Secret Base Design has released MIDImorphosis for OS X – a fast, accurate pitch-to-MIDI app, designed to work best with stringed instruments. The app was previously available for iOS.
Here’s what they have to say about MIDImorphosis for OS X:
Plug an ordinary guitar into your Mac through an appropriate audio interface, and set MIDImorphosis to receive audio from there. The pitch of your guitar playing will be converted to MIDI, which can then be routed synthesizers, sequencers, or DAWs such as Logic and Ableton.
The app features the innovative Spectral Eye display; it shows the frequencies present in the incoming audio signal, arranging them in a spiral that maps to musical pitch. You can see the actual tone of your guitar, and the harmonics, in a way that is not possible with a traditional FFT display.
The app features four different pitch tracking modes, to match different styles of play. If you play single notes very quickly in the upper register of your guitar, you can use very fast tracking; high pitched notes can be identified more swiftly than lower notes, and the app can take advantage of this. If you play in lower registers, and need accuracy more than speed, change the settings to either fast or standard pitch tracking. If you play bass, you can still use the app — tracking is slower, but should still be reliable and accurate.
Pitch tracking works best with monophonic notes, but you an also set the app to detect chords and intervals. You may need to adjust your playing style, and mute notes with your palm to get the best results. The app does not track as accurately as dedicated hardware systems, but you’ll be amazed at what it can do for the price of a pack of strings.
MIDImorphosis lets you easily transpose the MIDI up or down multiple octaves; if you want to play a quick bass line, simply play the notes you want in the upper register of your guitar, and transpose them down for a synthesizer.
MIDI can be sent to any destination; the app works well with Logic, GarageBand, Ableton, and more. You can use the app to play live, or record the MIDI for transcriptions or later editing.
MIDImorphosis is available for US $4.99 from the Mac App Store. An iOS version is also available.
If you’ve used MIDImorphosis, leave a comment and share your thoughts on it!
Thanks for the mention! Here are a few promo codes, for folks who want to try it out….
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And I’ll mention that we’ll have some bigger news on a different topic in a few days. Lots of stuff cooking at the Secret Base, and in the kitchens of a few other app developers….
ML34MNMN6RKY claimed. Cheers, Patrick! Excellent work as always.
Looks like they are all claimed. Gonna try this out soon.
Anyone know a pedal that does similar? It can be CV/Gate or midi, but I’d love to have this w/o needing a computer on stage.
Please correct “An OS X version is also available” to “An iOS version is also available.”
Looks great, looking forward to try this .
Thanks for the feedback – fixed!
@Muffintop — for a hardware solution, I’d recommend the Fishman TriplePlay — it has a pickup that you install, and at $400, is really a remarkable piece of equipment. It will require something to generate sound (there’s a USB adapter, and you could plug it into an iPad to generate sound — you’ll still need something to generate the synth tones). The Fishman is wireless, too.
I’ve got a ton of respect for the FTP, and if you’re willing to invest a bit of money, that would be a great choice. I’m targeting guitarists who want to dabble in MIDI, with a low-price, hardware-free version, which I sort of see as a potential gateway app to bigger MIDI usage.
Can anyone remind me of how to make this work in Logic? Thanks!
Make sure you have the IAC driver enabled (open the Mac utility app “Audio MIDI Setup”, look for IAC, and toggle it on, if not). MIDImorphosis can send MIDI to that, and Logic picks it up nicely (make sure you have a track with a soft synth selected — it’ll be the “active MIDI destination.”).
There are other ways to route MIDI around OS X, but they can be a hassle; the IAC driver is the simplest way to get things running.
Does anyone know if this thing will convert the loudness of each note into a velocity value? Or is it all one velocity?
No velocity or pitch bend (yet); it’ll be in the next update.
Has anyone gotten this to work in Ableton? There is no documentation on their website, and the contact info seems to be only Facebook, and Twitter.
You might need to enable the IAC driver (Mac OS X utilities, “Audio MIDI Setup”), but other than that, it should be fairly straight-forward. For contact info — this is on the home page at the bottom, under the “email” link — the address is [email protected], and I’ll do my best to help get things going!
Has anyone gotten this to work in Ableton? The developers website has no manual/tutorials on the Mac version. Plus the only contact info is via twitter or Facebook.
Looks cool … feels cool … no 10.8.5 version … not cool please change … very cool