Using Ipad and TouchOsc as Live controller

[Derj]

I have resisted the urge to buy an ipad very strongly since they first came onto the market I am now however contemplating a chance of heart purely to be able to use touchOsc as a way of controlling live.

The band that I am in at the moment are getting read you move our heavy electronic show live and one of the issues that we keep running into is that the macbook pro we are planning to use to run ableton live and all the audio that we need only has 2 USB ports thus limiting quite considerably how many physical controllers that we can use. We are using a Starr labs MIDI guitar which needs to USB port and when you add in the MBox 2 that we want to use that is both USB ports accounted for. We have used USB hubs but are slightly concerned about power issues to all of the devices.

The Ipad and TouchOsc and the nature of its wireless connection obviously frees us of this problem. Having not owned one before I had a few questions I was hoping someone could help with:

- When we are playing live can we have several different pages of control templates that we can switch between seamlessly during the performance so that we can control a number of different parameters/devices within live on the one Ipad?
- Do we need to bring a wireless router with us to the gigs to use the thing or can we set up a connection with just the ipad and the macbook?
- Has anyone else done this and do they recommend it?

I have to say I love the idea of a fully customisable and portable controller but it sounds too good to be true! Anybody's feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers

Tim

[~Pd~]

- When we are playing live can we have several different pages of control templates that we can switch between seamlessly during the performance so that we can control a number of different parameters/devices within live on the one Ipad?
- Do we need to bring a wireless router with us to the gigs to use the thing or can we set up a connection with just the ipad and the macbook?
- Has anyone else done this and do they recommend it?

I've added as many as 16 pages to a TouchOSC template. Not sure what the max is. Flipping between them is no problem.

You can do an ad hoc network between the iPad and a Mac. No router required.

Never performed live with one but I've used iPad and TouchOSC extensively with my iMac without problems. My major concern would be protection from beverages.

Here's a TouchOSC template I made for Reaktor. It doesn't show in the video but there's a second page of controls.

http://www.reaktortips.com/2011/05/loup ... -with.html

[leggie]

Or you could try Miditouch where you define the screens on the ipad and no external editor needed

http://iosmidi.com/apps/midi-touch/

And a lot easier to use than touch osc.

[the dj]

Does Midi Touch support multiple pages yet?

[~Pd~]

In defense of TouchOSC, it's not difficult to use. It's also a quarter the price of Midi Touch and sends / receives OSC as well as MIDI.

[wakax]

+10 for TouchOsc.
it is simple and great

Peter forgot to add that "Midi Touch sends / receives OSC as well as MIDI" in the same time - same layout !

also check:
http://www.burgerkone.com/midime/

[mindnoise]

TouchOSC is the absolute BEST Controller out there.

Plus the latest version also supports CoreMIDI and Line6 Mobilizer
so you can hook it up via MIDI directly.

The TouchOSC Editor is a breeze to use.
The only thing is you need to insert proper OSC/MIDI Nametags.

For being able to use Touch OSC the iPad it worth it's price alone.
For the only alternative is a Jazzmutant Lemure.

The iPad has also mostly replaced my Novation Remote Zero on live Gigs.

[the dj]

I discovered a major downfall on Friday night, playing a gig in a hot sticky country i found that to change parameters on the ipad took a lot of work. Normally my fingertips glide across the surface but they just kept sticking......Anyone else had this trouble?