iRig BlueBoard & WIN

[marcusfavarato]

So disappointed ... I'm from Brazil and I acquired amplitube 4 and several packages. I'm going to New York in a few days, and the blueboard was on my shopping list. Here in my country it is an expensive product just like any apple product. I await a solution regarding the consumers who opted for a PC ..

[fatal4u]

IK Multimedia, PLEASE add windows driver!! As currently win10 is ready for it!!!!!!!!!

[improvz]

Dont forget win users...please!

[john.currie]

Any Update on a windows driver for BlueBoard???

[gokberk]

I finally managed to connect my irig blueboard to my windows 10 pc with some workarounds. You still require an IOS device, but if you have blueboard, i beleive you already have an IOS device at hand. You will also need rtpMidi on your windows device.

I used an app called 'midimittr' on the ipad 4.

1- Turn on blueboard pressing 'C' button. This will launch the device in Control Change mode.
2- Launch midimittr, go to devices
3- Sync with blueboard. IOS part is done here.
4- launch rtpMidi on your PC
5- Create a new session and add your ios device in the session. (Use a friendly name for the session, I named mine Blueboard.)
6- Launch Amplitube, Go to Audio Midi Setup
7- Select Blueboard (or your friendly name) from midi devices.
8- Go to midi settings of amplitube (bottom right corner) and do whatever you want.

For my specific scenario, my sound card is also Axe I/O which has external controller support. I have a marshall two pedal foot switch switch I use for Up/Down preset changes. But Amplitube in stand alone does not support multiple midi devices, so I had to choose whether to use blueboard or marshall switch. If you have multiple devices to control amplitube, in order to work this around, Here is what I did.

9- On rtpMidi on the bottom right corner, select midi device you want to connect blueboard with. (In my case Axe I/O) this sends an output signal from the sound card when a button on Blueboard is pressed but we need an input signal
10- Get a midi cable, connect output to input of the sound card, so that when a button is pressed on the blueboard, it will trigger output signal from the sound card, which will then forward this the input of the sound card via the cable.

And Viola, you have an Irig Blueboard working with multiple midi devices to control Amplitube.

So in my case, external controller is preset change, and blueboard is setup for stomp 1-2-3-4 bypass.

But C'mon IK Multimedia, you can release a driver program for windows so that this thing starts to work with Windows straight away. I 1st tried to connect blueboard directly to my pc which was kinda successfull. But windows did not know what to do with the device. So all we need is a small program on the windows side

[denohpakni]

I finally managed to connect my irig blueboard to my windows 10 pc with some workarounds. You still require an IOS device, but if you have blueboard, i beleive you already have an IOS device at hand. You will also need rtpMidi on your windows device.

I used an app called 'midimittr' on the ipad 4.

1- Turn on blueboard pressing 'C' button. This will launch the device in Control Change mode.
2- Launch midimittr, go to devices
3- Sync with blueboard. IOS part is done here.
4- launch rtpMidi on your PC
5- Create a new session and add your ios device in the session. (Use a friendly name for the session, I named mine Blueboard.)
6- Launch Amplitube, Go to Audio Midi Setup
7- Select Blueboard (or your friendly name) from midi devices.
8- Go to midi settings of amplitube (bottom right corner) and do whatever you want.

For my specific scenario, my sound card is also Axe I/O which has external controller support. I have a marshall two pedal foot switch switch I use for Up/Down preset changes. But Amplitube in stand alone does not support multiple midi devices, so I had to choose whether to use blueboard or marshall switch. If you have multiple devices to control amplitube, in order to work this around, Here is what I did.

9- On rtpMidi on the bottom right corner, select midi device you want to connect blueboard with. (In my case Axe I/O) this sends an output signal from the sound card when a button on Blueboard is pressed but we need an input signal
10- Get a midi cable, connect output to input of the sound card, so that when a button is pressed on the blueboard, it will trigger output signal from the sound card, which will then forward this the input of the sound card via the cable.

And Viola, you have an Irig Blueboard working with multiple midi devices to control Amplitube.

So in my case, external controller is preset change, and blueboard is setup for stomp 1-2-3-4 bypass.

But C'mon IK Multimedia, you can release a driver program for windows so that this thing starts to work with Windows straight away. I 1st tried to connect blueboard directly to my pc which was kinda successfull. But windows did not know what to do with the device. So all we need is a small program on the windows side

dang!. Thanks. You really went above and beyond.
Sucks for thos without iOS devices though

[gokberk]

Ok something strange happened. I now can use my blueboard directly with windows, no IOS device in between.

1- Install MIDIBerry from Microsoft Store
2- Instal loop midi
3- create a virtual port in loop midi
4- pair blueboard with windows (turn on pressing 'C', then pair normally like a mouse or bluetooth headset)
5- open midi berry, for input select Irig Blueboard, for output select your loop midi session.

and surprisingly Viola, it works.

Also my trick for routing blueboard to axe i/o works, if I select output as axe i/o in midi berry.

