Auto-connect your RTP ports to a computer | Mac & Win

Initiators vs. Responders

Every network session has an Initiator and a Responder. The Initiator is responsible for initiating the connection to a Responder; it searches for the proper responding device (hardware interface or computer network session) and once located, negotiates and makes the connection. Once an Initiator and Responder are connected, you may freely send RTP / Network MIDI data between the two devices.

When you create an RTP session on your computer, you must manually connect that session to the interface every time the computer is restarted (or otherwise joins the network). Instead, much better: you can make the connection automatic by configuring your interface as the Initiator. As an Initiator, your interface will automatically identify and connect to the designated computer session whenever your computer is on the network.

Our Auracle for X-Series software makes this setup easy. A step-by-step setup example is presented below.

Create an RTP Session on Your Computer

Mac users will use MacOS’s provided Audio MIDI Setup application. Windows users will use rtpMIDI. The rtpMIDI program is written by Tobias Erichsen and designed to closely resemble the MIDI network configuration screen in MacOS’s Audio MIDI Setup.

Windows users should download and install rtpMIDI before proceeding. The rtpMIDI page is located at: http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/rtpmidi.html

1. Mac Users: Open the Audio MIDI Setup application and display the MIDI Studio window via the menu: Window > Show MIDI Studio.

Mac Users: Double-click the MIDI Studio’s Network icon to open MIDI Network Setup:

Windows Users: Open the rtpMIDI program:

2. Now click the "plus" button in the My Sessions box:

to create a new session. A default session name will appear in the My Sessions box. Select this new session by highlighting that default name:

3. The Local name is the name of the MIDI device your computer (DAW, SysEx Librarian, etc.) will see. The Bonjour name is the RTP network session name seen by your interface. Note that both of these names are case-sensitive.

Set the Local name: and Bonjour name: to something easy to remember (in this example we’ve named both “Test Session 1”) and be sure to enable the session by checking the Enabled checkbox:

4. In order to make the session accessible, select Anyone from the Who may connect to me dropdown list:

The session is now set up from the RTP Network MIDI side of things. If more than one RTP port will be used, we recommend creating a new session for each additional RTP port by repeating Steps 2 through 4.

Set Up Your Interface with Auracle for X-Series Software

We will now configure the iConnectivity interface to connect to the RTP network session just created on the computer.

1. Open the Auracle for X-Series software, wait for it to discover your interface, then open its RTP / Network MIDI page.

2. Select the RTP port you want to connect to your session. In this example we have chosen RTP 7. Make sure the checkbox to the left of RTP 7 is checked (blue color, not gray):

3. Use the Responder/Initiator dropdown box to change RTP 7 from Responder to Initiator:

4. By default, Name should be selected (not IP). Connect to the desired session by entering its exact case-sensitive Bonjour name into the Name box. We will specify the session name Test Session 1 set up earlier in the MIDI Network Setup example:

After the name is entered, click the Save button.

5. After a short period, the interface will make the RTP connection and display the connected session:

If you return to MIDI Network Setup (MacOS) or rtpMIDI (Windows), you will also see the RTP 7 session connected from the computer side:

Now every time you start your computer and connect it to the RTP network, the mioX interface will make this RTP connection automatically!

This process should be repeated for each and every RTP port you want to connect to your computer.