- Bluetooth MIDI devices must be connected in a different way to standard Bluetooth devices such as headphones and speakers, using the Mac 'Audio MIDI Setup'. Open Spotlight by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top-right of your screen.
- Jul 05, 2019 To connect a Bluetooth device using Swift Pair. Swift Pair in Windows 10 lets you quickly pair a supported Bluetooth device with your PC. If the Bluetooth device supports Swift Pair, you’ll receive a notification when it's nearby and you put it into pairing mode to make it discoverable.
- However, my question to you is this: what's the difference between initiating the Bluetooth MIDI connection on a Mac (i.e. Using the iOS device as a Bluetooth Peripheral and advertising its MIDI port for the Mac to connect to), and initiating the connection on an iOS device (i.e. Using the iOS device as Bluetooth Central and advertising the Mac.
From the dawn of time to just about a few years ago, all of us sported a pair of wired headphones and were convinced that this is simply how it will be done forever. After all, they are the easiest technology around: just plug them in, put them on, and go. But with proliferation of Bluetooth headphone options and disappearance of headphone jacks from nearly all the latest smartphones, wired headphones seem to progress on the path of disappearance more and more each day.
Like it was mentioned above, a lot of people make the mistake of trying to connect Bluetooth headphones and speakers when recording, which won’t work nearly as well. Solution #4: Like I noted above, if you’re experiencing this nagging problem, it may have something to do with the way in which you’ve hooked up speakers to your computer.
Thankfully, wireless devices are great. They are lightweight. They are versatile. They can be easily connected to your iPhone, your Mac, or your car. Charge them overnight just the same way as your phone and they last all day too.
Sadly, without proper configuration, connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac might get a bit tricky, with frequent disconnections and music interruptions. Here, we’ll help you find out how to pair AirPods and other sound devices with Mac properly and control them masterfully at the same time.
Why Bluetooth Headphones Won't Connect To Mac
How To Connect Bluetooth Headphones With Garageband On Mac Free
There are a few common problems we need to explore:
![Headphones Headphones](https://static.businessinsider.my/sites/3/2019/10/5d936eb62e22af411c0c53bf.jpg)
- Bluetooth headphones won't connect to Mac right out of the box — some configuring is needed
- Pairing Bluetooth headphones with Mac is different from pairing them with iPhone or your car’s audio system
- Special settings that answer questions like how to connect two Bluetooth headphones to one Mac and how to use multiple audio outputs
Throughout the article, AirPods would be used as an example, but any other model of Bluetooth headphones can be connected in a similar fashion.
Get a tool to pair with a Mac
Best Bluetooth Headphones
Connect Bluetooth devices to your Mac in one click. Setapp has an easy tool for that.
How to pair wireless headphones to Mac
Connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac for the first time is done by following a few easy steps:
- On your Mac, click on the Apple menu and launch System Preferences
- Navigate to the Bluetooth menu and Turn Bluetooth On. You should now see all available Bluetooth devices around you.
- Make sure your headphones are charged and currently in discoverable mode. Click Connect to establish a new connection
- Your Bluetooth headphones should now appear in the list. Click Connect to establish a new connection.
- If you’re trying to reconnect your existing device, right-click on it and choose Connect
After you’ve managed to successfully connect Bluetooth headphones to Mac for the first time, they should stay connected or reconnect automatically when you leave the Bluetooth range (around 33 feet or 10 meters) and come back.
You can also calibrate headphones to your liking through the Sound menu in System Preferences. For example, in the Output tab you can choose to “Show volume in menu bar” and set a stereo balance between right and left.
Described above is the ideal scenario for connecting AirPods to Mac. But oftentimes things don’t go as planned, so let’s work through some widespread issues regarding Bluetooth headphones as well.
How to connect AirPods to Mac
There’s good news for those interested specifically in how to pair AirPods with MacBook. It’s really handy to set up connections if you use multiple Apple devices with your AirPods. Plus, you can get third-party software to automate the flow.
