Transferring Songs

Both MultitrackStudio (Windows/Mac) and MultitrackStudio for iPad can export songs as .zip files, and import them.
While MultitrackStudio is largely the same on all platforms, there are some things to consider:

MIDI Instrument and MIDI Effect substitutes

Exported songs may use plugins that aren't available on a different device. There can be several reasons for this:


MultitrackStudio Instruments used as substitute for the Awesome Piano VST3 plugin
If a plugin is missing a Missing Audio Effect / Missing Instrument / Missing MIDI Effect placeholder appears instead. This placeholder serves to remember the plugin settings, so you can save the song without losing them. The plugin will appear again if you move the song back to the device it came from.

Missing instruments are a major problem because you can't hear the track at all. MultitrackStudio lets you use a substitute on the current device while keeping the settings from the other device too:

  1. Click the slot's down arrow to pop up the selector menu, and select an effect.
  2. The instrument's Options menu now has a 'Substitutes' section. The original (missing) instrument appears there.
  3. When you move the song back to the original device you'll initially see the instrument you picked on the second device. You can use the Options menus of the affected instruments to load the substitute.
  4. The actual instrument and the substitute have now changed place. So if you move the song to the second device again you can pick the substitute you choose before.
Substitutes are available for instruments and MIDI effects (not for audio effects). They don't work with External MIDI Instruments, Virtual MIDI apps (iPad) or IAA apps (iPad).

Exporting to MultitrackStudio for iPad

Zipped MultitrackStudio songs can be imported in MultitrackStudio for iPad, provided you take care of a couple of things:

MultitrackStudio for iPad doesn't support the following features (but the song will be usable nonetheless):

Note: some features require the Pro Extension to be present.

The zip file can be moved to iPad using iTunes File Sharing or DropBox etc.

Using Mac / iPad Universal Clipboard

If you've set up your Mac and iPad to use the Universal Clipboard (*) you can copy/paste data between MultitrackStudio on the Mac and MultitrackStudio for iPad.

(*) In short: enable WIFI, Bluetooth and Handoff. Both devices must use the same iCloud account.