5 ms·

The only difference it seems is that is will there will be MIDI support through a USB connection, MIDI support already exists in tons of apps through WIFI and u

The only difference it seems is that is will there will be MIDI support through a USB connection, MIDI support already exists in tons of apps through WIFI and unlike the article said is being used very seriously in quite a few top DJs I know, Deadmau5, Michael Woods, Laidback Luke, Richie Hawtin at least. The latter who actually got involved writing Griid. So it's already very serious, Griid, BeatMaker, MidiPad, etc. etc. do exactly what the author of the article says he wants -- they're basically a grid full of clips that you can quickly launch through the iPad, and most of them you can switch the interface from clip launching to controlling effects and other parameters of your DAW through MIDI. Actually not only that but some like TouchOSC also support OSC which is light years better than MIDI. One good thing at least will be the reliability of having a hard connection rather than sending your MIDI over WIFI. In terms of professional use you're still going to need at least a sound card and mixer as well, so the computer is not going away. So all-in-all not really exciting as they're making it out to be.

rayboyd 16y ago
With TouchOSC you have to use a bridge to convert the OSC messages sent over the network to MIDI for the DAW to pick up. (I use OSCulator with Ableton). 2 way messaging can be a pain, it can be laggy, is quite time consuming and unintuitive to map controls compared to the plug and play nature of a normal hardware midi controller. This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW.
- travisjeffery 16y ago
  Yeah I know how it works. MIDI is just one of those things that you're glad happened and it works but you really wish everyone at once would just switch over to OSC as soon as possible. "This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW." But no it won't, the TouchOSC and OSCulator guys choose to use OSC and the only way they're going to send MIDI directly is if they build it into the app which they just do now utilizing WIFI.
  - rayboyd 16y ago
    Can you clarify this please. This is something I am reading up on at the moment (MAX python API, OSC protocol etc). "This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW." I was not referring directly to TouchOSC I was using it as an example beforehand. Currently if I write my own controller, I need to implement the OSC protocol to send messages over the network. These messages then need converted to MIDI for the DAW to utilize. With direct MIDI support I can send midi straight out of my application over USB for the DAW to pick up. Is that essentially correct? EDIT. Just noticed your Soundcloud profile. Nice work.
    - travisjeffery 16y ago
      Yep, MIDI Out. And then a lot of controllers sync with the DAW and so they have MIDI In as well. I.e. let's say I have a fader on my controller mapped to channel A's volume if I change the volume on either the DAW or on the controller they will sync so that they both display the correct volume level automatically. If I change the volume through the controller then it's sending MIDI Out to the DAW if I change the volume on the DAW directly with my mouse say then it's going to send MIDI In to my controller. Basically you're cutting out the need for a middle-man. And thanks. :D
gonk 16y ago
MIDI is going to mean the iPad, with its touch interface, is going to be an excellent platform for soft synths and effects/DSP apps .. meaning less and less mousing around and a lot more intuitive performance in this, traditionally ultra-boring, realm.
_delirium 16y ago
How reliable is the latency/jitter in wifi-based MIDI? Last time I was seriously trying to do things with MIDI on a computer for real-time control, admittedly a few years ago, even USB had problems on normal (non-real-time) OSs. Ended up having to stick with PCI interfaces to avoid latencies >10ms cropping up too frequently for my needs. The most recent set of benchmarks I can find that include the whole end-to-end timing are from 2004, though: http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/paper/NIME04_1C03.pdf http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/paper/NIME04_1C03.pdf

rayboyd 16y ago

With TouchOSC you have to use a bridge to convert the OSC messages sent over the network to MIDI for the DAW to pick up. (I use OSCulator with Ableton). 2 way messaging can be a pain, it can be laggy, is quite time consuming and unintuitive to map controls compared to the plug and play nature of a normal hardware midi controller. This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW.

travisjeffery 16y ago
Yeah I know how it works. MIDI is just one of those things that you're glad happened and it works but you really wish everyone at once would just switch over to OSC as soon as possible. "This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW." But no it won't, the TouchOSC and OSCulator guys choose to use OSC and the only way they're going to send MIDI directly is if they build it into the app which they just do now utilizing WIFI.
- rayboyd 16y ago
  Can you clarify this please. This is something I am reading up on at the moment (MAX python API, OSC protocol etc). "This should alleviate that by removing the bridge, the need for OSC and the ability to directly send MIDI over USB to the DAW." I was not referring directly to TouchOSC I was using it as an example beforehand. Currently if I write my own controller, I need to implement the OSC protocol to send messages over the network. These messages then need converted to MIDI for the DAW to utilize. With direct MIDI support I can send midi straight out of my application over USB for the DAW to pick up. Is that essentially correct? EDIT. Just noticed your Soundcloud profile. Nice work.
  - travisjeffery 16y ago
    Yep, MIDI Out. And then a lot of controllers sync with the DAW and so they have MIDI In as well. I.e. let's say I have a fader on my controller mapped to channel A's volume if I change the volume on either the DAW or on the controller they will sync so that they both display the correct volume level automatically. If I change the volume through the controller then it's sending MIDI Out to the DAW if I change the volume on the DAW directly with my mouse say then it's going to send MIDI In to my controller. Basically you're cutting out the need for a middle-man. And thanks. :D

gonk 16y ago

MIDI is going to mean the iPad, with its touch interface, is going to be an excellent platform for soft synths and effects/DSP apps .. meaning less and less mousing around and a lot more intuitive performance in this, traditionally ultra-boring, realm.

_delirium 16y ago

How reliable is the latency/jitter in wifi-based MIDI? Last time I was seriously trying to do things with MIDI on a computer for real-time control, admittedly a few years ago, even USB had problems on normal (non-real-time) OSs. Ended up having to stick with PCI interfaces to avoid latencies >10ms cropping up too frequently for my needs. The most recent set of benchmarks I can find that include the whole end-to-end timing are from 2004, though: http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/paper/NIME04_1C03.pdf http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/paper/NIME04_1C03.pdf