finally a usefull looking MIDI controller app for Windows Phone

I know I've been talking about this forever but there's finally a real MIDI controller app for Windows Phone and it's free. It's actually not the first but that first one didn't look terribly useful anyway.

It's called Meedy Wifi. Sure... it's not good looking but I can see the beginnings of a useful app in this.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/meedy-wifi/199eca7f-cb12-439f-b9ec-02d5ae903d38

Instead of using already available wireless MIDI software like rtpMIDI, Xavier Malparty decided to make his own and it's small, simple and straightforward. It's available here http://wp7.malparty.fr/
It still would be nice if it could communicate with rtpMIDI (without Bonjour) though.

Obviously this will be quite easy with a Win8 pro tablet because it can run all kinds of software that already exists for Windows but it would be nice to have something on Windows Phone that's at least as nice as TouchOSC or midipad. The ultimate one right now seems to be http://mididesigner.com/ but that's hoping for allot at the moment

Cool.  Some way to go before this platform matches iPhone though, I remain hopeful of third party music add-ons for Surface devices however.

Considering a Surface Pro can just run all the software already available now people might just leave it at that and not bother making Win8 Store music creation apps. Of course "metro" apps don't look like they support MIDI at the moment so they have no alternative for controller apps.

I'd love to see people make alternative keyboard MIDI controllers for larger screened Win8 devices like the one used in the Grantophone Win8 app but especially one like HexKeys.

@Ian2:

12 minutes ago, Ian2 wrote

Cool.  Some way to go before this platform matches iPhone though, I remain hopeful of third party music add-ons for Surface devices however.

I just looked at HexKeys link. What is the use? Just a simple music controller. Is this for a game? I am curious how this is intended to be used. It's a phone-based or device-based keyboard that sends MIDI signals over one's wifi lan... to ProTools? Seems a bit cramped for a musician... Hmm.

HexKeys is basically a geeky virtual simulation of the Axis 64 Midi Controller and it's not just for ProTools. Phone/Tablet MIDI controller apps can be used to manipulate any software that has MIDI input. Most people use Ableton Live for this kind of experimentation these days.

Manufacturing hardware that uses anything but the traditional horizontal row of black and white keys is risky because there just isn't a very big market for it. Making an app that does the same thing is much less risky. The keyboard that Grant Kot uses in his Grantophone Win8 app is more like a modified version of another specialized controller called the Kaken Continuum which is also expensive but could be simulated with a tablet app for just a few dollars.
That's what's so great about multi-touch wireless MIDI controller apps. They're endlessly configurable unlike real hardware and they're inexpensive.

Now, if I only owned a phone I could test out Meedy Wifi

5 hours ago, JohnAskew wrote

I just looked at HexKeys link. What is the use? Just a simple music controller. Is this for a game? I am curious how this is intended to be used. It's a phone-based or device-based keyboard that sends MIDI signals over one's wifi lan... to ProTools? Seems a bit cramped for a musician... Hmm.

@dentaku:First thing it asks for is 'Conexion': IP and port #. It's a rather spartan UI & experience... No LAN here at the moment...

All the PC server software needs to know is which virtual MIDI device you want to send out on. I use MIDI-YOKE for stuff like this but LoopBe or Loopmidi should also work.

I'm not quite sure about the setting on the phone because I don't have one to test it with but from the screenshots it looks like you just type on the IP and port# just as they appear in the server application on the computer. Once the phone and computer know each other's IPs and they know which port to communicate on, the phone should be able to send MIDI data to the computer.

After that it's up to the user to do whatever they want with that data like sending NoteOn/NoteOff data for playing instruments or CC messages for turning knobs, moving sliders and controlling Play/Stop/Rec etc.

It's very basic but it's good to see someone else who can see the usefulness in this and bothered to make an app to see if it was possible on Windows Phone.
Being able to create your own interfaces right there on the phone/tablet is far more useful of course, but that would be allot more work for the developer.

4 hours ago, JohnAskew wrote

@dentaku:First thing it asks for is 'Conexion': IP and port #. It's a rather spartan UI & experience... No LAN here at the moment...