MPEdie vs Sketch Tunes

MPEdie is an MPE keyboard controller for iPhone and iPad. It makes no sound: it plays whatever instrument you send it to, and it gives every note its own MIDI channel — so every note bends, breathes and changes timbre on its own. On an ordinary keyboard a bend moves the whole chord. Here it moves one note. APP AND AUv3 Run it standalone and send MIDI to other apps on the device, to Bluetooth gear or over Wi-Fi. Or load it as an AUv3 MIDI plugin in your host and route it straight to an MPE instrument. FOUR PLAYING SURFACES • PIANO — the keyboard your hands know. Sliding follows the pitch under the finger, not the width of the key. • ISOMORPHIC — a grid where a chord shape is the same in every key. Rows, columns and row interval are yours to set. • RIBBON — one continuous strip, nothing to land on. You choose how many semitones fit across it. • SCALE GRID — the same grid, with only the notes of the chosen scale. Nothing out of key by accident. Fourteen scales, any root, split the surface in two with its own layout and octave on the right. EVERY FINGER MOVEMENT IS ROUTABLE A matrix of seven destinations — bend, timbre, pressure, strike, lift and two free CCs — and eight sources: sideways glide, absolute or relative position in the key, contact area, force, time held, or a fixed value. Each link has a curve, a gain, an offset and an invert. And an honest answer about pressure: iOS glass does not measure how hard you press. It measures contact area. MPEdie can send that, and it says so instead of pretending — it is one tap away in the matrix, and the factory default is a gesture you can predict. BUILT TO AGREE WITH THE RECEIVER Lower, upper or split zones. Member channel counts. Per-note and master bend ranges. RPN sent to every member channel when your instrument needs it. Channel pressure or poly aftertouch. Any timbre CC. Channel stealing by oldest or quietest, with a cooldown. One button resends the MPE zone setup to an instrument loaded after you. UNDER THE HANDS PANIC that also lifts the pedal. Octave and key count. Four glide modes — continuous, snap, locked, per-note lock. Pitch, modulation and volume strips, with a spring you can switch off. Two assignable XY pads. Sustain, momentary or latching. Latch, with held notes drawn apart so a stuck note never looks like a played one. Bank select and program change, sent when you ask and never behind your back. TWENTY-SIX PRESETS Seven folders: keyboards, grids, ribbons, splits, scales, and a Targets family that answers the same question — what does the receiver actually understand? — five different ways. Save your own; they are plain files you can move and share. A FREE COMPANION FOR MAC AND WINDOWS MPEdie Desktop receives the iPad over the network and republishes it as a virtual MIDI port, so your DAW sees MPEdie in its list of MIDI inputs, exactly like a hardware controller. That is the point: an input gets recorded. Arm a track and the DAW writes down the per-note expression — every note's own bend, pressure and timbre — and plays it back. Nothing is installed on the iPad, and no driver on Windows. Free download from the developer's site. The full manual is inside the app. MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) is an open standard published by the MIDI Association and AMEI. MPEdie is MPE-compatible. Diego Capoccitti · 34Audiovisuals · www.diegocapoccitti.it

Sketch Tunes turns drawing into music—and makes learning about pitch, rhythm, and sound feel like play. Pick a color, draw a line, and watch the playhead turn your art into melody. Each color can be its own instrument, or you can record your voice and hear yourself sing every time you draw with that color. It is creative, silly, and surprisingly musical. HOW IT WORKS • Draw on a living pitch grid—higher lines sound higher, lower lines sound lower. • Choose from instrument sets or shuffle for surprise sounds. • Add rhythm and loop your sketches to build songs page by page. • Share your artwork or a full play-through with friends and family. YOUR VOICE, YOUR SOUND Record a short sample for any color and it becomes part of your sketch band. Kids love hearing their own voice (or a funny sound they made) play back as music. It is a hands-on way to explore timbre—how different sounds feel—and to connect what they draw with what they hear. MIDI FOR REAL MUSIC GEAR Turn on MIDI output and Sketch Tunes sends notes to other apps and devices. Connect to keyboards, drum apps, or a home studio setup and your drawings become real MIDI performances. A friendly first step into how digital music tools work together. AUv3 EFFECTS Shape your sound with AUv3 effect plugins on your device. Add reverb, delay, filters, and more to make sketches sparkle, boom, or sound outer-space weird. Draw, listen, tweak, draw again—safe experimentation with no wrong answers. WHY KIDS (AND GROWN-UPS) LOVE IT • No sheet music required—learn by ear and by eye. • Builds intuition for pitch, timing, and cause and effect. • Encourages curiosity and repeat play without a steep learning curve. • Great for rainy-day creativity, music-class demos, or family jam time. Grab your colors, draw a tune, and discover that making music can be as simple as making a picture.