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Meeblip cubit go USB MIDI interface


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'incredibly tight timing. It has one input and four outputs, for sending notes and/or clock, with integrated hardware MIDI thru circuitry on the four outputs so whatever you send to the output is sent to all four jacks simultaneously, with no software delay. driverless and USB powered, which means it works with phones and tablets as well as computers. And the jacks are top-mounted to fit cubit go into tight spaces, even when cabled up.'

 

 

Features:

1Ã1 USB MIDI interface with integrated hardware MIDI Thru

Class-compliant USB MIDI â no drivers needed

One input jack

Four hardware-mirrored output jacks â no software lag

High performance 32-bit ARM Cortex processor

Bright green MIDI light flashes when sending or receiving data for easy troubleshooting

Size: 108 x 76 x 25 mm (4.25 x 3 x 1 inches), weighs 110 g (3.9 oz)

Includes 1 m (3 ft) USB cable

USB powered

Works with macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android*

Made in Canada, available only direct

 

Pricing and Availability:

cubit go is available now for $59.95 USD, with free worldwide shipping. (Regular price: $79.95)

 

https://meeblip.com/products/meeblip-cubit-go

 

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I love the technobabble "no software lag." This appears to be a 1x1 USB midi interface combined with a thru box. Midi thru boxes have been around since the beginning of midi, and hardware thru boxes have never had "software lag"... on account of their being just... hardware!

 

I'm not saying this won't be useful to anybody or it isn't worth the price â but anyone with multiple 5-pin midi devices might want to think about whether an interface with separately-addressable ports makes more sense for their setups. My MOTU Fastlane is a clunkier form factor and won't hook up to a phone like this one, but it's a 2x2 interface for around the same money.

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My iPhone/iPad MIDI interface has been a Roland Duo Capture EX, which has served well as long as I didn't need a MIDI Thru port.

 

My use case is simple - use Korg Monologue or other keyboard to enter notes into Xequence 2 on the iPad, and use Xequence 2 to sequence a melody line/chords on Device 1, pad/chords on Device 2, bass line on Monologue, etc.

 

The product page says as long as I don't forget to set the proper MIDI channels in your iOS app (eg. Xequence 2) and receiving devices, the above use case is feasible

https://meeblip.com/collections/our-products/products/meeblip-cubit-go

 

This is their splitter if you just need a MIDI splitter:

https://meeblip.com/collections/our-products/products/cubit

 

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I love the technobabble "no software lag." This appears to be a 1x1 USB midi interface combined with a thru box. Midi thru boxes have been around since the beginning of midi, and hardware thru boxes have never had "software lag"... on account of their being just... hardware!

 

I'm not saying this won't be useful to anybody or it isn't worth the price â but anyone with multiple 5-pin midi devices might want to think about whether an interface with separately-addressable ports makes more sense for their setups. My MOTU Fastlane is a clunkier form factor and won't hook up to a phone like this one, but it's a 2x2 interface for around the same money.

 

No software I presume means class compliant drivers present in the OS. So nothing to install is more accurate.

But I think what they are suggesting here is if you don"t need more than 16 channels then MIDI timing is tighter when the 4 ports are wired together.

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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No software I presume means class compliant drivers present in the OS. So nothing to install is more accurate.

But I think what they are suggesting here is if you don"t need more than 16 channels then MIDI timing is tighter when the 4 ports are wired together.

Pardon me for being the curmudgeon Elmer, but your post is a cut & paste from a press release i.e. company-speak. Take it however you want, but when I read "four hardware-mirrored output jacks â no software lag", it sure sounds like they are directly equating "no software lag" to the "four hardware-mirrored output jacks", iow... a thru box. Nothing there about drivers.

 

And if you don't need more than 16 channels, I would question the need for four identical midi outputs â unless you're doing some kind of massive layering of sounds with hardware keyboards or modules. I remember the early days of midi when I did exactly that â and it sounded like shit! If you have enough keys or modules that you need four separate midi ports to address them, that suggests either a big multimbral production, in which case different midi channels' data will be delayed slightly by the serial nature of slow 31.25kb 5-pin midi, or possibly a single midi channel's worth of data going to multiple synths, in which case I would think that simple midi thru jacks on each synth or module would do the same job.

 

And when it comes to timing and sequenced midi, MOTU has what they call "midi time stamping" that they claim gives their midi interfaces sub-millisecond timing accuracy from multiple outputs; multiple seperately addressable outputs, which seems to me to be a lot more useful.

