s90 to ipad/garageband issue

[fgalea44]

Hello to all the world! Great to be with you.
I'm trying to get something going between my S90 and iPad
but after making my bluetooth connection it looks good but
playing the keyboard there is no response on iPad.
Is there something I have to turn on in the synth? I've read
much of the S90 manual but come up empty.
I'd really appreciate if someone would clue me in.
Thanks for your interest....fg

 

[SeaGtGruff]

You say the S90. Do you mean the Yamaha S90 synthesizer? I wasn't aware that it even has Bluetooth connectivity. Are you using some sort of Bluetooth adapter? And if so, what adapter are you using?

EDIT-- And I forgot to say: Welcome to the forums!

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

I am unsure of what you are trying to achieve.

Personally I would not consider any Bluetooth music activity except MP3 playback in my home or car.

Can you make a physical connection via the Apple Camera Adaptor and a USB cable and see if it functions OK.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I've never used Bluetooth for connecting a keyboard to a computer or tablet, but everything I've heard about it leads me to believe that the range (distance) isn't great, and that the connections can be spotty or slow.

But I know there are different kinds of Bluetooth adapters-- MIDI-only, audio-only, and I suppose data-only (such as for doing file transfers)-- depending on what kind of jack the adapter is made to plug into and what kind of data the driver is designed to process.

 

[fgalea44]

You say the S90. Do you mean the Yamaha S90 synthesizer? I wasn't aware that it even has Bluetooth connectivity. Are you using some sort of Bluetooth adapter? And if so, what adapter are you using?

EDIT-- And I forgot to say: Welcome to the forums!

Thanks so much!
I am using a Yamaha S90 synthesizer with a Bluetooth device plugged into MINI ports, in & out.
With GarageBand app on my iPad, the signal is being received fine but when I play the keyboard nothing
happens. It should be coming out of the iPad at this point. Any ideas?

 

[fgalea44]

Welcome.

I am unsure of what you are trying to achieve.

Personally I would not consider any Bluetooth music activity except MP3 playback in my home or car.

Can you make a physical connection via the Apple Camera Adaptor and a USB cable and see if it functions OK.

Thanks Biggles for the friendly welcome and for the reply.
What I’m trying to do is use my iPad and GarageBand app to process MIDI signal for the Yamaha S90 synth.
I seem to be missing something, though. Perhaps I need to reset something in the system?!
I will try what you asked about a physical connection. That makes good sense. Thanks again!

 

[Ted Nicoson]

I think this is what fg is talking about. It looks like a bluetooth version of a USB-to-5-pin-DIN-MIDI adapter. From the S90's point of view, it should look the same as a cable (wired) version. That is to say, on the keyboard side of the adapter, 5 pin MIDI is 5 pin MIDI, regardless of whether the other side of the adapter is a cable or a bluetooth wireless link. So the age of the S90 should make no difference, as it was designed to work with 5 pin MIDI

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/yamaha-md-bt01-wireless-bluetooth-5-pin-midi-adapter

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/music_production/accessories/md-bt01/index.html


fg:

Go into the S90's MIDI set up and make sure that MIDI is turned on, and make sure that the S90 is transmitting on the same MIDI channel that Garageband is looking for. As for the other direction, I think iPad Garageband still does not transmit MIDI. I think it is still MIDI receive only. BTW, is this the original S90 or the S90ES or the S90XS? Also, do a YouTube search on your specific adapter model number. It looks like there are some hints and tips videos out there for some of the adapter models. I think Biggles' point is that, when it comes to music performance, bluetooth has a pretty bad reputation for excess latency, so good luck with it.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I'm wondering if the problem isn't that the MIDI's not being received, but rather that there's nothing selected in GarageBand (that is, a virtual instrument) for the MIDI to control. GarageBand won't play sounds all by itself just because MIDI is being sent to the iPad; a MIDI track-- or virtual instrument track, whatever GarageBand calls it-- must be added to the current project in GarageBand, the S90 (or Bluetooth adapter) must be selected as the MIDI IN source for the track, some virtual instrument must be selected as the MIDI OUT destination, and the track itself may need to be enabled or activated in some way so the MIDI IN data is actively put through to the MIDI OUT instrument. I'm not terribly familiar with GarageBand, so I'm not sure what the steps are.

 

[Biggles]

Let us see if it is all connected.

With everything on start Garage Band.

Tap on the Spanner (wrench) icon

Then Tap on Advanced.

The Tap on Bluetooth MIDI devices.

Do a screen capture on your iPad and post it together with what you a brief comment on what you can see and hear.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

Whenever I connect one of my boards to my iPad-3 and start Garageband, Garageband automatically defaults to MIDI Channel-1 and its premier Acoustic Grand Piano Voice, without me selecting anything else. The very first board I ever connected it to was my Casio WK-225 that I bought at Best Buy along with the iPad for exactly that purpose. I just connected it, started Garageband and got the Grand Piano voice. Garageband on the iPad is pretty much a "for beginners" plug and play system. There's not a lot of set up to do. I think that's where a lot of more experienced folks get disappointed with Garageband on the iPad. They are expecting a full-fledged DAW, and it's really not.

 

[b3maniac]

If you're using aYamaha wireless Midi Adapter P/n MD-BT01 READ THIS, if not disregard. FWIW - I have this bluetooth adapter which plugs into both the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT ports. It getsit'power frpm the keyboard MIDI BUS. I had trouble with it not working with my Yamaha S80 and Motif ES. However it works fine with my Casio PX-5S. I believe my MB-BT01 was not getting bus power from the 2 older keyboards (but not sure). Here is some info quoted from another user site:

"The two important "issues" for you to be aware of before buying the MD-BT01 are: (1) It requires MIDI power and both the IN and OUT jacks; and (2) iOS Bluetooth doesn't recognize it natively, so Yamaha has engineered a software workaround. The device runs off the power of the hardware you plug it into IF your device offers MIDI power. There are more units than you'd think that do not have MIDI power. This would include all of the Korg Volca series, which only has a MIDI in jack. By contrast, the Korg Minilogue and Roland Boutique series do provide MIDI power to run the device.

Once powered up, you can't just go to your Bluetooth menu in "Settings" and find the MD-BT01. You have download Yamaha's utility app to find the device and connect to it. You can also rename the unit or do firmware updates from that utility. As several reviewers have pointed out, I think you also have to identify it as a MIDI destination in an app that supports it. There are several of these, but I found that if I skipped this step, I couldn't just load up a sequencer app (like Inifinite Looper or Xequence) and make the connection. But once it works, it generally works.

I should point out that my primary concern prior to buying the device - latency - really isn't much of an issue at all. The latency seems pretty minimal, and if you're just using the MIDI connection for sequencing or to mess with control parameters on a synth, it's basically a non-factor anyway. "
Good luck! Don aka B3

 

[fgalea44]

Hello to all the world! Great to be with you.
I'm trying to get something going between my S90 and iPad
but after making my bluetooth connection it looks good but
playing the keyboard there is no response on iPad.
Is there something I have to turn on in the synth? I've read
much of the S90 manual but come up empty.
I'd really appreciate if someone would clue me in.
Thanks for your interest....fg

So....I finally spotted the problem! My bluetooth device was fine as I could see the link to my keyboard was recognized on my iPad.
All I needed was to select MIDI as opposed to USB in the S90's Utility menu. I'm up and running and very glad I found good people
willing to walk me through this minor maze. Mucho appreciative of all! Thank you. fg