Bluetooth MIDI is here, and it’s getting more refined and present by the day. The dream of the truly wireless setup without latency and without signal loss is becoming a reality, and it couldn’t be a better time to be a keyboard player and a fan of cutting-edge technology. With more and more devices such as the excellent Xkey Air or Yamaha Bluetooth MIDI adapters available to us, it’s time to harness the power of iOS devices and computers as sound modules, and to do so without the oppressive shackles of MIDI and USB cables.

Getting Bluetooth MIDI up and running, however, isn’t quite as straightforward as USB plug-and-play just yet, and there are a few steps you’ll need to take, with a few workarounds for apps that don’t support Bluetooth MIDI just yet. You’ll need to have a device that supports Bluetooth Low Energy profiles, as well as iOS 8/OS X 10.10 or later. Once you’ve got that, a Bluetooth MIDI device, and a compatible app, you’re good to go!

Korg MicroKey is a recently released Bluetooth MIDI keyboard controller.

1 - Powering On

• Sep 22, 2014  Answer lug a usb b cable aka printer cable or a midi to USB adapter in to your keyboard or controller then plug the usb end in to the camera kit then plug the kit into your device and load GarageBand and your keyboard or controller then becomes a midi device allowing you to control GarageBand with your device.
• Connect wirelessly to iPad, iPhone, Mac, or Windows microKEY Air-37 The microKEY Air supports Bluetooth Smart “Apple Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI”. You can easily connect wirelessly to iPad/iPhone music apps such as KORG Gadget, KORG Module, and GarageBand, as well as any MIDI-capable music production software on your Mac or Windows.
• Oct 06, 2012 I just bought a new M-Audio Oxygen 25 USB MIDI keyboard controller for school (I'm a student at Berklee College of Music) and I'm trying to use it to record in Garageband. I put in the disc that came with the keyboard, clicked 'install,' and it said the installation was successful and I had to restart my computer, which I did.
• Just create a network on your MacBook and connect your iPad to that network. Then you can use Apples logic remote software for the iPad. It works in GarageBand too.

Just use this and a USB cable to connect to your Mac. If the app supports CoreMIDI it should work just fine. You can check using 'Audio MIDI Setup.app' on your Mac. This is also the place where you configure your Mac to use Wireless MIDI sent from an iPad.

Obviously, you’ll want to power on your device. Once you’ve verified it’s turned on, many devices will need to be put into a ‘pairing mode’. You’ll often need to do this only the first time you connect to a computer/iOS device. After that, most Bluetooth MIDI devices will ‘remember’ what computers they’ve paired with in the past and give you a seamless connection later on. Check your controller’s product manual to verify how to get it into ‘pairing mode’ when necessary.

2 - Enable Bluetooth

This seems like a silly thing to have to point out, but many folks turn Bluetooth off for power consumption reasons. You may have to swipe up to control center on an iOS device, or check the Bluetooth system preferences icon to verify that your Bluetooth connection is on, active, and ready to roll. Trust me, do this before you start pulling your hair out about why it’s not connecting!

3 - (OSX Only) Open Audio/MIDI Settings

Inside of your Applications Folder, you’ll find a subfolder called ‘Utilities’. Open that up, and you’ll be treated to an app called ‘Audio MIDI Setup’. Open up Audio MIDI Setup and navigate to the ‘MIDI Studio’. Once you’re there, you will see an icon for Bluetooth MIDI devices. You’ll double-click that icon, and you should be treated to a list of nearby Bluetooth devices just waiting to pair up. Click on the ‘connect’ button for your MIDI device and it should pair up with no problem! If you don’t see your device here, it may not be near enough to your computer, it may not be in ‘pairing mode’, or it may simply not be Bluetooth LE compatible.

4 - Open Up the App

From here, you’re going to want to open up whatever app you plan on using your Bluetooth MIDI device with. If you’re on iOS, GarageBand is a great app to test with as it supports a wide range of Bluetooth MIDI devices. On OSX, any DAW or virtual instrument that supports MIDI will do. Open up the app, and you should be able to select your MIDI device from whatever preferences menu or MIDI input menu the app typically uses. As long as you’ve configured the device (on OS X) with Audio/MIDI settings properly, it should show up here.

5 - (iOS Only) Configure Bluetooth MIDI

On iOS, Bluetooth MIDI is currently handled on an ‘app-by-app’ basis. In other words, there is currently no Audio/MIDI settings page for you to configure your Bluetooth MIDI device. This means that the app itself has to allow you to configure and pair your Bluetooth MIDI device. For GarageBand, this is located under the little ‘wrench’ settings menu in the upper right corner. Tap on that icon, scroll down to ‘Advanced’ and you’ll be treated to a ‘Bluetooth MIDI Devices’ sub menu where you can select your preferred device.

This is actually important, even if you don’t plan on using GarageBand because GarageBand can be a ‘stopgap’ measure to enable Bluetooth MIDI for apps that don’t technically support it yet. Not all apps have a Bluetooth MIDI device menu that will allow you to pair/configure your controller, but there is a little hack around this! Once you’ve paired up a Bluetooth MIDI device, you can actually quit one app, open another, and it should continue to work! I’ve used GarageBand countless times to select my Xkey Air, get it configured and paired, then quit GarageBand and open up my favorite synth app on the iPad and start rocking!

