Apple's iDAM can be used to route MIDI to and from iOS devices over a USB connection. However this only works for internal MIDI. You can't route an external keyboard or other controller attached to the MAC to iOS via iDAM. This article shows how to do it using the free MacOS utility MidiPipe.

Preparation

Connection

  1. Run MidiPipe. You'll need to keep this running any time you want to do this routing.
  2. Double-click MIDI In in the Tools list so that it shows up in the Pipes list. (Drag and drop will work too.)
  3. Highlight the MIDI In pipe and select your MIDI controller from the dropdown list under MIDI Input
  4. Double-click MIDI Out in the Tools list so that it shows up in the Pipes list.
  5. Highlight the MIDI Out pipe and select your iOS device from the dropdown list under MIDI Output.
  6. If you have other devices connected to the Mac, set up MIDI In pipes for each. Be sure to drag them above the MIDI Out node as flow is from top to bottom.
  7. On iOS test that the external controllers send MIDI over the iDAM MIDI Host connection.
  8. Use File > Save in MIDI Pipe for easy recall of this setup.

There are many other things you can do with MidiPipe. It's well worth looking into, and highly encouraged to make a donation to the developer for their generous work.