Ipad and Force

Is it possible to play (strum) a guitar on Garageband via the iPad and have these notes recorded into a clip (and therefore quantised if required) on the Force.
I can trigger notes from the iPad via Garageband/Korg Gadget etc by using Force pads but I want to be able to play directly from the iPad, in the case of a guitar simulator. Otherwise, it's just an audio track that has to be played perfectly in time...Soz for the newbie question...

There is no "audio quantize" on the Force, if that's what you mean.

In Ableton Live, you can quantize an audio clip's contents. It searches for transients, assigns "warp markers" to them and moves the markers according to your quantize settings. This works great, sounds very good with the Elastique pro warp algorithm, works on the fly, doesn't interrupt audio playback and your flow, and it can even be fully automated with Python scripting IIRC.

Such features do not exist on the Force. There are no "warp markers" for audio clips, let alone quantizing for them. For slicing samples there is threshold based slicing, it's a manual multi-step process, it works badly and is practically unusable. Sound bad too, choppy and unnatural. You'll need to do it manually, and carefully prepare something that's usable. Spend two seconds recording the guitar thingy, and then two minutes making it quantizable and usable.

If that's what you want, get a laptop and Ableton Live.

If you ask ... certain users, they'll tell you to play properly in time and stop needing quantization. I say this is missing basic functionality that is legitimately expected to be there on something like the Force.

Thanks for your detailed reply "House". I've thought about the slicing option but just wondered whether there was another way. I guess the fact that the iPad can be connected to the Force via midi still doesn't let it recognise the notes in a clip when played from iPad, in the way that it can the other way around (playing iPad sounds via the Force pads).
I can play in time pretty well but will just have to practise a bit more before "going live".
Cheers

You could connect the iPad via MIDI to the Force, if it's possible to make Garageband output MIDI from the strumming. You'll probably need some adapters for this, but I guess you already have some, if you can do it the other way around. MPC Tutor sells a guitar sample pack which you could use on the Force.

I have an iRig2 and all the midi/audio connectors needed. Like I say, I can trigger the iPad sounds (along with Korg Gadget etc) using the Force pads but whatever midi settings/connections I try, can't do it the other way around. I may just not have found the right combo yet but will keep experimenting. I'm not very good with all things midi to be honest, so it's sometimes just a case of trying different Force midi in/out settings. I will look into Garageband settings too.
Thanks again for your help.

The MIDI settings on the Force might be wrong. Make sure Garageband is actually sending MIDI, and then proceed troubleshooting from there step by step until you find the place where MIDI events stop being forwarded. It could be that Garageband's strumming does not output MIDI at all, I don't know.

Cheers, I'll give that a go. Alternatively, I could just create a nicely quantised track in Garageband and add it to the Force as audio clip and line it up with rest of my Force tracks...
A bit crude I know but hey...

Neatly prepared trimmed, cleaned, quantized, BPM-labeled, exact-bar-length audio clips are generally a good idea with the Force.

marky1405 wrote:Is it possible to play (strum) a guitar on Garageband via the iPad and have these notes recorded into a clip (and therefore quantised if required) on the Force.

No.

Asking this question in a different forum doesn’t change the answer that “GarageBand doesn’t output MIDI”.
That’s something you’ll want to take up with Apple, though I imagine you’ll just find another forum in which to ask the same question.

You can’t play Force, or anything for that matter, from GarageBands Touch Guitar instruments except GarageBands touch instrument.

Best of luck!

SCG

You could try using a PC, iPhone or something as an audio-to-MIDI converter, with Jam Origin's MIDI Guitar 2. https://www.jamorigin.com/products/

It gets quite complicated though. Have you tried "strumming" with the Force's pads?

What's the deal with Garageband? How about a PC DAW and RealGuitar? Band-in-a-Box? Pre-made strumming sample libraries? Why does the quantizing have to happen on the Force?

Thanks House and Stonecold and I presumed that Garageband wouldn't play ball. It's easy just to create a track in Garageband with strumming (matching the BPM) and just stick that into the Force as an audio track.
I have tried "strumming" with the pads but it doesn't work in the same way (as you would imagine really).
Cheers