ThumbJam Forum

All, I've been looking to get a midi controller to use with the Native Instruments/Kontakt libraries I use in Logic. Then I got to thinking, wait a minute, I have an iPad... maybe I could buy a midi controller app! Then I thought a little more and realized I already own ThumbJam!

So, I downloaded DSMI and plan on spending time navigating the the whole wifi/ad hoc/server minefield. This post isn't really about technical specifics, but an overall exploratory question:

Have you used TJ as a wireless midi controller with your DAW? I'm specifically looking to use TJ as a controller with sample libraries that use articulations, keyswitches, modwheels etc for instruments like guitars, bass, etc -- anything that uses multiple expressions like staccato, legato, portamento, palm mutes, sustains and the like.

Well, as the developer I can at least tell you some technical specifics about the current implementation that would affect your plans. It currently just sends note events, and optionally pitchbend, pan and volume CCs for actions you do in the app. There isn't support right now for sending the modwheel CC. The current version also limits legato playing because it always sends note-offs of the previous note before the note-on of the next when dragging. In the next version this will be updated to send the note-on for the next before the note-off of the previous which will enable legato in many virtual instruments.

Please let me know other changes that might make what you envision possible.

Any ETA of the core midi/midi mobilizer update release? Been waiting to use Thumbjam with the camera connection kit with my ipad to control my Roland Fantom keyboard as well as vice versa to use Thumbjam as a soundsource by controlling it with my keyboard because my wifi is down. Thanks for an awesome and expressive app and any way to spill the beans on any other upcoming features? For example when the midi update kicks in will we be able to use current thumbjam songs that have been recorded as midi out files or are those audio only? Thanks again.

Thanks for the quick reply Jesse. As it stands now, I haven't even tried TJ's yet since I just bought Polychord. Here's their midi setup:

http://www.polychordapp.com/midi.html

Is this possible with TJ? It's just a simple Mac OS X Audio MIDI wifi setup. Worked great. Polychord itself is just an 'okay' controller, but it does handle ch1/ch2 midi sends which is kinda nice.

Modwheel support would be great, and the legato note on/off feature is definitely useful!

In the next release it will support CoreMidi which is configured identically to polychord on your mac.

As for ETA on the next release, as usual I won't give any definitive answer only to say I really intend it to be towards the end of the month.

Legato over MIDI is great news!
May I suggest one more thing? I would love to have the "continous glide" behavior over MIDI, polyphonic of course. I guess that this would work if you implement an optional MIDI Mono Mode. So that voice 1 would send its note number and pitch bend on channel 1, voice 2 would send its note number and pitch bend on channel 2 and so on. The Y axis would be used to generate pitch bend in this case, preferably with an adjustable span (say one octave above/below the noted played). If you connect that to a multitimbral synth receiving on channel 1 to x, use the same sound (or different ones...) in the multimode slots and set all those slots or sounds to the correct pitch bend range (one octave in my example) one should be able to make use of that wonderful continous mode over MIDI. Any chance for something like that?
I'm still having so much fun with Thumbjam and I can't await the update with Core MIDI!

Which month? Did I miss something??

Sadly, you've missed nothing. Beta testers have it now, so we're getting closer.

I'm currently trying to use Thumbjam with Kontakt 4 and Vir2's Electri6ity (guitar libraries), watch the progress (some issues!) under the techniques page.

+1 I read the comment now only almost 3 years later.....