RTP over a tethered Bluetooth connection

TouchDAW 1.5 adds support for running MIDI over a tethered Bluetooth network connection. Like the USB variant this basically uses RTP and just exchanges the transport layer. On the computer side it uses rtpMIDI or OS X's built-in Network MIDI driver. All in all it is not the most convenient option, but may come in handy in some situations nevertheless.


Setting up the network connection
  1. Shut down TouchDAW. It will only detect a Bluetooth network interface after the connection is established on OS levels.
  2. Pair your computer and the Android device.
  3. On the device go to "Wireless & networks / Tethering & portable hotspot" and enable Bluetooth tethering. (Note that TouchDAW will not access the internet, make phone calls or anything else. Operation is strictly limited to the PC <> device connection)



  4. On Windows select "Show Bluetooth Devices" from the context menu on the Bluetooth icon in the system tray. Right click the device, select "Connect using" and "Access Point"



    After this you will see a Bluetooth network connection in Windows' network control panels and rtpMIDI will show an additional IP address in the lower right part of its window. Scroll past the following OS screenshots and proceed w/ point 5.


    On OS X: Well, in principle it's the same, but it may turn out to be a hit and miss operation. OS X seems to fully ignore manual IP settings for Bluetooth-PAN and often just sets up bridge interfaces on "some IP" when using DHCP. Here is what seems to mostly work out:
    In the Network control panel click the "+" in the lower left hand corner. In the upcoming dialog select "Bluetooth PAN" and name the interface to your likes. Click Create and a new Bluetooth network connection (with a yellow LED) will appear in the left hand column. Select it and pick your Android device from the devices dropdown. Do not connect it yet.



    Instead click the "Advanced" button on the lower right hand side. This will bring up the following window:



    Set it up as shown above. The given IP address (192.168.44.21) appears to be the one that Android sends DHCP offers to and OS X actually sometimes listens to given you selected " Using DHCP with manual address". When done click OK and - back in the non-advanced settings for the Bluetooth interface - click the "Connect" button.



    If all went well you should now see a 192.168.44.x IP address (most likely 192.168.44.2) listed in both the network's status info (see above) as well as in the the MIDI Network window (below).
    If that's not the case you're out of luck. Deleting the network and repeating the whole thing may help.
    If it does, proceed with point 5.



  5. Android does not support multicasting on any other network connection than standard WIFI or Ethernet. Automatic device detection will not work here. You need to manually add clients in rtpMIDI resp. Audio / MIDI setup. Find illustrated instructions on how to do this here.
  6. Start TouchDAW and set the desired MIDI connection to "Bluetooth / RTP over Bluetooth".