Daisy chaining modules/synths. Another way?

I'm about to add another piece to my rig. Actually it's a synth that I've had for a while just laying around. Currently I have to synths connected to my XL using both outs. I was wondering if there is some type of MIDI "manager" or something that I could use to send messages to all of my synths without doing the daisy chaining thing. I see them little boxes with like 8 midi ins and outs or something like that. Is that something I could use to manage my midi routing as opposed to daisy changing as I ad more midi gear?

School me on this real quick.

i was wondering the same thing. i just got another module which makes about 4 that i have. only my s5k and planet phatt are connected right now, but im about to connect my jv880 and my mbd1 back up. ill need a way to have all them connected.

i have used 3 modules at once before but no more then that. i know you have to go into your modules' settings and you can select which midi channels that particular module will use. so you can split MIDI A up between 2 or more modules and MIDI B up the same....

Smoove03 wrote:i was wondering the same thing. i just got another module which makes about 4 that i have. only my s5k and planet phatt are connected right now, but im about to connect my jv880 and my mbd1 back up. ill need a way to have all them connected.

i have used 3 modules at once before but no more then that. i know you have to go into your modules' settings and you can select which midi channels that particular module will use. so you can split MIDI A up between 2 or more modules and MIDI B up the same....

yeah you can use more than 2 midi modules. I actually didnt have to change any midi settings in any of the devices I just used midi thru. One thing I did relize is MIDI LAG SUCKS

Thier aredevices though Called midi patch bays where it gives u mad different midi outs. I dont know too much about them

This might help. (pic done by Sparq)

yea i've had problems with latency myself. happens A LOT when I use my mbd-1 (roland). its a cheap module. i guess i got what i paid for lol

thanks coley

u can use midipatchbays but the mpc can only acces 32 midichannels at a time..
with the picture sparq made, how do u set it up internally? do u set up each module to say: channel 1-4= module 1, 5-8= module 2 etc.
Cos i own a roland module wich has only got midi out and in.. but there's no way i can assign the channels like that on the module...

The way i use my synths and modules now, is by hooking em all up to my pc. That way i can use all of them at the same time on different channels. It works great with the mpc for sequensing...

poast pr wrote:u can use midipatchbays but the mpc can only acces 32 midichannels at a time..
with the picture sparq made, how do u set it up internally? do u set up each module to say: channel 1-4= module 1, 5-8= module 2 etc.
Cos i own a roland module wich has only got midi out and in.. but there's no way i can assign the channels like that on the module...

The way i use my synths and modules now, is by hooking em all up to my pc. That way i can use all of them at the same time on different channels. It works great with the mpc for sequensing...

Yeah. you do need to be able to assign the receive channel in order for the thru to work. If your roland doesn't have a thru then it should be last in your chain.

Another way of doing this is to get a multiple in/out interface for a pc. You can send Midi messages to the PC's Sequencer from the MPC and have individual tracks set to different Midi inputs. E.g. S:MIDI 1A will go to sequencer track 1 that is only receiving on that channel. You can then set your output on the sequencer track to the synths connected to the MIDI interface.

Midi is pretty primitive nowadays. They haven't updated it in a long time. It has tiny bandwidth compared to the like of USB/Firewire. All the Data is sequential so when things get busy you'll notice a lag because the stream is too dense. Kinda like a traffic Jam. That's why multiple in/outs are a good solution. Each physical channel has its own dedicated bandwidth.

hey Kraster, that's why i use my synths and modules with pc. it's just somuch easier to set up.

I am using two MIDI patchbays and they work fine with my gear.
They are called Akai ME30P mk2 and Kawai MAV 8.

The Akai patchbay lets you route individual MIDI signals from one of the 4 inputs to each of the 8 outputs.
It has digital memory so it lets you save your routings into 32 patches.

The Kawai patchbay is an analogue version, so it has 8 switches, one for each output. With each of them you can select one of the 4 inputs from that it will get its signal.

This shows about how I route signals through them:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/aw2n60

poast pr wrote:do u set up each module to say: channel 1-4= module 1, 5-8= module 2 etc.

thats how i had to do mine before

kraster wrote:Another way of doing this is to get a multiple in/out interface for a pc. You can send Midi messages to the PC's Sequencer from the MPC and have individual tracks set to different Midi inputs. E.g. S:MIDI 1A will go to sequencer track 1 that is only receiving on that channel. You can then set your output on the sequencer track to the synths connected to the MIDI interface.

This is basically how I have all my my midi gear setup with Sonar. I set each midi track to receive it's own midi channel from both the MPC and the Triton so that when I midi echo that particular track, it will only echo the pre-designated midi channel for that track. Works well when I'm recording and over-dubbing midi tracks.