Blokas Midihub

I’m only just seeing this. Looks awesome.
Give report when you get it please! :+1:t6:

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Thanks! I got one email, it turned out, after I searched for it. I think my pre-order should be in the next batch to get shipped, if my order number (162) is any indication. Fun fun :slight_smile:

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Hi, I have also jumped onto Blokas ship.
Order no. 37 just arrived to me in Poland.
Midihub looks fine, smaller than I thought, solid.
I get device, cable and warranty sheet, no manual attached.
If and how it works I will test this evening. Exciting…

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My Order #16 is underway but seemingly stuck somewhere in transit :sob:

Hopefully whatever overworked customs employee has mine in their backlog gets to it soon, I’m really excited to start using it (and actually just about to order a midi merge box when I got the email, heh)

Mine shipped last Friday, tracking is a bit vague though, just says “item leaving overseas”…

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Mine shipped on 05-08 also seems to be stuck somewhere on its way to germany

Mine just shipped. Hopefully doesn’t get stuck in transit!

Will this device do velocity remappings by formula? For example, my Bome Box uses this script to scale a velocity vv:

if vv>0 then
// multiply input value by output range
vv=vv*150
// divide by input range. division comes last for integer accuracy
vv=vv/127
// add the offset
vv=vv+80
// ensure max velocity = 127
if vv>127 then vv=127

Does MIDI hub currently do that easily, or would I have to develop my own plugin or script or whatever?

I’m in by no means an expert, but it looks like Rescale modifier pipe would easily do that.

Input low and in high velocities would be 0 to 127. Output low and out high velocities would be 80 to 127.

The Midihub software is available for anyone to try. You might want to take a look at it.

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Thanks, I’m just trying to get a quick confirmation before I dive in. If people here rule it out, that will save me time.

One other question: can I do a velocity-by-velocity remap? I mean can I map each of the 128 velocities one by one to any arbitrary value so that there’s no curve or formula? I wouldn’t actually want to do that except as a last resort in case a more straightforward map isn’t working out.

Yes the Rescale does the equivalent to what Blipson asked, i worked out his equation. This does pretty much the exact same thing:

ADDED: There is another similar but different pipe – Velocity Amp – which does a straight multiply and clip of the input velocity.

EDIT: Fixed error.

ADDED: Thought about this more and i feel what i’m doing is wrong somehow. I was assuming that the input velocities 40 - 127 all get mapped output 127. But now i’m thinking that if you don’t call out an input value it doesn’t get changed. I am very unsure about how the word “clipped” in the help is being applied. Perhaps if this Rescale is preceded by another Rescale with In Low = 40, In High = 127, Out Low = 127, and Out High = 127, then things would work right. I don’t know and i don’t have a Midihub to test this on.

Linking more than one Rescale together would allow for more varied output mapping shapes.

There are three Velocity pipes, aside from the Equalizer, which are Limiter, Velocity Amp, and Rescale.

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I’m not aware of a pipe that does that.

Another way to consider things in the reverse. Take a single MidiHib pipe and consider what it would take to implement with another MIDI modifier system.

A simple one, a Velocity Randomizer. Here’s one that randomly changes the Velocity plus/minus 10:


But with the same pipe you can randomize other parameters. In addition to randomizing Velocity you can randomize:

  • Pitch (Cents)
  • Pitch (Semitone)
  • Pitch (Octave)
  • CC Value

But you think if i randomize the pitch in semitones it will give me notes that don’t sound good. OK then add Scale Remap pipe after the Random Pitch. There are ~35 preset scales or any custom scale remap you want, and all 12 keys. The Cents Randomizer should be useful – consider how to do that elsewhere.

Or consider the Equalizer pipe. It allows you to change three simple parameters for Low, Middle and High, and change the velocity of a note plus or minus based on the MIDI pitch of that note. The editor shows a nice curve to help you understand this pipes effect. I can see the usefulness of this. Consider how that would be done elsewhere.

