Midi-Interface...

P

PRiZ

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Is a good one required or highly beneficial.
Which ones are good (names), I'm not even sure how it works.
but if I get a soundcard without midi, I'm gonna need midi for a keyboard. I'd like to be able to get the connection and interface cheap as possible, but nothing that lags.
 
midi interface

1 - midiman 2x2 (about $50)
2 - Motu Microexpress ($200, or $150/less) 4in x 6 out
3 - Motu Express XT ($200, or less) 8inx 8out


I have a Micro-express, I'd sell it to you for $80 card for PC/MAC
adapter. I use the Express XT now
 
If you don't need any frills and just want a basic and reliable midi interface, the Midisport 2x2 is a nice deal. It's USB, so it's easy to use and doesn't take up a card slot. If you're just starting your setup, it should be good enough. You can plug your keyboard into one in/out loop, and you have a second in/out for whatever gear you end up getting down the line (sound module, sampler, light show stuff, etc).

-marcus
 
hmmm...

Micro express looks like a good deal...
Only one unit can be used, giving a maximum of 96 MIDI channels, whats this supposed to mean...?
Did this midi device come out around 94, it doesn't have USB does it...? What ar the advantages of USB.
I don't know what to say about this MICRO EXPRESS yet...
 
sucram said:
If you don't need any frills and just want a basic and reliable midi interface, the Midisport 2x2 is a nice deal. It's USB, so it's easy to use and doesn't take up a card slot. If you're just starting your setup, it should be good enough. You can plug your keyboard into one in/out loop, and you have a second in/out for whatever gear you end up getting down the line (sound module, sampler, light show stuff, etc).

-marcus
Click to expand...

OK, I'm a little confused here. Correct me where I err:

As far as a basic MIDI interface, I was under the impression that virtually anything would work, including plugging your controller (or J-Station or whatever MIDI device you have) into the game port of your $5.99 generic sound card (in fact, the Evolution MK-149 and others come with just such an adaptor cable) - and that anything else beyond that was primarily a matter of sexier wavetables and sound. Curiously, some hi-$$$ recording packages reportedly don't have MIDI interfaces and so one may have to access his MIDI hardware through some redundant soundcard that way.

I was also under the impression that USB devices were frequently problematic in some applications and that USB was just as well avoided (this has been confirmed in the uniformly problematic nature of ALL my USB devices so far, every last, stinkin' one of them), all other things being equal.

I also read that if your controller or other device has in, out and through MIDI connections you were OK for chaining other MIDI devices once you were MIDI interfaced with the computer somehow.

How am I doing so far?

Have I made enough mistakes to keep you busy for a bit?
 
I hope someone can correct me if i overstep my intelligence...

You're right about being able to connect a MIDI interface to a joystick port. This could be all you need if you don't plan on doing heavy MIDI work (if you're only using a keyboard to play a soft synth). There are 2 issues though. 1) I don't know if you can plug in multiple adapters on top of each other (for some reason, this sounds like it wouldn't work), so you may be limited to just one cable of I/O (16 channels). 2) http://www.midi.org/about-midi/abtmidi.htm says that ground loops are potential issues for these types of adapters. What that means for your MIDI data, I don't know. It doesn't sound good for your audio though.

Getting a pricier interface won't affect the sounds since the waves don't come from the interface. It will give you more routing options with more I/O, and some will boast lower latencies. Higher end audio packages can lack MIDI if they're dedicated to audio (didn't Pro Tools just recently integrate MIDI?). For instance, if I'm recording my band in my basement, all I really need is to get the audio into the computer. I don't need to involve MIDI at all.

I can't attest to the bugginess of USB stuff. It sucks if you've been having problems. I can say that I've not once hit a snag using the Midisport 2x2.

As for MIDI thru ports, they're a great convenience, but if you start getting more than a couple MIDI things, you'll realize that routing can become intricate depending on how you're controlling your setup. I only use three MIDI-fied pieces of gear, and I have to constantly replug the cabling depending on what I want to do. Latency can also become an issue if you're daisychaining multiple pieces together. That's why I will need a patchbay, especially if I want to expand my gear in the future (you *will* want to expand your gear in the future).

