How to connect to other devices

You can connect your mobile device with other devices, like your computer running a DAW, or another mobile device, and send MIDI commands to these. You can connect via WiFi, Bluetooth or cable, but depending on the combination of operating systems, not all combinations are possible. Here are some of the combinations:

iOS

Connect to Mac OS X

WiFi

Create a "Core MIDI Network" module in MusiKraken (note that you can also use a "Snarp Network MIDI" module to do the same, but this makes more sense if you want to have multiple simultaneous connections). On your Mac, go to Applications -> Utilities and start "Audio MIDI Setup".

Now go to Window -> Show MIDI Studio. On the top right of the MIDI Studio, there is a button for "Configure Network Driver". By clicking on it, you can see the current configuration of the local network MIDI sessions and under "Directories" you should see your device. To connect to your device, select it and click on "Connect".

Alternatively you can connect directly from your device. Click on the plus sign in the "Core MIDI Network" module in the editor and you should see a list of Network MIDI devices. Select one and click on OK to connect to it. And stop a connection with the minus sign button.

Here is the official documentation by Apple:

Share MIDI information over a network in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac

Bluetooth

Create a "MIDI Output" module in MusiKraken. On your Mac, go to Applications -> Utilities and start "Audio MIDI Setup".

Now go to Window -> Show MIDI Studio. On the top right of the MIDI Studio, there is a button for "Configure Bluetooth". Click on it.

And in MusiKraken, on the editor screen, tap on the cogwheel button in the MIDI Output module. Here you should see the "Scan for Bluetooth devices" and "Advertise as Bluetooth device" options.

For Bluetooth connections, one of the devices is the Central which scans for devices and connects to them, and the other device is the Peripheral which advertises its name to central devices.

So if the Mac should be the Peripheral, click on the "Advertise" button in MIDI Studio, tap "Scan for Bluetooth devices" in MusiKraken and select your Mac to connect to it. Once it is connected, you also need to select the Bluetooth device from the "Devices" list in MIDI Output, so that the module knows where to send the MIDI data to.

If the Mac should be the Central, click on "Advertise as Bluetooth device" in MusiKraken, turn "Advertise MIDI Service" on, and then select this device in MIDI Studio on your Mac and click on "Connect".

Here is the official documentation by Apple:

Set up Bluetooth MIDI devices in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac

USB Cable

Connect your iOS device to your Mac via a USB cable. Now on your Mac, go to Applications -> Utilities and start "Audio MIDI Setup".

On the left, you should see the name of your device. Click on the "Enable" button below it to enable IDAM (Inter-Device Audio and MIDI).

Now create a "MIDI Output" module in MusiKraken. If you click on the cogwheel button in the module, you should be able to select "IDAM MIDI Host" from the list of devices.

Connect to Windows

WiFi

Windows doesn't support RTP-MIDI directly, so first you need to install a tool for that. One of the best tools for that is Tobias Erichsens rtpMIDI that you can download here:

rtpMIDI

Once that is running, create a "Core MIDI Network" module in MusiKraken (note that you can also use a "Snarp Network MIDI" module to do the same, but this makes more sense if you want to have multiple simultaneous connections).

USB Cable

There isn't official support to send data from iOS to Windows via USB cable, but there is kind of a "back door" that iTunes uses and that can also be used by apps.

For that you need to install a tool on Windows that handles the connection and the virtual MIDI ports. There currently isn't an official MusiKraken tool (while I have a working prototype, I won't release it for now because I would need to buy the license for a special driver to create virtual MIDI ports, which is not worth it at the moment), there are existing tools that work together with MusiKraken.

For example you can use StudioMux: https://zerodebug.com/#/studiomux

Install the StudioMux driver on your Windows computer, connect the USB cable, start StudioMux on the iOS device and make sure it connects to the StudioMux server.

Now open MusiKraken, create a "MIDI Output" module and select "studiomux" (or whatever you called the output port in StudioMux) from the list. Now, whatever you send to this MIDI Output will be sent to your computer.

Android

Connect to Mac OS X

USB Cable

Not all Android devices support MIDI via USB. Connect your Android device with your computer via USB cable. Then pull down from the top of the screen and tap the "Use USB for" setting. If your device supports MIDI, then there should be a "MIDI" selection on this list. Select it and now your device should show up as a MIDI device on your computer.

WiFi

Create a "Snarp Network MIDI" module in MusiKraken. On your Mac, go to Applications -> Utilities and start "Audio MIDI Setup".

Here is the official documentation by Apple:

Share MIDI information over a network in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac

Connect to Windows

USB Cable

WiFi

Windows doesn't support RTP-MIDI directly, so first you need to install a tool for that. One of the best tools for that is Tobias Erichsens rtpMIDI that you can download here:

rtpMIDI

Once that is running, create a "Snarp Network MIDI" module in MusiKraken. Now you should see your device in rtpMidi and can click on "connect" to connect to it.