Which MIDI splitter would you recommend?

jaschar · January 22, 2019, 9:20pm

EDIT:

The FX units are Strymon’s Mobius, Timeline, and BigSky with MIDI in+ouz, no thru
The Looper is a Boss RC-505 with MIDI in and out. I want it to be the clock master, with its out to the Digitakt
The Digitakt’s main duty will be to send clock, start, stop, and MIDI notes to the Nords and Minitaur
The AR should receive start, stop, and BPM
Pitch bends, and similar params don’t need to be sent at any point

…and how would you set this up? I’m thinking about a mix of daisy-chaining and merging/splitting, but am new to this topic.

Some specs:

None of my devices needs MIDI messages about program changes
There’s no need to sequence melodies on multiple synths simultaneously
The FX have and want MIDI clock
The Korg 707 is my designated keyboard to enter MIDI notes into Digitakt
Ideally the Loopstation would be my Midi Master, sending start/stop and BPM to the Digitakt
Regarding the MIDI splitter/merger - I don’t require high-end material here as long as it’s reliable.

Thanks for your suggestions!!

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 7:05pm

Honestly, you’d need more than one splitter/merger - the Nords don’t have through (well they have soft through but it’s not quite the same thing), the Minitaur is a dead end.

Personally I’d recommend an iConnectivity MIO4. It costs only a bit more than a single quality merger or splitter would run you and it can do all of that all at once, and even over USB to save you some cables. The only downside is it can be a little bit complex to program the first time to get exactly what you want as their software is utterly obtuse for newbies.

The other option would be to buy a couple 1x4 splitters and 2>1 mergers and just go to town. But you have to really think about what data goes from which unit to which others (clock? notes? cc?). The Digitakt does allow you to play “through” it to the other instruments, but it won’t send pitchbend or modwheel or other CCs from the 707 to the destination, only notes. CCs need to be sequenced to be sent. So that might be an issue for you with a simple merger/splitter whereas with the MIO you can send the autochannel to the digitakt to play into it, but if you change the 707 to other channels you could instantly be controlling the other keyboards natively, without moving a single cable.

So you need to really be clear about what you want to control what, and if that will ever change (or if you’d like it to change just by switching channel, for instance, instead of moving cables around).

The MIO4 will be the cheapest option that’s both reliable and flexible (plus the USB host option is very powerful) but it’s a pain to get setup initially. The cabling/mergers/splitters option won’t necessarily be any easier to setup initially, especially if you’re not sure what you want or might want to change it, will definitely be more expensive, and won’t be as flexible in the end, but you won’t need to bang your head against any crappy software, at least.

You takes your choice…

Chinchilla · January 22, 2019, 7:13pm

https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/1?lsf=seller:233648,store:616375858005834286&prds=pid:17950851351713596878,oid:15487408859274043835&q=kenton+midi&hl=en-GB&ei=HGtHXIrgKIyysAfMlpaACw&lsft=gclid:Cj0KCQiAm5viBRD4ARIsADGUT26EJ-HBT_MvKTsI0u1DbtQ9gBfkbTEMI95HQ4FugKLqfB1lyZ961hwaAinxEALw_wcB

or maybe

http://www.mindburner.co.uk/

JuanSOLO · January 22, 2019, 7:15pm

Just get something like an old Motu Midi Xpress.
They go for about $60 and the “Live Keyboards” preset on the face of it is all you need to route all of your things together.

No need for mergers and splitters

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 7:22pm

It’s not a bad idea, especially for very straightforward rigs.

I want to bring up a point of caution, however, having a lot of experience with MIDI in studio setups myself.

Routing like the live keyboards preset which route everything to everything can lead to massive clock feedback loop problems for units which can’t prevent themselves from sending clock… it works well if all you have are keyboards and controllers, but with that number of drum machines and bus masters it may be difficult to guarantee everything working, plus you still need a whackload of DIN cables for everything, and you’ll spend as much on one of those used as you will on a MIO4 (trust me, I’ve been down that road - it seems easy, straightforward, and then boom you run into issues with quirky gear, still need to get filters for clock or sysex or whatever). Sure if you can find an old MOTU with the midi routing for cheap and you can still program it, you can solve those problems, but again, for the price and the convenience of the USB midi on the MIO, it’s totally not worth it, IMO.

JuanSOLO · January 22, 2019, 7:32pm

Never had an trouble, granted all of my gear offers what is required in midi preferences.
The only two on jaschars list I’m unsure about are the 707 and Loopstation.
However, I’m gonna go with a pretty confident guess that it would all work with just the “live keyboards” setting.

