Greg – Audio Unit MIDI

Greg from Seattle: Once upon a time, I worked professionally in the music industry before finding my way to the computer industry as a programmer. These days, music is my hobby. I enjoy the technical aspects of making music, with my background in programming.

I’ve always been a fan of compositional tools, anything to help spark the creative process. The first apps I installed on my first iPad were all music apps. As the iOS music making platform has matured, I’ve stayed close to the developments, especially Audio Unit plugins, which are like musical building blocks.

When I first learned of Just Chords on the AudioBus forum (http:\audiob.us). I was intrigued by the description of an app that was chord-based, rather than yet another piano roll sequencer. I reached out to the developer to ask if he would consider making Just Chords work as an Audio Unit, and he readily agreed. Just Chord’s feature list has steadily grown since I first downloaded the app, with new features added on a regular basis.

Recently I asked Marek if he would implement a special feature in the Audio Unit version of Just Chords, which would emit a special MIDI signal as the song progressed through its sections. My concept was to be able to send MIDI events based on song position, to control other Audio Unit plugins. I’m certain that eventually Just Chords will have this feature built in, but in the meantime I thought it would be a fun project to write a MIDI message dispatcher. I dusted off my coding skills and dived in with Mozaic, a powerful scripting tool for the AU environment.

Now I am happily sending MIDI messages to control drum machines, rhythm guitar players, bass players, synths, even triggering prerecorded audio samples, all controlled by Just Chord’s wonderful song playback engine.

Back in 1980, I purchased my first MIDI, a Roland Boss Dr Rhythm DR-55. I think I paid about $250. The recording studios I worked in were multi-million dollar environments. It’s hard to imagine that with an iPad and the right apps, I can do everything I could in a fully equipped 24-track studio. Just Chords has become a central part of my music making. And it just keeps getting better.

Thank you Marek!