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Fastest monophonic audio to midi converter iOS app
Hi,
I’ve tried today ThumbJam as an audio to midi converter, I was playing in AUM (256 buffers latency) a Model D preset with my (real) tenor sax. Works nicely, tracking is good, but of course there is a noticeable latency, especially if I record both sax and synth. Of course, I can try to record midi track in Xequence and add track delay compensation to sync tenor sax and Model D tracks.
Usually how guitarists manage that latency? By post record track delay setting? Is there anything for monophonic use fastest on iOS than TJ?
Thanks
Comments
MIDI Guitar 2. I think you can try it for free?
Thanks. I’ve read some people have issues with its midi out feature, but at least I can try it for free.
@Janosax cool idea, I didn't know ThumbJam could convert sax to midi, does it send any dynamics besides the note? I'll have to try this with a recording I did of my friend playing Bass Clarinet, its pre-recorded so no problem with latency.
Kind of surprised this is viable, seems like so much subtlety will be lost but Im very curious.
The 'trick' is using the lowest buffer setting (64 vs 512) ,but the cpu goes very high .
Another app you can try is jamsynth (old app but free)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jam-synth/id732618765
This is the quick test I’ve made yesterday with Model D controlled by sax and ThumbJam:
Tracking is good but you can clearly hear latency.
I will test jamsynth too, also found Midi Enabled:
https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/midi-enabled-virtual-midi-output/id1108014267?mt=8
Dynamics seems to not be converted, but I’ve to check it’s not the Model D preset used which has fixed velocity. Could be edited via midi sequencer, don’t know if others audio/midi converters apps do that.
No matter how hard you try, there will be latency. With MIDI Guitar 2 you can convert dynamics, but again, the latency means that I only play simple flowing leads rather than anything that requires crisp attack.
This is what I start to think, always heard that audio midi converters have that latency. I listened again to my test it’s not that noticeable at some moments. Flowing leads like you said is certainly the solution for live use, and midi track delay compensation for production. The good thing with TJ is that there is no phantom notes.
From TJ manual, there is velocity control, my Model D preset was velocity fixed, so I was thinking TJ setting was too. Note that TJ, Model D and AUM hosted in AB leads to crackle fest quickly. It was better to host Model D directly in AUM and run TJ in standalone mode (no audio input for TJ IAA hosted AUM):
^ last time I tried ThumbJam note to MIDI, yes the velocity adjustment was working as described in the manual. It has latency but can be quite expressive.
hi did you set this up in AUM. do you use thumbjam bin the effects slot ?
No Thumbjam as an IAA in AUM will not receive audio. It has to be loaded in standalone mode, and AUM will host your AU/IAA instrument. In my case I want also to record the sax, so here are my screenshots:
Sax input setup
Model D midi setup, Thumbjam is checked as input
Thumbjam internal audio is muted
Midi notes output are checked for AUM
Here is the setup for audio midi converter
Lower the buffer size. There is also another trick with this thing. Basically in order to track, the program needs to count how many cycles of waveform there is(and ofc separate all the different waveforms, get rid of the ones caused by harmonics etc). This means that when you play low note from guitar, it takes longer to detect the right note than when playing higher notes. So if you play your guitar high and then transpose down the synth, you get lower latency
Glad you folks are digging into this! Note that with the Vel setting at 50 it will always be sending full velocity on notes... setting it to a lower value will allow it to scale the velocity based on the level of the audio input. Even more useful for expressive input like wind instruments, is that when Vel is set lower, and you enable Send Volume (CC7), or Send Channel Pressure, or Send Key Pressure in the MIDI prefs, it will send those out continuously reflecting the level of the input.
Also, as you see in the screenshot above the "ramp" mode is on which allows non-quantized pitch tracking, which is especially important if you want the bends and vibrato that you perform on your real instrument to get passed along through midi. Be sure that the Pitch Bend Range matches in the TJ midi prefs and the destination synth. If your destination allows it, you can set the bend range higher so that notes don't have to be retriggered if you plan long pitch slides.
Otherwise, if you like it quantized or want it snapped to the TJ scale, feel free to use the other snap modes!
Very nice tip thanks!!
Many thanks for that info on CC send, will check that and report what’s the best results for my case. BTW your app is so complete there is always something to discover!!
@Janosax that was a cool demo, previously it didn't occur to me that the sax sound would also be mixed in, I kind of think it's necessary after hearing that. The Moog alone would probably be pretty weird and mushy.
i set it up just as the pictures show above. i can play the keys in thumbjamb and it’s sending midi out to my synth just fine. but it isn’t picking up my humming of talking into the microphone and converting it to midi. if turn on the mic monitor i can hear audio coming i. from the mic.I have bluetooth headphones on, but it seems to be bring audio in from the internal iphone mic. Is there a setting I need to change to fix this?
Nice playing.
Thanks for your comment. I think some very interesting things can be done with audio/midi converter, expression pedal and perhaps an AU fx like Envolver : ) One of my idea is to try to create an interactive synth sound enveloppe around the sax.
I’ve made 10 years ago this other track with Reason and Live, using this time a Yamaha WX5 midi wind controller. Sometimes it sounds like a didge or a whale. Controlling a synth with my real tenor sax that way can be really interesting. Today’s synths have nice legato modes BTW.
There is also pitch shifting approch, with Voice Rack Fx, but it’s another topic. In this very recent track, saxes are made only with my tenor sax and that app:
Thanks ; )
I would avoid bluetooth headphones, sometimes it tries to use the junk audio input from those, try it with regular headphones just in case. Also, check the Voice Channel Start in the midi prefs, that is what midi channel it will send out on for the pitch->midi. I assume you enabled the pitch tracking with the mic/music notes button... that should be working...
yes everything looks the same. it must be the bluetooth headphones. I’ll have to try different headphones. bluetooth is nice sometimes, but with audio production, they are very frustrating.
You will also have big latency issue with those headphones, wired HP are the way to go for music playing.
true true....these are newer bluetooth headphones, but i had some older ones that had a huge amount of latency. almost unusable.
honestly i’m kind of ready for my matrix style plug in the back of my head, so i can just bypass my ears, and pipe some sweet tunes straight into my brain. lol
@Janosax I like that Saxrelax track, when the beat kicks in it reminded me of massive attack.
Thanks! This makes me want to re-buy a WX5