Mira 1.2.18 —What's Old Is New Again

You know, it's been a long time since we talked about Mira. Remember Mira? If you need a refresher, Mira is our companion app for iOS. You add a mira.frame object to your patch, any UI objects that you put inside that frame appear inside the Mira app. We first released Mira in 2013, and we've made small changes to it over the years.

Mira 1.2.18 fixes a few longstanding issues related stability, text rendering, and button behavior. We also fixed an issue with the mira.multitouch external and swipe gestures that had been around (apparently unnoticed) since launch day. In addition, Mira wasn't working at all with iOS 14, so we took care of that.

With these fixes we're also adding a couple of focused features. First, the live.meter~ object is now supported.

The equivalent Max object meter~ has its advantages, but the live.meter~ object provides finer detail than the standard meter~ and a has lingering clipping indicator. In addition, it's very skinny.

Next, we've added two new Mira options specifically for kiosk and installation displays. You'll find these in your iOS settings under Mira.

The options "Connect to USB Automatically" and "Connect to WiFi Automatically" should be pretty self-explanatory. Enable either of these, and whenever you open Mira, it will connect immediately if it detects an instance of Max over USB or on the same WiFi network. This saves your finger the minor hassle of a couple taps, but it's also great for situations where you want to use Mira as part of a kiosk.

With that in mind, you can guess why we added "Hide Config Menu." This option removes the menu button at the top-right that normally lets you do things like manage your connection to Max. With this option enabled, you essentially run Mira in "read-only" mode. The user can interact with the patch, but they can't disconnect or change display modes. Again, perfect for the kiosk.

How are people using Mira in 2020? I'd be curious to know.

I'm continually amazed by some of the Mira projects that I see out in the wild. About a year ago at our Max user conference Expo '74, I got an in-person demo for an app by Andrej Kobal called GranuRise that you can operate entirely from Mira. The depth of this app is out of control, with feature like XY controls for pan/volume and gesture playback.

Inspired by the new version of Mira as well as some new mtr object features, I recently spent some time diving back into Mira myself. The patch shown in the following video records gestures coming out of the mira.multitouch object and immediately loops them.

So — if you haven't picked up Mira in a while, I recommend you give it a spin (You can find it on the Apple Store). It's snappier and crisper on modern iPads than it's ever been.