Growing Pains in 1.4.0 Release

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Update Oct 30 7:44pm EDT: All problems resolved, 1.4.01 is live in the App Store for both Lite and Pro!!!

1.4.0 has been released as announced here. It brings a lot of new features and fixes to MIDI Designer Pro and Lite, and two completely new concepts:

  • In-app purchase in Lite to unlock for full colors and unlimited controls (separate unlocks for iPad and iPhone). Once unlocked, Lite is equivalent to Pro.
  • Universal app for all devices (iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch)

In bringing these two concepts to MIDI Designer on the App Store, two problems were discovered in 1.4.0 after launch. This is a worst-case scenario for MIDI Designer, and we’ve acted as quickly as possible to resolve these issues. They are both now resolved in 1.4.01, but this release must now complete the App Store review process (which we’re hoping to expedite has been granted an expedited review for Pro).

Update Oct 30 7:44pm EDT: All problems resolved, 1.4.01 is live in the App Store for both Lite and Pro!!!

MIDI Designer Pro problems in 1.4.0

The Pro version for iPad (only) has a launching problem, which does not result in a crash but is a critical bug nonetheless for more than 90% of users.

The Pro version 1.4.01 fixes the problem. It has been submitted for granted an expedited review, which could be resolved in as little as three days.

For the time being, MIDI Designer Pro 1.4.0 been removed from the App Store.

Update Oct 30 10:00am: We are grateful to Apple for granting an expedited review! Shouldn’t be long now.

Update Oct 30 7:44pm EDT: All problems resolved, 1.4.01 is live in the App Store!

MIDI Designer Lite Problems in 1.4.0

Update Oct 30 19:32pm EDT: All problems with Lite have been resolved with the MIDI Designer 1.4.01 update, now available in the App Store.

The Lite version for iPad and iPhone allows for an unlock via in-app purchase. If the user tries to add more than 5 or 12 controls on iPhone or iPad respectively, the app offers an unlock for the current device. The unlock does give unlimited controls. Due to a bug, however, it does not unlock the remaining colors. The correct behavior is that the Lite version unlocked should be equal to the Pro version in all regards.

The Lite version 1.4.01 fixes the problem with the color unlock. This has been submitted for normal review and users will not get all background colors until seven to nine days have elapsed.

For the time being, MIDI Designer Lite 1.4.0 remains in the App Store. Users who use in-app purchase for the unlock will get the remaining 136 colors when 1.4.01 drops.

Note

We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by these two defects, and have worked directly with all the affected users that we have been made aware of to get them up and running again. If you are affected by the Pro upgrade and are unable to make your music, please get in touch via the contact page. To all of our users, present and future, thank you for your patience and great feeedback.

Update Oct 30 7:44pm EDT: Thank you Apple for the expedited review, and our users most of all for your patience during this 40-hour mini-crisis in music-making!

MIDI Designer Lite 1.4.0 is Out

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MIDI Designer Lite 1.4.0 for iPad and iPhone has been released. Read all about it in the flyer.



Note to MIDI Designer Pro Users: MIDI Designer Pro has been temporarily removed from the App Store for a bug fix. A fixed version has been submitted for expedited review and should be out in 3-10 days (depending on the kindness of the Apple Review Committee). We apologize for the delay. If you have updated and are having problems with 1.4.0, please contact us and we’ll help you roll back.

Crossfader Overlap

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Note: In 1.5.0 and greater, this is under Relationships -> Subcontrol Options.

Crossfader Overlap is an extension of “crossfader pieces,” which has been a feature of MIDI Designer since version 1.0. You can see that in this video, which is how I fade to a speech track and back:

So the basic idea is that one knob gets spun up to its max, and at the midpoint, another knob starts dropping.

In the past, you set this up by setting each subcontrol be a “crossfader piece,” one of which is also “inverted.” This gives you a linear crossover at 50% of the range of the supercontrol.

For our lighting users, this wasn’t enough, and they asked for crossfader overlap. It’s all linear still (for now), but it gives you some options. Now you can set the overlap to anything from .25 to 1.0. This produces a crossfade that looks like this. Note: Your old crossfader pieces will be changed to .5, which is the standard crossfader overlap.

Setup is almost identical: where “crossfader piece” was located, now there’s “crossfader overlap”:

Here’s an advanced use of crossfaders:

Advanced Use of Crossfader Overlap with 4 Mics on a Field

But the takeaway is always the same: if you want it, you’ve got more flexibility and power for your rig.

MIDI Designer 1.3.8, Virtual MIDI and iOS 6.0

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November 1, 2012: This is no longer an issue and was fixed shortly after.

