Midi Problem

80salife · Post by **80salife** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:12 pm

Maybe somebody could help me quickly...

My "Unicorn"(MOTU) broke down and I need to make a Midi-Setup. Maybe there is a solution using midi-thru

My Setup:

Kronos Channel 1
Trinity Channel 2

Masterkey 88 Channel 3

Each Keyboard have to play all sounds from Trinity and Kronos, possible?

THANK YOU

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:29 pm

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you want to do but if you want to be able to play all 3 keyboards and have all 3 sound at the same time I think you will need midi mapping hardware.

But you should be able to connect them using only midi cables and have all 3 sound if you choose one of them to be the master and play that one. Connect like this and Synth-B will be the master keyboard, play that one. Set all synths to the same channel.

Code: Select all

+--- Synth A ---+    +--- Synth B ---+    +--- Synth C ---+    
| In        Out |    | In        Out |    | In       Thru |
+---------------+    +---------------+    +---------------+
  ^          |         ^          |         ^          |
  |          |         |          |         |          |
  |          v---------+          v---------+          |
  |                                                    |
  +----------------------------------------------------v

80salife · Post by **80salife** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:46 pm

Thank you for answer and greetings to NY...

Okay maybe I can't it explain enough...

KRONOS is a Sound Engine

Trinity is a Sound Engine

Masterkeyboard no sound.

I want to play Kronos Sounds on Trinity and Master
I want to play Trinity Sounds on Kronos and Master

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:25 pm

So I understand what you want to do now but I can't think of any way without using a midi mapper. I think the best your can get with just midi cables is to setup like the diagram. Synth-A = Kronos, Synth-B = Master, Synth-C = Trinity. Playing the master-B will sound both Kronos and Trinity. Playing others will only sound the local tone generator.

Joe Gerardi · Post by **Joe Gerardi** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 12:30 pm

Gonna be hard to do. The problem is MIDI Ins. Each sound-producing keyboard needs one more MIDI in in this instance to be able to do it. You can use MIDI through to get the Masterkey to trigger the other two, and the MIDI Out of 1 to the MIDI In of another to get the sound there, but that leaves one board not able to get plugged into the other to work. I've run into this issue for years and only once ever had a good answer- I loved the old MX-8 MIDI Patch Bay from Digital Music Corp. It had a MIDI merge function that allowed 2 inputs to control one output- I imagine your MOTU had the same thing.

Unfortunately, MIDI hardware has pretty much gone the way of the Dodo. If we're not using a computer to control the 'boards, there's not a lot of answers today except for the MOTU MIDI Express 128, and that's about 225 bucks.

See if you can find a used MX-8 on eBay. It's the cat's ass when it comes to controlling a rig lice, and it's very easy to set up.

..Joe

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:53 pm

You will need 2 midi merge boxes:

http://www.amazon.de/Midi-Solutions-MID ... idi+merger

Joe Gerardi · Post by **Joe Gerardi** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:47 pm

The problem with merge boxes is that unless you have the MIDI mode set properly on each synth (Omni off/Poly) then program changes will happen on every synth, regardless of what you want to send to which synth.

..Joe

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:04 pm

Joe Gerardi wrote:The problem with merge boxes is that unless you have the MIDI mode set properly on each synth (Omni off/Poly) then program changes will happen on every synth, regardless of what you want to send to which synth.

..Joe

That's a different problem. Specific MIDI commands can be filtered at the destination. Without the midi merge, you won't get the midi messages from both devices to filter.

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:16 pm

It would be helpful to know which MOTU device the OP had. That way it might be easier to suggest a comparable replacement.

80salife · Post by **80salife** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:06 pm

Thank you for your answers. Yes my Motu was a Midi Merger, but I had to look for a solution without a Midi-Patchbay. So I've programmed a liitle bit and played only on my master with combined sounds with some restriction.

I'm looking for a new ptachbay, prefere a Emagic Unitor, cause I dont need a Midi Interface to connect with a pc.