The 1.1 update was approved by Apple last night. If you get a chance, shoot me an email and let me know what you think.
I’ll be starting to work in earnest on some new features early next week – the biggest of which will be the ability to label the matrix buttons.
UDP packet roundtrip time (RTT) between an iPad running MxNM LE and a host computer running the MxNM-WiFi server that are connected via the same wireless access point can average anywhere between 25ms to over 100ms (or more). There are several factors that can affect packet speed. Discovering these factors and fine tuning your wireless network to increase throughput can be a difficult task. While latencies at the aforementioned speeds are acceptable for sending MIDI control change messages, they are too high for more musical applications – for example, using the button matrix to trigger individual drum sounds.
Through computer-to-computer networking, users can significantly increase throughput (3 to 5 ms RTT) thereby reducing latency to well below the perceivable threshold (i.e. < 10 ms). Follow the steps below to create a computer-to-computer network between your host computer running OS X 10.5 or higher and your iPad:
That’s all there is to it. The latency between MxNM LE and whatever application that you are sending control messages to on your host computer will now be less than 10ms. If you have any questions or you would like me to post a similar walk-through for another operating system, just let me know.
I submitted the version 1.1 update of MxNM LE to the App Store this evening. New features include:
Hopefully, it will be approved early next week.
Nearly 5 weeks ago, I started a project on Amazon Kickstarter to fund the development of MxNM, the “older brother” of MxNM LE. I’m happy to report that the project reached its funding goal yesterday. There are 10 days left until the project closes and plenty of rewards left to be had (i.e. iPod, iPhone, and iPad apps for life from yours truly). Check it out…
I shot a basic usage video of MxNM LE today and uploaded it to YouTube…
Apple approved the update to 1.0.1 this afternoon. It is now available in the App Store. If you have already purchased MxNM LE, you should receive a push notification through the App Store application.
Version 1.0.1 of the MxNM LE has been uploaded to the App Store. Those of you who have already purchased it will be notified by Apple when the update is approved. This update fixes the bug that was effecting the sliders when users switched between interface orientations. It also increases the size of the horizontal sliders for easier control.
I also went through the Ableton Live control template and added some missing control change assignments.
Send me an email if you have any questions or suggestions for future releases or if you come across any more bugs.
MxNM LE (for Mix N Match MIDI Limited Edition) turns your iPad into a touchscreen control surface that will send MIDI control change messages to many popular music software programs via WiFi. This “limited edition” offers a total of 135 buttons, pads, and sliders, making it a perfect companion for your laptop to perform and produce computer music.
MxNM LE requires the free MxNM WiFi server to communicate with a remote computer. MxNM sends MIDI control change messages via the undefined control numbers on channels 8, 9, 10, and 11. To use with your software environment, please refer to its documentation.
To see a full map of the MIDI layout and download the MxNM WiFi server and the Ableton Live 8 control template (which might just leave you wondering why it’s not named the Live Edition), checkout the downloads page.
