Sound promising. Is there likely to be any latency issues?

Hi Audeonic, and welcome to KVR! And thanks for filling an obvious hole for us SS25 users; it opens a lot of doors.

Questions:

1. How much iOS system resources does the SS25/MIDI Bridge combo use? I'm hoping it's ultra light, of course.

2. Are there any latency issues? Have you analyzed the response time?

3. I tested wireless to my iPodT 4G via RTP MIDI from my Mac, but I found the lag excessive and unusable unless playing slowly. Is MIDI Bridge better and can it handle fast runs and CC on wireless?

Thanks!

Steve

Jono-60: chompin' bits, hunh?

Answers:

1. Very little memory and CPU. We've run complex sequences through it without
any hiccups. However, to cover my arse, YMMV! (turn off visual events in MidiBridge)

2. Latency with virtual ports is around 3-5ms, with network in the region of 10 or so ms on a good day.

3. Playing Ableton on a mac from the SS25 using MidiBridge over CoreMIDI network was eminently usable, but I'm a very pedestrian piano player.

If you want to try out a pre-release copy, email us a UDID and you can test it for yourself, but you have to report back here with the findings.

Well, MidiBridge does exactly what it says it will! I just spent some time playing SunrizerXS and Alchemy from the SS25 and the response is fast and clean. Pitch and modulation work as expected. Sunrizer doesn't show the pitch and mod animations, but that would be an issue with the synth itself. There's a second's lag when you switch synths before it connects, but once connected it stays that way.

One important things to take note: on the Preferences page make sure you enable "Background Mode" otherwise your MIDI connections won't be enabled when you make another app active. It says it "uses more battery" in this mode but if you AC power your SS25, that's no problem. You also have to remember to activate MidiBridge in order for the SS25 to reconnect automatically to the other apps. It remembered my connections when I restarted the synths so config is memorized.

MIDI connections always introduce some semantic confusion as one MIDI device's input is always another MIDI device's output. In MidiBridge's Interface's page, you're presented with two columns of devices: the "inputs" are on the left and the "outputs" are on the right. But by "Inputs" the author means "where MIDI commands are coming from" which technically is "Outputs". It took me a bit to figure it out, but it's really just a question of convention. It might be simpler to just refer to "Source" and "Destination" as that makes it clear.

All that's needed to connect the SS25 to a synth is to highlight the source by selecting it and touch the destination to connect. Do similar to disconnect. One source can connect to multiple destinations and vice versa. Open Synth apps appear as destinations too.

Each device has a Filter page allowing you to filter major MIDI events. I already wrote the author about the possibility of introducing MIDI velocity scaling on this page (these small keyboards could use some optimization...), and it's a "we'll see" There's also a Drum Remap which may come in handy at some point, though it's currently undocumented in the beta. The Filter can be enabled/disabled globally for each MIDI device.

I tried triggering notes from my MBP running wireless using Core MIDI, but for some reason, once the session is established and once any synth becomes active, it plays a stuck note on its own and won't stop. This happened on both Sunrizer and Alchemy. I'm not sure what is going on, here; I'll have to take a closer look.

Couple of other notes: If the iOS device powers down, just turning it back on re-enables everything without issues. Landscape mode works on the iPT-4G in this new beta. There's a new "Compatible Applications" page in the new Beta, with a list of apps and checkmarks; I'm not sure why that's needed, but I'm sure we'll find out .

Thanks for trying it out and posting comprehensive findings!

Drum Remap (is described in the help!) is based on some user requests where they have older drum machines fixed at MIDI channel 10 and want to control apps like SampleTank which only allows channels 1-4 - more relevant if you're using external MIDI devices with the iOS device.

Stuck notes - not sure; haven't had that problem before. Usually it would mean the session dropped unexpectedly and a note on got received without a note off.

Quick reply on 'Compatible Apps' - it is a list of apps that are (or will be) OMAC compliant, which means you can fast-switch to (or launch) them from MidiBridge (and MidiVision). If they're already running then you just double tap the input
or output port and switch to that app. If not yet running, then you just launch
the app from the Panel. Green tick means you have the app installed and no tick means app is not installed and you can get more information on it and view/download in the App Store.

OMAC stands for Open Music App Collaboration and is a group of music app developers working together to standardise inter-app communication.

Thank you Breeze for the feedback. I'm quite tempted by the SS25 now.

Would be great if we can get feedback from others too using different apps.

MidiBridge 1.3 has just been released with SynthStation 25 support

Just a quick update on my experiences with MidiBridge. I think the stuck notes I was experiencing with wireless MIDI might have been Midi feedback: I hadn't configured network Midi properly on my Mac. After I did that correctly and optimized my router for iOS wireless, wifi midi is working amazingly well.

BTW, Audeonic just published a very comprehensive guide to MidiBridge here.

I have just purchased the Akai Synthstation 25 running nanostudio on my iphone. It works great HOWEVER when I connect it to my laptop running SONAR or NANOSTUDIO, the Octave shift keys work as well as the Modulation pitch bend wheel, however does not respond to program change buttons. Why is this? Is there anything I could do to fix this?

Check out my video here to see MidiBridge and SS25 working with any CoreMidi app... http://www.idesignsound.com/midibridge-universal/

Actually I just realized that the video on that page uses Sunrizer, which now supports the SS25 natively (it didn't at the time)

Here's another video I made that shows it working with other CoreMidi only apps including GarageBand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM4Qm7HJl6o&feature=youtube_g data_player

And here's one that shows the SS25 as a wireless controller using MIDIBridge...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUlll_uOE&feature=youtube_g data_player

And SS25 is compatible to Ipad2 as well? Sorry for my blatant question, but I have very limited experiences when it comes to mobile apps and hardware. If it is compatible, then I'm all for it. Does a 61 key version exist? Even better!

It will work with the iPad but I wouldn't recommend it. You'd need to connect using the Apple Camera Connection Kit (CCK) and a powered USB hub (or use a power adapter) as the iPad cannot power it.

If you are looking for a MIDI keyboard controller to use with the iPad then you should consider the Akai MPK25 which will still need the CCK but I think can be powered by the iPad ( so is more portable). It also includes some knobs and MPC style drum pads that you can use to control/play your apps (although if it's the same pad assignment software as the LPD8 then it's quite cumbersome to set up).

They did announce a 49 key version of the SynthStation keyboard (with an iPad slot) about a year back at NAMM 2011 but it hasn't materialized yet. Not sure but it may have been axed.

Hope this help!

Alex
Last edited by iDesignSound on Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:32 am; edited 1 time in total

You can also connect the iPad to the SS25 with an appropriate 30-pin extension cable. You need the 17 (from memory) connected pin version compared to cheaper 12 pin versions. Obviously the iPad won't fit in the SS25.

Do you still get the power warning using the extension cable?