RE: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
I think you'd be likely to get all kinds of conflicts and interrupt errors if you started trying to run midi through more than a couple of those. I'd recommend getting an old Midex 8 or AMT8 off ebay, they work great. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan00/articles/emagicamt8.htm http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may01/articles/steinbergmidex8.asp matt chester 11th hour recordings matt-chester.com | 11-hour.com ehr007 - Die For A Reason ep - out June 2009 matt-chester.com/wp/releases/ -Original Message- From: Richard Hester [mailto:gwrenc...@sbcglobal.net] Sent: 22 June 2009 04:25 To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads Sooner or later, I'll be putting my music computer setup back together. It's woefully out of date, and I'll need some sort of midi router to replace my 4 X 4 ISA card (ISA? What's that...). Anyway, one option would be to get an 8X rack mount router with USB interface, though these seem to be a bit thin on the ground as of late.What I have noticed is a lot of MIDI-to-USB dongles cropping up. Would a bunch of these operating into a USB hub be a proper substitute, given the proper software (if it exists)?
RE: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
I'm no expert, but I remember when I tried some while back to use more than one interface at the same time, I had serious issues, primarily timing and conflicts which meant signals at times weren't going through and parts of the set-up didn't work. But then, that was a few years ago and no doubt software and hardware has improved some since then. I've used a Midisport 4x4 for years since then [both with a hardware and software sequencer - you can use it with USB or standalone as a router] and it's served me well. Ken -Original Message- From: Richard Hester [mailto:gwrenc...@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 4:25 AM To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads Sooner or later, I'll be putting my music computer setup back together. It's woefully out of date, and I'll need some sort of midi router to replace my 4 X 4 ISA card (ISA? What's that...). Anyway, one option would be to get an 8X rack mount router with USB interface, though these seem to be a bit thin on the ground as of late.What I have noticed is a lot of MIDI-to-USB dongles cropping up. Would a bunch of these operating into a USB hub be a proper substitute, given the proper software (if it exists)?
Re: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
I have my doubts. If it's cheaper to try and you want to save a buck, maybe give it a whirl but just be ready for it to possibly not work. I know that both macs and PC's have only a finite amount of that sort of thing that they can deal with. My opinion would be to go straight to the rack mount if you have the budget, I'm more confident about that solution personally. On 6/21/09, Richard Hester gwrenc...@sbcglobal.net wrote: Sooner or later, I'll be putting my music computer setup back together. It's woefully out of date, and I'll need some sort of midi router to replace my 4 X 4 ISA card (ISA? What's that...). Anyway, one option would be to get an 8X rack mount router with USB interface, though these seem to be a bit thin on the ground as of late.What I have noticed is a lot of MIDI-to-USB dongles cropping up. Would a bunch of these operating into a USB hub be a proper substitute, given the proper software (if it exists)?
Re: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
Motu makes a great 8x8 USB rack unit I think. I had one, thought might have been 4x4, had led for each io activity level, worked great. On Monday, June 22, 2009, Thor Teague thor.tea...@gmail.com wrote: I have my doubts. If it's cheaper to try and you want to save a buck, maybe give it a whirl but just be ready for it to possibly not work. I know that both macs and PC's have only a finite amount of that sort of thing that they can deal with. My opinion would be to go straight to the rack mount if you have the budget, I'm more confident about that solution personally. On 6/21/09, Richard Hester gwrenc...@sbcglobal.net wrote: Sooner or later, I'll be putting my music computer setup back together. It's woefully out of date, and I'll need some sort of midi router to replace my 4 X 4 ISA card (ISA? What's that...). Anyway, one option would be to get an 8X rack mount router with USB interface, though these seem to be a bit thin on the ground as of late.What I have noticed is a lot of MIDI-to-USB dongles cropping up. Would a bunch of these operating into a USB hub be a proper substitute, given the proper software (if it exists)? -- kuszyn...@gmail.com www.planerecordings.com New York, NY
Re: (313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
Not really on topic for 313 but since about 1/2 the users on this list are producers of some stripe... Any more, with so much synthesis capability available inside the box, most people don't keep a ton of outboard MIDI gear around. Plus, many modern devices that used to be MIDI only come with USB, so you can plug them directly into the computer without a MIDI interface. Consequently, the demand for serious multiport MIDI interfaces has declined and as far as I know, MOTU is the only company still making an 8-port MIDI interface. M-Audio Mackie/Tapco makes 4 port units. I have a M-Audio Midisport 2x2 which works fine, a friend of mine uses the Mackie/Tapco 4 port with no trouble. You can, of course, daisy chain MIDI devices, which will allow for 2 devices to share a port. You just have to set them up to respond to different channels. A MIDI Thru box lets you do this in a easier-to-manage way -- it distributes the same MIDI line to several outputs. Kenton seems to be the last company making such an item, the Kenton Thru 5. There are a ton of different thru boxes floating around on the used market too, dirt cheap, and short of water damage or jack failure there's very little to go wrong with these. It is easier if you're using old gear with possibly quirky MIDI implementations, it's probably best to put it on it's own port -- the stock Jupiter6 firmware only OMNI, meaning it ignores MIDI channel numbers in the notes, so it pretty much has to be on its own channel. And of course if you have a lot of midi on one midi output you run the risk of timing issues, and it is a pain in the ass to make sure all your external gear is set to distinct channels, and that your sequencer is sending MIDI to the right port and channel, which means that if you do have a bunch of outboard gear, a multiport device is a very useful luxury. Anyhow links -- all links to Audiomidi.com, who I heartily endorse as a mail order vender. Great prices, peerless service and tech support. Kenton Thru 5: http://www.audiomidi.com/Thru-5-P11900.aspx Tapco 4x4: http://www.audiomidi.com/Link-MIDI-4x4-Interface-P7969.aspx M-Audio 4x4: http://www.audiomidi.com/MIDISport-4x4-USB-MIDI-Interface-P969.aspx M-Audio 2x2: http://www.audiomidi.com/MIDISport-2x2-Anniversary-Edition-USB-MIDI-Interface-P1026.aspx MOTU Midi Express 128: http://www.audiomidi.com/Midi-Express-128-USB--P3840.aspx
(313) MIDI Routing Question for Gear Heads
Sooner or later, I'll be putting my music computer setup back together. It's woefully out of date, and I'll need some sort of midi router to replace my 4 X 4 ISA card (ISA? What's that...). Anyway, one option would be to get an 8X rack mount router with USB interface, though these seem to be a bit thin on the ground as of late.What I have noticed is a lot of MIDI-to-USB dongles cropping up. Would a bunch of these operating into a USB hub be a proper substitute, given the proper software (if it exists)?
