Connect IsoPad to your DAW and use one of three included keyboard layouts to play melodies, basslines, and hooks quickly.
IsoPad contains three different keyboard layouts. One of them is the familiar piano fingerboard. However, the others are way more suitable for modern touch interfaces. The pads of these so called "isomorphic layouts" are organized in such a way that the interval from one pad to the next one always remains the same.
Many new hardware devices like Ableton Push, Novation LaunchPad, or Roger Linn's LinnStrument use one of these layouts to help you play in a more intuitive way.
This is how it works: Chord shapes will always look the same no matter which root note you use. If you know how to play a C Major chord, you instantly know how to play an A Major chord for example: Just keep your fingers in the same position and move them to the A. The same applies to other chord types and scales. If you know the shape of the C Major scale, you can use that knowledge for D Major, E Major etc. as well.
The following layouts are included: "Iso 1-5" (1 semitone horizontal, 5 semitones vertical; the same layout as the LinnStrument), "Iso 2-5" (2 semitones horizontal, 5 semitones vertical), and "Keyboard" (1 semitone horizontal, 12 semitones vertical).
1) Download IsoPad and install it.
2) You will need a "virtual MIDI cable" to send MIDI notes to your DAW. The free LoopBe1 from nerds.de is highly recommended. Simply install it and it will register itself as a virtual MIDI driver.
3) Click on the settings button in IsoPad and set the MIDI out device to LoopBe1. Then open the settings of your DAW / other MIDI software and choose LoopBe1 as MIDI input.
4) Open IsoPad. Click on the top right buttons to switch between different keyboard layouts. Press ESC to toggle between full screen and windowed mode. Press X to hide the settings button, press it a second time to hide the top row completely.
