Bluetooth MIDI
Apple introduced MIDI over Bluetooth in both iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite as a way to build wireless audio device communication. In essence, the iPad can now communicate wirelessly with compatible audio devices (the devices, obviously, must be Bluetooth MIDI-compatible). Most of these devices such as drum machines or synthesizers are outside of our common toolkit, but compatible MIDI keyboards give us the capacity to use the iPads as full notation workstations, driven by keyboard input. As Russell points out, Garageband is currently the only app taking advantage of this code, but notation apps will soon be able to add the code to future updates.
This is great news for those of us working with iPads as personal machines, but this is also great news for classroom iPad use. Bluetooth keyboards (the typing kind) have found wide adoption in class sets of iPads because of their ease of setup and connection. As mentioned above, relying on Bluetooth eliminates the risk of the cables/connections breaking, which is often the most widespread failure point in these after-market accessories. Having a small classroom set of Bluetooth MIDI keyboards allows students to use them for playing notes through Garageband, as well as eventually using them for input into notation apps as well.
Setting aside the iPads and keyboards for a moment, the integration of Bluetooth MIDI into Yosemite opens up the capacity to use the iPad and Mac together in MIDI applications. By binding the devices using Bluetooth MIDI, you could play a pre-composed example from the iPad on the Mac to take advantage of the sound libraries in your favorite Mac OS notation program. You could also have musicians play on the iPad while recording into a DAW program such as Cubase or Ableton.
AirTurn PED Pedal
The iPad makes an extremely convenient library for storing large volumes of music, but the screen size means that there are always some awkward page to deal with. AirTurn has been making Bluetooth pedals which signal to apps to turn or scroll a page for a couple of years now, and is releasing their newest version this week, called the PED. The PED is much smaller and more discreet than its predecessor, and promises to be much more flexible through customization and a wider range of available functions. I’ve yet to fully buy into the notion of an iPad foot pedal, but I know many musicians who swear by theirs, and rather than rehash the details I’ll direct you to Russell’s hands-on review.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.