 

Again, this is a cute little interface, and for anyone needing what it offers it's probably a fine value â it's certainly not overpriced. Just a little overhyped, imo!

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I sent an email to Meeblip asking for confirmation on whether I can sequence my Monologue, Volca FM, and Volca Keys from my iPad with this thing - with each of the 3 devices playing its own notes, instead of all of them playing the exact same note. It'd be pretty pointless if all I'd be able to do with it is have them all play the same C major triad or something.

 

I got this reply:

 

"Yes, that's exactly right! Just set each volca to a different channel and you can control them separately. You'll also be able to use a keyboard controller with MIDI DIN connecting to the cubit go - or yes, plug into the iPad via USB (you'll need a hub.)"

 

 

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I sent an email to Meeblip asking for confirmation on whether I can sequence my Monologue, Volca FM, and Volca Keys from my iPad with this thing - with each of the 3 devices playing its own notes, instead of all of them playing the exact same note. It'd be pretty pointless if all I'd be able to do with it is have them all play the same C major triad or something.

 

I got this reply:

 

"Yes, that's exactly right! Just set each volca to a different channel and you can control them separately. You'll also be able to use a keyboard controller with MIDI DIN connecting to the cubit go - or yes, plug into the iPad via USB (you'll need a hub.)"

 

Of course that's true, but it doesn't require multiple midi ports. A single port can output data on 16 midi channels, so 3 devices playing different notes can easily work using only one port; that's MIDI 101. Of course, using a single-port midi interface to talk to three devices means you'll need to connect them via midi "thru" ports â and not all keyboards or modules have those! That may be the selling point of this new interface â you don't have to have thru ports on the devices you control with it. There is one wrinkle that may or may not affect what your sequenced music sounds like, however: all three of your devices will receive all three's midi data. Of course they'll only play the notes assigned to the channel they're set to, so it will work â but midi being a serial communications protocol means that you may experience some lag or "smearing" if your arrangements are dense. Stuff like big chords that happen on the same clock step, or a lot of pitch bend or controller data, can clog the midi stream and introduce audible timing issues. That's the advantage of seperately-addressable ports â you can separate the midi stream and send only what's needed to each instrument.

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I sent an email to Meeblip asking for confirmation on whether I can sequence my Monologue, Volca FM, and Volca Keys from my iPad with this thing - with each of the 3 devices playing its own notes, instead of all of them playing the exact same note. It'd be pretty pointless if all I'd be able to do with it is have them all play the same C major triad or something.

 

I got this reply:

 

"Yes, that's exactly right! Just set each volca to a different channel and you can control them separately. You'll also be able to use a keyboard controller with MIDI DIN connecting to the cubit go - or yes, plug into the iPad via USB (you'll need a hub.)"

 

Of course that's true, but it doesn't require multiple midi ports. A single port can output data on 16 midi channels, so 3 devices playing different notes can easily work using only one port; that's MIDI 101. Of course, using a single-port midi interface to talk to three devices means you'll need to connect them via midi "thru" ports â and not all keyboards or modules have those! That may be the selling point of this new interface â you don't have to have thru ports on the devices you control with it. There is one wrinkle that may or may not affect what your sequenced music sounds like, however: all three of your devices will receive all three's midi data. Of course they'll only play the notes assigned to the channel they're set to, so it will work â but midi being a serial communications protocol means that you may experience some lag or "smearing" if your arrangements are dense. Stuff like big chords that happen on the same clock step, or a lot of pitch bend or controller data, can clog the midi stream and introduce audible timing issues. That's the advantage of seperately-addressable ports â you can separate the midi stream and send only what's needed to each instrument.

 

I doubt i will experience the problems you mention, as my setup is quite small and simple - not more than 4 receiving hardware devices. I am not Hans Zimmer.

 

 

Anyway, proof will be in the experience after I receive this thing.

 

If I ever outgrow it, I will get a more capable MIDI interface for my IOS device and sell this one.

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Yes if your material isn't dense with chordal stuff or gobs of controller data you should be fine. And, I checked â the Volcas have only a midi in, and the Monologue has in & out, no thru, so you definitely need the four outputs of this interface. Good luck with it!
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This appears to be a 1x1 USB midi interface combined with a thru box.

Yes, nothing revolutionary here, but it does look like a good value. I mean, a 4-way thru alone will probably cost you almost $50. And like your MOTU, this is one of the few low-cost interfaces that has jacks instead of hard-wired cables, which is nice in not tying you to fixed lengths (even though it means you have to add the cost of the cables).

