Linking your Registrations to forScore on your iPad

[frozzers]

I have some great news for forScore users who want to link their registrations to their scores in forScore via MIDI.

Note, I'm posting this in the 'Tablets' Board rather than the Genos Board (I have a Genos) as I think the process should work for anyone running forScore on an iPad and an Arranger keyboard with MIDI functionality which also has a 'USB to Host' socket. Apologies in advance if it doesn't work for you.

I've been trying to get this to work for a long time - see the linked post.

https://www.psrtutorial.com/forum/index.php/topic,53489.0.html

Just after the latest post, forScore support emailed me:

Incidentally, I was just looking into the Yamaha adaptor details yesterday for another customer, and based on their website, it appears it's only intended to work with Yamaha's own branded apps. There is nothing in their documentation about support for third-party apps or general bluetooth connectivity (it only says to turn on bluetooth and use one of their apps to connect to it), and they consistently refer to "Bluetooth MIDI" instead of "Network MIDI" when connecting it in their documentation. (The demo video even shows two distinct options for these connections within one of their apps.) It would also appear that Yamaha does not offer any kind of SDK or framework for other developers to implement support.

So, as far as I can tell, the MD-BT01 is only for connecting to Yamaha instrument apps, which would explain why you can't successfully connect your device to forScore. Perhaps more robust MIDI apps have a means of communicating with the device unofficially, but that's not something forScore has the ability to do.

I hadn't thought the MD-BT01 would be the issue because I'd successfully used it on an old iPad Mini running an old iOS release but as detailed in the linked thread it wouldn't work on my iPad Pro.

Anyway, I thought I would try using my Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter and a spare printer cable to connect the keyboard to the iPad.

Result - instant success!

So what will you need?

1. USB adapter

This is the one drawback. You can't use the Yamaha Bluetooth adapter.

Firstly, I don't think you need the Apple adapter. Any third-party USB adapter should do. It's important to note that you won't be able to charge your iPad at the same time when using the adapter so I would strongly recommend an adapter that allows you to connect your iPad charge lead so it will charge your iPad at the same time. These are about a third of the price of the Apple connectors. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Akholz-Camera-Supports-Keyboard/dp/B08FYBYFN5/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1BOHKPD7LQQJ6&dchild=1&keywords=usb+camera+connector+ipad&qid=1616158180&sprefix=usb+camera+connect%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-9

2. Cable to connect your keyboard to the iPad

If you've got a spare printer cable, you can use that. If not, this one is 1 metre long and very cheap. One end goes into the USB to Host socket on your keyboard, the other into the adapter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/C2G-Printer-Compatible-printers-scanners-Black/dp/B001U3ZOYS/ref=sr_1_3?adgrpid=48785806970&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl9GCBhDvARIsAFunhsld5MJrthMcbSgH-oBFIDLh2YK3C07SN5y34PnhjHJx0V2OYCVhdzQaAkgvEALw_wcB&hvadid=259081361936&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1007064&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15444481032450314551&hvtargid=kwd-10225140&hydadcr=28148_1843118&keywords=printer+cable&qid=1616158062&sr=8-3

You don't need any third-party MIDI apps to connect forScore to your keyboard and you also don't need to change any MIDI settings on your keyboard. The default setting 'All Parts' should be OK.

Here's the process once you've connected your adapter:

1. In forScore, bring up the main menu by touching anywhere in the top left section of the forScore window then touch the top left (minim) icon to access the 'All Scores' menu.
2. Scroll up or down to find a score for which you have a corresponding keyboard registration.
3. Don't touch the score to open it but instead touch the blue circled arrow to the right of the title.
4. From the resulting menu, you'll see 4 tabs in the middle. Touch the MIDI tab.

To get the process to work both ways, we need to use the 'Open' and 'Send' options. It doesn't matter which one you start with but I'm starting below with 'Send'.

5. Touch 'Send'.
6. Touch the '+' option to the right of 'Presets'.
7. Select 'Learn' - a dialog box will appear 'Listening'.
8. Find and select the corresponding registration on your keyboard. (You don't need to select any of the individual registration buttons.) This should now input a series of Hex Codes in the blank section of the forScore MIDI window.
9. Touch 'Open'.
10. Touch the '+' option to the right of 'Presets'.
11. Select 'Learn'.
12. Select the corresponding registration on your keyboard and another series of Hex Codes should appear.

That, believe it or not, is all you need to do. No need for any manual entries for Program Changes - forScore will do that automatically for you via the Hex Codes.

For all your other scores and corresponding registrations, just repeat the above process. Now, every time you select a score in forScore, it will select the appropriate keyboard registration and it will work the other way.

You'll need to be aware that, once you've linked a registration to a score, if you rename the registration later, you'll have to do the link again. Also, be mindful that in the linking process, forScore is being told that the linked registration is in a specific place (or registration bank) on your keyboard. That means, if you move the registration later, the link will be broken and you'll have to relink it.

Finally, if you've got many registrations you want to link to scores on you iPad, you'll need to carefully consider how to store the registrations. I've got a process that I think works and I'll probably post about that in the near future.

That's probably enough to get you going for now. 

Cheers

Chris