MIDI Designer (iPad) layout for Little and Slim Phatty

[Stuka]

I'm a big fan of custom MIDI controllers, and the MIDI Designer app for iPad is one of the coolest (and cheapest!) controllers I've had the chance to use!
All programming is done on-screen using the built-in control options ~
No scripting or desktop designing required, as it all happens right on the iPad.
Very cool!

After rack mounting my Slim Phatty's to save some table space, I decided to build a MIDI Designer layout to address all the "under the hood" settings of the Slim (and Little) Phatty.
The layout I built reflects all the MIDI controls that are documented in the Moog Users Manual Addendum - OS v3.1 (671) released June 16, 2011.

The "Sound" tab includes all the MIDI controls that would generally be needed to design and edit most sound parameters:



The "Control" tab includes all the MIDI controls that would generally be needed to adjust playback parameters, such as arpeggiator settings, keyboard options, etc.:



If you're interested in checking out the layout, all the information, screenshots, and file download are located here:

http://mididesigner.com/qa/1910/layout- ... ty-os-v3-1

MIDI Designer is core-MIDI compliant, so you have all kinds of options to connect this with your Little and/or Slim Phatty.
I'm currently running an iPad 2 through an Alesis iO Dock, using MIDI-DIN connections through a MIDI patch bay.
Works great!

Feel free to reply back here if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions about the layout or using MIDI Designer.
Thanks!

Randy

[Del-Uks]

Does it work with MIDI Designer Lite ?

[Stuka]

Does it work with MIDI Designer Lite ?

Never tried the Lite version, but I guess if you're willing to put up with banner ads it would be okay.
Personally, as versatile as MIDI Designer Pro is, I think I would just drop the $14 and be set!

[CleverConQueso]

Hey, this is neat. Since the Sub Phatty doesn't tell you its values at a glance unless you're in panel mode, I wonder if a solution like this would be a good companion to a live setup? You could push scene changes, get live knob position feedback, automate, I suppose.
In fact, I'm wondering why I'm not using an iPad in general as part of my live setup for sequencing and samples. It doesn't have the same stage appeal, and I suppose a casual observer might think you're just playing an MP3, and then there's the issue with there being no knobs, but other than that... What's your experience using an iPad for your rig? Does it make sense?

[misterpete]

Hey Randy! ~ Thanks! this looks very nice indeed! ~ Not familiar with this iOS host APP at all, though.
Can you save sounds with your "Designer" template and use it as a complete Editor/Librarian, either by itself or in conjunction with something like SYS-EX librarian?

I'm a big fan of custom MIDI controllers, and the MIDI Designer app for iPad is one of the coolest (and cheapest!) controllers I've had the chance to use!
All programming is done on-screen using the built-in control options ~
No scripting or desktop designing required, as it all happens right on the iPad.
Very cool!

After rack mounting my Slim Phatty's to save some table space, I decided to build a MIDI Designer layout to address all the "under the hood" settings of the Slim (and Little) Phatty.
The layout I built reflects all the MIDI controls that are documented in the Moog Users Manual Addendum - OS v3.1 (671) released June 16, 2011.

The "Sound" tab includes all the MIDI controls that would generally be needed to design and edit most sound parameters:



The "Control" tab includes all the MIDI controls that would generally be needed to adjust playback parameters, such as arpeggiator settings, keyboard options, etc.:



If you're interested in checking out the layout, all the information, screenshots, and file download are located here:

http://mididesigner.com/qa/1910/layout- ... ty-os-v3-1

MIDI Designer is core-MIDI compliant, so you have all kinds of options to connect this with your Little and/or Slim Phatty.
I'm currently running an iPad 2 through an Alesis iO Dock, using MIDI-DIN connections through a MIDI patch bay.
Works great!

Feel free to reply back here if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions about the layout or using MIDI Designer.
Thanks!

