Recording midi with Magellan and Meteor

Robot

Have been trying to use the keyboard in Magellan in the input slot, and record the midi data in Meteor in the output. Have tried many combinations of midi configurations in both apps, to no avail. Am running ios7 on a 2nd gen. iPad. I tried it with ios6 before updating. I have midi enabled in Meteor, and the appropriate options selected in both apps. I am thinking that perhaps it is not possible to do so yet. The midi data from improvisation in Magellan will be the basis for the next part of my current project. Thank you.

Washboy

Audiobus provides only an audio 'pipe' between AB-enabled apps. It has nothing to do with MIDI.

Keebo

I have been unsuccessful getting MIDI out of Magellan into any app. iPad 3 iOS 6.1.

dwarman

I do not have Meteor, but I did get MIDI from Magelan into BeatMaker2:

1: in BM2 (or other sequencer), make sure Magellan is NOT selected as input. But do enable your empty patch synth track on MIDI channel of your choice.

2: in Magellan, Prefs page, MIDI section, select BM2 in the Outputs section, and also (this may be the bit you're missing, I did not see it at first myself), the third button down on the left is "Midi Out", and in its popup set S1 to the same channel you set the BM2 track to record.

Washboy

@Robot: It's not clear from your original post if the difficulty you're having is only since you 'upgraded' to iOS7 or if it applied with iOS6 too.

I don't have Meteor but I can confirm that I've successfully recorded the Audio (via AB) and MIDI, from Magellan into Cubasis. That's both separately and simultaneously (Audio/MIDI).

IPad3 / iOS v6.1.3 / Audiobus v1.0.2.5 / Magellan v3.0 / Cubasis v1.6

Robot

Thank you for your replies, and I apologize that my post left out a few details,as I was trying to do it during a few free moments at work yesterday.

I have recorded midi using Nlog into meteor. However, Nlog was used as in this instance as a test to see if it would work, and is not one of my apps that gets used very often.

Regarding Bm2, I may have to import my existing audio into it and record the midi there, and then send it into Meteor. It's not ideal but would work just the same.

I did try it using iOS 6 also. I had been holding off updating to 7 up until this issue came up. So far everything seems to be working well in 7, although I have not had the time to really put it to the test. One thing I found is that using midi through in Meteor creates havoc. Never tried it in 6, so I do not know if it is related to the update.

I will keep testing and checking here for any solutions, and post what works if I find it. Since I have some time this morning, I will put the ipad into the dock, and use an external keyboard before I have to go to work.

Thanks again for the replies.

Washboy

@Robot: I don't think you'll need to use BM2, unless you want to. I think Meteor should work but pay particular attention to @dwarman's instructions re Magellan's settings (just substitute Meteor for BM2). Good luck!

[Deleted User]

I couldn't get it to work, although I could play an assigned Meteor instrument live from Magellan's keyboard, and hear it while attempting to record, so MIDI data was getting from Magellan to Meteor, it just wasn't recording.

Robot

So far Nlog and Thor are the apps that I have been able to record midi into Meteor. I had no luck with Alchemy. I am beginning to think that the issue is with the app and not Meteor due to some apps working and some not. Will register and make a post on The Magellan forum when time allows, and see if someone there has any suggestions.

I tried the BM2 suggestions with no success.

The upside to this problem is that by trying different solutions, new things are discovered, which translate into furthering the craft. Will keep you posted.

trackwerker

You can record midi data into Nlog from other apps and then send it out again to other apps, if that's any use to you?

[Deleted User]

I've been talking to the Meteor dev about this. It seems that many DAWs keep track of their own timestamp and when MIDI data comes in they go, "Ooh look, a note event! What's the time?", then store the two together, so the timing on playback is relative to the receipt of the data. This means that any processing delay between note event transmission and its reception could cause that note to be forever slightly out of time in the recorded sequence.

Meteor takes a different approach. Meteor expects there to be MIDI sync data transmitted with the note event and uses that as the timestamp when the data is stored. In theory, this is a better way, as it means the timing of the sequence recorded is the same as it was transmitted and not subject to unanticipated delays in reception. However, in practice, we all know what a clusterf**k MIDI sync is in iOS apps and many of them don't transmit sensible values, if they transmit it at all.
This means the note events are recorded by Meteor, but with absurd timestamps that mean you'll never encounter them or be able to play them back. They are only viewable in the MIDI Event Viewer under the Edit Menu.

[Deleted User]

I've had the following encouraging email from Meteor's dev.

"The reason time stamps matter so much is that equipment need to send MIDI data ahead of time, so a keyboard for instance might dump a whole song over 30 secs which plays for 3 mins. This is to avoid latency and so that timing is rock steady. I can think of ways to resolve this, although they aren't too elegant. For instance I could possibly take the first incoming note and subtract it's time from ours to give an offset of all incoming notes within the recording session. Anyway I'll do some experimentation and see what I can do."

So, he's looking at finding a solution.

[Deleted User]

Found and fixed. Update submitted and will appear in about a week.

[Deleted User]

Updated. Magellan and Meteor now friends.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/meteor-multitrack-recorder/id417726727?mt=8

Audiojunkie

Good news! :-)