Here’s how you connect new AirPods to Mac:
- Open System Preferences on your Mac and select Bluetooth.
- Ensure Bluetooth is turned on.
- On AirPods, press and hold the round button (it’s at the bottom center of the case) until the white light starts blinking.
- Your Bluetooth headphones should now appear in the list.
In case you’ve already paired AirPods with your iPhone that’s tied to the same iCloud account and Apple ID, your earbuds will be automatically recognized by Mac.
To simplify it even more, install ToothFairy, an app that pairs Bluetooth devices with Mac in one click. It works particularly well with connecting AirPods to Mac – instead of taking AirPods out of their case and putting them back in, you click on one single icon in ToothFairy. You can read more about how to use the app below.
How to fix Bluetooth headphone issues
Sometimes going through the setup steps doesn’t result in your headphones connecting successfully, or connecting and then abruptly disconnecting. This is profoundly annoying but can be solved by either resetting the headphones or purging preference settings on your Mac. Here's how to fix all known issues:
Restart your Bluetooth headphones
In case you can’t connect your Bluetooth headphones not only to your Mac but also any other device you own (iPhone or car audio), it might be a glitch in its settings, so a simple reset should remedy the situation.
For reset instructions, check your device’s manual. Here’s how to reset AirPods:
- Put the earpieces into the case and keep the lid open
- Press and hold the setup button until the light switches from amber to white (around 10 seconds)
Now all settings on your earphones should be reset and you should be able to connect them again using the standard workflow above. If the problem persists, it could be something to do with the preferences on your Mac.
Reset sounds preferences on Mac
First, make sure that your Mac is running macOS Sierra or newer (macOS High Sierra or Mojave). If not, upgrade to the latest version by going to System Preferences > Software Update or using the App Store if you’re upgrading from a few versions back.
Next, if nothing was of any benefit so far, try resetting your Mac’s sound preferences. To do that:
- From the menu bar select Go > Go to Folder… and type ~/Library/Preferences
- In the long list of preference files, find and delete the following: com.apple.preferences.plist and com.apple.soundpref.plist
Deleting preferences out of the library forces your Mac to recreate them brand new, thus avoiding any bugs or improper algorithms that could have interfered with your Bluetooth headphones setup. If that didn’t work, you can also try relaunching the audio process:
- Launch Activity Monitor from the Applications folder
- In the CPU tab, find the process called coreaudiod
- Quit the process and close Activity Monitor
The above would force not only the preferences for your audio to reset but also the audio process for your whole Mac to relaunch.
No audio from a paired and connected Bluetooth headset
Occasionally, when you succeeded in connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac, you might hear no sound going through. There are a few things you can do to solve this.
Ensure that your headphones are the selected audio output for your Mac:
- Go System Preferences > Sound
- In the Output tab, find your headphones in the list and double-click to make them active
If that didn’t change anything:
- Reset your headphones as per the directions above
- Go System Preferences > Bluetooth
- Right-click on your headphones, choose Remove, and confirm
Now you need to connect Bluetooth headphones to Mac all over again, and the problem should disappear.
Can’t connect two Bluetooth headphones Mac recognizes
The beauty of Mac’s Bluetooth menu is that it lets you add any number of Bluetooth-enabled devices, from keyboards to headphones. Sometimes, however, it might malfunction and not allow you to add two wireless headphones at the same time.
To fix this issue, essentially repeat the steps from the previous section:
- Reset each pair of headphones
- Remove them from Mac’s Bluetooth menu
- Reconnect your headphones once more
If, however, you’re looking for how to use multiple audio outputs, such as headphones, at the same time — here some magic tricks are required.
