The 1.3 version arrives. Here's what's new:
- Akai SynthStation 25 support - play wirelessly or control previously unsupported apps with your SynthStation 25 (or both)
- Line6 MIDI Mobilizer I and SynthStation 25 can continue processing even when MidiBridge is backgrounded (only on iOS5 devices)
- OMAC fast switching to compatible running apps by double-tap on port
- Explore/launch other virtual midi compatible apps from app panel
- Drum remap on input/output filters; maps channel 10 to midi channels 1-4 (user selectable); eg. control SampleTank from older drum machines
- Landscape view now also supported on iPod/iPhone
26 comments:
Looks great. Still works wonderfully for what I do. The only thing I've noticed is that it doesn't seem to recognize some of the apps I have installed. Geo Synthesizer and Samplewiz both show in the list of compatible applications, but when I try to open them from within Midi Bridge, it shows me a link to the App Store, as if I don't own them.
If anyone has some insight on this, I'd appreciate it.
Hi Tim,
Those apps have as yet not added OMAC support for fast-switching. Email the devs and tell them to do it!
We added a few choice apps ourselves in advance and to encourage the app devs to participate ;-)
Once they do, then an update is pushed to your device and you'll be able to fast switch between them.
Got a similar problem. Mine is that apps don't show up in the list or in the connections window even when the app is active!
Half my apps won't work. What a waste.
Hey there audeonic. Thanks for the information. I appreciate your fast responses.
Also, to Anonymous, just because they don't show up in the list does not mean they won't work. My experience has been that apps with CoreMidi or Virtual Midi will work.
My SS25 is coming tomorrow and the main reason I bought it was Midibridge. I'm having exactly the same problems. Apps that are installed are not recognized in the connections pane.
@Tim
Apps that work for you, don't for me so it must be a 1.3 related thing. Sampletank for instance is one of the many apps that isn't showing up. Gutted.
Come on audeonic. Look into it please.
@Tim
How can I connect to or from them if they don't have ports in the connections list?
Sorry, I meant Interfaces tab not connections.
Yup. +1
Doesn't matter wether you start Midibridge first and then say, Sampletank, or the other way round. It does not appear in the interfaces list. Many apps have the same problem. Not just the ones in the fast switch menu.
I thought it saw apps straight away. All the videos I've seen people using it looked like the app showed up and then could be connected to other apps.
Not happening. So many people raved on about this app so I got it and it won't work properly.
+ 1.
Can someone made a video tutorial about Midibridge ?
Not just a video of someone play with, for example, geosynth and sampletank, but a tutorial for connect these apps via midibridge ?
OK, some clarification here to avoid confusion.
Any running app may advertise a MIDI in or out port and this will show up in MidiBridge as a port pair (or single) that can be interconnected.
SampleTank is a special case. It does not advertise any ports at all, but reads from all CoreMIDI ports. Hence to output something from MidiBridge to SampleTank, you just need to connect a left side input port to the 'MidiBridge' output port on the right.
SoundPrism is the opposite. It advertises nothing, yet writes to every MIDI port it sees. To interconnect SoundPrism, you connect the left hand MidiBridge input to wherever you want on the right (or MidiBridge if you want to drive SampleTank).
Some ports have a double-tap symbol (2 green arrows) on them. If you double-tap the port you'll switch to that app (except SoundPrism which crashes, but Audanika say this is a known problem)
Now, the 'Apps Pane' - this is not where you perform connections at all! It is a list of apps that either are or are soon to be OMAC compliant, which just means you can fast-switch to them from MidiBridge (or MidiVision).
If the app has a green tick, then MidiBridge knows it is installed and how to launch/switch to it which is all that happens when you touch that app in the list.
If the app does not have a green tick, then it may still be installed, but MidiBridge cannot switch to it since the dev. has not added their app to the OMAC registry and touching that entry takes you to the App Store. Again - this does *not mean* that MidiBridge cannot connect to it. Apologies for double negative.
Finally, some apps (Sunrizer notably) can be fast switched to because MidiBridge has guessed their secret launch URL. These apps will have a double-tap symbol in their port.
To re-iterate: the Apps Pane is for fast-switching to or exploring other apps only. It is not a list of apps that MidiBridge can send/receive events to.
I'll answer any followup questions/issues in this thread if this is still not clear. I've had a few emails about this as well and it is causing confusion. I'm tempted to remove all non OMAC compliant apps entirely from the plist.