Yesterday I announced on Facebook and Twitter:

This is an overstatement. It’s actually not all of Virtual MIDI that’s broken in iOS 6 and MIDI Designer. This refers only to the Virtual MIDI ports that MIDI Designer creates, which are these two:

The reason for the break is that Apple made changes for iOS 6.0 to CoreMIDI. These are outlined in the iOS 6.0 Release Notes document. To be fair, the MIDI Designer development team should have fixed this before iOS 6.0 was officially released last week, but the ball was dropped as the team is focusing all of its attention on the iPhone version (getting very close).

So what’s the takeaway? Two points:

  1. You’re probably not affected. Most of the users that we’ve spoken with do not use MIDI Designer initiated virtual MIDI, but rather rely on the synth (or whatever) they’re talking to to provide the virtual ports.
  2. We’ve patched MIDI Designer 1.3.8 and have submitted it to the App Store.

If you are a MIDI Designer Pro user and absolutely cannot wait twelve days for the app to get approved, please get in touch with me ASAP and we’ll find a workaround.

November 1, 2012: This is no longer an issue and was fixed shortly after.

Q&A Site Social Login and Layout-Sharing Site Launches

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While Apple gnaws on the 1.3.7 update (should be released in the next few days, watch for the announcement here), I’m working on the MIDI Designer website. Two big changes: Social Login and the launch of the Layout Sharing Site.

Q&A Site Allows for Social Login

The Q&A site has really been taking off, but users have not been registering with the site. This makes a lot of sense. Who wants to do another login and password for every product they own? Now, you can register on the MIDI Designer website with your login from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and several other options (thanks to OneAll and WordPress).

In addition, thanks to ShareThis! you can share any post on MIDI Designer (even this one!) via a variety of social networks.

Sharing of MIDI Designer Layouts Begins!

MIDI Designer users have been asking for a place to share MIDI Designer layouts since we launched. Finally, via the Q&A site, we provide this functionality.

You can include arbitrary attachments (like your .mididesigner files), images, PDFs and descriptions/instructions/notes about your layout. Let the sharing begin!

(Huge thanks to Question2Answer! None of this would be possible without you. And I should mention StackExchange, who invented all of this)

Through The Fog: A and B

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I’m working on rig design tonight for my own drum rig, which includes MIDI Designer (of course), Maschine, Ableton, and Guitar Rig. What I’m trying to do with my rig isn’t hit all the possibilities. In fact, I’m trying to find “a way through the fog” by simplifying.

For instance, I can apply effects to each drum, to each kit or to the whole mix. The first two of these options are too fine for me (since I play 8 kits at once) and the last one is too coarse. What I want is to be able to control what goes through which effects, but without getting lost in a sea of different effects chains.

The answer, for me, is one that I’ve come back to over the last two years a lot. It’s always the same: “Copy from DJs.” So I make A and B effects chains (which actually get joined later on and put through a Korg Kaoss pad), and routing matrix with buttons to route the drum kits to one, the other, or both.

This is exciting because it means that I can get back to some of the features I most love about MIDI Designer: those that refer to an A-B rig.

Copy A to B/B to A

In MIDI Designer, you can copy values from one set of controls to another. What this means is that if you’ve got your A chain set up with distortion on, and reverb configured in a particular way, you can COPY that to your B chain, and then change reverb and add, say, beat delay. And now you can crossfade between two effects chains that are similar, but different.

There are two relevant controls for this. One to define the B control of a control (must be on the same page, but only to set it).

And the buttons that push A values to B and vice versa.

 

Crossfader

Crossfaders are very particular, because they move two knobs. In the simplest case (linear, which is all we do for now) one of the knobs goes from min to max at the halfway point and stays there. The other one goes from max to min, but doesn’t start until you reach mid-turn. MIDI Designer allows you to do with any two knobs.

Now to be fair, every DAW (or at least Ableton, which I know best, and Reaper) will allow you to do some kind of crossfade. But this is a unique thing, because you’re actually building a crossfader out of parts… which you can use for other things.

I’ll need to do a video on how to set up a crossfader very soon. (In the meantime, the answer is: make the two knobs subcontrols of a third control, make one of them subtype “inverted” and make them both crossfader pieces. )

Concluding Remarks

Anyway, my original point was that in my rig I’m not trying to have all possibilities. Many times I’m trying to limit how many controls I can adjust, so that My rig is playable. This is not the only aesthetic with which you can use MIDI Designer, and I’ll do an article on User #1’s vision of MIDI Designer sometime soon.

Thanks for reading and thanks for checking out MIDI Designer!

 

MIDI Designer 1.3.6 Released

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Confusionists is proud to announce the arrival of MIDI Designer 1.3.6 for iPad versions Pro and Lite in the App Store.

1.3.6 builds upon and fixes version 1.3.5.

  • Snap to default values, from 0ms to 16 seconds.
  • “Make Similar” will now choose an incrementally related name (and unique on the page).
  • “Add Control” will choose a unique name on the current page.
  • Longer button labels (which go with the aspect ratio independent buttons introduced in 1.3.5.



See the full list of changes in the changelog.