Connecting PianoAngel with your Mac via MIDI Network

In this article we will introduce how to connect PianoAngel with your Mac via MIDI Network.
If you haven't got any iPhone MIDI equipments yet but you just can't wait, you can connect PianoAngel to your Mac (with DAW software like GarageBand) to play different instrument provided on your software, record your playing to MIDI, or play on PianoAngel with USB keyboard !


Here are the steps to connect PianoAngel with your Mac via MIDI Network:
1. Make your iPhone & Mac connected using ad-hoc WIFI.
   You can refer the steps 1~11 in this page for instruction: http://www.musicalgeometry.com/?p=361

2. Then on the Mac, launch "Audio MIDI Setup" in Applications -> Utilities.

3. You should see "Audio Devices" Window. in top menu, select "Window" -> "Show MIDI Window". The "MIDI Studio" window will appear. Double click on "Network" Icon in the "MIDI Studio" window and you will see "MIDI Network Setup" window.

4. If you don't see any sessions in "My sessions" list, Press "+" to create one. Then Click "Enable" on the right side "Session" panel. in the bottom of panel, Select the session you created for both send & receive in "Live routing".

5. Now launch PianoAngel on your iPhone/iPad. If the WIFI connection is fine, you should be able to see your device in "Directory" list. Select it and Click "Connect" button below. Your device will then be added to "Participants" list in the session.

6. In your DAW or MIDI recorder software, enable MIDI input port of
MIDI Network session. (if you are using GarageBand, it will detect the MIDI input automatically)


7. Enable "Send MIDI" in PianoAngel (in "MIDI" tab of settings window). Play some notes on PianoAngel and you should be able to see that the software on your Mac is receiving them :)
    (In GarageBand, you can create a new "Software Instrument" Track and enable recording for that track by pressing the record button on the track.)

If you didn't make the connection successful, mostly the problem is on either the WIFI connection or MIDI Network connection. Checking MIDI Network connection is easy (by verifying the above steps). WIFI problem is however harder to diagnose. 
I will suggest you try to acquire the WIFI IP Address on your iPhone/iPad using some utility apps (there should be a lot of free ones), and try to "ping" that IP from your Mac (in your Mac terminal window, type "Ping [target_ip]") If the ping is not successful, you should re-do the WIFI setup again on both side. 
But normally if your iPhone/iPad can connect to the ad-hoc WIFI network created by the Mac, the connection should be fine.


NOTE: Currently We suggest you to use PianoAngel with "Plucked" type of instrument like Piano or Guitar since it sends constant note length of 2 seconds. We will improve it in newer versions to make it better control more kind of sound. Stay tuned!


Enjoy PianoAngel with MIDI! :)