That's about all I know about MIDI (I just got my first cable a couple months ago). I hope someone corrects me if I said too much.

-marcus
 
sucram said:
I hope someone can correct me if i overstep my intelligence...

You're right about being able to connect a MIDI interface to a joystick port. This could be all you need if you don't plan on doing heavy MIDI work (if you're only using a keyboard to play a soft synth).
Click to expand...

OK, this is a digression, but it's where I really need to go with this thread.

I am unsure what the MIDI controller keyboard really does in the home recording studio. I don't have any intention of doing what I've always thought of as MIDI, noodling around with the wavetable sounds to make MIDI files, etc...but I was under the impression that a MIDI controller is now mainly used to operate the various soft synths and other virtual devices in the recording program suite.

If I am mistaken about this, what sort of keyboard _does_ control these soft synths and other programs?

There are 2 issues though. 1) I don't know if you can plug in multiple adapters on top of each other (for some reason, this sounds like it wouldn't work), so you may be limited to just one cable of I/O (16 channels).
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm unsure about this, too, but I don't plan on getting a recording package without integral MIDI interfaces, so this shouldn't be a problem. I was only pointing out what I had read elsewhere about very basic setups and improvised interfaces.

2) http://www.midi.org/about-midi/abtmidi.htm says that ground loops are potential issues for these types of adapters. What that means for your MIDI data, I don't know. It doesn't sound good for your audio though.
Click to expand...


Yes, I read that and it was very interesting. I had wondered about the viability of the joystick adapter.

For instance, if I'm recording my band in my basement, all I really need is to get the audio into the computer. I don't need to involve MIDI at all.
Click to expand...


See, this is where I'm getting confused.

I'm still trying to figure out what functions MIDI is used for in such a setup. I presumed it was used to gate the synths and soforth, but I am completely unclear on this and nothing I've seen yet clarifies anything for me.

Thanks for any help.
 
I'm still not clear too...

"I'm still trying to figure out what functions MIDI is used for in such a setup."

All I know is I need midi to use a keyboard, I'm not sure about this whole controller + sound mudule etc setup... Is this the only way to go, I want to create sounds, have many sounds to use on through keyboard, mayby even upload sounds to it so I can always get new sounds... Do I need a sound module for a keyboad? I'm using a computer...

I've come to the product JV-1010 and JV-1080, will either of these do what I want...?
 
You don't "need midi to use a keyboard."

You can, of course, play the keyboard in real time and record its output in the normal fashion (via analog output).

The nice thing with midi is that can set it up so that the keyboard (or other sound modules, such as drum machines) can be driven by a sequencer (either hardware or computer software) or recording program equipped to drive a midi interface so that you don't have to record midi driven sounds at all - the midi signals sent by the program will "play" the sound module sounds for you, at the right time, in sequence with your current song. This also means you don't waste recording tracks actually recording midi parts - it is simply played "live" via the sequencer.

Now to interface midi IN/OUT via a computer, you need a way to connect a midi cable into the machine and the way to do that is a midi interface card. Nothing more complicated than that.

Bruce
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
The nice thing with midi is that can set it up so that the keyboard (or other sound modules, such as drum machines) can be driven by a sequencer (either hardware or computer software) or recording program equipped to drive a midi interface so that you don't have to record midi driven sounds at all - the midi signals sent by the program will "play" the sound module sounds for you, at the right time, in sequence with your current song. This also means you don't waste recording tracks actually recording midi parts - it is simply played "live" via the sequencer.
Click to expand...

Yes, if I'm understanding you, you seem to be saying just what I finally figured out today by reading the very good Reason primer tutorials that come with that program: You can use a MIDI controller to simply run the softsynths via the MIDI interface, without messing with MIDI files and rigmarole at all. This was what I thought was the case, but finally had it explained clearly in the Reason docs.

I have no idea how good or bad the Reason program is, but it certainly is well-presented and intuitive, which is something. We have most of the software programs, or access to them, but I find Reason a good deal less intimidating than Sonar so far.
 
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