I have been trying to find a way to make my Presonus Atom SQ work as my default MIDI device, outside of studio one. When I use studio one I can load instruments and can use my atom pad right away to play and control the midi for the software instrument. When I’m not in Studio one, if I open any of my instrument applications it isn’t defaulted to where I can press the Atom Controller and control the MIDI, usually I have to set it to be in audio midi controls every time I launch an application. Is there any way to make it so the midi controller can work right away on my instrument applications? Similar to how it works with the native support for Studio One. (Obviously it won’t be the same native control but if there’s a way to make it the default midi channel or something that would work just fine for me so I don’t have to select the midi settings every time I use an application)

 

from desktop/Finder, click go menu, utilities, run audio/midi setup.app. It might popup a audio window, but you want Midi. Go to Window, Show Midi Studio.

You can either set it up so it uses the IAC bus, and then route your application defaults to the IAC bus, or you can use an additional program like Bome midi utility program or other. https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

I only use my keyboard controller in Logic. This may explain IAC easier.

Spoiler

you want your PreSonus Atom SQ to behave like a “default” MIDI input device system-wide (so when you launch a standalone instrument or non-Studio One DAW, it just works without you digging into MIDI setup menus every time).

Here’s the breakdown:

Why it works “magically” in Studio One

• PreSonus added native integration between Atom SQ ↔ Studio One. That’s why the controller is auto-detected, mapped, and activated when you open an instrument track.
  
  
• Outside Studio One, it’s just a standard USB MIDI device. There’s no system-level “make this the default MIDI input for all apps” setting in macOS or Windows.

What you can do

1. Set Atom SQ as the default in Audio MIDI Setup (macOS)
   • Open Audio MIDI Setup → MIDI Studio.
     
     
   • Verify the Atom SQ is showing as a MIDI device.
     
     
   • Unfortunately, macOS doesn’t have a true “system default MIDI input” the way it has for audio. Each app decides which input(s) to use.
     
     
   • What you can do: use the “IAC Driver” virtual MIDI bus. If you route Atom SQ into IAC, then tell apps to use IAC, that’s one universal target. Once it’s set in each app once, they’ll remember “IAC” as the input, and your Atom always feeds into it.
2. Use a MIDI router utility (more reliable than IAC alone):
   • Tools like MIDI Patchbay (Mac), MIDI Pipe (Mac), or loopMIDI + Bome MIDI Translator (Windows).
     
     
   • Setup:
     • Atom SQ → router → virtual MIDI port → all apps listen to this port.
       
       
     • You only select that port once per app → from then on, they always “just work.”
       
       
     • The router auto-starts with login, so your Atom SQ is always feeding MIDI.
3. Check if your instrument apps have a “save MIDI device as default” option.
   • For example:
     • Arturia Analog Lab, NI Kontakt, and many others let you set the input once, then remember it across launches.
   • Some don’t, which is why the virtual bus workaround above is useful.
4. On Windows: You can achieve similar behavior using loopMIDI + MIDI-OX to create a permanent virtual port. Then set your apps to always listen to that. Atom SQ → loopMIDI → apps.

Best workflow

• Set up one permanent virtual MIDI port.
  
  
• Route Atom SQ into it automatically (MIDI Pipe or similar).
  
  
• Tell every instrument app to use that port.
  
  
• Done: from then on, whenever you launch a soft synth standalone, the Atom SQ is already feeding MIDI into it without extra clicks.