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I’m looking for a device that will allow me to use my favorite MIDI controller with other MIDI sound modules and samplers. Its built-in response curves don’t work well with some devices, and all I need is something to help me adapt it and maintain custom velocity curve correctors for each device. My BomeBox does this just fine, but it has other issues that make it really inconvenient to use, so I’m looking into the MIDI hub. Either a re-map by formula or a manual reassignment of velocity for each of the 128 slots to create the curve would do it for me.

You probably already know about the MIDI Solutions Velocity Converter. It lets you draw whatever curve you’d want, and it’s DIN MIDI powered, but it’s a one function box.

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No, I don’t remember knowing about the MIDI Solutions box. But I need a box that will allow at least four simultaneous MIDI-routable velocity curves because that’s currently how many boxes I want to route my controller to. The Bome Box does do that fine, it’s just that it’s failing in other respects. My Bome Box might be defective, but fixable or not, if the Blokas Midihub will cover what I need, then I’d like to sign up for one. It’s just that I can’t tell for certain if it will allow multiple simultaneous velocity curves that I can route to different MIDI channels. I mean, it looks that way, but I’d like to know if that will require my own personal programming effort. In any case, randomization or any fun MIDI effects aren’t a necessity for me. I first need to enable my favorite controller to work properly with my gear.

If that’s all you want to do, and you’re happy with a single DIN MIDI connection, then the MIDI Solutions Velocity Converter looks like a better option for you. You can have a different velocity curve on every channel, and they each can be a preset curve or a completely custom curve.

Image of Editor Screen for the Velocity Converter Programming Tool:


I drew a custom curve here just for an example.

It’s around the same price or a little less than the Midihub, doesn’t need external power, and you can buy it right now, without a wait. You need to be sure it will run with your hardware, there is something about 5 Volts MIDI vs 3.3 Volts.

I’ve never used any of there stuff, so i’m not vouching for anything about it.

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I should have said I need note mapping as well as velocity mapping. I need to be able to route each incoming MIDI note simultaneously to different notes on different channels. It looks like the MIDI Solutions box won’t do that.

But since the MIDI Solutions box looks like a far simpler–and so I assume far more reliable–solution than a Bome Box, it’s highly desirable to try re-mapping MIDI on each of my sound modules. That remapping will be painful, and will rule out using modules whose MIDI can’t be remapped, but I only have one of those and almost never use it with an external controller.

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@Jukka along with this potential MIDI Soultions Velocity Converter Solution, I still want to go back to my original question: will the Blokas Midihub also–in a reasonably straightforward way–do this note routing with per channel velocity remapping that I need? Or would I have to get into programming and debugging? I’m asking because it might be fun to mess with the Midihub once I can confidently cover my necessities.

Oh, yeah, one nice thing about the Bome Box: external QWERTY keyboard input, which can be programmed to select between patches on the fly. But at this point, I’d be willing to sacrifice that for a basic setup that’s close to 100% reliable, then worry about extended functions later.

I don’t know the answer to your question. Two reasons: (1) I don’t have my Midihub yet (i should soon) and so i am book learned on it only and i am still scratching my head. (2) Even if i did understand the Midihib completely, I don’t really know how precise the velocity translation has to be to adequately fill your needs.

The big advantages to the Midihub device, along with the multiple DIN MIDI ports, is the ease of entering complex functions, like Dispatchers, Scale Key quantizers, Delays, Repeats, Chance Notes, Randomized values, Transforms, Tempo adjustments, Sustain, Arpeggiator, etc. It’s also easy to combine those functions together and change your setups quickly. It doesn’t have a coding interface like the Bome Box which is both plus and minus. Nor does it act as USB MIDI host like the Bome Box.

I can say that for the one single function of velocity conversion the MIDI Solutions Velocity Converter would be hard to beat in functionality and ease of use – at least as far as i can see.

If you want to find out more about the Midihub, i suggest you download the Midihib Editor as Electromatic suggested earlier. The Help with it, and the playing with the control parameters, has helped me get more informed about it.

Yes, it looks really worthwhile to have even if I keep using the BomeBox. MIDI Solutions web site says their programming software is only compatible on Mac with Mojave and earlier. I’ve emailed them. If it doesn’t work with Catalina, that will be a dealbreaker for me because my new laptops can’t be downgraded. I’d have to get desperate enough to buy a Windows laptop for a single purpose.

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