Getting started with MONKEY

monkey overview

Before starting, insert a CR2032 battery into Monkey. The LEDs in the light house as well as the LEDs in the eyes of the monkey will briefly blink indicating it has booted successfully.

Make sure there is no protection film on the battery

Device updates

Please make sure your device is up to date before continuing. The device is updated directly though the browser:

Go to device update page

Connecting

MONKEY supports a variety of hosts and works great in many types of setups. The connection process varies with the device you choose to use MONKEY with. For new users, we recommend starting with a mobile device. On mobile devices, it’s typical for the music creation apps to handle connections. This is contrary to desktop operating systems such as Windows and macOS, where you typically handle the connection through the OS.

Connecting to mobile apps

There is a bunch of fun apps to try out. We recommend checking out N-Track Studio which is available on both iOS, iPadOS, and Android. We specifically recommend this app because:

  • It has a usable free version
  • It’s relatively easy to get going with
  • You can control multiple instruments at once with MONKEY
  • For more advanced users, it has depth
Check out N-Track Studio

Connecting to desktop operating systems

Bluetooth MIDI devices will not appear in system Bluetooth settings. Instead, macOS has it’s own utility.

We have developed MIDI Connect which simplifies connections on macOS. And it’s not limited to Wavy devices. This is the easiest way to manage your Bluetooth MIDI devices, however it is not required. If you instead prefer to not install anything, please skip to the below instructions.

MIDI Connect on App Store

MIDI Connect preview

If you do not want to download this app, please follow the proceeding instructions.

1. Open up Audio MIDI Setup

Search for Bluetooth

2. Open MIDI studio

Open MIDI studio

3. Open the Bluetooth panel

Open Bluetooth window

Alternatively, if you don’t see the Bluetooth icon:

Alternative Bluetooth option

4. Find your device in the list and connect

Connect to Monkey

Windows currently does not have the best support for MIDI over Bluetooth. The steps below might look a bit complicated. But once it’s initially done, it shouldn’t be too bad.

You will need the following programs installed:

  1. loopMIDI: https://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html
  2. MIDIBerry: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n39720h2m05

Then follow these steps to start using Monkey:

0. Windows 11 users first have to enable Advanced devices discovery in Bluetooth system settings.

Windows advanced Bluetooth

1. Pair Monkey in Windows settings. You only need to do this step if Monkey is not paired with your Windows computer.

Windows connectWindows pairingWindows paired

2. Configure a MIDI port using loopMIDI and name it “my midi port.”

Port create

3. Open MIDIBerry, select WAVY MONKEY as the input device and the MIDI port you created as the output.

Now you are done! Test it by pressing random keys on Monkey and check if the notes are received in the INPUT MONITOR of MIDIBerry.

MIDIBerry input

Be aware that you need to keep MIDIBerry open to keep the connection. You might also experience having connected everything correctly but still not receiving any notes. In this case, try to disconnect from Monkey in Windows settings and reconnect, and making sure it’s set up as descibed above.

Configure desktop DAW

We provide guides for some DAWs though MONKEY should work with most of them. The gist is to assign instruments in your DAW to different MIDI channels, with a drum rack on MIDI channel 10.

1. Make sure Monkey is enabled in MIDI Ports settings.

Ableton settings

2. Configure the MIDI channel for each track. Use channels 1-10 for instruments, and channel 10 for your drum rack.

Ableton channel

Ensure each track is armed for recording.

Ableton arm

1. Enable the device in FL Studio settings.

FL Studio settings

2. Lock instruments to the keyboard to receive specific MIDI channels.

FL Studio assign to keyboard

3. Assign instruments to channels 1-10, and a drum rack to channel 10.

FL Studio configure channelFL Studio configure channel


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