2 Midi devices with only 1 midi port on PC?

I

imperia

New member
Hi peeps,

There is probably a simple solution to this problem.. but I've tried a few things and I'm a bit stumped, so any help appreciated!

I have two MIDI devices, a Korg Triton and a Roland MC-505. I have a SoundBlaster soundcard with a gameport - which I use to plug one of the devices into to control via Sonar. That's all good.

However, I'd like to control BOTH devices at the same time.

The problem I think I'm facing is that only the Korg has MIDI THRU, the 505 doesn't... will this be enough to allow me to control both devices via Sonar?

One solution I've though of is getting a motherboard with an onboard gameport so I can attach say the Korg into the SoundBlaster gameport, and the Roland into the MB gameport... but the motherboard I'm looking at upgradeing to doesn't have this.

So let's assume I only have one game/midi port on my PC - how would I go about controlling both devices at the same time from within Sonar?

Many many thanks for any assistance!!
 
Thanks for that! Curious..

Ultimately what I'd like is to be able to record both the Roland and Triton note events to Sonar, then have those events played back to each device (because in the end, I have written songs that require patches/effects from both synths).

As for recording, I'm happy for the Korg (the one with the THRU) to control the Roland as I'm recording to Sonar.. but when playing back obviously I want each device controlled independently from Sonar so I can hear them both at once.

Do you thin the device you kindly pointed out will do this?

Cheers!
 
Does your Triton have "To Host" port? (check the connection panel on the back) If so, then you can use it thru serial port on your PC. I'll tell you how latter...

;)
Jaymz
 
Hi Jaymez,

Yes, indeed it does..

Ok so I've actually done some reading now and yeah it seems I can control the Korg via the serial port (with special cable) and TO HOST as you mentioned... so I should be able to control my Roland with the standard game port...

Thanks for mentioning this TO HOST port as I had forgotten all about it, to be honest!!

I'll see how it goes..

Cheers!
 
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Great!

Using PC to Host, you're not only having one extra port to control your Triton, but you can use Triton's MIDI Out as extra independent port, incase you expand your system in the future (eg. adding more MIDI device). You'll need special driver (included when you bought the cable).

If you can't find the cable anywhere, I'll show you how to build it yourself with very lil' electronic work. Just shout here, and I'll help you out :)

;)
Jaymz
 
Hi Jaymz,

Cheers thanks! I haven't had much luck locating the cable so far... I'll keep looking though. A guy in the shop I buy from often (as unhelpful as he was) said "Good luck trying to find that cable..", but I will keep on looking!
 
:D Hi imperia I recently ran across the information that you seek in my own studio project. If you will search with "one in two out midi splitter" at ask jeeves.com you should get the same results that I did. There are box unit available at Phil rees, as well as cables from pirahna. these sell between 20 and 30 dollers. Reguler 1/4" boxes can be found by looking for " A/B-y" boxes. Let me know how it works out.
 
I have tried this on my PC at home using Windows 98 SE
Don't know whether this would work with later versions of Windows

check out this link http://www.pgmusic.com/033198a.htm

I am using a Roland D-70 synth ( 5 part multi-timbrel ) and Soundblaster PCI-128 ( PC is Pentium II - 350 Mhz & 128 MB RAM )
  • Channel 1 to 5 - MIDI Out
  • Channel 6 to 16 - Soundblaster ( with on-board EMU synth chip using 8 MB Soundfonts (GS) )

There is only one drum kit on the D-70 and 10 kits on the SB soundcard, so I map the drums to the soundcard

The only downside is the D-70 is not GM MIDI mapped, so it can be tricky to switch back and forth between midi playback configuration (Default or Custom1) and have the right sounds.
 
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