 

My MOTU Fastlane is a clunkier form factor and won't hook up to a phone like this one.

I know they market it as Mac/PC, but I see no reason the Fastlane wouldn't work with a phone. Either of these two boxes should be universal, it's just a matter of the cables you attach.

 

But yes, they are kind of similar... the Fastlane is a 2 x 2, this one is a 1 x 4, either can be useful. This looks cheaper and more convenient than adding a thru box to some other interface.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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As I understand, the Fastlane is not class compliant, ie it needs a driver, and a quick search for "MOTU fastlane ios" bears this out, though I suppose I might be wrong.

 

Again, I think it's misleading to call this new interface "1 x 4", it's a 1x1 with a built-in thru box (in fairness, the manufacturer says exactly that). The four outputs are paralleled; identical. The MOTU's 2 outputs are separate, ie you get 32 channels of midi in & out. And any thru box will give you "incredibly tight timing", assuming it's a true hardware thru (some midi devices have software thru). I know I'm getting ornery in my old age but let's call hype what it is. This new interface is perfectly fine for what it does & what it costs â indeed, the Governor's midi devices have no thru ports so he would need a separate thru box to connect his stuff; in that regard, this box is saving him money. Meeblip could have mentioned that in their PR material, but might have thought that too complicated a concept for the make-a-beat crowd; "incredibly tight timing" sounds sexier!

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As I understand, the Fastlane is not class compliant, ie it needs a driver, and a quick search for "MOTU fastlane ios" bears this out, though I suppose I might be wrong.

Ah. Yes, I shouldn't have assumed it was class compliant. If it needs a driver, it's not going to work on iOS.

 

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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As I understand, the Fastlane is not class compliant, ie it needs a driver, and a quick search for "MOTU fastlane ios" bears this out, though I suppose I might be wrong.

 

Again, I think it's misleading to call this new interface "1 x 4", it's a 1x1 with a built-in thru box (in fairness, the manufacturer says exactly that). The four outputs are paralleled; identical. The MOTU's 2 outputs are separate, ie you get 32 channels of midi in & out. And any thru box will give you "incredibly tight timing", assuming it's a true hardware thru (some midi devices have software thru). I know I'm getting ornery in my old age but let's call hype what it is. This new interface is perfectly fine for what it does & what it costs â indeed, the Governor's midi devices have no thru ports so he would need a separate thru box to connect his stuff; in that regard, this box is saving him money. Meeblip could have mentioned that in their PR material, but might have thought that too complicated a concept for the make-a-beat crowd; "incredibly tight timing" sounds sexier!

 

There are young geeks as well as old who fear the MIDI Jitter Boogeyman . So I suppose the "tight timing" thing is part of the marketing to address that fear and also attempt to sell. When I was in university and starting to learn what this MIDI thing was about, a buddy of mine who had previous experience playing synth pop gigs told me that before the mid 1990s it was normal practice for synth pop, industrial (eg. Ministry), and other electronic music acts to play live with backing tracks on tape then later CD because they didn't trust MIDI timing. Supposedly, MIDI timing has gotten better over time after successive generations of synths, sequencers, etc. but I did witness a drum machine going badly out time with sequenced synth parts at a show just a couple of weeks ago. I think the performer was using a Korg Electribe with external drum machine.

 

Anyway, this was the interface I was looking at before the Meeblip dropped - it's $180 at B&H, which is about 3x the cost of the Meeblip, but I'm sure it's worth the extra cost for some users.

https://www.esi-audio.com/products/m4uex/

 

Once I found a MIDI sequencer on iPad that I liked, I realized the limitation of my little Korg synths not having MIDI Thru ports. I have no way to record MIDI data from a keyboard into the sequencer and also hear the MIDI notes on the receiving hardware synth at the same time. I have a Korg M3 61 which has quite a bit more capability as a sequencer and controller, but its little analog siblings are much more fun to play with for me. I also favor relatively minimal, uncluttered arrangements.

 

 

 

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I hope this does the job for you, but I still say they're being a little disingenuous with their marketing. There is nothing special about a hardware midi thru box. Note that they're not making the claim of tight timing between the midi input and its four outputs â which is what I always thought was a thru box's main function; they're only saying that the timing between the four outputs is tight. Well, that's a non-brainer since any hardware thru box works like that! What would be more impressive is if they claimed the same tight timing (or low latency) between the midi input and the four outputs. I looked for such a claim but didn't see it. My guess is that anything plugged into the midi input has to go through your software before going to the four outputs. If you want to play live with your sequences, this may or may not be an issue â it's probably dependent on the software in your iPad (and which model iPad) as to how well it does in that regard. Anyway, it's probably gonna be fine, but I would be curious to know how it works out for you.
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For now the emphasis will be more on putting together compositional ideas than playing live.

