KVR Audio

k3ith · Post by **k3ith** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:08 pm

Hey Guys,

Is there any way to get the AKAI SynthStation 25 and Garageband/iMachine to talk to each other?

I purchased Garageband from the App Store 'assuming' it would work straight away with the SynthStation 25, but I was wrong. Same with iMachine.

So is it possible to get these apps working with the SS25?

Thanks,
k3ith

jkhanhl · Post by **jkhanhl** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:12 pm

MidiBridge will probably do it. It allows you to reroute midi signals so that synthstation messages become core midi.

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 9:13 pm

MIDI Bridge does make the SS25 work with Garageband, and with practically all the audio synths I've got. But it won't work with iMaschine simply because it doesn't respond to any MIDI input of any kind.

k3ith · Post by **k3ith** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 10:54 am

Thanks for the info guys. I checked MidiBridge out, but £5.99? Come on! I might as well just delve into NanoStudio right?

k3ith

jkhanhl · Post by **jkhanhl** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:47 pm

Well yeah, Nanostudio is the killer app for the SynthStation. I borrowed a SS25 from a mate when considering buying one (which I may still do) and used it with NanoStudio which I already had for my iPad - it was awesome. It made me really keen to try other universal apps that I already had (like Sample Tank and Alchemy) but they wouldn't work without MidiBridge. If I did get a SS25, I'd get MidiBridge as I see it as a compulsory purchase - it makes the hardware so much more flexible, and covers for the future.

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:30 pm

k3ith wrote:Thanks for the info guys. I checked MidiBridge out, but £5.99? Come on! I might as well just delve into NanoStudio right?

k3ith

The app store has really messed with our costs expectations for software. Relatively, you're right: some apps like Nanostudio appear incredibly underpriced. But others like Lemur sell for $50, which is incredibly high by iOS standards but ridiculously cheap by historical standards. For a rather limited utility, MIDIBridge does appear somewhat pricy in comparison.

Still, $10 to do what I couldn't was acceptable to me since the alternative was to get a MIDI interface for considerably more. And $10 isn't even the price of a movie ticket where I live...

k3ith · Post by **k3ith** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:31 pm

Me again,

Just wanna say that I got my hands on MidiBridge and that it is freaking AWESOME!

Now I can use Garage Band, SampleTank and more with my SynthStation 25!

Thanks for all the input and suggestions on this one, really appreciate it! MidiBridge really opens up the door for the SynthStation 25!

k3ith

polaris20 · Post by **polaris20** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:40 pm

So does MidiBridge allow me to use SampleTank with GarageBand, or am I misunderstanding this?

k3ith · Post by **k3ith** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:28 am

polaris20 wrote:So does MidiBridge allow me to use SampleTank with GarageBand, or am I misunderstanding this?

Nope! MidiBridge allows you to use your SynthStation 25 Controller with Garage Band and SampleTank (seperately, of course)!

audeonic · Post by **audeonic** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:56 am

Actually, you *might* be able to have GarageBand drive SampleTank via MidiBridge. It depends upon how GarageBand handles audio (whether it will co-exist with SampleTank in the background) and whether it will transmit MIDI events from tracks to virtual ports. I'll come clean here in that I have never tried GarageBand so don't know, but both would need to hold for this theory to work.

The process would be tell GB to send MIDI to MidiBridge's virtual port (if that is possible in GB) and in MidiBridge connect MidiBridge in to MidiBridge out and ensure both MB and ST have their 'background audio' modes on.

If anyone tries this (or knows about GB's MIDI out capabilities), please let us know.

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:35 am

audeonic wrote:Actually, you *might* be able to have GarageBand drive SampleTank via MidiBridge. It depends upon how GarageBand handles audio (whether it will co-exist with SampleTank in the background) and whether it will transmit MIDI events from tracks to virtual ports.

Hi Nic, nice to hear from you.

On the iPod Touch, GarageBand seems like a closed world unto itself, as most Apple apps are. I don't know if the resources on the iPad change this. The MIDI I/O doesn't show up in MIDIBridge at all (the SS25 is sent to "MIDIBridge" and form there to Core MIDI so it just works).

The only output option in GarageBand is to send the audio output of Garageband to "Airplay, Bluetooth, and HDMI". I think that's just the mix out, but I don't have compatible devices so I couldn't try it out.

If I toggle this option on, when I switch to MIDIBridge form Garageband,there's a moment when "Garageband" appears as a flashing Red Banner at the top of the GUI, like some background apps do, but the MIDIBridge GUI is blank for a moment and when it appears the banner is gone. Garageband isn't finding what it's looking for. Actually you see this banner appear, flash and go away on the iPods main GUI too.

Oh well...

verizonwired · Post by **verizonwired** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:13 am

OK so I'm new and tried the search function and this is the only one that pops up. How does one actually connect the SS25 with midi bridge to iPhone garageband? I saw the videos but they don't actually teach you anything, they just quickly demo.

audeonic · Post by **audeonic** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:29 am

I've replied on the Apple discussions also, but here is my sure-fire step-by-step recipe for connecting the SS25 to GarageBand via MidiBridge (order is important):

1. Reboot the device to ensure starting from clean slate (to be sure, to be sure)

2. Start MidiBridge first

3. In MidiBridge, connect 'Akai SS25 Kb' on left to 'MidiBridge' on right. Remove any other connections.

4. On MidiBridge Preferences page change 'Run in Background' to 'On' if not already set.

5. Press Home button (to background MidiBridge) and start GarageBand

GarageBand should now respond to SynthStation25

SynthStation 25 + Garageband + iMaschine!