How to use multiple audio outputs simultaneously
Most Mac users believe that they can only play their audio output through one device at a time, be it internal speakers, Bluetooth headphones, or some other amplifier. But in reality it’s possible to play audio on multiple devices at the same time through a handy built-in utility called Audio MIDI Setup. Here’s what you need to do:
- Launch Audio MIDI Setup through Applications
- Click the plus icon at the bottom left and choose Create Multi-Output Device
- In the new option that appears, check all the Bluetooth devices you need to play simultaneously
- Navigate to the Sound menu in System Preferences and choose the Multi-Output Device in the Output tab. Now all sounds will play through both devices at the same time.
Playing audio through multiple devices is a nifty trick for when you need more sound power for your party or when trying to create a true surround sound for a movie screening.
Use master audio software for all needs
Most of the time, audio on Mac is not an issue. What’s frustrating is the way current settings are sprinkled all over macOS. Lots of fixes described here might seem confusing and unintuitive at first sight. You might wish there was an app that would make it easy to control all your audio needs from a single place. And there is.
Meet ToothFairy — the most simple and magical Bluetooth device assistant for Mac. In a true one-click fashion, ToothFairy allows you to set up any number of Bluetooth-enabled devices, configure hotkeys, and switch easily between them.
To set up a new device in ToothFairy, all you need to do is:
- Open the app
- Click the plus icon
- Locate your device in the list and click Connect
Similarly, it’s just as easy to assign custom icons to all your frequently used devices and get them displayed in the menu bar, so you instantly know which devices are connected, what’s their battery life, and can quickly turn them on and off with one click.
Additionally, ToothFairy offers a unique option of improving the sound quality of your Bluetooth headphones by funneling the sound through a higher level audio codec.
In the end, it seems like wireless headphones are here to stay. So finding a master program to control them with ease is going to save your hours of time in the long run. Use the tips above to configure your headphones, easily connect AirPods to MacBook, and take advantage of ToothFairy to just the way you want and take advantage of ToothFairy to tell you what exactly is going on with all your Bluetooth devices.
Best of all, ToothFairy is available for a free trial through Setapp, a platform of over 150 useful utilities and apps for people who love finding the best shortcuts for using their Macs. Now enjoy the sound!
If you’re sick of using the Musical Typing keyboard in Garageband, then look no further than this article. Connecting a keyboard MIDI controller to Garageband is incredibly simple.
Without further ado,
This is how you connect a keyboard into GarageBand.
The process for connecting a keyboard into your computer and DAW is identical for nearly all of them nowadays. However, with Apple and other laptop makers opting for USB-C, you may have to purchase a USB-C to USB cable. Click the link here to get one.
You don’t have to purchase an Apple one, necessarily. There are other good ones as well that are half the price, but I have the Apple one, and it’s the one I use, so I recommend it because I know it works from experience.
When purchasing a new MIDI Keyboard, it’ll likely come with all of the cables necessary for use, including the USB Firewire Cable, which you can also pick up at Amazon for fairly cheap if your keyboard, for whatever reason, didn’t come with it.
1) Assuming that you have the brand new MacBook Pro, you can connect your MIDI Keyboard by a USB Firewire cable directly into the back of the Keyboard.
2) Plug your *USB-C to USB adapter into your laptop.
3) Plug your USB Firewire into your *USB-C to USB adapter.
4) Now open Garageband.
5) After you’ve opened up the program, you don’t have to use musical typing anymore. The keyboard will automatically work right away, without any problems.
*If you have an older computer, it’s possible that you may not even need this adaptor. The keyboard, through the USB port, should be able to connect to your laptop.
In the past, MIDI Keyboards were connected through the use of Pin Drivers, but new MIDI Keyboards usually use USB. If you want to connect an older keyboard into Garageband, you’ll need a MIDI to USB adaptor.
What MIDI keyboard should I use for Garageband?
Considering you’re likely in the beginning stages of music production, I would recommend getting an Acorn Masterkey 49.
You can pick one of these up on Amazon. Click the link here to read more about the one I own. It has 49 keys, which is essential if you’re trying to get the full range of the piano (it‘s the one in the display picture for this blog post).
In my opinion, a 25-key is good for traveling and when you need something on the road, but for regular music production, a 49-key or larger is best.
