Kemper new iOS/iPad app, do you think fractal will be next?

smj said:
I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the majority of modellers to have this feature. The Eventide H9 Bluetooth app was great and has been out for a long time. Even my Lumix Camera has an app for remote control. For that, the camera generates its own wifi signal and I connect to that with my phone.
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This. Devices of all sorts (printers, cameras, thermostats, cars, sprinkler controllers, power switches, lights, kitchen appliances...) are now sporting app interfaces for the simple reason that the user interface of an app is light years beyond what can be achieved on a hardware front panel. It can be a far richer UI, can be updated, gives you control even when the device is not in a convenient location, and provides network access. This doesn't mean the front panel UI needs to go away, but it does mean you don't have to rely on a clunky front panel UI as the only way to interface with the device.

It's rather puzzling the III didn't come with Bluetooth, so it seems like a pretty safe bet the IV will have it and an app.
 
Just my perspective (I am doing embedded stuff for Smart Home devices): From the spec, the IIIs processors do not support Bluetooth natively (usually you want to use just MCUs which support Bluetooth out of the box).
The thing is, implementing a Bluetooth stack and all other stuff is quite cumbersome, and if that is not the priority you want to go with a library for that. Since the DSPs do not support it out of the box, adding a MCU with Bluetooth capabilities introduce an additional onboard device, headaches with the firmware update, communication and stuff, and boy, can Bluetooth be tricky.
Maybe we’ll see something like this for the next iteration, if there is the manpower to handle the development on hardware side.
 
There seems to be quite a few very capable BLE (bluetooth low energy) devices out right now, and they are fairly inexpensive and easy to use if you don't need to dig too deep in the programming. I'm using a pair of the XVive MD1 wireless bluetooth midi adapters, and they work so great it's scary. I'm now using one of these to connect my wife's old Galaxy Note 8 running the Midi Controller app to my iPad, controlling Quantiloop. The phone is on the guitar and is wireless to the MD1.

The next project is to replace the Note 8 with dedicated hardware, using an Adafruit Arduino board with BLE. The controller will then be wireless, with a rechargeable battery, and will be about the size of a business card.

CME has a slick widget called Midi Uhost that allows a wireless BLE connection for a controller with a USB midi out. They claim latency of 6mS. Apparently you can plug one of these ($69) into a Fishman Connect and make it wireless (you'll need a USB power source though). If the FM3 had true midi over USB connectivity, that could make it wireless. Or if a iOS editor could manage the FM3 over standard midi, the MD1 could make it wireless now.
 
MKB99 said:
There seems to be quite a few very capable BLE (bluetooth low energy) devices out right now, and they are fairly inexpensive and easy to use if you don't need to dig too deep in the programming. I'm using a pair of the XVive MD1 wireless bluetooth midi adapters, and they work so great it's scary. I'm now using one of these to connect my wife's old Galaxy Note 8 running the Midi Controller app to my iPad, controlling Quantiloop. The phone is on the guitar and is wireless to the MD1.

The next project is to replace the Note 8 with dedicated hardware, using an Adafruit Arduino board with BLE. The controller will then be wireless, with a rechargeable battery, and will be about the size of a business card.

CME has a slick widget called Midi Uhost that allows a wireless BLE connection for a controller with a USB midi out. They claim latency of 6mS. Apparently you can plug one of these ($69) into a Fishman Connect and make it wireless (you'll need a USB power source though). If the FM3 had true midi over USB connectivity, that could make it wireless. Or if a iOS editor could manage the FM3 over standard midi, the MD1 could make it wireless now.
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FracPad handles fm3 over standard midi, hence fm3 wireless works
 
moerker said:
Just my perspective (I am doing embedded stuff for Smart Home devices): From the spec, the IIIs processors do not support Bluetooth natively (usually you want to use just MCUs which support Bluetooth out of the box).
The thing is, implementing a Bluetooth stack and all other stuff is quite cumbersome, and if that is not the priority you want to go with a library for that. Since the DSPs do not support it out of the box, adding a MCU with Bluetooth capabilities introduce an additional onboard device, headaches with the firmware update, communication and stuff, and boy, can Bluetooth be tricky.
Maybe we’ll see something like this for the next iteration, if there is the manpower to handle the development on hardware side.
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I imagine Fractal could use an ARM SoC dedicated to only handling UI and things like BT/WiFi. I know they have some ARM cores in the current stuff but having a SoC that provides BT support out of the box would make things much easier.
 
AlGrenadine said:
FracPad handles fm3 over standard midi, hence fm3 wireless works
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So, there is a wireless iPad editor solution for the FM3 after all! Unless Fractal has buried a wireless widget (BLE, ethernet, etc) in the FM3, this might be about as good a solution as we'll get for the current hardware right now. The only issue perhaps will be the slow speed of midi affecting how quickly data can be exchanged between the units (one reason Kemper went with wifi in the Stage, that's a fast pipe). IIRC the iPad and CME midi dongles can be operated at faster speeds than standard midi, not sure if the FM3 has that capability in its midi topology however.
 
I can understand why people want to be able to edit on their touchscreens from several feet away, if for nothing else, to save them having to squat down at their pedal board, then stand up and get dizzy.

I think of touchscreens as being a blessing and a curse. For me they are often unresponsive, and I don't like that my hand blocks the values I'm trying to adjust- so I struggle to see if my finger has rubbed the fake knob enough.

This post isn't meant to invalidate the desire for a android/iOS version of the editor. I just want to point out that the built-in editor with the FM3's nice display, thoughtful (complete) UI, great buttons, and great knobs are actually everything I want in an (non-remote) editor. For me it is a solution looking for a problem. But yea, I get it, it's helpful for many use cases.
 
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The problem with these gadgets is that the switches are for feet, and the knobs and buttons are for hands, and unless you are an exceptional human, hands and feet don’t occupy the same space at the same time, especially not when playing guitar. So you're are either bending over constantly while trying to dial in sounds (which doesn’t work in a band context), or you’re stabbing at foot switches with your hands, which doesn’t work while playing. The editor interface and the foot switches need to be separated.

The built-in editor is fine, just make it detachable. Or, give us a phone / tablet interface please.
 
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