Here is the new forum to post questions and make comments. And hopefully post some interfaces!:
Sequencer interface update
I updated the sequencer I showed in yesterday’s video. You can download the new version from the same URL:
http://www.charlie-roberts.com/Control/interfaces/sequencer.js
In addition to giving a 8 x 16 drum grid to program beats, the sequencer also has 8 multisliders (effectively step sequencers) in it that you can use to send volume changes, filter messages, whatever. The slider step sequencers are mapped to CC 10 – 17. You can change which one you’re controlling using the slider in the upper right corner. BPM control is right underneath.
I posted an Ableton .als with the midi mapping all setup to control an Impulse (multisliders mapped to volume).
http://www.charlie-roberts.com/Control/misc/ableton/Control_Sequence_Demo2.als
Unfortunately I uncovered a few bugs with the multislider widget. They’re fixed in this interface (I overwrote the slider widget javascript) for the most part, but a couple of the bugs will have to wait until the next app update.
New video + kind review
Peter Kirn over at createdigitalmusic.com has some kind things to say about Control and the ideas behind it. I’m looking forward to talking to him more about the concepts he outlined.
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/01/music-control-meets-web-code-goodness-app-for-ios-soon-oscmidi-everywhere/#more-16101
I’ve also created a new video showing some more advanced Control interfaces (minus the Charlie voiceover). Both the files shown are available to download at charlie-roberts.com/Control/interfaces. These give a better idea of the types of behaviors JavaScript support enables.
Control – more advanced interfaces from charlie roberts on Vimeo.
New and Noteworthy
So fancy. My poor metronome never got selected by Apple as New and Noteworthy, but I know deep in my heart it deserved it too. And they can’t take that away from me. Ever.
Too bad the app screenshot looks bad when it’s that small…
App Store Approved!
2.5 weeks and two demo videos later and Control is approved for app store distribution. It should go live in the next 24 hours.
In preparation of people wanting to create their own interfaces I’ve uploaded a template file to the interfaces folder. This file just includes a button that brings up the main tab menu and a button that refreshes the current interface. The refresh button allows you to make changes to your JSON (such as adding or moving widgets) and then see the changes immediately after pressing refresh. The refresh button only works if your computer still has the same IP address that it had when you originally downloaded the interface. If the IP address of your computer changes, you can simply reload the interface by adding it again in the Interfaces tab, and then the refresh button will work with the new address.
I’m also including a screenshot from the iPad App Store showing the MultiTouchXY widget tracking 12 finger positions. Although the iPad / iPhone can only track 11 fingers concurrently you can have many more positions tracked in the MultiTouchXY widget and move around different sets of touches simultaneously. This interface also shows how scripting allows you to easily add more touches to track using the “add touch” button.
Demo movie
I posted a short movie of using Control with Ableton Live. For ease of production I ran control in the Simulator rather than on an actual device, but it gets the idea across.
Warning: the video is pretty dull. I’ll try to put out some more exciting ones sometime soon.
Intro to Control: Free MIDI / OSC software for iOS from charlie roberts on Vimeo.
Interface files posted
I’ve posted some of the interface JSON files that come included with Control; they’re a good resource to get an idea how to create interfaces or to modify for your own purposes. They’re located at http://www.charlie-roberts.com/Control/interfaces. As time goes by I’ll be adding more interfaces to this destination for people to download, accordingly, I’ve created the following link shortener to make it easier to type on mobile devices: http://goo.gl/5K4W7. At least, I think that’s easier…I guess the shortener doesn’t work if you add the interface filenames to it… use the full address.
At some point maybe I can figure out a way to browse folder directories from within Control…
App Store Submission
After a lot of bug fixing, interface building, documentation and screenshot taking I submitted Control to the App Store today. I wasn’t able to cram everything into the first release that I wanted to, but a lot of it made it in there.
Here’s a couple of screenshots from the App Store submission: