Introducing MIDI Widgets for Apple Vision Pro, allowing users to anchor controllers anywhere in their physical space
Your controller designs can be launched exactly as you last left them, even across restarts.
Credit: Geert Bevin
A handy new app called MIDI Widgets allows Apple Vision Pro users to position and anchor MIDI controllers around them in their physical space. It is the first spatial MIDI designer to be released for the new virtual reality tool.
Developed by Geert Bevin, MIDI Widgets is available now via the App Store and currently supports faders, buttons and knobs. More controls will be added in future updates.
According to the MIDI Widgets website, the tool will recognise different rooms and locations and restore your controller designs exactly as you left them, even across restarts.
Controllers can also be grouped in scenes, allowing different layouts to be recalled for different purposes, and each scene has its own set of enabled MIDI outputs. You can create as many buttons, faders and knobs as you need, and the latter two of these can be set as unidirectional or bidirectional.
Further features include:
- Spatial snapping to make it easy to build out aligned larger control surfaces
- Ability to freely re-position/re-orient entire scenes
- Scenes can send MIDI messages to multiple configurable MIDI ports
- Support for Bluetooth LE MIDI devices
- Built-in virtual MIDI to send MIDI to other Vision Pro apps on the same device
- Per controller MIDI channel selection
- Per controller MIDI Control Change, Channel Pressure, Programme Change or Pitch Bend messages
- Every part of a control can be assigned a different colour
- Controllers can have optional labels that can be placed on any of the four edges
- A floating tool window follows your left or right hand and allows editing anywhere
- Multiple controllers can be used simultaneously, allowing for dual hand interaction
Check out more in the videos below:
Apple Vision Pro is still a very early introduction into the music space, but there have already been a fair number of production and music performance-inspired apps revealed. These include the Algoriddim djay app, which puts realistic turntables right in the space in front of you, and the first 3D and spatial AI DAW.
Find out more about MIDI Widgets.
