The next step in WIDI Groups
Thank you for joining the WIDI wireless MIDI development journey as created by CME. After the crowd creation of WIDI Master, that began in December 2019, WIDI groups was one of the first major features to be added to the WIDI portfolio.
With the current feature you are able to create fixed pairs and 1-to-multiple WIDI setups. These group settings are very useful when you are working with multiple pairs of WIDI devices and want to bypass the automatic pairing procedure.
WIDI groups also come in handy when you want to create 1-to-4 MIDI Thru (Split) or 4-to-1 MIDI Merge wireless setups with Bluetooth MIDI. As explained in the previous blog about WIDI groups, today WIDI groups are limited to WIDI devices only.
Well, that's about to change...
The hunt for WIDI knowledge
The idea of crowd creation is that you are part of the development process from the start. If you are interested in WIDI groups, take into account that WIDI devices were developed with automatic pairing in mind.
This simply means that when you get two WIDI devices and start them up, they are automatically paired. No knowledge or manual is required. It's plug, pair & play.
On the other hand, there are the more challenging WIDI groups. It's the advanced mode. You must have some basic knowledge of WIDI and the WIDI app to get this done. It is recommended to be a member of our Facebook Group or at least read the manual of your WIDI devices and the WIDI app one time....
After that, when you go through the procedure once, you will discover the fun of WIDI. And once you understand the idea of central and peripherals as known from Bluetooth, an extra dimension opens up when you think of MIDI & WIDI.
Time for the first glimpse...
Enough talk. Let's go for a walk. In this private video (Published January 2022) you can see the first version of the upcoming firmware for all WIDI devices (Scheduled February 2022). It shows that it is possible to add other Bluetooth MIDI devices to your WIDI group with a simplified automatic group learning function.
Besides all your WIDI devices, you can add other standard Bluetooth MIDI peripherals such as Roland AX Edge, Korg MicroKey Air, Roli Seaboard, CME Xkey Air, Jamstik+ Guitar, etc.
This list is not endless. Devices eligible for WIDI groups must be standard Bluetooth MIDI devices that can be automatically paired with WIDI. For example, smart devices running iOS, Android, and Windows still cannot join WIDI groups.
We need more time for that, because they switch Bluetooth addresses every 15 minutes for security reasons. Fortunately, with this version, your macOS can be part of WIDI groups.
Take a look and tell us what you think in the comment section of this blog.
Ohhh my! Sharing this, OMG this is cool!
Yes it is 😉