Main window
Orienting yourself in a new place.
Most of MIDIpad is a single window. It shows the instrument you're playing and the controls that belong to it, and some pretty shapes in the background. There are no presets to manage and no mapping editor.
As the feature set grows, presets might become appropriate, but the relationship between the instrument's configuration and whatever synth/patch/VST it's driving downstream tends to be particular enough on a case-by-case basis that changing it on the fly to suit what you're doing right now is the best approach.
Title bar
- Click the logo and the settings window will open.
- A little Demo Mode indicator sits on the right of it if you haven't upgraded yet.
Header
A row of three groups under the title bar, and it's the same whichever instrument is playing.
| Group | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Left | Key - the root, and whether Major or Minor is home on the wheel |
| Centre | The instruments - Chords and Drums. Click one to switch; Options on the pad does the same |
| Right | Time signature and Tempo - see Tempo and time signature |
On a wide window these move to the corners of the stage instead.
Stage
The instrument fills the middle of the window - the chord wheel for Chords, the dial for Drums. Behind it the notes you play fall down the screen. See Themes.
Across the foot of the stage are the instrument controls for whichever instrument is playing: Chords and Drums. Settings → Appearance → Auto-hide instrument controls fades them out while the mouse is still.
Help line
The strip along the bottom of the window explains whatever you're pointing at. Hover over any control and its name and a one-line description turn up at the left.
At the left of the same strip sit What's New and Send Feedback. At the right is the connected controller and its charge - click it and the controls reference opens, so you can see what all the things do.
Settings
Press ⌘,, or click the logo, to open the settings window. The full table is in App settings.
Closing the main window
The overlays don't depend on the main window. Close the main window on macOS and MIDIpad carries on running - the controller still plays, the ports stay open, and the overlay stays where you put it. Bring the window back from the tray or the Dock.