A cost-effective MIDI interface for two expanders?

[Maxime]

Hi All,

Sorry if I'm asking questions that may have been already answered before, but since I've got my new X5DR expander a few weeks ago, I'm looking for the best cost-effective way to use both synths (the X5DR and my MT-32) at the same time using a single MIDI keyboard.

The only MIDI interface I have currently is one MIDI Out port on my master keyboard. I think it's not the ideal way to control two synths

My master keyboard is currently connected via USB on my computer, and its MIDI Out port is connected to the MIDI In of my X5DR. Therefore, my MT-32 is not connected to my MIDI keyboard anymore.

I was told that I could use the MIDI Thru ports of the two expanders to be able to control both with my current hardware and MIDI keyboard.  I understood that by connecting a cable between the MIDI Thru of my X5DR and the MIDI In of my MT-32, both could receive MIDI messages from my MIDI keyboard, does it works like that?

But, apart from that, I'm wondering if I could not get a better MIDI interface: the MT-32 often experiences checksum errors while transfering SysEx through the MIDI Out of my keyboard, and both synths sometimes "crash" while reproducing MIDI data, because the keyboard sometimes experiences an "overflow" of MIDI data and goes crazy, unless I reset the MIDI Out port of the keyboard.

As I don't know anything about MIDI interfaces, I need advice for a nicely priced MIDI interface that could be used to connect both synths (so, a 2x2 model, with 2 INs and 2 OUTs?) and control them with my USB MIDI keyboard. The problem is that I'm always finding MIDI interfaces to be damn expensive, am I wrong? Example: $60 for the M-Audio Uno, a single 1x1 interface :shock:!

The only one I found to be interesting is the Terratec MIDI Hubble, which offers 2 MIDI INs and 2 OUTs as well as being USB and offering 3-port USB hub; as I suffer from a lack of USB ports on my PC, it could be interesting. What do you think?

I'm not looking for a particular brand/model/connectivity (USB or not), only for a solution which could allow me to control my two expanders with a single MIDI keyboard, with a nice price.

I would prefer an external solution, though, as I only have one PCI slot available into my PC, but I'm ready to consider PCI MIDI interfaces if they can represent a good alternative.

I'm also ready to look for used hardware material if they can offer good features at a decent price.

Thanks to anyone who will help me

[Laust]

MIDI-Thru is the cheapest approach. If you connect the MT-32 to the MIDI-Thru port on the X5DR, then everything that goes into the X5DR will also be sent to the MT-32. Now this means that if you're not careful, both synths will play the same notes on top of each other! To prevent this, you can use SysEx to selectively turn off channels on the synths. E.g. use the MT-32 on channels 1-10 and the X5DR on 11-16 (using SysEx to mute channels 1-10 on it).

I don't know how you can turn off channels with SysEx on the X5DR, but I'm sure it can be done. How to do it on the MT-32 has been discussed in the forum previously, I think.

This won't solve the problems you have with your current MIDI interface of course.

The Terratec interface looks nice, with the only downside I can see being that it's only an USB 1.1 hub (slow speeds). Your motherboard doesn't have a game port?

Edit: Freudian slip

[Maxime]

MIDI-Thru is the cheapest approach. If you connect the MT-32 to the MIDI-Thru port on the X5DR, then everything that goes into the X5DR will also be sent to the MT-32. Now this means that if you're not careful, both synths will play the same notes on top of each other! To prevent this, you can use SysEx to selectively turn off channels on the synths. E.g. use the MT-32 on channels 1-10 and the X5DR on 11-16 (using SysEx to mute channels 1-10 on it).

This won't solve the problems you have with your current MIDI interface of course.

It confirms what I understood, thanks!

The Terratec interface looks nice, with the only downside I can see being that it's only an USB 1.1 hub (slow speeds). Your motherboard doesn't have a game port?

Yes, it's USB 1.1, but to connect some of my USB peripherals, I don't think that USB 2.0 is necessary (keyboard, mouse, MIDI keyboard and remote control receptor being the four devices taking the four rear USB ports). So, this is not really a problem, although a USB 2.0 model would be welcome (and the Terratec is the only MIDI interface of that kind I was able to find - moreover, it remains cheap, even compared to "classic" 2x2 interfaces).

Actually, I still have 3 free USB ports on my PC, but on the front side :lol:. I can use these ones to connect high-speed USB devices, but for some of them which never move from my desk, rear ports are sometimes more appropriate.

