In this tutorial you will learn how you can use Gestrument PRO on iPad to create live generative music on your favorite synthesizer hardware via MIDI output.
1. Connect the MIDI hardware to the iPad
First plug in Apple’s Camera Connection Kit to the iPad. This allows to hook up a synth or MIDI interface that takes MIDI over USB.
2. Send MIDI signals to your device
Open Gestrument PRO on your iPad. To start sending MIDI output signals to your device tap the cog wheel, under the Output menu, select the synth. This works the same way if you’re looking to send MIDI to another iPad app as well. Now that we’re set up we can try and listen.
The basic setup is now done!
3. Assign a channel or custom CC to the MIDI synth
If you open up the Instrument setting and scroll down to the sound generator, at the bottom you will find the MIDI settings, here you can assign a channel or a custom CC to the instrument. In this example I’ve set the custom CC to 102, letting us modulate the cut-off frequency. To make it easier to play on, you may assign the custom CC to a Slider.
4. Add two instruments to the same cursor
Add another instrument and set it to the same MIDI channel as your first instrument with custom CC set to 103. You can now control the filter resonance. Set the control source to Cursor Y position and invert the scaling using the break-point function.
Go to your first instrument and set the control source to Cursor X position. You may now control both these instruments using only one cursor moving up/down and left/right in the playable area.
There’s also another way to do this. Tap the cog wheel and enable Send instrument indicator CC. This means each cursor will send the MIDI data specified under MIDI controls. Here you can select different channels and CC’s for each individual cursor parameter, or even turn them off if you want.
If you go back to settings you can do the same thing to control the sliders, just enable Send controls. Tap and hold the controller and select MIDI controls.
See the full tutorial here (from 00:57):
If you want to, you can download the chord progression generator we’re using in this tutorial.
More reading: How to use external MIDI hardware as input to iPad for controlling Gestrument PRO
Haven’t downloaded Gestrument PRO yet? Download Gestrument PRO on the App Store!