I have the MIO XM. Amazing thing really. I used it to connect several Elektron boxes, my mac via the ethernet port/and/or/MIDI on my interface, my ipad USB/and/or/MIDI on another interface, OP-1, OP-Z and Keystep via USB MIDI host.
Downside: If the ethernet port gets a bit dirty, you will experience dropouts.
The latency In my experience adds arround 2-3 ms on the host USB-B, ethernet, about the same on MIDI ports and I would say 4-5 ms on the USB-A MIDI host.
Upside: insane amount of programming capability, rock solid when set up with four different settings changeable on the fly without a computer.
I would say I am quite satisfied with the purchase and it does all the jobs I require in one box, which is more than I can say for any other MIDI box, especially at the price.
I use the mioXL as my MIDI routing hub. I have several elektron boxes that I run through it regularly. 2-3ms is about right for the lag, but in my experience, including using Elektron gear, it has never ever become an issue, or even something that I notice/think about.
I use both the USB and 5pin MIDI, really just depends on what exactly is being hooked up and they are both just fine.
The network MIDI is really nice and useful, and it allows me to keep a bunch of stuff always connected. I then can just use the app to route my signals how I like.
I would highly recommend the MIO for MIDI routing, it really shines if you have more complex set up and need to send the same signal to various desinations.
I use the MioXL with a bunch of gear and it’s bloody amazing. I used to rock an older Yamaha patchbay from the 80s and the MioXL makes me feel like I came from the future. USB/MIDI/Networking all in one and everything can go everywhere. Setting it up is a bit of a bitch, but support is amazing (dude literally did a video for me addressing an issue I was having).
Right now, I’m using USB for my Neutron, Launchpad Pro, Digitone, Digitakt, and Syntakt, and MIDI DIN for a Micromonsta2, 0Coast, and Octatrack. It’s also networked to my computer via ethernet so I get all the ports. If you end up getting one, I can share with you my spreadsheet routing template.
The ONLY downside with Elektron gear is that it can’t pass through the data when using Overbridge, so you need to plug the box right into your computer for OB to work.
This is sometimes a mood-killer yes, when I want to take a box to the couch or on the roof to chill with. Disconnecting and re-connecting 8 cables each time per box.
the mioXL is pretty much designed to be set up once and and left alone. It is not portable friendly.
I have found that for most stuff around the studio the front 5pin MIDI and 4 USB host ports are mostly sufficient to prevent needing to go behind and dig through cables
I fully second the mioxl is a fantastic piece of gear. I use USB and din midi mixed, the mio controlled by ethernet. It’s rocksolid!
I have to say I didn’t try the mio to transmit midi clock from ableton, I have an usamo that clocks everything, inclusief a few elektrons and the pyramid sequencer. The mio distributes that seamlessly.
I didn’t find setting it up all that hard, once you’ve figured out a plan. The software works fine.
So, although it’s often a bit of hesitation to buy machines that dont make sound, the mio is highly recommended!
I’m experiencing some bad latency with my MioXM, can anyone offer some insight?
I have 3 elektron boxes connected with DIN midi, 4 USB midi controllers, and some DIN midi sent to synths.
With my LaunchControl XL I get HUGE latency when sending fader movements to my Digitakt to control the 8 track levels, sometimes up to 2 seconds. Especially when moving multiple faders at the same time. I don’t get this with the other midi controllers sending to other devices.
I have tried disabling or filtering all unnecessary Midi control types from the relevant (or irrelevant) synths and controllers to reduce the amount of simultaneous commands sent through the MioXM, which I assume has some limited bandwidth.
I wonder if I’m getting some kind of midi loopback/feedback issue between the LCXL and DT…
But the settings are sometimes really incomprehensible between the different software editor modes, filter types, pages, and sections. I’m close but feel like I’m missing something really (non)obvious.
Do you have a separate network environment exclusively for you music+midi data? It seems you have no problem involving the RTP/Network-MIDI in you setup. Nice to hear.
Nice one. Especially about mixing up both usb and classic DIN midi interfaces. I’m a bit of an old school guy, and a bit worried to be dependent on usb-midi. No (occasional)ground loop issues?
I also have plans to include a hardware midi clock to rig. I do want Ableton included in the setup as I want to proces audio on it (FX), or slave some vst’s. Working on that one. Thanks for answering.
Are you serious, how is that a downside?
Of course a dirty port port will cause dropouts.
That goes for any dirty port, just keep your gear clean.
I’m curious to how you measured this, cause those numbers seem way off.
If that was true they would be borderline unusable.
I found some measurements of iConnectivity interfaces on another forum which confirm this.
According to these, even with two networked iConnectivity interfaces and a network switch added into a MIDI chain the latency of the whole chain remains below 2ms.
I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t make their new interfaces worse than the old ones.
Measurements
MIDI4+ Local; UM-1 Out → Local In1 → Local Out2 → UM-1 In:
MMessage latency: 1.56 ms
Message jitter: 0.64 ms
Message max deviation: 1.78 ms
mio10 Local: UM-1 Out → Local In1 → Local Out2 → UM-1 In:
Message latency: 1.56 ms
Message jitter: 0.64 ms
Message max deviation: 1.78 ms
MIDI4+ mit RTP MIDI & unmanaged Netzwerk Switch:
UM-1 Out → MIDI4+ In1 → MIDI4+ RTP → Switch → mio10 RTP → Mio10 Out1 → UM-1 In
Message latency: 1.40 ms
Message jitter: 0.67 ms
Message max deviation: 1.93 ms
MIDI4+ mit RTP MIDI direkt zu mio10:
UM-1 Out → MIDI4+ In1 → MIDI4+ RTP → mio10 RTP → Mio10 Out1 → UM-1 In
Message latency: 1.47 ms
Message jitter: 0.66 ms
Message max deviation: 1.87 ms
When I wrote dirty, I meant that a tiny bit of dust got into the port while the cable was connected the whole time. After 6 months I started experiencing dropouts. This for me is meant to be gear which you set up and then leave at the back somewhere, like switches in an IT environment… Never had any problem with those running for years in extremely dusty environments.
As for measuring latency, I did not measure it in any other way than when recording into a daw, if I used the onboard sequencer, there was 2-3 ms less delay than if I used another external sequencer connected VIA the mio unit. Which makes sense, as the MIDI data needs to come from one device to the mio and then is sent from it to the generator. It is very usable still, this is almost unnoticeable. I did, however experience higher latency when using something connected via the USB host. Will have to properly re-check this when I have time though.