with DSMI, but I don't mind being an early adaptor .... there is a lot of potential here for MIDI control, etc.
I've managed to get it to work on my PC using a program called mixcraft4. It's nice for what it is but rather limited in scope. There's clearly a huge potential for the application of midi into the handheld music market but I don't think this is the ideal solution. I think we need to be realistic about both the advantages and disadvantages of handhelds compared to 'real' instruments. The iphone/ipod touch works fine for replacing certain instruments - particularly percussion/drums, where tapping on the screen or setting up a timed sequence is all that's required. For other instruments its pretty bad. For instance I've tried a lot of guitar apps, and while some give you a decent approximation of a guitar sound, if you know how to play guitar properly they simply don't feel right when you are playing them. The musicianship of guitar playing is all to do with how you hold the instrument, where you play the same notes on different parts of the fretboard, how you phrase particular licks etc - all things that have not been adequately addressed in any application to date (and I'm not even sure if its possible). I think for guitar input the future is to use the iphone as an effects pedal replacement. It has enough processing ability to cope with the demands and there is plenty of scope to extend this into the realms of guitar synths. As an example of the types of sound I mean try playing a guitar through voiceband with the settings set to one of the synths - it gives a fantastic sound, far better than using your voice (if your voice is not constantly pitch perfect). So developers out there here is what I want: an app that takes the signal from an electric guitar or microphone and converts it to a midi note that can be either played with a variety of inbuilt instrument voices (guitars, synths, strings, drums) or sent through an external program (like garageband or mixcraft) that interprets it into the appropriate voice.
Sigmund, you make some good points. One of the problems with playing instrument and microphones into mobile units (I am speaking for the iPhone iPod Touch, here, as that is what I own) is latency ... there is a bit of delay as the input signal is processed and spit back out the headphones/output. A little latency is not bothersome, but when you get much over 10ms of delay, it can throw your timing off when performing. And the more processing required (like pitch shifting, harmonizing, for example), the more latency.
15 comments:
And one of the coolest things about this app is that its one of the first to use DSMI (DS Music Interface) code to control MIDI wirelessly. I expect to see more apps like this as DSMI catches on. There is about a 17ms latency on OSX, but thats good enough for all but the most time-critical stuff.
Haven't purchased AG-7 yet, but plan to soon! The video on their website is quite impressive. You can control any instrument samples, so you are not limited to guitar...
Ummmm ..... you might want to wait on buying the AG-7, I have not been able to get any sound out of it and I've tried my iPod Touch, my iPhone 3G and my iPhone 3GS. I emailed the dev. before leaving negative iTunes feedback but I haven't heard back yet.
Opps .... I think I need to hook this up to my Mac for it to work ... just a little brain delay after a hard day at work. Please delete my last post and after I plug this into Garageband I'll give a review.
I wonder how many, like me, will overlook the need for the DSMI server? It didn't take me too long to realize that this wasn't a pick up and play on your iPhone app. I'm downloading the server now and looking forward to playing this through Garageband. Maybe some day I'll learn to read the instructions before using :) .... then again .... probably not.
Marlene --- I'm sure this happens to lots of folks. Let us know how things work out when you get the server up and running!
hey, I just purchased AG-7, but I couldn't get it to work. the app seems to work fine, but the dsmi-server does not receive any data. I've tried using a computer-to-computer wlan, but that didn't help either. I don't use a firewall. I can even see the udp packets sent by AG-7 coming in, so I am a bit confused. any tips would be appreciated...
looks like in my confusion I forgot to mention I'm using a macbook running 10.5.8. sorry 'bout that... ;)
Works Great! Of course it does help if you follow instructions. Love it!
@ johannes -
The AG-7 broadcasts the Midi info to all computers it can find on the same wireless network. So if your iphone/ipod touch is connected to the same network as the computer, the DSMI app will receive the data.
As you're on a mac, it's also dead easy to setup an ad-hoc wireless network just for the iphone/ipod touch.
Good luck with it!
got it figured out. I used the wrong subnet mask on my macbook. now it works like a charm, latency is hardly noticable at all. very nice!
Does anyone have any suggestions for a windows based midi software for us non mac people to play this through?
(preferably one that's free!)
Interesting idea and really nice graphics but not at all practical to play. Too many issues to list them all here, but only buy if you are interested in proving out the concept rather than actually play a song. For the latter wait until version 2 or another app enters the space.
I am finding this app very useful for DAW recording and composition.
In my case, I do most recording on stringed instruments, and woodwinds, but my keyboard skills are lacking. With this app I can lay down a MIDI track , playing the chords as close to real time as possible. Afterwards, I can clean up the midi timing of notes in the DAW, and also change voicings, and apply any instrument to the MIDI I want.
It would be nice if the developer offered the ability to do a push button chord (eg, hit an E chord, with modifiers for sus, dim, 7th, etc).
And you do have to futz around with DSMI, but I don't mind being an early adaptor .... there is a lot of potential here for MIDI control, etc.
I've managed to get it to work on my PC using a program called mixcraft4.
It's nice for what it is but rather limited in scope.
There's clearly a huge potential for the application of midi into the handheld music market but I don't think this is the ideal solution.
I think we need to be realistic about both the advantages and disadvantages of handhelds compared to 'real' instruments.
The iphone/ipod touch works fine for replacing certain instruments - particularly percussion/drums, where tapping on the screen or setting up a timed sequence is all that's required. For other instruments its pretty bad.
For instance I've tried a lot of guitar apps, and while some give you a decent approximation of a guitar sound, if you know how to play guitar properly they simply don't feel right when you are playing them. The musicianship of guitar playing is all to do with how you hold the instrument, where you play the same notes on different parts of the fretboard, how you phrase particular licks etc - all things that have not been adequately addressed in any application to date (and I'm not even sure if its possible).
I think for guitar input the future is to use the iphone as an effects pedal replacement. It has enough processing ability to cope with the demands and there is plenty of scope to extend this into the realms of guitar synths. As an example of the types of sound I mean try playing a guitar through voiceband with the settings set to one of the synths - it gives a fantastic sound, far better than using your voice (if your voice is not constantly pitch perfect).
So developers out there here is what I want: an app that takes the signal from an electric guitar or microphone and converts it to a midi note that can be either played with a variety of inbuilt instrument voices (guitars, synths, strings, drums) or sent through an external program (like garageband or mixcraft) that interprets it into the appropriate voice.
Sigmund, you make some good points. One of the problems with playing instrument and microphones into mobile units (I am speaking for the iPhone iPod Touch, here, as that is what I own) is latency ... there is a bit of delay as the input signal is processed and spit back out the headphones/output. A little latency is not bothersome, but when you get much over 10ms of delay, it can throw your timing off when performing. And the more processing required (like pitch shifting, harmonizing, for example), the more latency.
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