Android App Controlling External Midi Instruments

Yeah, I'm looking for something like this too. In addition, I would like something that can play an mp3 link with a midi file. That way it can play backing tracks for my band and control my pedal board through MIDI cc messages. Any hope?

Jake

 

Most (all?) Android phones do not support USB host mode unfortunately. It's a huge problem and a terrible decision by manufacturers to do this. It's been a requested feature since 2009 with over 2500 people asking for it.

So unless the device you are connecting to recognizes Android as a controller (which I dont think any do other than PCs/Macs) it basically it leaves you with only the option of Bluetooth or WiFi to communicate with other devices.

There are cables out there that do bluetooth->serial conversion. But I do not know what kind of latency is involved. This cable itself may even need to be recognizable as a midi controller.

Here's one page I found where a guy hacked something together:
MIDI over Bluetooth, Part I: Hardware

Actually looks like the guy has a whole series on it: MIDI over Bluetooth, Part VI: Reducing Cost

Looks like a fun project to be honest, and maybe it's worth emailing him to get him to sell the things

Doesn't look like it's something a simple app can handle yet though.

This is one area that Apple has been kicking Android's @$$ over the years:

MIDIPad Turns Your iPad Into A Multi-Touch MIDI Controller Synthtopia



There was a guy who hacked his Nexus one to work as a host though but it involved opening up the innards of the phone and soldering. Bit of an advanced hack, that.

 

Here's another very informative article on what's out there and what's possible.

It seems there's a WiFi device that works pretty well that just came out relatively recently.


Golden Age of Wireless: Korg iOS Sync, Android + MIDI Hardware, Enter Bluetooth MIDI?

The Missing Link : Jabrudian Industries LLC

 

Just as a followup, I was just talking to a friend about this recently and one of the great things about Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) is that you can use the tablets as a USB host.

I'm expecting to see great thing very soon in this space