A New Way to Use your iPhone, iPod or iPad to Control Your Player Piano

 

Compiled by Carol Beigel, RPT  December 2016

 

 

Imagine being able to use your iPhone to control your electronic player piano from another room in your house; set up playlists instead of needing to change the floppy disk often, and play thousands of free songs as well as the songs on the floppy disks you own.

 

You will need MIDI files, a player app from the App Store, and a MIDI interface suitable for your equipment as outlined below.


Android platforms are not supported here.

 

To see more background on MIDI files, player software, MIDI interfaces, and MIDI players, check out my website:  http://www.midiplayertools.com

 

 

MIDI Adapters or Interfaces

 

Thanks to the Internet of Things, new wireless Bluetooth MIDI adapters are now available for about $50. And it does not seem to matter how old your electronic player is, or what brand, these devices seem to work on any player with both a MIDI In and MIDI Out port. There is also a wireless Bluetooth adapter for devices with a USB MIDI port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If using either the Yamaha MD-BT01 or UD-BT01, also download the free utility to upgrade them from the App Store called Yamaha UD-BT01 Utility – US

 

For MIDI Players with only a MIDI In port, a wired interface must be used.

 

This very informative PDF file by TimewarpWarp Technologies found at:  http://www.timewarptech.com/hcx-resources.php  describes all the wireless and wired MIDI interfaces and connectors you might need.

 

 

 

MIDI Files

 

MIDI files (.mid) are data files.  They have no sound of their own.  To hear them, the data must be sent to a tone generator or the keys of your player piano.  Whatever data is on Channel 1 or 2 plays your piano keys.  If your MIDI file is not a piano only performance, then MIDI data in channels reserved for other instruments such as violins, guitars, horns, etc. can be moved to channel 1 or 2 so you can hear it played on your piano.

 

You can get free MIDI files from many websites on the internet.  Not all of them are suitable for playing on your piano because the volume is set too loud or the data is not on Channels 1 or 2 to play your piano keys.  There is software available to edit those files.  Referenced here are some sites for piano-only MIDIs.

 

http://midiplayertools.com/midifiles   This folder has a few songs in the categories, Holiday, Classical, Misc. and Ragtime.  More interesting links found in other parts of that website.

 

http://www.piano-midi.de/   This is the Classical Piano Midi Page of Bernd Krueger with over 300 files

 

Retrieving MIDI files from your floppy disks

 

The floppy disks that came with your piano, and the ones you purchased, contain MIDI files in a proprietary format.  You must use special software to back them up to standard MIDI files that you can copy to your computer and/or use in playlist software.  Your computer will not see these floppy disks without using special software.  An external floppy disk drive can be used with a Windows computer.  The best software currently is PPFBU (Player Piano Floppy Disk Backup Utility.  You can download it from http://www.kinura.net/ppfbu

 

 

 

MIDI Player Software Apps

 

Now that you have acquired a library of MIDI files, you need Player software that sees your device and is able to make Playlists. Both of these apps can be found in the App Store.

 

Should the file not play properly, i.e. after a software update, shut down the system.  Unplug the MIDI interface, then plug it back in.  Completely turn off the iPhone, then turn it back on.

 

Sweet MIDI Player

 

The free version does not play the last quarter of the song.  The full version, $15, comes with a MIDI sequencer so you can change the speed and volume of the file being played as well the tracks that play on your piano.

 

NOTE:  the mobile device MUST be held in landscape mode to see the Settings Tab!!!!

 

 

From the Settings tab, scroll down to Sound.  For Output Type, choose CORE MIDI.  For MIDI Output, choose BLUETOOTH MIDI, then the name of your interface, i.e., MD-BT01.  Make sure Bluetooth is turned on for your iPhone and that the interface is seen.  In the OTHER SETTINGS tab, check that MIDI Input is set to your interface if necessary.

 

Put your library of MIDI files on your iCloud Drive or Dropbox so they are accessible and can be downloaded to Sweet MIDI Player.  Whatever MIDI files have been downloaded into Sweet MIDI Player can be sorted into Playlists.

 

Piano Juke Box

 

This is a free MIDI Player available in the App store called Piano Juke Box that comes preloaded with 300 classical songs.  You can also add your own songs.  This player was designed for the Quicco MIDI adapter that is not currently available found at:  http://quicco.co.jp/products  More about how to use this player is located at:

http://quicco.co.jp/support

 

 

This player works with the Yamaha wireless Bluetooth interfaces.

 

 

My thanks to Mark Fontana for writing the software PPFBU, and George Litterst for compiling the information on MIDI interfaces.  Without these efforts we could not have moved MIDI Player technology into the 21st. century.