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need it? As software is becoming more complex, the limitations of MIDI are starting to become apparent; OSC was designed to overcome most of these limitations. But it is still MIDI that is most useful in studio environments. Luckily, every object in the Lemur interface can be assigned to create MIDI messages, and those messages can be routed to your systems in a few different ways. The most common way to interface the MIDI output of the Lemur to the rest of your studio is through a wireless network connection. The Lemur can communicate to a computer (using the Lemur Daemon) fairly easily; you just have to set up the connection on the iOS device, and you will see MIDI available at the Daemon’s virtual MIDI ports. Setting up a secure and stable wireless connection can be a little sketchy. In my experience, you can connect through a home or studio wireless router, but will probably experience undesirable latency and drop-outs. A more stable connection can be created using an ad-hoc network, where a point-to-point connection is established between your iOS device and a computer. This works much better, although making sure that the connection stays open can still be an occasional problem... and some Windows computers can develop significant processor-load spikes if they have wireless running, although this problem is by no means Lemur’s fault! Another option available with the iOS version of the Lemur (and not available on the original Lemur hardware) is a directly wired MIDI connection. If you use a MIDI conversion tool (like the iConnectivity iConnectMIDI, reviewed December 2012) or an Apple Camera Connection Kit and MIDI interface, you can have your iOS device talk directly to MIDI with a simple MIDI connection. I didn’t initially realize this was an option; once I found it, this became my go-to way of having the Lemur talk to my MIDI gear. It is rock-solid stable, never suffers connection problems, and has turned the Lemur into a major addition to my recording and performance rigs. When it comes to available interfaces, the Lemur (probably due to its longevity) has a significant amount of user-created content. The Liine forum has a good group of sharing users, and Liine itself is active in creating interfaces to share. These templates range from simple Ableton-focused control surfaces to full-fledged data-generating programs, all of which are useful tools as well as great starting points for your own work. The ability to use other people’s work is actually a critical advantage for the Lemur.
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The documentation, while complete, is also rather daunting, and searching the docs for simple answers can be a little tough. These shared interfaces also can help you when making your own control surface, since it is easy to examine how someone else was able to accomplish a particular control function. If you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of the Lemur app. It combines a solid control system with extensive flexibility, and its connection options mean that you will be able to find a way to use it no matter what your application might be. If you are in a mood to learn how to do some basic programming, you will find it one of the most effective ways to create a custom user interface for any MIDI hardware or software you might want to support. [Editor’s Note: In the “just our luck” department, on the day we were to ship this magazine, Liine announced a new version of Lemur with In-App Editing added to the computer-based Editor. Most other features remain as reviewed.—MM]

AppBC touchAble
$24.99; www.touch-able.com

The popularity of Ableton’s Live software has brought about many Live-focused control devices. While dedicated hardware may be an efficient way to interact with Live, it isn’t the most space- or cost-efficient way to add a controller into your studio. But if you already have an Apple iPad, you might find that “There’s an App for That”—Christian Blomert’s touchAble. Quite simply, touchAble provides a mobile interface for many of the elements found on the Ableton Live display. The app provides much more than simple clip launching; it also interacts with the on-screen mixer, effects and devices, and can be used to create MIDI input for use by instruments and drum racks. There are a few limitations. One is that it only works with the Session View of Live, so you are out of luck if you spend most of your time in the Arrangement View. Another issue is that there is no file browser view, so you can’t use the app to create a session from clips in your library. However, if you are willing to work within these limitations, touchAble provides unprecedented visualization and control of the software. The touchAble software requires a connection with Live—but how do we do this? It’s all about taking advantage of the networking capabilities of the iPad, along with some tricks done on the host computer. Since Live itself doesn’t have any concept of a networked controller interface, the touchAble folks have created a small application (called the touchAble Server) that runs on the host, and a script that is installed into the Live library. This script allows the touchAble Server to appear as a standard controller device to Live; once installed, having touchAble control your Live session is as simple (and stable) as any other controller. Once the touchAble Server is installed on your system (and you start and configure Live), you need to make a connection between your iPad and your host computer. touchAble is able to search the network that the iPad is connected to for a suitable host; if one is found, you select that host and roll. As with any networking interface, running this software over a standard network might have too much latency to be useful; when

http://www.touch-able.com

Recording - February 2013

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