So welcome to the world of Blueboard on windows with no IOS

One side note, blueboard sends midi signal as momentary, so for example stomp bypass, it works only when you keep the button pressed, and when you release it, it turns the pedal off, does not stay on, so you have to select 'latch' from amplitube midi setup. when latch is selected, it works like a on/off switch

You can also set for looper, or if your daw accepts custom midi control changes, A button is CC20, B is CC21, C is CC22 and D is CC23. You can do whatever you want, like starting a record with blueboard, or assign any button on the software to blueboard to do whatever you like.

PS: I have a bluetooth 4.0 dongle connected to my pc, and Windows version is 1909.If your bluetooth device is older, you can always purchase a new one, just make sure to go with a known brand, and at least supporting BT 4.0 BLE (bluetooth low energy)

[dubc1984]

Ok something strange happened. I now can use my blueboard directly with windows, no IOS device in between.

1- Install MIDIBerry from Microsoft Store
2- Instal loop midi
3- create a virtual port in loop midi
4- pair blueboard with windows (turn on pressing 'C', then pair normally like a mouse or bluetooth headset)
5- open midi berry, for input select Irig Blueboard, for output select your loop midi session.

and surprisingly Viola, it works.

Hi gokberk, Thanks for posting this method. Looks great. So I just tried midiberry and loopmidi.

1. Windows 10 is paired with the iRig BlueBoard and is connected.
2. Loopmidi can see my iRig BlueBoard
3. midiBerry can see the loopmidi virtual output that was created.

Sadly I can't see any footswitch presses in the input monitor. Anything I'm doing wrong? I attach a picture below.

[gokberk]

Ok something strange happened. I now can use my blueboard directly with windows, no IOS device in between.

1- Install MIDIBerry from Microsoft Store
2- Instal loop midi
3- create a virtual port in loop midi
4- pair blueboard with windows (turn on pressing 'C', then pair normally like a mouse or bluetooth headset)
5- open midi berry, for input select Irig Blueboard, for output select your loop midi session.

and surprisingly Viola, it works.

Hi gokberk, Thanks for posting this method. Looks great. So I just tried midiberry and loopmidi.

1. Windows 10 is paired with the iRig BlueBoard and is connected.
2. Loopmidi can see my iRig BlueBoard
3. midiBerry can see the loopmidi virtual output that was created.

Sadly I can't see any footswitch presses in the input monitor. Anything I'm doing wrong? I attach a picture below.

Hello,

It seems correct, does midiberry capture signal when you press buttons? If so which input are you selecting from your software?

[dubc1984]

Hi gokberk,

Nope. Midiberry doesn't capture any thing in the input window.

I click the footswitch buttons a, b, c and d individually and see nothing.

I tried to up date the blueboard firmware with Windows just in case. That failed. I'll try via iOS if possible.

That's the only thing I can imagine being an issue.

[gokberk]

Hi gokberk,

Nope. Midiberry doesn't capture any thing in the input window.

I click the footswitch buttons a, b, c and d individually and see nothing.

I tried to up date the blueboard firmware with Windows just in case. That failed. I'll try via iOS if possible.

That's the only thing I can imagine being an issue.

Does your Blueboard have USB port at the battery compartment? If yes, and it is never updated before, then you have to update it. If it is the non usb version, it should already have the latest FW.

BTW updating Blueboard is a total pain, I almost bricked mine (a few times actually) while trying to do so. So I'm not going to explain how I managed it. But try with a computer that you are admin of, and launch the updater in an Admin Only folder. As far as I know, Program Files should do the job. Also while running the software, right click the executable and click Run as Admin.

Though, USB Midi is enabled with FW 1.20 so if you were able to pair it, then you should be on 1.20 FW.

Also try removing device and pairing it back with your PC, maybe a few times. If you have a diffent computer or a BT dongle, try with those too. I dont remember everything I did since I was mad that night and was doing multiple times at the time... Because of those quarantine times, there is nothing left to fix at home or do more with (Like Blueboard on Windows).

Worst case scenario, If you have an IOS device, you can try the method on my earlier post, with midimittr.

[dubc1984]

Updater ran perfect. 100% completion of firmware... Now the D button won't stop flashing and it won't connect via Bluetooth. Any idea's?

[gokberk]

Updater ran perfect. 100% completion of firmware... Now the D button won't stop flashing and it won't connect via Bluetooth. Any idea's?

Did you try pressing A/B/C buttons while turning on the device? Otherwise it will stay in update mode.
A is for IOS devices, B/C are bluetooth midi modes.

[dubc1984]

Did you try pressing A/B/C buttons while turning on the device? Otherwise it will stay in update mode.
A is for IOS devices, B/C are bluetooth midi modes.

Didn't help. Still flashing. Does that mean it's bricked? Or is there a way out?

I emailed IK support. This is frustrating if their own updater bricked my BlueBoard.

[gokberk]

Did you try pressing A/B/C buttons while turning on the device? Otherwise it will stay in update mode.
A is for IOS devices, B/C are bluetooth midi modes.

Didn't help. Still flashing. Does that mean it's bricked? Or is there a way out?

I emailed IK support. This is frustrating if their own updater bricked my BlueBoard.

Does the firmware updater or windows itself recognize the device? If so i dont think it is bricked but might be difficult to bring back to life.