It’s a nice little starter keyboard and it works perfectly for a beginner. There are even more options available, like a 61-key, and an 88-key.
Perhaps the most popular keyboard out right now is the Akai MPK Mini Mk2. A lot of people prefer this little machine, and there are more expensive, larger, and superior versions available.
In addition to the price, the Akai MPK Mini Mk2 only has 25 keys, so I didn’t want to get it for that reason.
Once you’ve gotten some experience under your belt, you can pick up a more professional keyboard like the Akai MPK, but it’s certainly not necessary for a beginner to drop this kind of money.
How To Assign Sounds to MIDI Keyboard in Garageband?
From what I understand, it’s not actually possible to assign individual samples to different keys in GarageBand anymore. I don’t know how to do it, and after scouring the internet for answers, I, unfortunately, can’t find a way.
In prior versions of the software, it was possible, but I don’t think you can anymore, for whatever reason. What Apple giveth, it also taketh away.
I could be wrong. Let me know in the comment section below if you know how to do this because I don’t.
If you have the older version of Garageband. The tutorial video at this linkwill show you how.
How To Use A MIDI Keyboard in Garageband?
Background and General Information
The moment you connect your keyboard into your computer, it should work right away. Garageband will recognize exactly what tool you’re using the moment you connect it.
It works the same way that the Musical Typing option does, but with a much bigger range, which makes writing music a lot easier, especially if you like to use the piano.
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The ability to change phrases of music after you’ve recorded it is the main benefit of using MIDI.
For instance, if you’ve written a piano riff using a MIDI Controller, you can go back and adjust the timing, velocity, rhythm, as well as the pitch of the note.
It’s a lot easier to change and modify music created through a MIDI Controller, in comparison to an analog recording.
Tip: After making a melody with a MIDI Controller, open a new track with whatever instrument you want, and then copy and paste it into the new Software Instrument Track.
For instance, if you’ve created a melody using the Steinway Grand Piano, you could copy and paste your music into a new Software Instrument Track like String Movements, thus, filling out your mix within seconds.
Using the MIDI Keyboard
To use the MIDI Controller, you’ll have to open a “Software Instrument” track. On the left-hand corner of the string, Garageband has all of the different instruments and settings that you can use.
When using the MIDI controller for creating drums, the drum sounds will usually be within the first octave of the keyboard. Most drum-kits have a limited number of sounds, usually around 9-12.
When creating melodies, whether, through the use of the Steinway Grand Piano, or a Synth, the MIDI controller offers the range of however many keys you have with your controller.
Creating A New Software Instrument Track
If you want to create another Software Instrument track, click on the Track Header using the “secondary click (right click)” function, and choose New Software Instrument Track, or New Track With Duplicate Settings.
Deleting the Software Instrument or Audio Track
If you want to delete the existing Software Instrument Track, use the (Command + Delete) function.
Changing the Timing, Pitch, and Velocity (loudness) Of Your MIDI Notes
Through the use of the “Piano Roll Grid,” at the bottom of Garageband, you can adjust the timing and pitch of each note played.
Some people don’t even use the keyboard to create melodies and drum tracks, you can manually type in each MIDI note by double-tapping your trackpad and selecting the “create note” option.
Like I said before, the best part about using a MIDI controller is that you can fix mistakes that you’ve made simply by changing the position of the MIDI note.
How To Change The Timing Of Your MIDI Notes
The notes, which are little green squares, can easily be moved around by clicking and dragging it to the desired pitch and time.
If you use the Zoom-In function on your Mac, you’ll see that the Piano Roll Grid is divided up with equally distributed lines.
If you want your music to be perfectly in time, just drag and drop the MIDI notes to the closest line, that way your melody is in time, and when you create drums later, everything will be synchronized.
This is legitimately important. Otherwise, your melody is going to sound off-balance and weird. Although, maybe that’s what you want.
