MIDI Forge — Support
Getting started
- Unlock the mixer. Tap the lock icon in the top bar. Building a setup — adding strips, adding inserts, renaming, reordering — happens in edit mode. Lock it again to perform.
- Add a strip. Tap + at the bottom right and pick a type: MIDI Strip for an instrument or controller, OSC Strip for network control, HID Strip for a game controller, or a Process strip to tap another strip’s signal.
- Choose an input. Tap the source well at the top of the strip and pick your device and channel. Routing stays editable whether the mixer is locked or not, so you can re-patch mid-set.
- Add inserts. Tap + on the strip to add processing — an arpeggiator, a sequencer, an LFO, an envelope, a filter. Tap an insert to edit it, long-press to bypass it, swipe left to delete it.
- Send it somewhere. Tap the destination well at the bottom and pick a MIDI device, another app, or an OSC destination.
Inserts
How do I reorder inserts?
In edit mode, drag the handle on the left of any insert row. New inserts are placed by category — generators, transforms, filters, modulation, utilities — which is usually what you want, but you can put the chain in any order from there. Two positions are fixed: the HID Source head stays first so it sees the controller untouched, and the MIDI and OSC senders stay last so they see everything the chain produced.
Why won’t an insert let me add another one?
Each category has a budget per strip, and a few inserts are limited to one — the HID Source head, the senders, and the Gate. The add menu greys out anything you’ve run out of room for.
What does the DIN icon on an insert mean?
That insert generates MIDI. Anything without it can shape and route data, but cannot create notes or CCs of its own.
Game controllers
How do I connect one?
Pair it to your iPad the normal way, in iOS Settings, then add a HID Strip. The HID Source insert at the top of the chain lists every stick, trigger, and button it can see, with live values. Enable the controls you want and ignore the rest.
How do I use one control for one thing?
Every insert below the head binds to a single control — open the insert and pick its source. That way one stick axis can be smoothed while a trigger fires an envelope and a button toggles a gate, all on the same strip.
My button only works while held. Can I latch it?
Yes. In the insert’s source binding, set the button behaviour: Momentary reads 1 while held, Toggle flips a latch on each press, and Trigger fires once per press however long you hold it.
How do I get notes out of a controller?
Add the HID-MIDI insert. It sits at the end of the chain and turns what the chain produced into notes and CCs — one row per source, each sending either a CC sweep or a gated note, with velocity and pitch optionally taken from other controls.
Working with other apps
Can other apps on my iPad see MIDI Forge?
Yes. MIDI Forge publishes itself as a virtual MIDI port called MIDI Forge, so any app that lists MIDI devices can send to it and receive from it. In MIDI Forge’s own pickers those appear as From Other Apps (as an input source) and To Other Apps (as a destination).
How do I sync with Logic Pro for iPad?
Logic transmits MIDI clock only to ports you switch it on for, and it’s a per-project setting. In Logic, open Project Settings → Synchronization → MIDI and enable the Clock switch for MIDI Forge. Then in MIDI Forge, tap the sync menu in the top bar, choose Follower, and set the clock source to From Other Apps.
How do I sync with GarageBand?
GarageBand listens to MIDI sources rather than publishing its own, so set MIDI Forge as the clock leader and let GarageBand follow, or drive GarageBand’s instruments directly by setting a strip’s destination to To Other Apps.
Clock and sync
How do I follow an external clock?
Tap the sync menu in the top bar, choose Follower, and pick the clock source — the specific port your clock arrives on, or Any Port if you’re not sure. Transport follows the incoming Start, Stop, and Continue messages.
How do I send MIDI clock to my hardware?
In the same menu, switch on clock output and choose the destination. MIDI Forge sends 24 PPQN clock plus transport messages whenever it is the clock leader.
Does the clock keep running when I switch apps?
Yes, as long as Run in Background is on in Settings — it is by default. Turn it off to save battery, and the app will be suspended in the background, which stops clock output until you return to it.
OSC
Nothing is arriving from my OSC sender.
Check three things: the strip’s OSC source is enabled, the port number matches what your sender is aimed at, and the address pattern matches what it is sending — the default is / followed by the strip name. The green dot on the source panel lights when address-matched OSC arrives, which tells you the network side is working.
Where do I set the destination?
On the strip’s destination well. Enter the IP address and port of the machine you’re sending to; MIDI Forge only ever sends to the addresses you enter.
Presets
What gets saved?
A preset stores the whole mixer — every strip, insert, control assignment, and the tempo. A strip preset saves one strip as a reusable unit you can recall onto any compatible strip. An insert preset saves a single insert’s settings to drop into another chain.
What is the orange dot on the preset bar?
It means you’ve edited the strip since loading its preset. Tap Update to overwrite that preset, or Save As to make a new one.
Still stuck?
Email support@ocodedesign.com. Tell us what happened, what you were connecting to, and what device you’re on, and we’ll get back to you.
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