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Air — Setup Guide

This guide gets Air into your DAW, routes MIDI to a Software Instrument track, and walks through a first conducted piece in real time.

The demo

Peer Gynt, Mvt. I · String quartet voicing

6/8 at dotted-quarter 60

Download the MIDI

Quick start

Install Air and drop it in Applications.
Open Logic Pro or GarageBand and create a Software Instrument track — the default patch is enough to play.
Open Air, load the Demo MIDI, and place the playhead where you want to start.
Each beat is a paired tap — one finger lands on the beat, the other follows right after (easier to see than read). Air locks to your tempo, counts you in for four beats, then the piece starts.
Conduct.

What you need

Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
Magic Trackpad (built-in on a MacBook, or external)
Logic Pro or GarageBand installed

Gestures

Gesture	Action
	Paired tap: Two taps per beat — one lands on the beat, the other follows right after. Air reads the pair as one beat, not each tap alone. See the motion.

Notes on conducting with Air

Place the playhead before tapping. Drag it to any beat — top of a movement, middle of a phrase, the last sixteen bars. Playback starts from where you put it.

Air calibrates before it locks. Tap a handful of paired beats at a consistent pulse. When the BPM display turns solid white, Air is locked and ready.

The count-in is four beats at your locked tempo. Keep tapping through it. The piece starts on the first beat after.

Tempo follows your taps in real time. Tap faster to push, slower to pull. Air sends virtual MIDI to your DAW continuously while you tap.

Capture the pass in your DAW. Air doesn't record — record-enable the Software Instrument track and use your DAW's normal MIDI recording.

To conduct another piece: drop any .mid file onto the Load MIDI screen and tap again. For more repertoire, Kunstderfuge has a deep archive of classical MIDI — especially good for symphonic and choral works.

Signal flow

The MIDI file loads into Air. Your taps on the trackpad set the tempo. Air sends notes live to a Software Instrument track in your DAW through virtual MIDI ports — that's where the sound is made.

DAW setup (Logic Pro)

Create a Software Instrument track.
Leave its MIDI Input on All — the default for new tracks.
Switch to Air and tap. Air locks the tempo, counts in four beats, and Logic plays from the first downbeat.

DAW setup (GarageBand)

Create a Software Instrument track.
Switch to Air and tap. The instrument plays when the count-in ends.
If GarageBand doesn't respond, open GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI and click Reset MIDI Drivers, then try again.

Other DAWs

Air should work with any DAW that accepts virtual MIDI — Cubase, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Reaper, Studio One. We'll add more as we keep testing. If your DAW isn't responding, let us know at support@receptionaudio.com.

Troubleshooting

I don't hear anything

Make sure the Software Instrument track is selected, not muted, and has a patch loaded. In Logic Pro, check that the track's MIDI Input is on All. In GarageBand, choose GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI and click Reset MIDI Drivers.

The tempo feels unresponsive

Check the paired tap — each beat is two taps in quick succession, not a single tap. Stop, restart, and give Air a few clean paired beats. It needs a short listening window before it locks.

The playhead doesn't move

Make sure the MIDI file is loaded in Air and that Air is in the foreground. Then place the playhead again and start tapping. You should now see the playhead stay where you put it and the piece start from that point.

GarageBand still does not respond

Quit GarageBand, reopen it with Air already running, then go to GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI and click Reset MIDI Drivers. If you still hear nothing, create a fresh Software Instrument track and try again.

Questions or setup trouble: support@receptionaudio.com.

If you hit a wall, tell us the exact step, what you saw, what you heard. We'll fix it.

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