And, if I need more USB ports, I have a 5-port PCI card that awaits to be used; I bought it for an old P233/Win98 PC with ISA/PCI/PnP motherboard, and I never managed to get it working (crashes at each boot due to IRQ conflicts :evil:), so I could use it to add four external USB 2.0 ports on my current PC

About your question concerning the gameport, no, my mobo doesn't have one. I wish it had one . The only gameport I have is offered by the SB Live! I added after having bought the PC. And my SideWinder gamepad is plugged on it :lol:

[Laust]

About your question concerning the gameport, no, my mobo doesn't have one. I wish it had one . The only gameport I have is offered by the SB Live! I added after having bought the PC. And my SideWinder gamepad is plugged on it :lol:

The game port can be used for MIDI and a joystick at the same time, with the right cable. My Joystick-port to MIDI cable has a pass-through connector for the joystick itself.

[Maxime]

About your question concerning the gameport, no, my mobo doesn't have one. I wish it had one . The only gameport I have is offered by the SB Live! I added after having bought the PC. And my SideWinder gamepad is plugged on it :lol:

The game port can be used for MIDI and a joystick at the same time, with the right cable. My Joystick-port to MIDI cable has a pass-through connector for the joystick itself.

Are you talking about something like this?


I saw effectively that such cables could be found on the internet.
Could you tell me where did you buy yours? At which price?
Those I found were sold around 20 €.

Could you tell me if such a solution works efficiently, without any major flaws? eg. good transmission of MIDI data? And does the gamepad plugged into such cable works almost exactly as if it was connected directly to the soundcard/motherboard's gameport? I guess that you can't transmit both MIDI and gamepad data simultaneously without conflicts (eg. playing a game which reproduces MIDI music with a gamepad)?

[Tom]

I saw effectively that such cables could be found on the internet.

Those sound card cables are available at any music store, and shouldn't cost more than $10-15.

[Maxime]

I saw effectively that such cables could be found on the internet.

Those sound card cables are available at any music store, and shouldn't cost more than $10-15.

Okay, I still have to find a good music store in my region :lol:

[Laust]

MIDI and joystick should work fine at the same time. Although they use the same connector, the pins are separate. I have to admit I haven't tried both at the same time, since I only ever used my joystick for Tie Fighter (and that was on the DOS PC). I can try it out while playing a MIDI, however.

[Maxime]

Well, I finally got a TerraTec MIDI Hubble 2x2 MIDI interface, as I first tought

What's good with this interface is its price for a 2x2 USB MIDI interface (got it for less than 50 €/$60) and, as a bonus, it even offers a 3 port USB hub! Okay, the ports are USB 1.1, but for the price, it sounds nice to me! And it's self-powered, no need for a power adapter (an optional one can be used though, to deliver a full 500mA to each USB port).

It works well with my two expanders: I also bought 4 MIDI cables (Yellow Cable) to connect both IN and OUTs of each on the interface: I can now send and receive data from the two synths without any problem.

One drawback compared to my previous setup (direct connection from the MIDI OUT of my keyboard to the MIDI IN of one synth) is that I can't directly play notes from the keyboard to the synth anymore, without having to use a piece of software to indicate that MIDI IN must be taken from my MIDI keyboard to be redirected on one of the MIDI OUTs of the MIDI Hubble. Don't know if I'm clear :lol:

I could plug the keyboard on the MIDI interface to get such a feature (as the MIDI Hubble includes a small control panel to redirect all MIDI data received from one of the INs to one or both of the OUTs) but I would then loose a MIDI IN to receive data coming from the OUT port of one of the synths. So, for the moment, I use software MIDI Thru solutions such as MIDILab Simple MIDI Connection Center or MIDI Thruway. Thanks to such solutions combined with a virtual MIDI cable driver (such as MIDI Yoke), I can even use both of my expanders at the same time to reproduce MIDI data. Nice.

I'm satisfied with this MIDI interface, which seems to avoid many of the "checksum errors" I could have while transferring SysEx messages to my MT-32 using my MIDI keyboard. Of course, it has some flaws, but, despite of them, it remains very well-priced for a 2x2 MIDI interface:
- no power switch, if the computer keeps powering the USB ports even while powered off, the interface remains powered on until being disconnected from the computer
- could have a more complete control panel
- could also be available with USB 2.0 ports, but, after all, its primary goal remains to be a MIDI interface