[calvin lee]

my best friend and business partner has a mac and an ipad. macs come with the recording software Garage band. so my buddy downloaded an app for his ipad, and it is basically a watered down version of garage band. (limit of ten tracks, and i think 75 bars). however, the app also acts as a phenomenal midi controller. you can use a guitar interface, a bass interface, keyboard interface, and several drum interfaces, all controlled with the touch screen. it is so much fun to use, and i've made some very pleasing recordings with it, even with it's limitations.

anyway, my question to all you tech guys out there, is if you can link the ipad with a mac, open garage band on the mac, and use the ipad as a midi controller. does anybody use this method to record, or know if it is possible? i do not own a mac or an ipad, but if it is possible to do what i am asking, i would sell guitars and save up the money to buy both. i love the program that much. but, i certainly couldnt record everything i want with the ipad alone, due to it's limitations.

i am not very tech savvy, so any insight about apple products, midi controllers, ect. would be extremely appreciated. thanks guys.

-CalviN LEE

[ishtar]

Good question, Calvin. If it can't work now, I am sure in the near future, it will. Or something even more functional that I'll never really master because my brain is so much more less intuitive every day, and I wan to keep using old stuff, both software and interfaces I have become somewhat familiar with and functional at....

[MatchlessMan]

Don't know the answer to your specific question, but I have read of iPads being used as remote control surfaces linked by Bluetooth to Macs running recording software.

[DaddyDog]

I really doubt that would work. You connect an iPad to an iMac and it wants to sync to iTunes. I don't see how you can tell it to do anything else.

[calvin lee]

Originally Posted by DaddyDog

I really doubt that would work. You connect an iPad to an iMac and it wants to sync to iTunes. I don't see how you can tell it to do anything else.

that's what i was afraid of :/

[polishbroadcast]

The iPad supports MIDI IO (and really, most standard USB peripherals, provided the software supports it) but you need a MIDI interface to do it. Luckily there are a few interfaces:

http://line6.com/midimobilizer/
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigmidi/
http://www.alesis.com/iodock

There is also a protocol called OSC that is built into the iPad which allows you to communicate with many Mac programs wirelessly.

http://hexler.net/software/touchosc

It is unclear to me what you are trying to accomplish. Why would you want to send MIDI from the iPad to Garageband on the Mac? You want to use the onscreen instruments as a controller to Garageband on the mac? If you can define what you are trying to do i can maybe give you a better answer.

[ps]
Here are some iPad to MIDI wireless controller options:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/midip...ign-mpt=uo%3D4
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/midi-...19720275?mt=8#

You Tube

You can also compose on the iPad and export the files to Garageband on your mac (i work back and forth that way too).

[calvin lee]

thanks for the info. sorry i wasnt so clear. i want to play the instruments on the ipad, while recording what i'm playing in garage band on a mac, as a midi file.

[polishbroadcast]

Originally Posted by calvin lee

thanks for the info. sorry i wasnt so clear. i want to play the instruments on the ipad, while recording what i'm playing in garage band on a mac, as a midi file.

I see. It looks like GB for iPad doesn't support MIDI out presently. Your options are MIDI Studio App (which give you drum pads, keyboard, control knobs, and XY pads), a dedicated MIDI controller, or export your iPad GB files and open them in GB for Mac.

There are plenty of programs in the app store that do MIDI in and out but Garageband only does MIDI in, which was a design decision not a technical limitation of the iPad.

[calvin lee]

thanks for the information! you were very helpful and i appreciate it.

[methan]

I have been tinkering with garage band for a little over a week now and it really is nice. i know that there are people who are just starting with the whole idea of recording music and it sure is a nice thing to start with.

Hopefully there will be more options to be made available to those who would want to get serious with it but at least this would be a good start.

[Crooner]

Alessis makes a what looks like a very cool dick for the ipad that extends its capabilities a great deal:

http://www.alesis.com/iodock

Perhaps this might be something of interest. Hope this helps.

[calvin lee]

crooner, that looks very cool! im going to look into that for sure.