Developer Sebastian Dittmann (Audiobus) lets us know about a new gadget that adds Bluetooth Wireless MIDI support to your electronic music gear, the mi.1.
In other words, attach these onto the back of your new or vintage MIDI gear, and you’ve added Wireless MIDI capabilities.
“The guys from Quicco Sound just posted the first public screenshot thingy of their new Bluetooth Low Energy to MIDI adapter,” notes Dittman. The mi.1 “connects to your synth’s MIDI in and out ports and transmits it via Bluetooth Low Energy. This little gadget could be a really great tool, bringing together mobile devices and synth hardware.”
Dittmann adds that he’s not involved with the project, but thought it’s cool.
The developers, Quicco Sound, have launched an IndieGoGo project to fund the mi.1 Bluetooth Wireless MDI connector. Here’s the official intro video:
The mi.1 is available via the IndieGoGo campaign for US $35. The developers expect to ship starting in August. Pricing will be $45 after that.
It looks very cool. What about latency?
Did anybody try this? How is the Latency? Do I have to connect it to an iOS device or will a macbook work? Thanks!
More recent Macs (after 2011 or so) should have Bluetooth LE built in. There is a list here showing which models have it (Bluetooth 4.0):
http://www.everymac.com/systems/by_capability/macs-with-bluetooth-different-bluetooth-capabilities.html
Probably a bit hard to try as its not available yet
“The developers, Quicco Sound, have launched an IndieGoGo project to fund the mi.1”
This looks cool – but they really need to get beyond the ‘keyboard-mobile device’ context, and develop wireless MIDI to connect with a computer and your DAW. ANYTHING that reduces cable clutter in a studio would be a step forward. It would be great to be able to connect MIDI ports on a synth wirelessly with a computer running a DAW – then do the same with audio outs, and USB. The only ‘cable’ needed is the power lead to the socket. That’s what they should also be working on.
and then when you get cancer they can do wireless chemotherapy
I loled. Insensitive but i loled.
Quicco Sound is the same Japanese start-up that was showing a little bluetooth pad controller add-on for the Miselu C.24 keyboard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMtsvRcuLCI
Hopefully they can get both of these products produced and working reliably without much latency. In one of the interviews I saw with them, they said they were also planning some other small, inexpensive bluetooth products for music making.
Guess we’ll have to Wait-n-see on the latency.
Low latency. It is Bluetooth 4, guys. Not BT 2 or whatever you are thinking. This stuff is 20ms. Also keep in mind that it’s MIDI and not audio over BT.
20ms could be too much if you’re doing round trip with a sequencer. 20ms to get the clock pulse, 20ms to send the note. This is assuming no jitter and no delays by other hardware. 40ms total best case would be audible on a drum machine for instance. Not saying it couldn’t have uses but real world latency would be nice to know.
wiki says about BT low energy
Latency (from a non-connected state) 6 ms
bluetooth website says:
Latency – Bluetooth low energy technology can support connection setup and data transfer as low as 3ms, allowing an application to form a connection and then transfer authenticated data in few milliseconds for a short communication burst before quickly tearing down the connection.
so yeah, should be good!
Latency in BT4 can be adjusted based on power demands. On both OSX and iOS, this is set by the operating system, and can’t be tweaked (as far as I know) by an application. On connections between iOS 7, or iOS 7 and Mavericks, I’m seeing latency around 20-25ms with my apps (really trying not to shill here!). BT4 latency on iOS 6 is worse (40ms, sometimes more). I’m hoping that Apple pumps up the power in iOS8, to give lower latency and higher bandwidth. We’ve got a prototype hardware adapter working, but Quicco is clearly ahead of us, and it looks like they’ve done a nice job.
BT4 is a great technology. Everyone was griping about Apple not jumping on the NFC bandwagon, but I think they made the right choice.
As someone who’s working Apollo, your comments could not be more pertinent!
Apollo is one of the rare groundbreaking app, it is already way more useable than midi over wifi!
I find it extremely responsive, I’m not sure I can perceive latency! Some stuff does not work (thumbjam fancy midi messages extravaganza), some problem with midi clocks otherwise: awesome!!
Thank you very much !
pretty useless if all it does is interface with iOS devices
I got something similar. Its the PUC by Zivix. It does wireless MIDI, not only for iOS, but for Mac too. Takes literally a few seconds to set up and its really low latency. Only has a MIDI OUT port though, and is battery powered, or powered by micro-USB. Highly Recommended
Pretty cool, but too bad it only interfaces with iOS devices. If it could interface with other mi.1’s, I’d buy a handful of them.
Bluetooth LE IS NOT just for iOS. You can buy a BTLE Dongle for your laptop if it doesn’t have it like newer models.
Nice design, but this could be a better choice IMO.
http://pandamidi.com/midibeam/
its cheap as chips so cant go wrong, and to answer the questions on BT 4 and midi it should be just fine. If you use a bluetooth mouse/keybd with a mac then just think of it in those terms. it could be worth a punt!!!!!
What about multiple instruments? If I were to replace all my midi cables with wireless midi, would it be possible?
No battery for it to work???
That is really cool, I wouldn’t use it for my digital piano as they say 😀
Any good midi sequencer for live use on ipad?? Loop recall, sequence transposition…
Curious about latency too, and bluetooth is not only iOS right
ps:and the midi protocol lives on forever and ever and ever…
Do not just restrict it to iOS. Spread some love around. Do the other end of the equation, BT MIDI receiver device for PC/USB too.
Great idea. How about android users? Can having more than one bluetooth device in the vicinity cause conflict?
I’m really hoping that an MI1 can some day interface with another MI1… if I could connect each of my hardware midi rigs via this tech it would be great for my studio without wires between each midi deck.
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Dear Synthtopia Friends,
I have bought an Alessis Vortex midi keytar, two months later , Alessis came out with a wireless version of the keytar. my keytar needs special software to work, it needs to be connected to my laptop by a cable which is usb and 1399 …is there any of your products that could be wireless compatible with alessis vortex?
like those wireless mouse..
Thanks ,
Alex.
as usual only iOS. two-class society again. nothing new. Yamaha, Quicco – all the same. disappointing…