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Stardust

Mobile Companion

Phone or tablet remote control for desktop Stardust. Browse patches, tweak parameters, view show notes — without leaving your seat.

💭 v2.0+

What it does

A companion app (Tauri Mobile — iOS + Android) that connects to your desktop Stardust instance over LAN and lets you control it remotely.

Useful for:

  • Sound check: walk around the room while another person plays; tweak parameters from a tablet at FOH position
  • Quick reference: peek at show notes / patch list on phone while keeping desktop screen clean
  • Backup control surface: if your laptop screen fails, phone-sized fallback for emergency advance

Important: NOT a mobile audio engine

This is critical to understand. The companion is purely a remote — the audio engine still runs on the desktop. Mobile companion just sends commands and receives state updates.

A full “Stardust on iPad with plugin hosting” is a different product (beyond v2.0+ scope — separate project) because:

  • iPad needs AUv3 host (not VST3 — different plugin format)
  • Audio engine would need rewriting for iOS audio (Core Audio on iOS ≠ Core Audio on macOS in important ways)
  • Plugin universe is entirely different

For 1.0 + foreseeable future, mobile is remote-only.

iPad-specific consideration: forScore conflict

Many MT keyboardists already use iPad for forScore (sheet music). Don’t compete for that screen.

Approach: mobile companion is designed as a phone-first / small-screen experience. On iPad, it can run in Slide Over (a small floating panel) alongside forScore. The companion is NOT designed to take over the iPad.

See forScore Integration for the deeper iPad story (mostly: send MIDI from Stardust to forScore for page turns).

Tauri Mobile reuse

Tauri 2.0 supports iOS and Android. The mobile companion reuses:

  • React components from desktop
  • TypeScript state management
  • Same UI design language

What’s different:

  • Touch-first interactions (bigger tap targets, no hover)
  • Network sync layer instead of in-process
  • Reduced feature set (no Edit Mode on mobile — just play-time controls)

Network protocol

Uses the same network sync code as Multi-keyboardist Sync:

  • Desktop broadcasts state (current Show/Song/Patch, meters, MIDI activity)
  • Mobile sends commands (advance patch, tweak parameter, jump song)
  • TCP for commands (reliable), UDP multicast for state broadcasting (low latency)
  • Authentication via QR code pairing (scan from desktop to add mobile to authorized list)

What you can do from mobile

  • Browse Shows / Songs / Patches — read-only navigation
  • Advance / previous patch — large touch buttons
  • Free-jump to Patch — tap a patch from the strip
  • View show notes — for current Song/Patch
  • Tweak exposed parameters — touch sliders for parameters explicitly marked as “favorite”
  • Trigger panic — big red button
  • View meters and MIDI activity
  • See latency / CPU status

What you can’t do from mobile

  • Edit Patches — go to desktop for that
  • MIDI Learn — desktop only
  • Manage VST chain — desktop only
  • Settings — desktop only

Intentional simplification — the companion is a play-time control, not a duplicate of the desktop app.

Phase status

PhaseWhat’s available
v2.0+Read-only remote: state mirroring, basic advance, view notes
v2.0+Parameter tweaking, jump-to-patch, MIDI activity view
Post-v2.0(Hypothetical) full mobile audio engine — separate product