RD-88 and iOS MIDI Communication

[allan_evett]

Haven't yet been able to establish a MIDI I/O connection between my RD-88 and 2015 iPad Air 2. The RD-88 will communicate I/O with my Android phone (tested with the free MIDI Commander app, yesterday), but not with the iPad. I figured there would be class compliancy, at least via MIDI. In the meantime I'm using a Roland UM-1, MK2 MIDI to USB adapter to get a MIDI Out to In - via Apple Camera Connector Kit; at least I can play iOS software instrument apps. Sure would be simpler with a common, USB cable though; plus being able to communicate back to the RD from the iPad is important.

Is anyone else getting this connection to work? Maybe I missed something?

[allan_evett]

Update: Did an RD-88 System 'Save' with USB driver set to 'Generic', then powered down the instrument. I then connected a USB cable between the RD and iPad - also powered down. Powered up both at the same time. RD-88 now communicates with iPad.

Next step: Find an iOS app that offers simple, one-shot program changes and internal control so that much of the RD can be edited remotely. Relying strictly on the front panel cursor up/down and Inc/Dec buttons as the only interface can be tedious and time consuming.
Then again, a software-based editor for the RD-88 (similar to that of the VR-09) would be great to see.

[DesertBoat]

A good iOS app is Midi Designer Pro. There are existing layouts for the RD 2000 and Jupiter X(m) which would provide most of the content necessary for a RD 88 editor. I could do the rework, but need a tester, as I do not have an 88.

[allan_evett]

I just looked at MIDI Designer Pro 2. Appears to be just what I was looking for. DesertBoat, I'd be glad to figure out a rework with you on an RD-88 layout. Planning to download the app tonight, after I finish teaching in a few hours. Thanks for the suggestion!

[DesertBoat]

Alan -

Started digging, and looks like the RD-88 will be a fairly straight forward translation of current RD-2000 and Jupiter X(m) layouts.

I have started with two pages in a beta layout, to select internal and EXP tones. Let me know if this seems to work properly bringing up tones in the three zones, or what sort or errors are happening.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10okjiW ... sp=sharing

[allan_evett]

D B -

Good to hear that, and thank you for sending the beta layout over. I downloaded it and plan to load it tomorrow AM and check it out.

I just finished the first half of a basic MD tutorial, and tested the connection to the RD88. So far so good. Will keep you posted.

[allan_evett]

I was able to put the RD Layout onto my Google Drive, in the iPad, but after following the directions from the owner's manual cannot open it in MidiDesigner Pro: A long press on the file allows me to browse apps in which to open the Layout, but Mididesigner Pro is not among the 'suggested choices' list, and there doesn't appear to be a way to get to a complete list of apps. I also tried the iTunes sharing folder suggestion - somehow getting the Layout file into an iTunes sharing folder, then opening it from there. But the online instructions I found don't match anything on my iTunes page. Also saw that I could save the Layout file directly to the MidiDesigner app, but after doing that there's no such file listed under Config actions when attempting to load the file. Any suggestions on how to get the Layout open on my iPad?

[DesertBoat]

If you are on a current version of iPad OS, using the Files app, it should go in the Midi Designer folder. I do not think it will launch from a remote drive.

[allan_evett]

I'm using iOS 13.3. Still having trouble getting the beta Layout open. Have tried your suggestion and several others from the MidiDesigner forums. Still no luck. Your RD2000 Manager Layout does open fine - from the MD P2 Browse tab. It has sent a couple commands to the RD-88.
The beta does show up in the iPad File app, under the MidiDesigner folder (Root level, and in the sub folder 'tmp'), but doesn't appear when attempting to open within Config>Actions. Also tried a couple suggestions from the MidiDesigner Forums, including trying to open the file directly from my Google Drive and Dropbox. No luck though.
I posted a question about all this in the MD forums as well. Any other ideas you might have would be great. Thinking it's likely something simple I'm missing.

[Fleer]

Thanks, guys, for looking into this. I’m not acquainted with the ins and outs of what you’re doing but I have MidiDesigner Pro 2, still unused, and I’m looking forward to whatever may work.

[allan_evett]

Just got the correct Layout to open on my iPad. I self-emailed the file DesertBoat had provided here, and directed the 'open with' to MidiDesigner Pro 2. I'm not near my rig at the moment, but will hook it up and test the functions later.

[allan_evett]

Both the internal and expansion pages are listing the RD-88 Tones. The Bank buttons work and I can select, using either the Tone Master knob or by hand scrolling - the Tones and Categories from each of the windows. There is USB-Midi interaction, as evidenced by the lists being accessible. Guessing that selecting and changing Banks and Tones directly on the RD would be added next?

[DesertBoat]

Updated version, was a sysex digit error in first version. The tones should start responding now. The scenes should have been working in ver 0.01

https://drive.google.com/file/d/143JX63 ... sp=sharing

[peternh]

Updated version, was a sysex digit error in first version. The tones should start responding now. The scenes should have been working in ver 0.01

https://drive.google.com/file/d/143JX63 ... sp=sharing

First, thanks so much for providing this midi designer pro (MD) layout for the rd-88. I've loaded the latest version and can confirm the tones and Scenes work fine, in terms of MD commanding the rd-88, both for Scenes and tones. I would like to answer your "test" questions in further detail but not sure whether I fully understand the (current) intended functionality. I have not been able to get any "up" function (eg. when changing a scene on the rd88 directly, your MD layout pages do not appear to respond, although I get a red dot on the ipad indicating midi Rx. It may well be my incompetence with rd-88 setup (I'm using channel 16 for Rx but not sure on how it works for Tx). Therefore I have not yet understood/tested "pages with load function".
For me, I'm actually not really needing a full external rd88 editor (brilliant as yours is, already!), and I'd managed to create my own very simple MD layout to change scenes (using "bank/PC" midi commands to specify/change msb,lsb,pc in one button) for live gig use. But, for example, it would be great to use your layout with a usb/bluetooth hardware (pedal) controller to change scenes robustly -I know it's about supercontrols (one to one) but I'm struggling to find the relevant specific info in tutorials/forums.

(It doesn't help that the last time I did any midi programming with computers was in the 1980s!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO__QqGd96E&t=69s)

Peter

[DesertBoat]

If the MDP2 layout is changing scenes and tones correctly on the RD-88, then the basic communication is working. 0.02 doesn't have any pages that get data back from the RD, that is coming with the Mixer in 0.03.

One of the functions I have on tap is a "Scene Sequence" - you can enter an arbitrary list of scenes by number (001, 022, 398, 022, etc), then use a pedal to advance through the sequence.

I am going to see about getting a few additional users as I continue development.

Relooking at 0.01, looks like it might have been writing to user scene 001 instead of the scratchpad scene. You might want to check the sounds in Scene 001, and might need to reset them. My apologies, I like to extensively test my layouts before ever releasing them, and try to avoid ever writing to permanent memory.