I bought my old Motu for $40, already had enough midi cables considering the gear I already had.
It definitely IS straight forward and easy, it’s really the cheapest most elegant solution.
The only reason to get a new version of a similar thing is that you absolutely require advanced/custom configurations for the ports.

Clic · January 22, 2019, 7:41pm

I’m using an EricaSynth Midi Throug Box for a similar environment: 1 in, 8 out. Rock solid stuff.

Cheers
Clic

goatofneptune · January 22, 2019, 7:43pm

I recommend the midi interfaces from iconnectivity because you can program all the connections and message-filters. Just pick one that has the number of connections you need – including usb host!

https://www.iconnectivity.com/midi-interfaces-1/

JuanSOLO · January 22, 2019, 7:44pm

Seems like you could also try

Loopstation > 707
707 THRU > Digitakt
Digitakt THRU > Rytm
Rytm THRU Nord G2
G2 THRU > 5D
5D > Minitaur

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 7:54pm

That won’t work since the Digitakt can’t sequence the G2 or the 5D or the Minitaur in that mode.

And the 707 won’t merge the incoming clock (I don’t think) into its output.
And the RYTM doesn’t have a THRU, just an OUT.

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 7:55pm

Those are really nice, but the OP needs merge ability not just split.

JuanSOLO · January 22, 2019, 8:11pm

RYTM has THRU they just call it Sync A or B I forget which one

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 8:34pm

Ok, right, in this case since clock is coming from outside, the OP could use the Thru on the RYTM but if you’re clocking from the RYTM the Thru is useless. I only clock from my RYTM so the Thru is entirely pointless without a merger, and since I have a merger I don’t need the Thru at all…

Still, the OP would need the 707 to merge the incoming clock, and use the Digitakt OUT not the Thru, so the Digitakt would need to SEND clock.

And you completely left out the entire FX chain, I have no idea if those have THRUs but if you THRU all of them by the time you get to the Minitaur you’ll have noticeable (few ms) of flam due to the number of soft thrus the signal has to pass. This is entirely untenable IMO and is going to lead to a lot of timing issues. Plus since so much data is going to be passed through plus clock you run the risk of overloading the midi bus. Rule of thumb is never more than 1 device on a thru if you care about timing, never more than 2 if you send clock plus CCs plus notes to both instruments. You won’t always overload the bus but you’ll have so many signals slipping timing that CCs, clock, and note events (heaven help you with aftertouch) will step on each other. For soft thrus that can lead to dropped MIDI packets, for mergers that can lead to delayed or dropped packets. Just a bad idea in general, and I highly recommend you avoid it. Or don’t, and just see if you start pulling your hair out. It all depends on how much reliability, exact timing, and money balance out to you.

jaschar · January 22, 2019, 9:23pm

Thanks for all your replies, people!
I outlined some more specs in the OP above.

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 9:28pm

Well, we’re not going to design it for you! But you should have enough information here to see which of these possible ideas will suit you best, and then to do some planning/thinking on your own before pulling the trigger. Feel free to ask specific questions about certain things, but I think you’ve got more than enough homework to do yourself, at this point.

Clic · January 22, 2019, 10:17pm

My Rytm (mk1) has a Thru

delta-c · January 22, 2019, 10:19pm

As I said, the Thru doesn’t combine with clock, so it’s useless to me and I forgot about it! But I did acknowledge that there is a thru, earlier.

re5et · January 22, 2019, 10:21pm

I use a Philip Rees midi splitter ( 1 in 3 out)

And one made by @guga , midi T box I think it’s called …

jaschar · January 27, 2019, 3:27pm

I’m now leaning towards two options:
1)
https://www.google.com/search?q=Yamaha+YME+8+MIDI+Expander&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmo-apoo7gAhWkMewKHTVtBIEQ_AUIDigB&biw=1364&bih=741#imgrc=RhJQyDJ2_CLZjM:

Both should do the trick, right?
What would you prefer?

mbang · March 13, 2023, 8:11pm

I got a 1 in, 5 out midisizer midithru-splitter.

Inside a very good looking silver case. 9v powered with a switch on the side, and LED in red or green for activity.

Price: get it for 55 euros with silver case, 50 with black prototype case or 40 euros for just a finished PCB unit that you can use without case or put it in your own.
Cheers!!

midithru-silver|690x358