Now available on the iTunes App Store
Now available on the iTunes App Store
iJammer is a WiFi-based wireless MIDI Jammer-style control surface for the iPad.
The scale patterns are very intuitive, and the built-in note guide makes it easy to learn to play!
The layout is based on the "Hayden-Wicki" system, with independent mirror-image keyboards for the left and right hands.
There is a very good background article about Jammer keyboards on Wikipedia:
To play, simply touch the buttons. Buttons light up when playing
Multiple buttons may be touched at the same time to play chords.
You can slide between the buttons.
Touch the '?' icon to show the note names for each button.
Touch the MIDI connector icon to show the MIDI controls.
iJammer supports two independent wireless MIDI channels and has 104 buttons (52 for each hand) with a 9-octave range (via transposition).
iJammer doesn't produce any sound on it own, it is designed for controlling hardware or software VST-style MIDI synthesizers via a WiFi connection to a Windows or Mac OS X based computer.
Multiple iPads can run iJammer on the same wireless network, each sending messages on its own set of MIDI channels to the hardware or software synthesizer.
Looking for the same sort of app with a larger, full screen 52-button keyboard that can be configured for either hand? Run my iPhone/iPod Touch mJammer app at 2X zoom on the iPad, it works beautifully!
Demonstration video
Main Screen:
To play, just touch the buttons. Multiple buttons may be touched at the same time to create chords.
You can slide between the buttons.
The two sides are mirror images of each other.
Both sides may be transposed independently.
Touch the red or blue bars at the bottom of either side to transpose down or up one octave for that side.
The display above the bars shows the current octave for each side.
Touch the "?" icon at the lower 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 semitone transposition (0-11) for the two sides independently.
All MIDI settings are saved when iJammer quits and restored the next time it is run.
Touch the '!' icon at the lower left to quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur.
Here's a screenshot with the note names enabled and MIDI controls active while playing:
Rotate the iPad to portrait orientation to display the help screen:
On the iPad, touch any of the green highlighted links to go directly to webpages with additional information about iJammer and Jammer-style controllers.
iJammer requires two pieces of software to do its job. The first is the iJammer app itself, running on your iPad.
The other is a small free open-source DSWiFiMIDI server application that you run on your PC or Mac before launching iJammer.
The server application receives the MIDI messages from iJammer via WiFi, and sends them along to either an external MIDI interface or a loopback MIDI driver to talk to software synthesizers running on the same computer.
Please read the instructions below for information on downloading and installing the open-source DSMIDIWiFi server application for your system.
For the most reliable performance with the lowest possible latency, I highly recommend that you connect the PC or Mac to the wireless access point that will be used by the iPad via a wired ethernet cable rather than use wireless for both the computer and the iPad. The computer and wireless gateway that the iPad is connected to must be on the same network.
To get the full benefit of using iJammer, you should be familiar with the use of MIDI control surfaces, hardware and/or software VST synthesizers.
If you have any concern about the compatibility of iJammer with your own MIDI setup, I recommend first testing with one of these free DSMIDIWiFi-based apps available on the iTunes App Store before purchasing iJammer:
You may play along with tunes in your iPad's music library by starting a track using the iPad iPod app, then launching iJammer.
Installing the LoopBe1 MIDI Loopback Driver
To communicate with your Windows MIDI applications such as software synthesizers or sequencers, the DSMIDIWiFi Server needs a MIDI Loopback driver to send the data through to your application. If you have a hardware MIDI interface, and only want to directly control external MIDI synthesizers with iJammer, the loopback driver is not required and you can skip down to the section below on installing the DSMIDIWiFi server.
For non-commercial use, there is a free MIDI loopback driver called "LoopBe1" available from nerds.de (click on the image for more information):
The download page for LoopBe1 on nerds.de is at:
The LoopBe1 installer is available for download at the bottom of that page. Click the link that says "Download setuploopbe1.exe"
Save the file to your hard drive and then run "setuploopbe1.exe" to install the loopback driver.
Download and Install the DSMIDIWiFi Server:
1. Please download the DSMI server installer for Windows from the DSMI Project Page on Google Code (click the image):
The file to download is labeled "dsmidiwifi-v1.01.zip - DSMI server for Windows"
2. Save the file "dsmidiwifi-v1.01.zip" to your hard drive.
3. Open the .zip archive by double-clicking on the downloaded file.
4. Copy all the files in the .zip archive to your desktop or another folder. This includes the DSMIDIWiFi.exe application and several supporting .dll files.
Running the DSMIDIWifi Server and Connecting via MIDI to your Music Programs:
1. Running the server is very easy, simply double-click the DSMIDIWiFi.exe application in the destination folder where you previously copied the unzipped files.
