MIDITinaXL is 48-button English Concertina MIDI control surface for the iPad.

The button layout is identical to the real instrument, and the built-in note guide makes it easy to learn to play!v

MIDITinaXL doesn't produce any sound on its own, it is for playing hardware or software VST-style MIDI synthesizers via MIDI hardware interfaces connected to the dock connector or virtual MIDI instruments running on your device like IK Multimedia SampleTank® for iOS or ThumbJam running on your iPad.

To play, simply touch the buttons. Buttons light up when playing.

Multiple buttons may be touched at the same time to play chords.

You may slide between the buttons.

Touch the diamond area at the bottom center of the screen to add vibrato effects. Touch and release in the upper half for a high vibrato, lower half for a low vibrato. The farther from the center vertically, the deeper the vibrato depth.

Touch the '?' icon to show the note names for each button.

Touch the MIDI connector icon to show the MIDI controls.

You may select the volume, MIDI channel, attack velocity, and semitone transposition (+/- 12).

Use the "MIDI Port" switch to choose between "Omni" sending MIDI data to all CoreMIDI apps or "Virtual Port" sending to a named CoreMIDI virtual output port. When the "Virtual Port option is selected, MIDITinaXL will show up as an input option in apps that support virtual ports like Sonosaurus ThumbJam. "Omni" mode is selected by default.

All MIDI settings are saved when MIDITinaXL quits and restored the next time it is run.

Touch the '!' icon at the upper left to quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur.

Demonstration videos

Playing IK Multimedia SampleTank

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Playing Sonosaurus ThumbJam

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Main Screen

To play, just touch the buttons. Multiple buttons may be touched at the same time to create chords.

Touch the diamond area at the bottom center for vibrato effects.

You can slide between the buttons.

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Touch the "?" icon at the upper right to display the note names.

Touch the MIDI connector icon at the upper left to display the MIDI controls

You may select the volume, MIDI channel, attack velocity, and transposition (+/- 12 semitones).

All MIDI settings are saved when MIDITinaXL quits and restored the next time it is run.

Touch the diamond area at the bottom center for vibrato effects.

Touch the '!' icon at the upper right to quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur.

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Rotate the iPad to portrait orientation to display the instructions:

Q: Are the fingerings the same as a real English Concertina?

A: Yes, exactly the same. About the only thing you can't do is press two buttons with one finger because of the limits of the iPad's touchscreen hardware.

Q: I have an iPad and the sound stops when I put four fingers on the screen.

A: Since you may want to play chords with more than 3 or 4 fingers, you'll need to turn off "Multitasking Gestures" in your iPad's Settings, under General/Multitasking Gestures.

Q: I'm running a CoreMIDI-compliant virtual synth app on my device, but I don't hear any sound when using your MIDI control surfaces.

A: Please check that "Background Audio" is enabled on the virtual synth app you are running.

Also check that the virtual synth app has an active patch on the same MIDI channel(s) you are sending from the control surface app.

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Here's the settings changes you need to make for SampleTank, enable "Background Audio"

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Here's the simplest possible single instrument SampleTank patch for an
accordion sound (full version of SampleTank), on MIDI channel 1

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Here's the settings changes you need to make for ThumbJam:

In the Prefs/Options panel, enable "Background Audio"

Starting with ThumbJam version 2.2, CoreMIDI is enabled by default

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This video shows how to change the MIDI and audio settings in SampleTank and ThumbJam
(iPad version, iPhone is similar)

Reflects version 2.1 of ThumbJam, please follow instructions above for changes for version 2.2

Synthesizer apps running in the background often continue to consume power even after you are done playing.

Be sure to "Force Quit" the synthesizer app when you are done playing to ensure that you don't run down your battery.

Follow these steps to force an app to close:

On my iPad, I create user patches from the built-in patches that have the realtime tilt controls all disabled.

In ThumbJam into the Edit/Controls for the patch, set the Volume selector to "Fixed" and the Pan, Vibrato, Tremolo, and Pitch Bend to "None"

Then save the setup as a new user patch.

If the sound level is too low through the speaker on your device, go into the Sound/(Volume/iPod) page and turn the "App Vol Boost" up to where the sound is louder but doesn't distort.

Q: Which other MIDI synthesizer apps can be played using your control surface apps?

A: The iOS Musician website is maintaining a comprehensive list of apps that support virtual MIDI ports.

Q: Where can I learn more about how to play the instrument?

A: Please visit the following sites for more information and online learning materials:

Concertina.net

Concertina.com

Q: Now that I've learned the fingerings for some tunes on the iPad app, I'd like to buy a real concertina. Who do you recommend?

A: The Button Box carries a wide range of new and vintage instruments.

I am very interested in any suggestions for features or improvements to MIDITinaXL for future updates, please drop me an email anytime with your ideas!

For more information, please contact Michael Eskin or visit the AppCordions.com website:

Visit AppCordions.com