MIDI Kinetics Forum

I would like to know more about how Lemur communications layer works. OSC sounds amazing, but I want to focus on MIDI for now. From my reading of the manual the essential components are:

• Lemur App on one or more iPads
• Lemur editor (wow)
• A Computer (PC or Mac)
• Lemur Daemon
• A DAW
• DAW specific scripts/configuration etc..

My questions concerns the role of the Lemur Daemon.

• Does the Lemur Daemon do anything more than act as a routing layer between the DAW and the Lemur App?
• Where do the DAW specific scripts execute? On the iOS device in the Lemur App, In the DAW, In the Lemur Daemon? all the above?
• Can you substitute another routing server for Lemur Daemon, like RTP Midi or Mac OS Audio setup?
• If I use iConnectivity products like iCM4+ is Lemur Daemon bypassed if I route MIDI through the iCM4+ ethernet ports to iCM4+ port 3 (host). I have viewed this iCM4+ tutorial which appears to bypass the Lemur Daemon, but that step in setup might have been omitted for some reason.
• Is there technical documentation for Lemur that describes this with more detail than the user manual?
• Is the Lemur Daemon only required during editing and saving projects? Is it optional at 'run time'.

I will likely purchase the Lemur app soon and start playing with it this weekend. I have a particular constraint on one of my computer systems, a Dell laptop, where I cannot control the firewall settings. This is locked down by my firm. I have a second PC but prefer to use the laptop. My firewall settings are completely shut down on the inbound side, so if Lemur App tries to connect to my PC it will fail. However, I have gotten RTP Midi to work by adding remote peers manually. I surmise that the outbound connection is not only allowed by my firewall, but it also allows connected network midi sessions on iPad to communicate with my PC. I've gotten that to work just fine. In the same way, I'm wondering if Lemur Daemon would work similarly and would not be adversely affected by my firewalls.

Yes, I will have to someday buy a laptop and stop mooching off my firm, but for now this laptop works just great in most every way allowing me to invest in gear, software and apps.

Thanks in advance.

Pay attention that for Windows you will also be needing a utility software that will create virtual midi ports in your system (like the free loopMidi by the creator of rtpMIdi, http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html), so that Daemon will connect to your DAW through these.

So the whole chain is

iPad running Lemur -> Daemon -> virtual midi port -> DAW (or other midi compatible software).

Also pay attention that DAW scripts are not a pre-requisit. DAW scripts are only required if you are planning to use Lemur as a "dedicated" controller for that DAW.
To make the subject clearer, most of DAWs operate with "generic" midi controller by means of "mapping" your generic controller with the DAW via a process usualyl described in the DAW manual. The same DAW however may be compatible with dedicated DAW controllers (Like a Mackie Control Pro) or in the case of Ableton Live with a Novation Launhcpad or Push. In these latter cases, usually you configure the DAW to "expect" such a controller and proceed in designing a template in Lemur that will emulate the midi messages and functions of that said controller.

Other than that, Daemon is required for Windows systems as a means to MIDI connect wirelessly the Lemur to your computer as you correctly assumed and it is not optional at usage time - in fact, the oposite, it is optional when using the editor. I fear though, that your fears about your firewall, apply not only to the Daemon utility but the editor itself - since the editor tries connect to your iPad wirelessly via wi-fi so it might be blocked.
I also believe if you go "wired" then your assumptions are correct - you dont need either Daemon, not a virtual midi cable because your ports will be existing as physical ones - although I do not have a similar product to confirm. But th eproblem here is, that you still wont be able to use the 'desktop' editor which will still be connected via wi-fi. Of course, if your midi connections are handled with wires, you can just connect your laptop to a router, the iPad to the same router and then editor and Lemur app will be able to talk to each other - this solution is simply not preferred for "live usage" because there is more latency involved.

I know I have failed to answer many of your questions but the reason is that I simply dont know - for example, I dont know if rtpMIDI can substitute Daemon because I went "by the book" when I bought Lemur and did everything as suggested by its manual.

Hi Soft core,

First thanks for your response; that was helpful.

I purchased Lemur last night and got some instant gratification with one of the sample projects. I can confirm that Lemur editor does indeed work as I was able to push up a hello world project with no issues despite the fact the lemur demon refuses to run on my laptop as I feared.

The nice thing was that connected through my iConnectMidi 4+ I was still able to send generic Midi from Lemur to Ableton despite the absence of the daemon. This was the behavior I observed on the iCM4+ tutorial videos, although as I said the author didn't mention the daemon. Somehow iCM4+ , maybe acting as a wired interface and because iCM4+ creates hardware midi ports addressable by all the participants.

I have just installed all the bits on my personal computer but have only had groggy 2:00 AM success with it. Daemon does run though so will start playing with that today.

Kithara

I don't have a iConnect, but I'm pretty sure you won't need the daemon as long as you're connected with a cable.

Yup, I can confirm - wired connection doesn't use the Daemon at all (iConnectMIDI 1 here).

Kithara wrote: Lemur App on one or more iPads

I can confirm that I've successfully used one licence of Lemur on two iPads consecutively to control the same piece of software on my computer. (Controlling 2 pieces of software would also be possible and a bit easier to boot):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPN6iAoKjj0

Joe Soap wrote:Yup, I can confirm - wired connection doesn't use the Daemon at all (iConnectMIDI 1 here).

Phil999 wrote:I don't have a iConnect, but I'm pretty sure you won't need the daemon as long as you're connected with a cable.

That said, you WILL need to allow the Lemur Dameon access in your windows firewall if you intend to use WiFi to communicate.

Also, I believe the lemur editor also needs access as to sync templates down? How would he get data to his iPad?

the editor connects through wifi (OSC), that's true, but doesn't need the daemon (which is a MIDI bridge).

Might be something for the user guide, this isn't very clear.