How To Change The Pitch Of The Notes
Drag and drop the MIDI notes either up or down to the desired pitch. On the left-hand side of the “Piano Roll Grid,” you’ll notice there is a vertical keyboard, showing at which point each note is played respectively to the piano.
Also, if you hover your cursor of the note, it’ll tell you the pitch, as well as the velocity (strength) of the sound.
How To Change The Velocity (loudness) of the Notes
To my knowledge, there are two ways of doing this in the newest version of Garageband. On the left-hand side of the “Piano Roll Grid,” you’ll see a slider along with the title, “Velocity.”
After selecting your note, you can change the loudness or strength of that note by dragging the slider to the left or right. Increasing the value, (0-100), will make it louder, and decreasing it will make it softer.
Underneath that option, there is also the “Controller” option. You get to this setting by clicking on the button, “Show/Hide Automation.”
Click the power button that looks like a typical “Power” Function.
Then you can drag the vertical slider up and down to change the loudness of that note.
Truthfully, using a MIDI Keyboard in a DAW is a straightforward process, and through a bit of trial and error, you should be able to figure it out.
How To Open Keyboard in GarageBand
Use the (Command + K) option to bring up musical typing in Garageband. You can also select the “Show Musical Typing” option in the settings in the toolbar up top in the DAW.
Additionally, if you want access to a much bigger, but more limited way of playing the keyboard, then click on the option, “Show Keyboard.”
This isn’t nearly as good as using a regular MIDI Keyboard, but it’ll do if you don’t want to go out and buy a keyboard, which you definitely should do.
Why Isn’t My MIDI Keyboard Working?
1) Make sure that you’ve selected the correct input and output options within your Garageband preferences to start. Usually, this part isn’t even necessary, but if your MIDI controller isn’t working for whatever reason, you can adjust these settings.
2) If your MIDI Keyboard isn’t working, go into your Garageband Preferences, Select “Audio/MIDI,” and then click the “re-set the MIDI Drivers” button.
3) Is it possible that your Instrument Track has been muted? In the “Track Header” region, you can see there are two buttons, one that looks like a loudspeaker with a line through it, and another one that looks like a pair of headphones.
The one that looks like a speaker is the “Mute” button, and the Headphones button is the “Solo” button that isolates that particular sound within your mix, in case you want to just hear that one track, and not the others.
You’ll know your mute button is selected because it’ll turn a turquoise green and the MIDI region is no longer green, but a darker shade of grey.
When the “Solo” button is turned on, it’s yellow.
Also, if you’ve accidentally isolated a track using the “Solo” button, you won’t be able to hear the MIDI controller, unless you’re currently playing the MIDI Controller through that particular “Software Instrument” track.
4) Another potential reason is that you’ve slid the “Volume Slider” all the way to the left, effectively muting the track.
5) Check your MIDI Keyboard connection. It may have something to do with your USB Firewire Cable.
6) If your computer isn’t recognizing your MIDI Controller, unplug and plug it back in after restarting Garageband.
A way to tell if your computer has recognized the controller is by hitting a note on your MIDI Controller, and seeing if it registers that note at the top of the DAW.
If you hit one note, a little circle will appear in the top right-hand corner of the “Beats Position Display” at the top-center of Garageband.
If you play a chord on the MIDI Controller, Garageband will tell you the exact chord.
Another way of checking to see if your computer recognizes the keyboard is to go into the “About This Mac” settings. Then click on “System Report.”
Go all the way down to where it says “USB,” and click on that.
On the right-hand side of the menu, it will say what’s connected to your computer currently. On mine, it says the name of the device, “masterkey 49.”
7) Try another USB (USB-C) Port on your computer. If you’re using the new MacBook, try a different device, it may be the adaptor.
Remember, the simplest solution is usually the correct one.
YouTube Video Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6w3i4sjLC0Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: How To Connect MIDI Keyboard To Garageband (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6w3i4sjLC0)
Conclusion
That’s all for this tutorial. I hope it was helpful for you.