2. Select the MIDI Loopback driver as the MIDI output in the DSMIDI Server.
3. In your Windows MIDI application, select the loopback driver as your MIDI input.
4. Make sure your iPhone/iTouch is connected over WiFi and you should now be able to send MIDI data to your desktop applications.
Running the DSMIDIWifi Server and Connecting via MIDI to Hardware Synthesizers:
1. If you have a hardware MIDI interface on your computer connected to external hardware MIDI sythesizers, you may play them directly from your iPad. No additional loopback driver is required.
2. In the DSMIDIWiFi.exe Server application, select your hardware MIDI interface output port that is connected to the hardware synthesizers.
3. Please check that the hardware synthesizer is set to receive on the MIDI channel iJammer is transmitting on (Left side on channel 1, right side on channel 2 by default).
Download and Install the DSMIDIWiFi Server:
1. Please download the DSMI server installer for Mac OS X from the DSMI Project Page on Google Code (click the image):
The file to download is labeled "dsmidiwifi-v1.02.dmg - DSMI Server for OSX"
2. Open the .dmg file by double clicking on the downloaded file.
3. Locate the DSMIDIWifi Server program file and copy it to your Applications folder
Running the DSMIDIWifi Server and Connecting via MIDI to your Music Programs:
1. Running the server is very easy, just double-click the DSMIDIWifi program in your Applications folder to start.
2. When the server is running, your MIDI capable applications will show a MIDI in port called "DSMIDIWifi-out". Choose this as your MIDI input.
3. Make sure your iPhone/iTouch is connected over WiFi and you should now be able to send MIDI data to your desktop applications.
Running the DSMIDIWifi Server and Connecting via MIDI to Hardware Synthesizers:
1. If you have a hardware MIDI interface on your computer connected to external hardware MIDI sythesizers, you may play them directly from your iPad.
2. In the DSMIDIWiFi Server application, select your hardware MIDI interface output port that is connected to the hardware synthesizers.
3. Please check that the hardware synthesizer is set to receive on the MIDI channel iJammer is transmitting on (Left side on channel 1, right side on channel 2 by default).
FAQ:
Q: What do you use as a hardware setup for portable use?
A: I use an older Windows XP based laptop (Pentium M based) and a small WiFi router that I connect to the laptop via Ethernet. LoopBe1 is installed on the laptop for MIDI loopback. I found this much simpler and more robust than trying to setup an Ad-Hoc WiFi network. I set the WiFi access point up with the SSID "DSMIDIWiFi" and then connect my iPhone via WiFi.I then run the DSMIDIWiFi program on the laptop and launch my software synth programs.
Q: I'm using iJammer on Windows with the default "Microsoft GW Wavetable SW Synth" and the latency is very high, what's wrong?
A: That isn't anything having to do with iJammer, that's because the Microsoft GS synth wasn't designed for realtime playback. iJammer really is intended for use with low latency VST software synths and/or hardware MIDI modules, I've tested on both of those configurations and have extremely low latency.
Q: I'm getting dropped notes and very bad latency, what can I do?
A: If your computer is connected to the network via a wireless adapter, try switching to a wired ethernet connection. The most reliable performance and lowest latency can only be acheived if the PC or Mac is connected to the network via a hardware ethernet interface. This is particularly true for older/slower laptops.
Q: I'm on a Windows system and nothing is working! Help!
A: Make sure that you don't have the Windows Firewall blocking data from getting to DSMIDIWiFi or the LoopBe1 driver. Also check that no other network-aware components, such as realtime network virus scanners are filtering or interfering with the flow of data from the network to the DSMIDIWiFi server.
Q: Can I play along with music on my iPad?
A: Yes, you can play along with tunes in your iPad's music library by starting a track using the iPad iPod app, then launching iJammer. While the music is playing you can double click the home button to bring up the iPod music controls.
Using the iPad's Settings app, under General/Home, enable the "iPod Controls" setting to allow you to bring up the iPod music control panel by double-clicking the home button while the app is running.
Q: Where can I learn more about how to play the instrument?
A: Jim Plamondon and Ken Rushton's websites are the definitive starting point for all things having to do with Jammer-style controllers:
Ken Rushton - Music Science Guy
There is also a very good background article on Wikipedia:
Future Plans:
I am very interested in any suggestions for features or improvements to iJammer for future updates, please drop me an email anytime with your ideas!
More Apps to Enjoy:
A huge thank you to Jim Plamondon, Steve Belknap, and Ken Rushton for their inspiration and guidance during the development of iJammer.
For more information, please contact Michael Eskin or visit the Tradlessons.com website:
