Midi/home studio set up

Crisis

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I currently have a Mac mini, Korg nanokey, korg electribe ER1 and a Behringer UM2 Interface. Can anyone help me with midi set up. The nanokey has a usb lead and I have a midi in/out (din) to USB cable for the korg ER1 which has midi in/out/thru plugs.
ATM I'm running Tracktion T7 but will be moving on to Presonus Studio one V3 in the future. My aim is to synchronise the whole set up through midi clocks as well as use both the nanokey and ER1 as controller's but also access the effects, sequencer and sound's of the ER1 if this is possible. Thanks in advance.
 
I am certainly no expert here but AFAICS you are missing a vital element? A MIDI interface.

The UM2 has no MIDI ports and although the ER1 has in, out and thru it does not appear to have USB to communicate with a computer?

The Nanokey is just USB so how that will communicate with the ER1 I do not know. My conclusion is that you need an audio/MIDI interface. There is a Behringer model but I have no idea how good it is overall.

The crucial factor in a MIDI setup where you want to play software generated sounds is low "Latency", that is the delay between hitting a key and hearing the sound. It can never be zero but good systems can get it below 5mSecs. The actual amount of delay you are comfortable with varies from person to person and I also understand you can learn to live with quite a lot.

I can recommend the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 and one of the best interfaces I know of for low latency and superbly stable drivers. It also has extra audio connectivity that I am sure you would find invaluable.

Dave.
 
Big + 1 to Dave there.
The setup you have at present would allow both devices to communicate midi to your computer, which is only one small piece of the puzzle.

The nanokey being USB-only isn't ideal, although it's possible to work around that.
You can have the computer pipe the received mini back out the (new) audio interface midi port to your synths/modules and work from there.
What that'll do for latency, though, I don't know. 5 pin midi all the way would probably be safer because then you're going controller->module->interface.

Using midi thru to ensure a path back to the computer means you can always record the midi as well as whatever analog audio you might be recording.

You'd need an audio interface with traditional midi in/out ports either way, as Dave said,
as well as audio line-inputs for recording the analog sounds/effects.

If, in the longer term, you're likely to have several synths or modules from which you'll want to record analog audio,
you might want to think about either an interface with multiple line-inputs, enough to accommodate all devices, or a convenient means of switching patch cables from one to the other.
 
"If, in the longer term, you're likely to have several synths or modules from which you'll want to record analog audio,
you might want to think about either an interface with multiple line-inputs, enough to accommodate all devices, or a convenient means of switching patch cables from one to the other."

Indeed ^ Mr S (and you are too kind!) There are various way to skin the "multiple source" cat! Thing is, MIDI allows you to "play" several instruments at once so you really need multiple tracks and there has been a bit of a useful development for this in the last few years..

There are one or two interfaces that have the usual 2 mic/line/instr inputs but also an ADAT port. Usually only an input but still useful in that you can but the rather good (for the money) Behringer ADA8200 8 channel ADAT preamp and have 10 inputs at a stroke. Presonus make one such an AI.

However, if you do not think 5 kbds and a drum machine on the go at once is likely you can get a 4 input AI, such as the KA6 and a small mixer. Note, the mixer would not really BE a mixer (tho' you could) but an "assembly point" of sorts that allows all the gear to be plugged up and each source level adjusted ready to go.

You could of course just go for a multi-track AI? The Tascam 20-20 gets a good rep but probably works out more expensive than a 4 way AI and a wee mixer?

Dave.
 
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