An experimental, unofficial patch editing app for the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer.
The app is written in TypeScript, and is built with React Native and Expo for the Web, Android and iOS. It uses the Web MIDI API (via https://github.com/motiz88/react-native-midi) to send and receive patch data.
This repo is a work in progress. You can find links to download the app, as well as usage instructions, at https://gr55.app.
- Follow the Expo setup guide to install Node (required) and the tools needed to build for iOS and Android (optional, depends on your target platform).
- Clone this repository.
- In your local checkout, run
npm installfollowed by one ofnpx expo start --web,npx expo run:ios, ornpx expo run:android. - Once the app has started, changes you make to
.tsand.tsxfiles will take effect immediately.
Note that the iOS Simulator and Android Emulator do not support USB/Bluetooth MIDI connections. The options for developing while connected to a real GR-55 are:
- Develop using the Web version on PC/Mac (recommended for most changes).
- Use a physical iPhone, iPad or Android device (recommended if working on iOS/Android-specific changes).
- For advanced use cases: Join a Network MIDI session from the iOS Simulator and route MIDI messages to/from your Mac's connected MIDI devices.
- For advanced use cases: Use Xcode to run the iOS app as a Mac app using Mac Catalyst (Macs with Apple silicon only).
Major thanks to @gumtown for building the excellent GR-55Floorboard without which this project would not be possible.