MIDIRack1.1

MIDIRack is a MIDI toolkit for iPad. Build a custom touch surface from the KB-1 keyboard suite, an all-new sequencer suite, knobs, faders, buttons and more - then unlock a visual MIDI processing graph (one time in-app purchase) and wire it into anything, from a simple custom controller to a full-on groovebox or a self-playing generative composer. Play it on its own and send MIDI anywhere, as an AUv3 plugin in your favourite host or a standalone instrument.

THE BASE APP - PERFORMANCE SURFACE

Design a custom control surface on a snapping grid:

. The KB-1 keyboard suite - piano, diatonic chord pads, scale-locked keyboard, MPE Seaboard ribbon, MPE Strings grid (4ths), and a 4x4 GM drum-pad grid. Each is its own routable node with latch and octave shift. Successor to the KB-1 Expressive Keyboard Suite.
. A suite of sequencers - drum, melody, chord, analog and CC step grids and a Matrix note grid, with a moving playhead, swing and microtiming. Per-step velocity, probability, tie and trigger conditions; pattern chaining and 4-pad scene switching for full arrangements; a knob-per-step analog machine that re-roots live as you play.
. Knobs, faders, XY pads, buttons and live visualizers - bind to raw MIDI CC or graph parameters.

On its own: a rich custom control surface builder - send MIDI and CC to any synth, app or hardware, no graph required.

WITH YOUR DESKTOP DAW

Expressive MPE hardware costs hundreds. MIDIRack turns the iPad you already own into a controller for Logic, Live, Bitwig, Cubase or any desktop DAW:

. Two MPE surfaces - the Seaboard ribbon and the Strings grid send per-note pitch bend, slide and pressure to any MPE-capable instrument on your desk. . A controller that changes per track - MPE ribbon for the lead, drum pads for the beat, chord pads for the progression, faders mapped to CC for a mix move. Rearrange in seconds; save a surface per project. . Sequence it too - clock the step lanes to your DAW and drive its tracks. . Easy to connect - one USB cable to a Mac via IDAM (Inter-Device Audio and MIDI), or wirelessly over Bluetooth MIDI. No driver, no helper app.

UNLOCK - MIDI GRAPH (in-app purchase)

Wire MIDI In → processors → MIDI Out on a visual canvas:

. 60+ node kinds - arpeggiators, scale/key quantizers, transposers, chords, echoes, swing, humanize, euclidean rhythms, random/generative melodies, LFOs, CC tools, an analog knob-per-step sequencer, a Matrix sequencer and a Counter. . Built-in instruments - Synth, Drums, a Sampler and a loop Slicer make sound right in the graph; no external synth required. . Emergence generators - Conway's Game of Life, Turing machine, Wolfram rules, Markov, bouncing balls, Lorenz attractor - for evolving, living patterns. . Presets - factory patches grouped by category (control surfaces, generators, keyboards, utilities): Amen Engine, Starfield, Conway Choir, Turing Bass, Cellular Drums... Save your own.

ROUTING & MPE

. MIDI Out exposes all 16 channels plus an MPE connector - multitimbral, multi-instrument setups. The built-in synth responds to MPE. . Every keyboard is its own node - process and route each one independently.

PLAYS OUT OF THE BOX

. Built-in polyphonic synth, drum kit, sampler & slicer or send MIDI to your gear via CoreMIDI and an always-on virtual port.

Version History Now on iPhone. The app and the AUv3 plug-in run on iPhone in landscape, with a folding menubar, a full-screen lane editor, and a surface thats optimized for the small screen.

New
- Presets sync with iCloud and appear in Files as named .midirackpatch files. Organise them in folders, import and export them.
- Multi-page control surfaces with named pages and page-select buttons.
- Strings grid in any key: pick a root and scale, and glide stays pitch-true.
- Custom drum pad layouts: set every pad's note and label, or learn from your kit.
- Bluetooth MIDI pairing in MIDI Ports.
- Dockable inspector you can float or hide. Inspectors and the surface scroll by scrollbar so sliders never pan the view (switch back in Settings).
- Play from your computer keyboard: QWERTY piano, Z/X octave, C/V velocity, 1–8 and Q–I for drum pads.
- XY mode on the Seaboard and Strings surfaces: left-right sends pressure, up-down sends slide, independently.
- Apple Pencil expression: force plays the keys and pads, and drives pressure separately from slide on the MPE surfaces. Custom response curves per keyboard, with a live preview pad.
- CC pickers list standard controller names.

Fixed
- AUv3 failing to load in some hosts on iOS 18.
- AUv3 fits small host windows: compact chrome, a minimum size, and a scrolling surface.
- Keyboards and sequencer UI at one row high.
- Release bounce when dragging surface controls, and keys triggering through sheets. 1.1 Sep 3 MIDIRack now runs on iPadOS 17.

Apple Pencil
• Pencil force plays the keyboards and pads
• On the expressive surfaces, force drives per-note pressure independently
of slide — two separate expression axes

Presets
• Organize saved patches into folders
• Share patches as files — export, AirDrop, and import

Drum pads
• Give any pad its own note and label, or learn a note from your kit
• Step sequencer note picker is now a named dropdown

Quality of life improvements
• The inspector is a dockable panel you can float or hide, with sliders
that no longer fight with scrolling
• In small AUv3 host windows, the chrome, preset browser, and lanes
fit themselves to the space
• New app settings for launch behavior, session restore, and haptics

Fixes
• Keyboards no longer go silent or trigger the wrong key after a resize
• Keys no longer play through open sheets and panels
• Two touches on one key now sound as two independent voices
• Step lane value drags stay pinned to the step you started on
• Fixed a bounce when releasing a dragged control
• The graph editor keeps its viewport and ignores stray taps while pinching 1.0.2 Aug 27 • Fix sequencer lane switch buttons not responding to touches
• Standalone: autosave the working patch and restore it on launch
• Add a MIDI panic button (all notes off, transport untouched)
• Node reference in the inspector;
• Add per-device MIDI input nodes (standalone): route streams by origin
• Add a CC Filter node: pass or block selected CC numbers
• Add MIDI Learn: drive surface controls from external hardware
• LFO/Clock Free mode runs at a true Hz rate, not a tempo-scaled division 1.0.1 Aug 24 1.0 Aug 20