 

I've sequenced stuff on the iPad before, using only internal sound engines - eg. Cubasis for sequencing and its internal synth/sample player for sounds, using my trusty (so far) Monologue as MIDI controller. I've also done some sequencing of external gear with an iPad sequencer, but using note data entered on the sequencer UI (eg. step values) instead of a MIDI keyboard. But I haven't had the pleasure yet of simply playing something on a MIDI keyboard, hearing the sound come out on an external synth, and also having my playing recorded as MIDI on an iPad sequencer.

 

The Audiobus forum was where I recently read a lengthy discussion about jitter. I was partly responsible - I asked about a MIDI interface (not the Meeblip) and somebody noticed there was a claim in the ad copy about it being jitter-free. Oh boy did that start a bit of a poopoo storm.. I guess that's why nobody there seems to care about the Meeblip ad copy, which perhaps they deem to be meekly inoffensive in comparison.

 

Anyway I'm going to be playing with Xequence 2 and Nanostudio 2 on the iPad. Xequence 2 has the best UI for editing MIDI notes and data. Nanostudio 2 has support for tempo changes and odd time signatures. Some users are sequencing Nanostudio 2 and/or Gadget from Xequence 2 - might have a play with that too. On iPhone I'm getting more into using Gadget since it will now let me use MS-20 sounds, thanks to the Remote Install feature. However, Gadget's UI isn't as elegant as X2s when it comes to copying/pasting musical passages I want to reuse.

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I think their target market is aimed at setups that are based around stuff like the Korg Volcas. i'm not heavily into techno or dance music but I have a Volca Beats and a Volca Sample. These are really good but only have Midi In. So you can quickly run out of Midi outs with this stuff. So a typical scenario might be 3 Volcas and some iPad stuff running off your DAW. So Logic could send Midi clock and the 3 Volcas are synced. Plus you can play you iPad synths and also sync to Midi clock too. I think the reference to ultra tight timing is about ensuring Midi clock is spot on - maybe prioritised in some way. The Volcas do have sync in and out on mini jack but Midi clock is more flexible.

 

BTW I'll mention that Logic unlike other DAWS only provides 2 destinations for Midi clock. There are a few ways around it, a Midi Thru box is one of them.

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Can the USB port be used as a "host" for connecting USB-only boards to MIDI-only boards?

 

For example, could this device potentially be used to connect something like a Casio PX-S1000 (with USB-MIDI only) to a Nord Electro 61?

 

Cheers,

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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Yes, I expect your right, but it would have been a neat additional feature, using a cable such as this:

 

https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/store/Detail.aspx/USB-2-0-Cable---Type-B-Male-to-Type-B-Male-Black-3-ft-/USB08-0003

 

Cheers,

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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is this what you are after, James?

 

https://meeblip.com/products/cubit

No that's a plain thru box. One 5-pin midi input copied to four outputs (the USB port looks to be for power only). And once again the hype is large with this company. "Opto-isolated MIDI IN to reduce ground loops", yes that's how 5-pin midi was designed back ~ 1980, and how 99.9999% of all midi interfaces work (there's one Chinese garbage $5 midi interface/cable I see on Ebay under various brands that's not opto-isolated and doesn't work most of the time). "Ultra-low latency hardware MIDI pass-through" and "Individual active signal processing for each MIDI OUT." Well, yes, an electrical signal received at the input has to be copied to four other output jacks so there are some electronic components involved, but "signal processing" is a bit of a stretch imo. I'm not an electronics expert so if there's some new kind of mojo that this box is doing that's above & beyond what any other plain midi thru box does, I'll be happy to be corrected and will post back here with egg on my face. I looked around & saw some DIY thru box circuits that use things called "Schmitt trigger inverters" that, as far as I can tell, are used to "clean up" the electrical 0s and 1s coming into the input and provide a clean stream of the same to the outputs. I'm sure there are folks on this forum that can explain this much better than I. If this can be called "signal processing" then I stand corrected, but to me, "processing" in terms of digital data means some kind of software is in the mix. Sorry for the derail!

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simple MIDI-Thru box w/ USB MIDI interface implemented ...

