Octatrack and iconnectivity midi 2+ or midi4+

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hi all,

I have my octatrack for a couple of weeks now. Really enjoy playing with the machine. I feel i understand it better and better each time i turn it on. The only thing I get a headache is playing with midi gear. just have two controllers (launch control xl and an usb midi keyboard) and one iPad. All is setup in ableton with a Focusrite interface.
But I i want to play without the computer. Just turn octa on and that’s it. So I am looking for a little midi interface i can use standalone. The iconnectivity midi 4+ seemed to be a often used solution by users here on elekronauts. Its about 200 euros. So my question. Is maybe the midi 2+ enough for my needs? It’s only 80 Euros an the only difference seemed to be less midi din inputs. Don’t plan to buy much gear in the near future. Maybe a notation circuit as synth and pad controller, a Nord drum 2 and maybe a mono synth. Most oof it works over usb.

So in total

3 synths (circuit, Norddrum 2, Monosynth)
1 Controller, (LCXL)
iPad

So, do i miss something? The little iconnect midi 2+ should be enough imo.

Are there maybe other (better) midi solutions for my setup?
Thanks for your help.

#2

The Midi 2+ doesn’t have the all important USB HOST port. Without it you cannot connect the USB controllers and synths etc without a computer. Get the Midi 4+, you won’t regret it!

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#3

4+ has one more PC/iOS connection, the USB host port as said above which is huge (allows up to 8 USB midi devices to connect), and an Ethernet port that allows for wired connection or can be hooked to a wifi router for complete remote access to all your connected midi hardware gear (great fun using IPad apps like Lemur and walking around controlling your hardware rig). Also comes with a power adapter which is needed to charge IOS devices…

With the 2+ you only have 2 din pairs and 2 pc/iOS ports, so you’d only be able to hook up your iPad and 2 of your synths, no USB for lcxl… It is bus powered which the 4+ is not, but the power adapter is sold separately and needed to charge iOS devices…

The 4+ is amazing, you never need to rewire midi again, you just hook everything up and you get great control of routing/filtering/remapping midi from its software, it can get very customized. You control exactly where you want your midi to go and where you don’t want it to go. Once programmed works standalone, and it’s rock solid. And then there’s audio pass through to route audio between PC’s and iOS devices, good stuff…

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#4

Ok according to the iconnectivity website it was not clear (for me) you don’t have this usb host port, which is one of the most important things.
But now I have a clue and will defo go for the midi 4+.

Thanks for detailed description of the differences. Looking forward to just put my octa on and not having to check my midi routing for ten minutes cause something doesn’t work.

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