Quick MIDI question!

[Nosirrom]

I'm new to this MIDI thing,i've been recording without it for a few years now (with a MIDI drum machine and keyboard )

I am headed out today to pick up some MIDI cables and give it a shot. I'm a little confused about the set up though.

Soundcard
MIDI IN
MIDI OUT

Drum Machine
MIDI IN

Keyboard
MIDI IN
MIDI OUT

How would i go about hooking these up at once due to the Drum Machine not have a OUT to go back to the soundcard. My first thought was Soundcard OUT -> Keyboard IN .... Keyboard OUT -> Drum machine IN ... but then it dosent go back to the Soundcard.

 

[Nosirrom]

anyone?

 

[dgatwood]

I'm new to this MIDI thing,i've been recording without it for a few years now (with a MIDI drum machine and keyboard )

I am headed out today to pick up some MIDI cables and give it a shot. I'm a little confused about the set up though.

Soundcard
MIDI IN
MIDI OUT

Drum Machine
MIDI IN

Keyboard
MIDI IN
MIDI OUT

How would i go about hooking these up at once due to the Drum Machine not have a OUT to go back to the soundcard. My first thought was Soundcard OUT -> Keyboard IN .... Keyboard OUT -> Drum machine IN ... but then it dosent go back to the Soundcard.

Ugh. A sound card with only one midi output. You're trying to drive the drum machine and keyboard from the computer and drive the computer with the keyboard.

So what you need here is a MIDI thru box. Run the keyboard out to the computer's input and split the computer's output using a thru box to the keyboard and drum machine.

The problem is that a thru box costs way more than it should. It would be cheaper to buy a cheap MIDI interface that has more than one output. Depending on how well designed the gear is, you might be able to get away with just making a custom splitter cable by taking two MIDI cables, cutting them, and splicing the wires together. If you do that, make sure you don't accidentally reverse any of the wires.

 

[aoki saburo]

drum machine doesn't need a midi out

and that's because it reads the MIDI data that you've recorded into your recording software... not sure what that is in your case, and plays back the drum sounds, which are recorded from the audio outs of the drum machine, into the audio ins of the soundcard, as audio tracks.

The keyboard should be connected MIDI out - soundcard MIDI In
Soundcard MIDI out - Keyboard MIDI In and
Keyboard audio out - soundcard audio in

and that's because the keyboard can be used to play MIDI data into the recording software for the drum machine to read, but also can play sounds in the same way that the drum machine does.

make sense?

in summary: The drum machine doesnt' have a MIDI out because it's not supposed ot produce MIDI data, it's suppoed to produce sounds.

And the Keyboard has both MIDI outs and ins because it can produce MIDI data and sounds.

have fun

 

[aoki saburo]

hah

... sorta answered the wrong question, i reread your post and dagtwood's answer and what he's saying is what you were looking for

sorry for being confusing

yeah you need a splitter box

or maybe your keyboard has a thru?

sorry 'bout that

 

[Nosirrom]

The problem is that a thru box costs way more than it should. It would be cheaper to buy a cheap MIDI interface that has more than one output.

MIDI interface: $69

or

MIDI Thru box: $80

roughly the same price, what would be the benifits/drawbacks of each?

Thank You for the suggestions


Gear:
Sound Card = EMU 1820
Drum Machine = Zoom RT-123
Keyboard = Yamaha (nothing special cheap $200 KB)

 

[dgatwood]

MIDI interface: $69

or

MIDI Thru box: $80

roughly the same price, what would be the benifits/drawbacks of each?

Thru box: six $0.10 transistors, four jacks.
MIDI interface: one $5 USB to serial interface chip, four $0.01 resistors, six $0.10 transistors, four jacks.

Pretty much sum it up?

Sorry. Couldn't resist. They're both brain-dead simple technology. Assuming all other things are equal (the number of outputs, etc.) or that those other things don't matter to you (since more than two or three outputs is proably overkill), the advantages of buying a MIDI interface are twofold:

1. Your next sound card might not contain a built-in MIDI interface, at which point, you could still use the MIDI interface, while the MIDI thru box would be a brick.
2. The MIDI interface actually contains -some- hardware that costs a little bit of money.