Mpc & m box

What is a good device for connecting my equipment to the m box via midi? Also what is firewire for?

"What is a good device for connecting my equipment to the m box via midi?"

...a midi cable?






Nah, just playin with you . You gotta be a little more specific with your questions, man.

Um. The Mbox doesn't rout MIDI. If you dont have a lot of gear try a Midiman 1x1 usb for your MIDI. Very simple, inexpensive and works on mac or pc.


Firewire:
A very fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps (in 1394a) and 800Mbps (in 1394b). Products supporting the 1394 standard go under different names, depending on the company. Apple, which originally developed the technology, uses the trademarked name FireWire. Other companies use other names, such as i.link and Lynx, to describe their 1394 products.

A single 1394 port can be used to connect up 63 external devices. In addition to its high speed, 1394 also supports isochronous data -- delivering data at a guaranteed rate. This makes it ideal for devices that need to transfer high levels of data in real-time, such as video devices

Oh, wait a minute... I don't think the M-box has midi i/o, does it...?

You'd need a midi interface then. Just do a froogle search and you'll find plenty of affordable ones. You can get em as cheap as 39.99 (maybe cheaper...).

Damn, we posted at like the same time, lol...

ddot_SFV wrote:Um. The Mbox doesn't rout MIDI. If you dont have a lot of gear try a Midiman 1x1 usb for your MIDI. Very simple, inexpensive and works on mac or pc.


Firewire:
A very fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps (in 1394a) and 800Mbps (in 1394b). Products supporting the 1394 standard go under different names, depending on the company. Apple, which originally developed the technology, uses the trademarked name FireWire. Other companies use other names, such as i.link and Lynx, to describe their 1394 products.

A single 1394 port can be used to connect up 63 external devices. In addition to its high speed, 1394 also supports isochronous data -- delivering data at a guaranteed rate. This makes it ideal for devices that need to transfer high levels of data in real-time, such as video devices

I know the m box doesn't support midi, thats why i'm asking. Does the midi i/o on the firewire act as an interface also? Or do i need a seperate one?

Midiman 1x1 is the way to go, just make sure you change the midi beat clock in protools to read it, after that just set the midi on the mpc and you r set

I use the MIDIMAN MIDISPORT 2x2 and also own an MBOX. This works great, just hook it up, check the midibeat clock is set up in protools and you can control your main sequencer functions in your MPC from protools.
Real handy for recording stuff off your MPC to Grid in protools for easy cutting and so on.

But can the midi on a firewire also act as a midi interface?

Ellz26 wrote:But can the midi on a firewire also act as a midi interface?

The MIDI on a Firewire?
I am sorry this question is confusing me. Firewire is simply a connection - faster than USB. I am sure you can probably get a MIDI interface that supports a firewire connection but USB is fine.

Also you must think of your MIDI intrface as a seperate entity from your MBOX. The MIDI interface isn't connected to your MBOX, it connects to your computer.

Try and be more specific with your questions dude so we can help you.

I would be more specific if i knew more about the subject. What does the midi on firewire do?

Ellz26 wrote:I would be more specific if i knew more about the subject. What does the midi on firewire do?

the same as midi on crack?

Swissmaster Cheese wrote:

Ellz26 wrote:I would be more specific if i knew more about the subject. What does the midi on firewire do?

the same as midi on crack?

ha

"What does the MIDI do on firewire" doesn't make sense as a question. MIDI is MIDI, it does the same thing no matter the connection. Firewire is merely a different, faster connection to your computer.

Your original question was "What is a good device for connecting my equipment to the m box via midi?" I'm assuming that when you say Mbox you mean Protools. You want to use the MIDI capabilities of Protools with your external gear. GET A MIDI INTERFACE! A good device is the Midiman Midisport USB interfaces. This connects to your computer not your Mbox so that you can use midi with pro tools.

2nd Question, "Also what is firewire for? " Firewire is a faster connection to your computer - It has nothing to do with MIDI - ddot_SFV explained in much greater detail than I am able.

Is This Clear Now

( Can you run more tracks of MIDI simultaneously if you use a MIDI interface with a firewire connection rather than USB? Anyone )

Yes, now its a lot clearer. Now........ Whenever i see a protools setup, there is always some kind of firewire connection with it also, why is that?

Also, if a firewire connection is necessary, can that also do what an interface would do?

firewire is to move MORE data FASTER, the bigger pro tools setup use that because they handle more channels of audio at once, like 8 and stuff. You don't even need to be concerned with that right now since you got the mbox. Just get yourself a midi interface and you'll be in business. When you want to record more than two tracks at a time (mbox only has two line-in's), maybe look into getting a digi 002 or digi 002rack or even an old digi 001, because they can record many channels of audio at once, like 8 outs on the mpc to 8 ins on the digi. Hope that helps.