Randy

[Stuka]

Hey, this is neat. Since the Sub Phatty doesn't tell you its values at a glance unless you're in panel mode, I wonder if a solution like this would be a good companion to a live setup? You could push scene changes, get live knob position feedback, automate, I suppose.
In fact, I'm wondering why I'm not using an iPad in general as part of my live setup for sequencing and samples. It doesn't have the same stage appeal, and I suppose a casual observer might think you're just playing an MP3, and then there's the issue with there being no knobs, but other than that... What's your experience using an iPad for your rig? Does it make sense?

I'll have to caveat up front that I just use all my gear in my "hobby studio", and never perform live... (maybe some day!)

Having said that, my idea with this was to use it in lieu of a computer and full-blown editor, and avoid a bit of menu-diving with my rack-mounted SP's.

I personally feel this would be great to use with a live performance - and especially with something like the Sub Phatty!
MIDI Designer let's you save up to 20 presets (snapshots of each control setting), which can be given patch names much as you could with an on-board menu display. Another cool feature (which I haven't used - yet - on this template) is called "pedalboards", which lets you set up custom links between external MIDI controllers and just about any combination of on-screen controls you could think of. Pretty cool stuff!!

iConnect has now brought out several versions of very affordable universal MIDI interfaces for iOS devices, so if you already own an iPad - basically any version - it wouldn't take much additional $ to add very reliable iPad control to your live Moog keyboard rig!

Next on my list are templates for my Moog Minitaur, MIDI MuRF, and Analog Delay...

Definitely recommend checking out the MIDI Designer web site -
lots of good info and demos of what this app can really do, and I have just scratched the surface with this one!!

http://mididesigner.com/

Randy

[Stuka]

Hey Randy! ~ Thanks! this looks very nice indeed! ~ Not familiar with this iOS host APP at all, though.
Can you save sounds with your "Designer" template and use it as a complete Editor/Librarian, either by itself or in conjunction with something like SYS-EX librarian?

Each MIDI Designer template can store up to 20 presets, so it could definitely be used as a portable, albeit a bit limited, librarian.
If a parameter on your hardware is MIDI-addressable, it can be controlled by MD, but for now at least, 20 presets is the limit.

MD supports sysex, but I haven't tinkered with it yet ~
My iPad 2 is usually mounted in my Alesis iO Dock when I'm in the "studio", and unfortunately the iO Dock does NOT support SYSEX!!
(Probably one of the "fixes" that was in the works until the Lighting connector surfaced on iOS devices last fall...)

Exploring the SYSEX capability is on the list, along with building templates for the Minitaur, MF-105M, and MF-104M...

Randy
(PS - also a recent addition to Muffwiggler, a.k.a. "gearhead61")

[misterpete]

hmmm, I have that Dock ~ don't use it a whole lot but I wonder if you've tried this; assuming you can save the sounds back into the phatty hardware then I'm thinking you should be able to use the DIN IN/OUT to the Dock, as usual and simultaneously send the USB out from the Slim to computer for sending/saving presets directly from Slim back into your hard drive?

[Stuka]

hmmm, I have that Dock ~ don't use it a whole lot but I wonder if you've tried this; assuming you can save the sounds back into the phatty hardware then I'm thinking you should be able to use the DIN IN/OUT to the Dock, as usual and simultaneously send the USB out from the Slim to computer for sending/saving presets directly from Slim back into your hard drive?

That would probably work ~
You could save the preset from MD to a patch slot in the Phatty over MIDI DIN, then send that via USB to a SYSEX librarian on your computer. You will still need to use the Phatty menus to initiate the SYSEX transfer, since all the Phatty system functions are still menu- driven, and AFAIK no MIDI-command equivalent.

The SYSEX functionality of MD is just now really developing, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more related capabilities are added in the future, including a way to do SYSEX data dumps. The creator & developer for MD is VERY accommodating to user ideas that are posted on the forum or shared via e-mail, and a lot of user suggestions have been implemented in the relatively short time (slightly over a year) that MD has been around. Support for iOS 7x is probably taking up most of the developer's time right now, but I expect there will be quite a few capabilities added to MD once that hurdle is out of the way.

Randy