DrumMapMidi

App for iPhone and iPad

   

Tap Out Basic Drum Patterns with Two Fingers

Why This Design

DrumMapMidi was designed for a very simple reason — to create a different way to play basic drum patterns on an iPad (or iPhone) screen.

Playing basic patterns on a drum kit usually require two hands and at least one foot. (The foot plays the bass drum, the right hand plays the hi-hat, and the left hand plays the snare.)

There are some cool drum set apps for iPads (with beautiful images), but playing them accurately can be a challenge.

The problem is this. You can easily tap on the hi-hat and snare, but trying to tap on the bass drum (at exactly the right time) while also playing hi-hat and snare — that can be harder.

Then the thought came: the bass drum is quite often played at the same time as the hi-hat. Why not trigger two sounds at once? Maybe one button could trigger both the hi-hat and the bass drum at the same time?

So I set up several rows of buttons with one important idea: some of the buttons play more than one sound.

Notice the four highlighted buttons in the following image. The hi-hat and bass have been assigned to one button. The hi-hat and snare have been assigned to another. The hi-hat played alone is on two different buttons. This design makes it much easier to play a variety of patterns with just one or two fingers.

Mobirise

This video demonstrates playing a number of basic patterns. 

DrumMapMidi — Demonstration Video
The Rhyming Introduction

(Note: the price is now free.)

Setup Details

Audio

When DrumMapMidi opens, a collection of audio sounds is assigned to the playing buttons. This allows you to get started, or explore when you have only a few minutes to play, but the main reason DrumMapMidi was designed is to play General MIDI drum kits in other apps by sending MIDI information to them.

Setting Up the MIDI Connection

When sending midi to another app, the usual setup process is:
1 - Open the other app first and select a drum kit.
2 - Play a few drums to make sure you hear them playing.
3 - Find the setting for "Background Audio" and make sure it's on.
4 - The MIDI channel should be set to 1. (You can use a different MIDI channel if you also set DrumMapMidi to send on the same channel.)
5 - Finally, open DrumMapMidi. Opening DrumMapMidi last establishes the MIDI connection.
6 - Note: if you open DrumMapMidi first, and the other app later, you can touch "All Off" to open the MIDI connection to recently opened apps.
7 - Turn Audio off and MIDI on.
8 - Important Note: some apps require a MIDI bridge before the MIDI information will flow. In these situations, the MIDI bridge app I use is a free one called FreEWI (by Audeonic Apps). I open FreEWI and just leave it running in the background. Here's an example scenario.

Example: GarageBand has some great-sounding acoustic drum sets, but it requires a MIDI bridge to "hear" the instructions coming from DrumMapMidi. If you set up one of the drum sets on a channel in GarageBand, and also open FreEWI (leaving it on and running in the background), then when you open DrumMapMidi the MIDI signals will be sent to FreEWI and then over to GarageBand.

Applications

What You Can Do with This App

1 - When You Have a Couple Minutes

If you have a couple minutes here or there, you can open DrumMapMidi and tap out some simple drum patterns.

2 - When You Have Time to Set It Up

You can send MIDI to another app. Here are two more examples.

The app bs-16i has several drum kits, and Cubasis 2 has an instrument called "Micro Sonic" which has more than 20 drum kits. When you create a midi track in Cubasis 2, and load one of the kits from Micro Sonic into a track, you can play the kit using DrumMapMidi as the controller.

(Note: if DrumMapMidi is already open, touch the "All Off" button in the top row. This will open the midi connection to recently opened synth apps.)

Enjoy Playing Drums!

© Copyright 2020 Stephen Mugglin
info @ mugglinworks.com
DrumMapMidi is part of MugglinWorks.com.


‌

Offline Website Creator