Set up your DAW

MIDIpad appears on your system as four MIDI outputs: MIDIpad Chords, MIDIpad Drums, MIDIpad Bass and MIDIpad Progression, and one input, MIDIpad Sync, and they're available whenever the app is open.

MIDIpad Sync takes your DAW's MIDI clock, so Drums, Arp and Bass follow its tempo and position while it plays, and the ringing chords stop when it stops. It also takes notes on channel 1: send it a progression you've recorded from MIDIpad Progression, and three hollow dots above a wedge on the chord wheel mark the chord it's playing, on every wheel. The larger dots show which wheel the chord is on. It expects block chords, so anything else, such as an arpeggio, a bass line or drums, may mark the wrong chord. Notes on other channels are ignored. Depending on your DAW, you might need to set its clock sync delay to a negative number to keep everything tight.

MIDIpad Chords, MIDIpad Bass and MIDIpad Progression send MPE and CC, so make sure your DAW is aware of that appropriately for remote control. MIDIpad Drums sends notes and velocity. You don't need to send clock to any of them. Clock only goes to MIDIpad Sync.

Chords

MIDIpad Chords controls how long each string sounds and how its energy fades and swells. Everything else about the sound comes from your synth. That might seem obvious, but because MIDIpad doesn't work like a normal MIDI controller, some of its behaviours can be surprising when you first start using it. Experiment with the instrument controls to find the right settings for your patch (Dynamics and Decay are the first controls to dial in most of the time).

Create a MIDI/instrument track, set its input to MIDIpad Chords, arm it, and play. If your DAW asks which channel to listen on, leave it on all of them.

Instrument → Output, or Channels in Settings → App Settings, sets how the port is laid out:

• MPE - the default. Enable MPE on the track or synth (most modern DAWs and synths have one toggle for it) to get each note as its own voice, carrying its own pressure and timbre.
• Single channel - everything on one channel, for synths that want it that way.

See MIDI and MPE for details on each.

Drums

Create a track with its input set to MIDIpad Drums and point it at a drum instrument. The notes are standard General MIDI percussion, so they work with any GM-mapped kit. For another drum library, pick it in Keymap, in the instrument controls. See Drum notes and channels.

The same Instrument → Output setting lays out the Drums port:

• MPE - the default: each drum on its own channel behind a master (the kick on 2, the snare on 3, the hi-hat on 4, the open hi-hat on 5, then the cymbals and toms).
• Single channel - everything on channel 1, notes and velocity only.

Bass

If you've turned on the Bass, make a track with its input set to MIDIpad Bass. If Instrument → Output is on MPE, enable MPE on the track: the Bass uses one member channel. It follows what you play on Chords. The Arp plays on MIDIpad Chords, so you hear it on the Chords track.

Progression

To record the chords you play as block chords on the beat, make a track with its input set to MIDIpad Progression. If Instrument → Output is on MPE, enable MPE on the track: each note of the chord has its own channel. See Recording the progression.

Clock

If you want Drums, Arp and Bass running in time with your project instead of off at their own tempo (which you do, believe me), send MIDI clock from your DAW to the MIDIpad Sync port. See Tempo and time signature.

Per-DAW guides

The steps are the same in all of them: enable the MIDIpad outputs you're using wherever your DAW lists its MIDI devices, make a track for each, set its input, and arm it. Send your DAW's clock to MIDIpad Sync and account for any latency that crops up and everything will stay in time.

For the full channel and message details, see the MIDI reference.