USB MIDI interface...anyone know of a decent one?!

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zoiks

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Hi all,

I recently bought a 1 In 1 Out USB MIDI Interface, and am finding the latency unbelievably slow. If I press more than one key at the same time on the MIDI keyboard, they won't register simultaneously- in fact they register on the PC between half and one second apart.

I have found that by using different USB ports, then the latency will change, but even in the quickest port, it is just unusable.

I will admit that I bought a cheapo generic one, but I thought that USB would transfer quickly enough for this not to be an issue. I am not firing off MIDI sequencers from it, just trying to play a little bit of piano!

Any ideas on how to reduce it to being somewhat acceptable? Or (as I'm guessing this may be impossible with my cheap crap!) can anyone recommend a good USB MIDI interface/cable? I have a rubbish version of something similar to this:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno-main.html

So is this recommended by anyone?



Thanks!
 
I've been using an M-Audio midisport USB 2x2 for years on 3 different daws with ZERO problems.

If you're having timing problems with different rates between different ports it sounds like the COMPUTER and not the interface is the problem. Many manufacturers go cheap on USB components to save money since >most< users only hook up mice, keyboards and cameras to USB (that's another reason why I tell people to go with firewire rather than USB audio interfaces when they have serious problems....)

Perhaps you should get a good USB card and try it instead (that would be cheaper than a new midi interface, too)
 
What software are you using and how old is your comp? If it still has a parallel port, find an old MOTU, it will be dirt cheap and have excellent timing
 
Thanks both,

My computer is brand new- not sure if it has a parallel port, I'll have to check later. If it does, then I'll investigate that. (and what is a MOTU?!?!)

I'm using Cubase SX, which was fine when I used the setup on my old computer (that had a Soundblaster Audigy with a MIDI port attached).

I have an Alesis Multimix Firewire mixer now (which is also the soundcard), which I plug into a Firewire PCI card. This has two USB slots on it, but the MIDI instructions were very slow through that, presumably because most of the card's power is being used by the Multimix.

I would be happy to invest in a new card if it solved it, but I have no more space on the motherboard for this!

Do firewire equivalents of the MIDI cable exist? Seems like overkill to use firewire for MIDI, but if it works...
 
thats the one. pain to set up but works very well
 
I'm using a Midiman 8x8s (which is now an M-Audio 8x8s) - it works fine, no problems whatsoever.

I had a M-Audio Midisport 2x2 before that which also worked fine.

The real problem is probably not your midi interface, though, since MIDI has such a small footprint that it would never get clogged up with a chord. The problem is definitely your soundcard or its ASIO settings.
 
If he has a seperate midi device from his soundcard, then ASIO and his soundcard should have no impact on the MIDI timings, I should not think.

I use Emagic AMT8s, and am very happy with them. In fact, I use 2, for 16 ports, and I do not notice any significant delays. I am wondering what would cause your one port deal to give you problems.

If you want to go the parallel port route, look for a second hand MOTU Midi Time Piece. I have one, and agree that the timing is rock-solid.




StackableMusic said:
I'm using a Midiman 8x8s (which is now an M-Audio 8x8s) - it works fine, no problems whatsoever.

I had a M-Audio Midisport 2x2 before that which also worked fine.

The real problem is probably not your midi interface, though, since MIDI has such a small footprint that it would never get clogged up with a chord. The problem is definitely your soundcard or its ASIO settings.
Click to expand...
 
fraserhutch said:
If he has a seperate midi device from his soundcard, then ASIO and his soundcard should have no impact on the MIDI timings, I should not think.
Click to expand...

My guess is, he's talking about using softsynths.
 
cheers for the feedback guys-

I'm not trying to use any softsynths- I have a keyboard as my MIDI controller, and on the software, I'm using a GM piano, so there should be nothing slowing it down unnecessarily.

i'm using exactly the same equipment (hardware and software) as on my last computer which was fine... the only difference being that I am using a USB interface rather than a MIDI port. The setup on that PC was that the soundcard I used was the Alesis Multimix (as now), but there was an older Soundblaster Audigy with a MIDI port. I used that with the MIDI routed through the output of the Soundblaster and into a channel on the mixing desk. I was hoping this would be more straightforward.

I think when I get the chance later on today, I will try experimenting using the onboard soundcard of the PC, and see if there are the same problems with the USB then...that might narrow it down to whether it is to do with the USB hardware on the PC, or the soundcard and ASIO.
 
a bit more testing has confirmed what i thought was probably the case...the USB device is a total heap of shit!

i've tried it with the on-board soundcard on my new PC, and with a Soundblaster Audigy on another setup, it's crap on both.

i'll try something by M-Audio, thanks for your input, everyone.
 
I used a Roland/Edirol UM-2. It worked perfectly in both Windows and Linux until I replaced it with a second-hand MIDISPORT 4x4 for the extra ports.
The MIDISPORT is okay, but it does need a firmware upload which makes it annoying in Linux. The Roland just plain works.
 
StackableMusic said:
My guess is, he's talking about using softsynths.
Click to expand...
If that's the case, then the latency is not with the MIDI hardware, it's with the softsynth itself. No MIDI hardware is going to get the signal in any faster unless he's suffering from USB bus contention issues. The issue lies in the softsynth's capabilities. I recall that Kontakt used to be unusable as a standalone player, and they fixed that.
 
well brother, I'm using this for about 2 months , and tried it with the demo version of reason , At first due to my very low end AMD PC spec - I , like you, seriously faced the problem of latency . later I upgraded to a creative Audigy Value sound card and noticed some improvements . Later I did a lil bit of tweaking by optimizing redundant processes of my computer ( I'm using XP sp2 Home) through a freeware called GameXP . Right now things have been improved a lot . I am not facing that unbearable latency anymore , and chord progressions are being played quite satisfactorily ( although i'm but a hobbyist, and pass my leisure hours with a CASIO junk :P)
The main bottleneck , I think is my AMD CPU and low end PC spec.


regards
 
cheers everyone for the advice.

I've picked up an M-Audio Uno, and it is working very well, a tiny amount of latency.

So thankfully it was the MIDI hardware at fault, rather than my PC.

Symbi, GameXP looks interesting, anything that squeezes a bit more life out of the CPU has got to be a good thing.
 
Thanks a lot bro for your interest in my reply :D
sometimes I use another process optimizer, the name which is ''ENDITALL 2''-which functions in a similar fashion to squeeze out something more , and it has also a customizable interface , u can give a try to it ( if u r using XP )

I just missed out something in my previous post , i.e. when I connect my midi interface to the USB port , I always remove any other already connected peripherals such as printer, scanner , mem-stick etc from the other USB ports of my PC , and therefore, use only the midi-interface alone.

Furthermore, I have done a BIOS update and all my system drivers( chipset, graphics, sound , USB etc ) are up-to-date, and no antivirus, anti-spyware or firewall run when I play with it . Actually I have to do this everytime during my synth playing session , and I think , this is mainly because of my very low end PC spec.

Thanks again and regards. :)
 
Wait!!!

You may not need a new interface. What software are you using? You may just need to reset the buffer when tracking. Often you will change the playback buffer depending on if you are tracking or mixing. Use a low buffer when tracking (128 or 256) and a high buffer when mixing (1024). This can usually be set in the setup preferences of your software. This may be your problem, not the the actual hardware.

Cheers-
Ian
 
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