There are some early videos at Brazilian site musicapps.br.com where Marcus demonstrates connecting in MidiBridge. It's in Portugese, but this is the video: http://j.mp/u0bI0J
I think that it is only apps with virtual midi that show up in the interfaces window. I could be wrong!
What I do - using a MidiMobilizer 1.
Start (for example) Sampletank. Select 'Part A' and choose a sound.
Start Midibridge. On the interfaces page, hold 'Midi Mobilizer in' and tap 'MidiBridge' (the one on the right hand side. It's not labelled 'out' though but inputs are on the left, outputs on the right. Also, inputs have the little white arrow higher than the outs).
Tap a key on you're keyboard and you'll see both connections flashing. This update doesn't seem to be the same as the one in the video, and won't make any sound.
Make sure to go to the 'Preferences' tab, and select 'Run in Background'.
Switch back to Sampletank, and play like a demon!
In Sampletank, if you're wondering why, if you select another 'Part' it still plays the sound from 'Part A', you need to go to the settings page (cog icon at the top) and switch 'Layer' on. This will allow you to select other 'Parts' and be able to play them from the keyboard.
I myself am still experimenting with this app and am by no means a Midi guru or anything so would appreciate a thorough tutorial or better manual from someone who knows what they're doing and could explain all the amazing features of this app.
This might help someone though, as it is a bit confusing.
I do not profess to be a MidiBridge expert... am just a fan who has had some success with it. In fact, my approach to getting Midi Bridge to work has been fairly random. But for what it's worth...
When I use it to control Sampletank with Geosynthesizer, Sampletank doesn't show up as an app/output in Midi Bridge. As long as I have the CoreMidi and MidiBridge inputs on the left connected to the CoreMidi and MidiBridge outputs on the right, they will connect.
My process for getting these two particular apps to work together:
1. Open Sampletank
2. Open Midi Bridge
3. Open Geo Synthesizer
4. Switch back to Sampletank and play a note or two, then back to Geo Synthesizer
That last step seems to be important, like the link can only be made once all three are open. I'm also finding that you can control Sunrizer via Midi Bridge, but the order I opened and switched to the different programs affected whether or not it would work. If I get a process/order down for Sunrizer, I'll post it here.
I think it comes down to the apps themselves as to how well they work in Midi Bridge. Sunrizer has a known issue with how it deals with audio buffers, and that's what has been keeping Geo Synth from controlling it. The fact that Midi Bridge will let me do it at all is a plus in my book.
In any case, best of luck. I'll keep checking here, and if I can offer up any help, I'll be glad to.
One last point, which might be stating the obvious for some, but you have to make sure that the receiving program has 'Background Audio' running. I forgot to turn that on when I was first working in Sampletank. If it's not set to run in the background, you really can't send anything to it....
Thank's but i don't have a midimobiliser. Can you, Audeonic, who made the app, do somes short video tutorials ? It will be a great help !
I must say your app is great, work immediatly with nlog pro, thumbjam, soundprism pro.
But somebody made this video with geosynth controling sampletank via midibridge who give me the idea of buying your app.
So, may'be it's possible to show us how we connect them ?
Because i try since this afternoon... and i'm think i'm not the onlyone !
I've been trying to post comprehensive information/answers here but my posts keep on being removed. I'll construct something for the audeonic site and post a link to it later on. Bear with!
Great thread. Thanks for all the information, and advice.
Here's a couple tips. I have a SS25 and my iPod touch 4th gen is running iOS 5.0.1
1) make sure to activate the option for MidiBridge to work in background. In iOS5 MidiBridge keeps sending/receiving while in background mode.
2) make sure to establish the right connections between interfaces in MidiBridge's first page
3) if your app only supports network connections, you can set MidiBridge to connect to "localhost". The network interface in MidiBridge will light up after the connection is established and you can route your midi to it.
4) For most apps, what usually works is routing your incoming midi to the output interface named MidiBridge, send MidiBridge to background and bring your music app to the foreground. That's what's seen in the brazilian youtube video connecting the first generation line6 interface to samplitude. It works wonderfully for me with DXi and Pixelwave, for example
Hope it helps and props to Nic for coming up with SS25 support in this version of MidiBridge. Now I don't have to buy another CoreMidi interface. I'm perfectly happy with my SS25 and MidiBridge
Having issues since installing this and using it on my io dock with Logic9.