6 - Stay Awake!

Your connection could time out depending on the device you’re using, the app you’re using, and the background audio settings of the app itself. Don’t rely on this setup for mission critical applications until you’ve thoroughly tested all the devices and apps you plan to use as well as what happens when you close them. Some apps will run in the background and keep providing sound unless you actually quit them from the iPad’s task manager! Certain devices may time out to save energy after a certain amount of inactivity, and this can be a new behavior for those of us used to USB MIDI devices. Test, test, test… and then test again!

A Brave New World

Use Ipad As Midi Controller Garageband

MIDI over Bluetooth is a developing and emerging technology. With the elimination of the headphone jack and millions of new Bluetooth headphones in the world, it remains to be seen how it will hold up with the spectrum getting more and more devices added to it. I’m sure the tech companies are staying ahead of it, though! Like most other technologies, I’d expect this one to continue to grow at an astonishing rate! Completely wireless lossless MIDI as well as audio could be right around the corner!

What is Audiobus? — Audiobus isan award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you useyour other music apps together. Chain effects on your favouritesynth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app likeGarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface outputfor each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive asynth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDIkeyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear.And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Use Ipad As Midi Controller For Garageband On Mac Download

Virtual dj setup with mixer download. Hello friends, to do testing in the development of MIDI apps such as WorldBeats, I searched hardware to allow me to send and receive MIDI between iPad and Mac, but use the WIFI network for this purpose was producing undesirable delays in real time. I found nothing at low cost to allow me to communicate with MIDI iPad-Mac via USB. I guess this has happened to more people. So I developed this device: MIDI USB-USB is a device that allows a quick and secure MIDI connection between two hosts. For example, connect an iPad to a Mac a Mac to a PC or any combination of these. Today there are thousands of MIDI applications on smartphones and tablets, but to connect to a Mac or PC, we have to resort to conventional USB MIDI interfaces and DIN cables connecting each, a spectacular racket which may require separate male-DIN adapters female and perhaps power supplies. MIDI USB-USB simplifies all this because there is only to connect each end USB and ready. MIDI USB-USB is a USB MIDI Class Compliant device at
each end that runs on any operating system without installing drivers, plug and play: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, iOS, Android, .. It consists of 4 bidirectional MIDI ports with which we can handle up to 64 channels or applications running simultaneously can connect with each port playing each different functions. More info at: www.sevillasoft.com

Comments

Use Ipad As Midi Controller For Garageband On Mac Free

• Looks interesting. If the price is low, & works as described. You maybe onto a winner.

• Price is 39€, includes two USB cables 35 cm and 1.8 m. This month free shipping at http://compasflamenco.com/midi-usbusb-p-4.html?language=en
  Video:
  

• Is the ipad charged (at least slowly) like when connecting straight to the usb of the computer?

• The price seems fair, are there any specs about the latency and jitter?

• MIDI standard send serial data at 31250 bps, internally MIDI USB-USB is 12 times faster, at 375000 baud.

• Yes, you need camera connection kit for both.
  You can communicate by MIDI any combination of PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, .. It is USB MIDI class compliant , works on any operating system, no drivers needed.

• The link to the website is in the third post with the video

• at http://compasflamenco.com/midi-usbusb-p-4.html?language=en

• Tueviera que ser un Espanol, no? jejejej.

  Someone go first and report back!

• Hi my name is Jesús. Do you have a moment to talk about iOS? - Sorry I could help myself.. It does sound like a great idea for many though.

• Hi, what kind of cables come with the box? Only USB-USB or also Lighting to USB?
  And: Any USB-keyboard plugged into the Mac will play all my iOS Synths (via Logic)?

• Only USB cables, for iPad you need camera connection kit or similar adapter.
  When you connect the device to your Mac, you see four bidirectional MIDI (in / out) ports. You can use an external MIDI track in logic and select the port and channel. At the other end of the device connect an iPad and see the same: four ports.
  I guess Logic is able to route what enters through a port (your keyboard) and send it to another (MIDI USB-USB port 1 for example).

• Good video. Nice to see ipad communicating with a Mac, working with each other. It would be nice to see it working on video, with the iPad with a Windows PC. For example seeing how the iPad(with your USB Midi gadget) working with FL Studio, Cubase, Ableton Live. Good so far with a MAC tho.

• Hi Studs1966, I go to prepare a video with Windows vs iPad and Cubase.

• Here the video: Cubase in Windows 7 send midi to GarageBand for iPad:
  

• What's that very dodgy looking cable conecting to the iPad?

• Is a camera connection kit Chinese I had to repair, I recommend using the original. Although this works.

• Hi,

  I like this innovation. If it works - well done Jesús! Great to see new products like this that work well for iOS.

  It would be good to be able to play thumbjam with midi out, or midi designer or one of the x-y pads I have on my iphone straight into my ipad without have to hook up via midi over bluetooth (which is what I do at the moment). Russian ipad garageband song.

  I have 2 camera connection kits already actually.

  @BiancaNeve if you were able to report back on how it works that would be very much appreciated.

  I'm sure it's good value, but personally I'm in two minds if I can justify 39 Euros for the convenience, to be honest.. But that's just me - since I don't need this function that often and it's possible via bluetooth.

  I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts though.