bismark m16 vs World Controller

bismark m16 is a MIDI player app that loads SMF (Standard MIDI File) for the GM (General MIDI) specification as Song files. Song files are managed in the "m16" folder of your iCloud Drive and kept in sync across all your iOS / iPadOS devices. You can also bring MIDI files in directly from other apps using "Open in m16" or the Files app. 16 icons across the top of the main screen represent the 16 MIDI channels. Tap once or twice on an icon to mute or solo that channel. Long-press an icon to open the Part editor, where you can adjust volume, pan, reverb send, chorus send and delay send, and choose the instrument for each part. During playback, the icons show live performance information in piano roll, circle or MIDI analyzer view. Along the bottom of the screen are transport buttons and a slider for play/stop, seeking the song position, and changing key and tempo. Now Playing information — including elapsed time and playback state — is also shown on the Lock Screen and in Control Center. m16 supports background MIDI playback, so you can play along on your favorite instrument app while m16 plays the backing track behind it. m16's built-in synthesizer plays through the GeneralUser GS SoundFont. If you'd rather use your own gear, m16 can send its output over CoreMIDI, or Bluetooth MIDI to external modules and other Virtual MIDI compatible apps — and can even hand off playback entirely to bismark's companion synthesizer app, bs-16i, for a wider range of instrument sounds.

World Controller was written to solve a particular problem I encountered in live performance. I needed a way to choose a Digital Performer chunk simultaneously on multiple computers, AND select a corresponding MainStage patch to play live parts against a track. Specifically, World Controller uses a wireless network MIDI session to control Digital Performer and MainStage at the same time. Any Mac Laptop on the same wifi network that subscribes to the wireless MIDI session (set up in Audio MIDI Setup) can respond to commands sent from World Controller, perfect for simultaneous control of multiple computers in a redundant playback situation. You can create a set list that can be edited and re-ordered any way you like. Each set list item provides a button to select a particular Digital Performer chunk, and another button to select a MainStage patch. There are also transport controls for Digital Performer playback as well (sent as Patch change commands to the DP Remote Commands), allowing you to start, stop and rewind the current chunk to zero. This app is optimized for use with these two pieces of software, and it is the missing link for me that enables seamless playback in a complex live performance situation. More features will come in subsequent versions, but right now, all the commands sent wirelessly are patch change commands on channels 15 and 16 (MainStage and DP respectively). Any musician on stage can now run the app and be connected via peer to peer networking to get live updates of the set list. Everybody see the same list and sees what song is cued up to be played next. There's nothing else out there that does this one specific thing!