Logic is now going mental; screen is flashing and is useless.
There must be something happening that I can't work out but at the moment i'm not a happy chap.
@anonymous above:
check that you are not creating a midi feedback loop within MidiBridge
Surprised the feedback here isn't filled with more praise than it is (although I realize we've all got different expectations of the app and are trying to get it to work with different hardware/software and perhaps that's where a lot of this is coming from).
Although I also hope to use MIDI Bridge to integrate my iPhone with the desktop, iPad, and other MIDI hardware, the primary reason I purchased it was to (hopefully) make better use of a lot of my iPhone synths that didn't natively support my Synthstation25 but DID embrace Core MIDI. I've had the ability to do things like cable the keyboard to my iPad via the camera connection kit when necessary (which always sounds as though it'll take less effort and cables than it does), but wanted the convenience of occasionally being able to just stick the phone in the SS and play.
Played around with that aspect of things for a couple of hours last night and am EXTREMELY pleased. Really very happy. Not the cheapest app I've ever purchased, but definitely a case where I feel I got (or at least will over time) more than my money's worth. So far I've managed to get
GarageBand
SunrizerXS
Addictive Micro
Organ+
PixelWave
SpectrumGen
Bismark
SampleWiz
to work in the Synthstation via the app. (Might be missing something in there...was very late.)
There were moments in the process where things got slightly convoluted. Sometime that's the result of synth apps from different developers failing to adhere to a consistent standard, some apps being more automatic while others needed changes within their own preferences, etc. Other times things were a little difficult because an app refuses to work in a background state (although MIDI Bridge does a lot to help there by itself working in the background. Just make sure you enable that option in preferences). Had to jump back and forth to those apps because you couldn't hear changes being made within Bridge immediately resulting in audio. Again, not the fault of this app.
I place the bulk of the blame for the difficulties in getting these apps to work together on Apple for the restrictions they have imposed that lead one to ever need bridging apps like this. Life would be so much easier if the operating system allowed apps to work with one another. Apps being segregated into their own sandboxes, etc, is Apple's doing and apps like this are just doing their best to help us overcome those restrictions.
Anyway,I'm getting sidetracked. This is a fantastic little app. Reminds me of Audio View in a sense - very useful in bridging things that Apple has made unnecessarily difficult - copying and pasting, MIDI working across apps without the need for third party software...all these things should be built into iOS. Things like the Sunrizer, Korg, or Moog apps rightly get a lot of attention, but its apps like MIDI Bridge and Audio View that I feel most compelled to spread the word about.
One more comment after having just reread the posts above. (And I'm far from an expert on this having only worked with the app a couple of hours - so please correct me if I'm wrong.) I think many are assuming, because they dont see Bridge recognize and provide an additional routing button for their specific app, that things aren't working. It's certainly clearest/easiest when it DOES recognize an app and provide those buttons, but when they're not there the solution is usually some variation of routing your source content or output of your controller to a general location like the CoreMIDI Net or MIDIBridge out options on the right and then using the destination app's preferences (when necessary) to enable that input.
@anon who suggested it maybe a feedback loop.
What would I be looking for?
I am finding it very confusing to be honest.
There's nothing connected that I can tell immediately might be causing that, but it's nearly 5am and I've been up a long time :-)
Thanks to the others who have also posted how they use it. It's excellent really, but I wish it wasn't so complicated and confusing to use.
I did read the inbuilt help but although it explains it well, what the other guy said about different apps working differently, won out and just got me super confused.
OK, I have created a new 'Understanding MidiBridge' guide which should hopefully solve some of the proplems people are experiencing with connecting SampleTank and Sunrizer XS as well as explaining what the 'Compatible Applications' thing is all about. Some of you may have notice this list has decreased in size today!
The guide is here
There's also some new videos (courtesy of iDesignSound.com) showing an SS25 controlling Sunrizer XS and NLog on a mac over wifi. Links to these videos are at the bottom of the new guide.
Hope that helps. Any comments, queries or complaints, post here or email us.
Really great guide, audeonic. It clarified a lot for me. I've bookmarked it and will be sure to direct anyone who is asking...
@audeonic
Thanks for the great guide and Midibridge, which is just fantastic. My MM1 and SS25 say thanks too.
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