I had been searching for a way to control SampleTank for Ipad (AIR2 here)….just bought it on the Black Friday sale - found that the sounds were beyond incredible and so bought a few of the in app upgrades. I have an x-key portable keyboard…but that is not remotely the same as my piano keyboard (midi outs/ins). I was deciding on the cable route - looked for several ways to attach my Technics digital to my new iPad Air 2 directly. Then, in doing my research, I came upon this - what????? If you have a current Mac you can attach it (and the attached midi keyboard you may use) directly to your Ipad via the Apollo iOS midi app for ipad and related free app available for OSX (bluetooth basically zero audible latency)…. AND control your connected keyboard (mine is connected already to a Macbook Air) and drive ALL the sounds within ipad’s sample tank (thor/animoog, etc.) directly with the external keyboard (that is already connected to your mac). What that means is your ipad’s synths/sounds, etc. (audio bus app’s are growing), may be driven/received wirelessly via midi signals from your computer. This is insanely amazing for me!!! On top of that, with Audiobus, you can then record those sounds directly into Garageband or other compatible DAWS (and if i’m understanding this correctly, it works both ways and you can drop what you’ve played back into your main DAW - like mine - Logic Pro X). All in all, even at the stage of just being able to trigger the IPAD library of sounds with my keyboard in real time over bluetooth without connecting any cables to my ipad is frankly a miracle of modern technology. GET this app - you will not regret it!
Estimation application downloads and cost
Description
With Apollo, you can send MIDI between iOS devices, or between an iOS device and a Mac. Between iOS devices, MIDI messages can be sent in either direction at any time. With a Mac and an iOS device, you can toggle the MIDI direction any time you like.
You can use the apps to use one iOS device to control synthesizers and sequencers on another, sequence an iOS device using Logic, or use an iOS device as a controller for Garageband. Apollo opens up new ways for you to use MIDI in your music setup.
Because the MIDI messages are carried over a Bluetooth connection, they are very low latency, and the bandwidth is also high. Bluetooth is commonly used in game controllers because of the responsive nature. With Apollo, you get low latency and easy set-up, without a tangle of MIDI adapters and cables. Visit the support link to see a demo of the app, and to get more information.
The Mac version is free -- but can only connect to the iOS version, which is available in the iTunes app store.
Both the Mac and iOS versions require Bluetooth LE. This is a standard feature of recent Mac desktop and laptop computers; older Macs can use a compatable USB Bluetooth LE adapter.
Bluetooth LE is available in the iPad3, 4, Air, and Mini, and in iPhones starting with the iPhone4S and newer. Please note that older iPads and iPhones do not have Bluetooth LE, and are not compatible.
On the Mac, you may need to set up an IAC driver, using the OSX utility Audio MIDI Setup.
* Start Audio MIDI Setup, and open the MIDI Window
* Double-Click the red IAC driver icon
* Make sure the device is on-line, and that there is at least one port.
Please see the support web page for more details, and demonstration videos.
Application availability
Available in countries
Country | Price |
---|---|
Canada | free |
China | free |
France | free |
Germany | free |
Italy | free |
Netherlands | free |
Portugal | free |
Spain | free |
Poland | free |
UK | free |
India | free |
Japan | free |
Korea, Republic Of | free |
Poland | free |
Russia | free |
Turkey | free |
USA | free |
Korea, Republic Of | free |
Ukraine | free |
Available for devices
MacDesktop,Reviews
Okay - I have to say I’m a bit blown away!!
Awesome!!!
very useful app! thanks for that! :)
Kind of works….
This does work with Garage Band (I was able to play the keyboard from Apollo iPad app which feeds into GarageBand). No issues there. I cannot get it to work with OnSong though. I have been using MIDI over WiFi with my Mac, but my WIFI connection drops out a lot so I wanted something more reliable. This app stays connected without issues, at least for the 5 minute demo period, but I could not get it to send the commands after about a dozen tries of the 5 minute trial. I’m simply sending commands from Show Buddy to OnSong telling OnSong which lyric page to display. This process works over WiFi, but as stated above, WiFi isn’t super reliable. I’m open to suggestions…watched the video on your site about how to set it up on my Mac and that’s exactly what I have been trying to do. I also disable WiFi on both machines because I don’t want that getting in the way. I will definitely buy the app if I can figure it out, and so will everyone in my band because my MacBook Pro sends the signal to everyone’s iPad since we all use OnSong.