ATastyPixel, maker of the wonderful Loopy, is busily working on the cleverly named Loopy: Masterpiece Edition – taking all that looping goodness and making it more robust for serious applications, from loop functionality to how it works with other tools.
That’s already good news. But developer Michael Tyson yesterday announced he’s going one step further. Not satisfied simply by finding a solution for MIDI Clock sync in his own app, he wants to create an open implementation all app developers can use, for free.
The vision: make apps and hardware all sync together with better performance, in a more usable way, so you can make music instead of wondering why everything is breaking.
There’s already a great-looking sample app syncing to Arturia’s BeatStep in the video.
Think of it as Audiobus for sync, only free. (No coincidence: Michael Tyson is a leading iOS audio developer and the man who built Audiobus.)
I’m eager to share the video this weekend as I know loads (hmm, possibly nearly all) iOS music developers are CDM readers now and then. I’m very curious what you think of the issues he describes, and the library he proposes. For those of us not deep into sync implementation issues, I don’t have to describe why this matters. But if you are into this, let us know what you think in comments. And you can bet we will closely track development of this tool on the site.
http://thespectacularsyncengine.com
Meanwhile, you can track the Masterpiece Edition of Loopy on its Tumblr dev blog:
http://masterpieceedition.tumblr.com
(Must read: why Objective-C is still the audio choice for now. Also an interesting discussion.)

Look up midibus.
But i applaud the idea of going further.
Find a way to generate steady clock from input audio and it’s a winner.
not perse from input audio, just a stable clock…..
Omnibus, have you looked at minibus? 😉
Is it good?
NIce thanks, what do you mean from audio input? Beat detecting + midi generation?
I think he means audio input clock, like old DIN sync clock (analog 5v squarewave) or Korgs WIST volca sync.
Look up midibus.
But i applaud the idea of going further.
Find a way to generate steady clock from input audio and it’s a winner.
not perse from input audio, just a stable clock…..
Omnibus, have you looked at minibus? 😉
Is it good?
NIce thanks, what do you mean from audio input? Beat detecting + midi generation?
I think he means audio input clock, like old DIN sync clock (analog 5v squarewave) or Korgs WIST volca sync.
Look up midibus.
But i applaud the idea of going further.
Find a way to generate steady clock from input audio and it’s a winner.
not perse from input audio, just a stable clock…..
Omnibus, have you looked at minibus? 😉
Is it good?
NIce thanks, what do you mean from audio input? Beat detecting + midi generation?
I think he means audio input clock, like old DIN sync clock (analog 5v squarewave) or Korgs WIST volca sync.
This is marvelous. I find it ever so odd that this effort is coming from a third party instead of Apple. Apple seems to be oblivious to most of this. Nevertheless having this come from the master of Audiobus is welcome and comforting.
Yeah, Apple’s dropping the ball here. But then, they’re still pretending their Camera Connection Kit doesn’t do MIDI, four years after it was added to iOS. Whoever’s charge of that side of iOS is asleep at the switch.
They aren’t pretending. They stated, pretty early on, on the mailing list that it supported class compliant devices.
I know that; people who follow this stuff closely know that, but someone new who went to the Apple Store website and searched for “MIDI” or “MIDI iOS” would not discover this (unless they stumble across it in one of the user comments for the “Camera Adapter” or “Camera Connection Kit”). It’s not promoted at all, bizarrely, as if they don’t want to deal with supporting it or something. I asked one of the people on the team a couple years ago why they were so quiet about this and they seemed baffled too. The message, intentional or not, is that Apple isn’t taking this usage seriously.
This is marvelous. I find it ever so odd that this effort is coming from a third party instead of Apple. Apple seems to be oblivious to most of this. Nevertheless having this come from the master of Audiobus is welcome and comforting.
Yeah, Apple’s dropping the ball here. But then, they’re still pretending their Camera Connection Kit doesn’t do MIDI, four years after it was added to iOS. Whoever’s charge of that side of iOS is asleep at the switch.
They aren’t pretending. They stated, pretty early on, on the mailing list that it supported class compliant devices.
I know that; people who follow this stuff closely know that, but someone new who went to the Apple Store website and searched for “MIDI” or “MIDI iOS” would not discover this (unless they stumble across it in one of the user comments for the “Camera Adapter” or “Camera Connection Kit”). It’s not promoted at all, bizarrely, as if they don’t want to deal with supporting it or something. I asked one of the people on the team a couple years ago why they were so quiet about this and they seemed baffled too. The message, intentional or not, is that Apple isn’t taking this usage seriously.
This is marvelous. I find it ever so odd that this effort is coming from a third party instead of Apple. Apple seems to be oblivious to most of this. Nevertheless having this come from the master of Audiobus is welcome and comforting.
Yeah, Apple’s dropping the ball here. But then, they’re still pretending their Camera Connection Kit doesn’t do MIDI, four years after it was added to iOS. Whoever’s charge of that side of iOS is asleep at the switch.
They aren’t pretending. They stated, pretty early on, on the mailing list that it supported class compliant devices.
