Just saw this new midi device from CME. Looks pretty interesting to me. What do you guys think? If you’re in the US you can get a pretty sweet pre-sale deal. Hopefully that comes to the EU as well but doubt it. Just bought the H4midi which I don’t regret but this seems like it ticks most of my boxes and should have waited for perhaps.
CME H12MIDI Pro in short
6 USB-C host ports + 6 TRS MIDI in/out for large multi-device setups.
Standalone MIDI router with full merge, split, filter, and remap.
Ultra-low latency with proper isolation and a 32-bit processor.
Saves multiple presets and can switch them from the front panel.
Acts as the central MIDI hub for complex hardware studios.
I have the H4 and it is quite cool when it’s working but it doesn’t do great at acting right when I power things back up again so I almost always have to spend some time in the app resetting the various filtering and routing options to avoid clock loops making everything wonky. Quite honestly is more of a pain than I expected and it’s much easier to just have my Oxi control all my MIDI stuff with Oxi split 2 so my drum machines/multitimbral synths each get dedicated split ports and a CME 1:5 thru box on one of the split ports for the single channel synths.
I have the RK-006 and love it. 2 ins and 10 outs is amazing and also USB Hub. It’s perhaps a bit flimsy with its micro usb-port and you need a special slitter cable to use with a usb-hub but other than that it’s a life saver.
And an issue im facing with it is that I can’t for some reason connect it to my computer when using the hub but have to connect it to my computer directly without the hub so it’s not something I can have as a permanent set-up so I need something in between. No im using a Elektron TM-1 and this works great. But would be nice to just need one midi master device
Just started experimenting with the H12 today. I thought RME TotalMix was a little challenging to get into…the H12 has made me feel like a complete idiot all day. Managed to get MPC Live 3’s clock/transport going through the H12 to drive Oxi One and Tonverk, with Oxi One sequencer info going back through the H12 to Tonverk and the Live 3 (all via USB connections to the H12)…but accomplished this solely via trial and error. Of course, in my desire to understand what I’d done, I then undid the work and can’t figure out how to get things going again.
The routing logic of this device eludes me and the manual is of no real help. Couldn’t find any useful YT tutorials that get into the nuts and bolts of routing, either.
If anyone wouldn’t mind breaking this down for the dumb guy, I’d be very grateful.
Goal:
Live 3 connected to USB C client port and providing clock/transport while also sending and receiving MIDI data
Oxi One connected to USB C host port 1; receiving clock/transport; sending MIDI note/cc data
Tonverk connected to USB C host port 2; receiving clock/transport; receiving MIDI note/CC data from both Live 3 and Oxi One
Additional synths to be connected to remaining host ports 3-6 if I can get the above working and making sense to me.
Thanks for any input!
EDIT: Was able to reconstruct the settings that allow the above, with addition of also figuring out how to send clock/transport out via the MIDI 4 TRS output to Syntakt. All told, screwed around with the H12 for about 8 hours today and still feel like it’s opaque, even though what I accomplished with it would probably have taken about 3 minutes for someone who knows what they’re doing. I may trade in the musical gear for a bucket and sand toys.
I had the same experience with the H4… their app is not the most intuitive. It’s easy once you figure it out, yeah, but it definitely takes some figuring to get there.
After further work with the CME H12MIDI Pro, I have to say I really love this little device.
Complex, opaque routing? To me, yes…but I suspect it’s from being dropped on the head as a baby. As I’ve begun to understand how the routing works, the beauty of this thing - its flexibility in such a small package - has become more obvious. That was the purpose in buying it…but the annoyance got in the way for most of Day 1.
Today I realized, after relocating half my hardware to a secondary setup in a different room with everything centered around the MPC Live 3 and no PC available, that the H12 routing (and other settings) can be adjusted by connecting it to an Android or iOS phone. Sealed the deal for me, was able to adjust settings so that various sequencers and synths are sending and receiving as desired, USB/MIDI DIN, everything on point. As I get more familiar with the H12, there are lots of additional customizations that can be made - refinements with MIDI filtering, transport and clock blocking where needed. Fantastic stuff!
