2011年4月11日 星期一

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! :)

2011年4月8日 星期五

PianoAngel Free - best iOS piano songplaying app has free version!

[ Thanks for all your support for PianoAngel! We are happy to now offer the free version which gives you the complete playing experience for free!! If you like PianoAngel, please don't hesitate to buy the full version! ]

**PianoAngel has been featured under “New & Noteworthy” in the music category!**


WHAT CRITICS ARE SAYING:

"Ever wished you could play the piano, but you quit lessons when you were young? PianoAngel could be the perfect app for you to try out." - MY APPINIONS
"PianoAngel drops from the Heavens" - Pro Music Apps

"Simply one of the best Piano apps available!" -  iDesignSound

"My two year old son is already playing on this app and has a great time doing so every time (awwwww)." - Touch Producer

"Great tool for performing and even for songwriting!" - Venom (AppStore user review)
"I enjoy playing with PianoAngel. I am even already using it for composing songs!" - Orli (from PTT Taiwan)

"Great for students & children! It enables the users the experience of playing professional piano. Playing through simplified control, without requiring them to have good skills for playing the real piano.” - http://apple.ipie.me (translated from Chinese)

ABOUT PIANOANGEL:

PianoAngel is a revolutionary piano app which is designed to enable everyone in the world to play piano beautifully and with ease. It is designed not only for people who are already skilled in piano but even more-so for people who don't know how to play piano or any other instrument.

With PianoAngel, you can play improvise freely or play from simplified chord/melody lead sheets. Even if you don't know how to play piano, you can just follow the lead sheets and play beautifully like you are an experienced pianist.

Major Features:
  • Easily play beautiful piano chords & melody
  • Pixel-perfect graphics
  • Realistic and smooth piano sound
  • Customizable chord preset settings
  • Adjust and transpose keys (as conveniently as you would with keyboards & guitars)
  • Adjustable intensity to add variations to playing
  • Use the notation style you are familiar with
  • Auto chord playing mode (with tempo control)
  • Intuitive help section & settings window
  • iPad supported - Enjoy PianoAngel on a larger screen!

More Features in Full version (1.1):


  • Save song settings to presets
  • Preserve volume & display settings after app is closed
  • Record your song as an M4A audio file
  • Fetch recordings via iTunes file sharing or send via email
  • Upload the recordings to SoundCloud
  • CoreMIDI support for sending/receiving MIDI (require iOS 4.2)
  • The ability to record your voice or instruments via microphone input (coming soon in version 1.2)


If you enjoy the free version of PianoAngel, please check out the full version! With the full version you can preserve your song settings and even record your playing!


PianoAngel Full Version page:



INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS:
We have 2 demo video introducing new PianoAngel on how to use the application. Check it out at our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/PianoAngelApp


SPECIAL THANKS:
  • The development of this app is in collaboration with Boggy Jang (www.boggy.idv.tw).
  • Special acknowledgement to Prof. Shih-Chung Jessy Kang (www.caece.net/sckang) for his input and advice on the UX design of this app.
  • Thanks App-lySpeaking.com for the writing service for app description!


iPhone screenshots:






iPad screenshots:






Demo Videos:




HOW TO CONTACT US:
  • Our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/PianoAngelApp
  • Email: bw.innovation.tw@gmail.com
  • Feel free to leave your comments or questions here and we will reply you as soon as we can! :)

2011年4月5日 星期二

PianoAngel 1.1 comes to the App Store!

PianoAngel 1.1 update is available now!


Here is the summary of v1.1 update:
* Record playing to M4A audio file which can be fetched via iTunes file sharing or sent via email
* Upload recording to SoundCloud
* CoreMidi support for sending/receving MIDI notes (require iOS >= 4.2)
* Replaced "Overall Volume" setting by "Volume Boost" which default is minimum and ineffective when headphone is plugged in (to avoid audio distortion)
* Fixed pixelized text in main screen on iPad
* Improved piano samples again for a more smoothed sound.

2011年4月3日 星期日

PianoAngel Reviews & Promotions around the world

In this article we will list out the articles, posts & promotions introducing PianoAngel we found.
Thanks for these supporting websites & blogs!
(Not including "crawler" websites which just mirrors data from AppStore)

2011年4月2日 星期六

Thankful Sale - Time-limited free again! (ends on 4/4).

Thanks for your great support and recognition for PianoAngel during time-limited free period on April 1st (for celebrating April Fool day) !!  PianoAngel is downloaded tens of thousands of copy during the free period, which made the app gets on the top ranking in countless countries... Amazing!

For those who are not hurry enough to tell your friends about the April Fool sale, you'll have another chance again! Thanks for the kind request from Andrew Yeo, a great Christian Music Singer-songwriter and also one of the Pastors of The City Church in Singapore, for promoting PianoAngel on his website. How can we deny such a request to be generous from a Pastor? Surely we are happy to do it again. since we all received God's grace freely as well. Therefore we are calling this sale as a "Thankful Sale". Let's thank our lovely God and also thank Andrew. Spread out the sale to let PianoAngel be with more people! God bless the world!



Also visit Andrew Yeo's page: https://www.facebook.com/andrewyeoonline 
Check out his awesome latest album as well: "All Things Beautiful":