Music. This is how I unplug my brain from daily toils and relax. Not listening to it; instead, making it. It is an infinite pursuit, for no matter how much effort I put into it, there is always more to learn and skills to improve. The trick is to make it variable, so I program a progression of drum loops, use a looper to provide a harmonic base, and then solo on top of it.  

In principle, an iPad with GarageBand could provide the drums, and a Boss RC-5 could be the guitar looper… that is, if they are on the same tempo. The RC-5 provides a MIDI interface that allows it to send and receive commands.  However, there is a bug in the RC-5 firmware that corrupts communication with other MIDI devices (What is MIDI?)

THE PROBLEM: The tempo in GarageBand is translated into 0.1 bpm less in the RC-5. It happened via a wired interface as well as with a wireless interface. For example, I ran a drum track at 60 bpm in GarageBand. After starting the loop, I checked the tempo on the RC-5 (“TEMPO” + “SETUP” buttons on the RC-5) and it read 59.9 bpm. This results in a “choppy” sound of recorded tracks as they loop, like a rotary tremolo, due to resampling. In addition to sound quality degradation, loops fall out of sync very noticeably after a few dozen seconds.

THE RIG: An RC-5. iPad running GarageBand with drum tracks. WIDI Bluetooth MIDI connection (also tested with an iRig MIDI 2). WIDI master in the MIDI “out” plug of the RC-5, WIDI slave in the “in” plug. To send MIDI clock information in GarageBand on an iPad to sync with other music apps or MIDI devices, follow these steps: (1) Open the song settings in GarageBand (gear icon). (2) Tap on the ‘Advanced’ option. (3) Enable the ‘Send MIDI Clock’ function. Note that when using the Live Loops feature, the MIDI clock is only transmitted during the recording or playback of a Live Loops performance​.

THE SOLUTION: Set manually the tempo in the RC-5 for the tracks you intend to use with the device emitting the MIDI clock. In my case, I prepare the drum loops in GarageBand on my iPad, usually 3 to 5 patterns, and I use the same number of tracks on the RC-5; each one of those tracks are set at the desired speed and written to the RC-5 memory (“SETUP” + “MEMORY” buttons). That’s it. Problem solved. No more resampling of recordings, which sounds choppy. The solution is stable, that is, the tempo of the track is kept during recording and playback.

BTW, any MIDI-TRS cable type A works in the in&out MIDI plugs of the RC-5; you do not need the Boss cable. I’ve seen comments stating that the Boss cables are needed.

What is MIDI?

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface, and connectors that allow a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device.

MIDI carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, panning, cues, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices. These control signals are interpreted by the receiving musical instrument to produce sound. MIDI does not transmit audio signals; instead, it sends event messages about how music is produced, allowing devices to work together to control sound generation.

The MIDI standard was developed in the early 1980s by a group of industry representatives including Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits and Ikutaro Kakehashi of Roland Corporation. The standard was first published in August 1983.

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