MIDI Settings Menu

The MIDI Settings screen gathers everything the OnSong^® app does with MIDI into one place: the devices it connects to, the tempo it shares with them, the events it sends while you play, how it responds to messages arriving from elsewhere, and what it puts on screen so you can watch any of it happen.

Connections

This area manages MIDI system activation and how you connect MIDI devices to OnSong through wired and wireless transports.

• MIDI Enabled toggles whether OnSong transmits or receives MIDI data
• Sources displays active CoreMIDI input devices; tap to adjust which devices OnSong accepts MIDI from
• Destinations shows enabled output devices; tap to control which devices receive MIDI from OnSong
• Bluetooth MIDI pairs wireless MIDI devices, which was previously reachable only from an icon in the Sources and Destinations screens
• Network Session connects to other machines over Wi-Fi using a CoreMIDI network session
• Virtual MIDI permits direct communication between OnSong and other iOS applications via virtual MIDI port

Beat Sync

Synchronization tools align the tempo and phase between OnSong and other products, and feed everything that follows the beat clock. Ableton Link leads the section because it’s the alternative to MIDI clock rather than a different subject.

• Ableton Link joins a Link session with other apps and devices on the network, with no pairing and no cables
• MIDI Clock aligns tempo with connected devices using 24 clock signals per beat. Its Sync Mode covers both directions — Lead sends a high-accuracy clock at the viewed song’s tempo, Follow adopts an incoming clock’s tempo, and Both does each — which is where the old Listen ▸ For Tempo setting now lives. Behavior decides whether the clock plays continuously or stops without tempo, and Time Adjustment modifies MIDI clock speed
• Tap configures “tap for tempo” style MIDI event transmission
• Tempo assigns a channel for control change-based tempo transmission (CC 106/107)
• Time Signature shares the meter as a standard notation message; Follow adopts a meter sent by another device, Lead sends OnSong’s

Playback

Manages how MIDI files are played and when MIDI events are sent.

• Play MIDI Notes Through designates where MIDI note events route during backing track playback. Multi-Channel Setup, in that screen’s toolbar, assigns a destination per channel instead of one for everything
• Send MIDI Events To designates where control events route. Basic Playback Setup returns it to the single-destination arrangement
• Song MIDI Events sends MIDI start, stop, and continue commands to external devices, so tapping the Audio Button in the Live Bar will not only start a backing track but start the connected gear with it
• Chord Note Events plays the chords in a song through optional sound banks or transmits them via MIDI to connected destinations by selecting a channel
• Velocity sets chord playback velocity, which defaults to 64; adjust higher for louder or lower for softer playback

Control

Determines how OnSong responds to incoming MIDI, including the channel it follows for chords and how controller values are applied.

• Follow Chords analyzes note events to detect and insert chords in the Song Editor. When turned on, you can place your text cursor in the Song Editor and play a chord on a keyboard to write it into the chart
• Use absolute adjustments interprets raw MIDI values (0-127) directly instead of relative positioning, and is used when performing Variable Actions

Broadcast

This send song information using OnSong System Exclusive messages for tighter integration with apps. You can learn more about how to implement these messages in their own products using our Broadcast SysEx API

Display Events

Flashes MIDI events onto the screen to make them more visible.

• Chord Events flashes detected chords on screen
• Control Events displays CC activity
• Note Events shows Note On/Off messages
• Program Changes indicates program and bank select changes
• Sequence Events displays start, stop, continue events
• One-Based Index (1-128) shifts display numbering from 0-127 to 1-128
• MIDI Note Start selects Middle C reference standard (Yamaha C3 or Roland C4)