Sidecar makes all of your iOS music applications better. Here are the
key features of the app.
There are ten pages of MIDI control pads. Each page can send MIDI
events to multiple destinations, and you can configure single notes,
chords, or MIDI CC and PC messages.
Note and chord pads can toggle, or are only on while you touch. You
control note velocity with the horizontal touch position (left is
softer, right is harder). Each
pad can be configured individually.
With MIDI CC messages, you can toggle on touch-value, and use the
pad as a horizontal slider. Map the CC values to a synthesizer that
supports MIDI learn, and you can easily control a variety of parameters
to shape the sound you hear. The pad will display the
last CC value sent (so you can adjust as needed).
Version 1.5 adds a configurable MIDI keyboard. You can switch between
a standard piano layout, or a scale-based layout.
Sidecar is an IAA host; you can add synthesizers to the app, and then
record the audio easily. There are level and pan controls for each app.
Use an ordinary Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard to add a wireless MIDI controller.
Sidecar will take your keystrokes, and can toggle on or off the MIDI pads. The
number keys are mapped to the pads, while the upper QWERTY row selects any
of the ten different groups of pads.
The lower two rows of a QWERTY keyboard are mapped to a piano-style layout,
so that you can play MIDI notes. The lower case Z is mapped to the note C,
the X is mapped to D, and so on. The row "ASDF" is the sharp keys. Sidecar
lets you use an ordinary Bluetooth keyboard as a sophisticated MIDI controller!
You can also use Sidecar as an AUv3 MIDI plug-in, giving you a convenient MIDI controller
by using your ordinary QWERTY keyboard. As long as the AUv3 plug-in window is open,
and has keyboard focus, you can quickly and easily trigger notes or patches on any of
your AUv3 synths.
With
split-screen support on newer iPads, you can use the MIDI controls
of Sidecar simultaneously with working with other split-screen
compatible apps. There are ten
pages of MIDI pads, to trigger notes, chords, program change messages,
or CC messages. And it can even relay incoming MIDI, so that you can
easily redirect a MIDI controller from one synth to another.
Here's a video that will walk you through the app.