I know that; people who follow this stuff closely know that, but someone new who went to the Apple Store website and searched for “MIDI” or “MIDI iOS” would not discover this (unless they stumble across it in one of the user comments for the “Camera Adapter” or “Camera Connection Kit”). It’s not promoted at all, bizarrely, as if they don’t want to deal with supporting it or something. I asked one of the people on the team a couple years ago why they were so quiet about this and they seemed baffled too. The message, intentional or not, is that Apple isn’t taking this usage seriously.
I have been a fan of Loopy for quite a while, but I eventually jumped ship into an Octatrack due to sync issues. I am very glad Michael is addressing these issues. It seems he is going in a fantastic direction with Loopy Masterpiece. Thee app appears to function in the way I attempt (with some frustration) to use the Octatrack; as a song template for realtime recording. Kudos to Michael, If he can make an affordable app do easily what very expensive machines struggle to achieve.
I’ve had similar issues trying to get my Monomachine to sync with Cubase on iPad. Hopefully he can get this fixed…
It doesn’t need to be “affordable” if it is truly a masterclass piece of software.
We have to – it is imperative – get over the notion that iOS apps need to be cheap and affordable.
We should have no problem with paying a premium price for a premium piece of software from a great developer.
I have been a fan of Loopy for quite a while, but I eventually jumped ship into an Octatrack due to sync issues. I am very glad Michael is addressing these issues. It seems he is going in a fantastic direction with Loopy Masterpiece. Thee app appears to function in the way I attempt (with some frustration) to use the Octatrack; as a song template for realtime recording. Kudos to Michael, If he can make an affordable app do easily what very expensive machines struggle to achieve.
I’ve had similar issues trying to get my Monomachine to sync with Cubase on iPad. Hopefully he can get this fixed…
It doesn’t need to be “affordable” if it is truly a masterclass piece of software.
We have to – it is imperative – get over the notion that iOS apps need to be cheap and affordable.
We should have no problem with paying a premium price for a premium piece of software from a great developer.
I have been a fan of Loopy for quite a while, but I eventually jumped ship into an Octatrack due to sync issues. I am very glad Michael is addressing these issues. It seems he is going in a fantastic direction with Loopy Masterpiece. Thee app appears to function in the way I attempt (with some frustration) to use the Octatrack; as a song template for realtime recording. Kudos to Michael, If he can make an affordable app do easily what very expensive machines struggle to achieve.
I’ve had similar issues trying to get my Monomachine to sync with Cubase on iPad. Hopefully he can get this fixed…
It doesn’t need to be “affordable” if it is truly a masterclass piece of software.
We have to – it is imperative – get over the notion that iOS apps need to be cheap and affordable.
We should have no problem with paying a premium price for a premium piece of software from a great developer.
Love this man. Apple needs to throw money at this chap!
Love this man. Apple needs to throw money at this chap!
Love this man. Apple needs to throw money at this chap!
Signal and MIDI…a one two knockout punch
Signal and MIDI…a one two knockout punch
Signal and MIDI…a one two knockout punch
Yes please.
Yes please.
Yes please.
that would be nice, analog midi gives me headache, a sync is never 100%
…analog midi?
5 pin din cable midi….
that would be nice, analog midi gives me headache, a sync is never 100%
…analog midi?
5 pin din cable midi….
that would be nice, analog midi gives me headache, a sync is never 100%
…analog midi?
5 pin din cable midi….
one clock to rule them all
one clock to rule them all
one clock to rule them all
great news, seems like he’s the perfect guy for the job. Hope the other developers are open to this, so we all can enjoy better sync.
great news, seems like he’s the perfect guy for the job. Hope the other developers are open to this, so we all can enjoy better sync.
great news, seems like he’s the perfect guy for the job. Hope the other developers are open to this, so we all can enjoy better sync.
Gábor (djplayer developer) also has his own API Framework for multimedia apps. Take a look:
http://superpowered.com/
Interesting, no midi though.
Gábor (djplayer developer) also has his own API Framework for multimedia apps. Take a look:
http://superpowered.com/
Interesting, no midi though.
Gábor (djplayer developer) also has his own API Framework for multimedia apps. Take a look:
http://superpowered.com/
Interesting, no midi though.
what would even be greater: Add OSC sync messaging, for all devices that support OSC, this should be tighter, no?
Tighter? What makes you think so?
Hm, I thought, you maybe can “fire” more events in a certain time with OSC, but maybe I am wrong. And it would be even not a good idea, though, when I look at the new video, where the target is to send as less timing information events as possible (but as precise as possible)
what would even be greater: Add OSC sync messaging, for all devices that support OSC, this should be tighter, no?
Tighter? What makes you think so?
Hm, I thought, you maybe can “fire” more events in a certain time with OSC, but maybe I am wrong. And it would be even not a good idea, though, when I look at the new video, where the target is to send as less timing information events as possible (but as precise as possible)
what would even be greater: Add OSC sync messaging, for all devices that support OSC, this should be tighter, no?
Tighter? What makes you think so?
Hm, I thought, you maybe can “fire” more events in a certain time with OSC, but maybe I am wrong. And it would be even not a good idea, though, when I look at the new video, where the target is to send as less timing information events as possible (but as precise as possible)
Cool, thx Michael! 🙂
Cool, thx Michael! 🙂
Cool, thx Michael! 🙂