 

But that´s o.k. for 60 bucks.

 

It´s NO MIDI host ...

I visited the website and IIRC, it´s already mentioned there.

The only advantage over a MIDI Thru box is the USB MIDI interface built in.

 

Class compliant is fine,- but sometimes drivers are better since these replace the stock OS MIDI drivers which aren´t the best always,- at least on PCs.

 

A MIDI-Thru box was and still is always better than MIDI -Thru-daisy-chaining of keyboard instruments/expanders and it´s NOT matter if all 16 MIDI channels are mirrored to every MIDI-Out port.

When daisy chaining 3 slaves to a master,- there are 3x the MIDI Thru optocuplers in a row and w/ the MIDI Thru box it´s only 1 for each port,- which makes a audible difference WHEN more than 2 devices are in a chain.

 

But,- no one can tell what amount of MIDI jitter there will be w/ the "Cubit",- and that´s what our ears are most sensitive to.

 

Anyway ...

 

Today,- when I wanted many MIDI-Out ports to external hardware plus USB,- I´d go the network (switch) route and use a interface offering USB, DIN MIDI and Network compatibility.

The iConnectivity mio10 is one of these and probably the best available today.

There are smaller ones available too,- some offering additional audio I/O.

iConnectivity officially supports rtpMIDI ...

Means, it works also w/ iOS devices.

Network MIDI is implemented in Macintosh OS since OS X Tiger 10.4.xx ...

 

:)

 

A.C.

 

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Can the USB port be used as a "host" for connecting USB-only boards to MIDI-only boards?

 

For example, could this device potentially be used to connect something like a Casio PX-S1000 (with USB-MIDI only) to a Nord Electro 61?

 

Cheers,

James

x

 

From what I've gathered so far, the Meeblip by itself cannot function as a USB host.

 

An iPad connected to the Meeblip can function as a USB host. So if you got the Meeblip you would connect the Casio and iPad to a USB hub, and connect the hub to the Meeblip.

 

The Mode Machines looks like a simpler solution if you don't want to involve an iOS device.

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A MIDI-Thru box was and still is always better than MIDI -Thru-daisy-chaining of keyboard instruments/expanders and it´s NOT matter if all 16 MIDI channels are mirrored to every MIDI-Out port.

When daisy chaining 3 slaves to a master,- there are 3x the MIDI Thru optocuplers in a row and w/ the MIDI Thru box it´s only 1 for each port,- which makes a audible difference WHEN more than 2 devices are in a chain.

I always thought that latency from midi in to a hardware midi thru was negligible. But daisy chaining many synths was not good because at some point, cable capacitance or resistance might mess up the integrity of the data. I remember many years ago, when low-cost midi synths just started appearing (Korg Poly 800 was the first <$1000 iirc), I did a session for the old r&b group Ray, Goodman & Brown. We must have had 20 Poly 800s, Korg Juno-something, etc. midied together. All daisy-chained. It worked â and sounded horrible!

 

And I might differ from you when you say "it´s NOT matter if all 16 MIDI channels are mirrored to every MIDI-Out port." I learned early on to eliminate as much un-needed midi data from the midi stream as possible. When stuff is quantized so you have a lot of events happening on a single clock step, e.g. a big keyboard chord happening with a kick drum & cymbal crash... and all coming out one port, that's when you can get audible delays. A midi thru box's different outputs will send to separate synths, but each synth has to take the others' data into their buffers even though they don't respond to it â that's not an ideal situation, I think.

 

 

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I always thought that latency from midi in to a hardware midi thru was negligible. But daisy chaining many synths was not good because at some point, cable capacitance or resistance might mess up the integrity of the data.

 

Well, the rule was, daisy-chain 3 machines at max. (keybd. MIDI-Out > dev.#1 MIDI-IN >dev#1 MIDI-Thru > dev.#2 MIDI-In),- that´s what I learned in the "pioneer times" of MIDI.

So,- connecting 1 or 2 in a "daisy chain" is o.k..

 

 

We must have had 20 Poly 800s, Korg Juno-something, etc. midied together. All daisy-chained. It worked â and sounded horrible!

 

Well,- at least you checked that out ! :laugh:

I owned a Poly800 for a short time when it came out,- and tried to get out a "good sound".

IMO, it alone sounded horrible already and even Chuck Leavel advertised it.

 

And I might differ from you when you say "it´s NOT matter if all 16 MIDI channels are mirrored to every MIDI-Out port." I learned early on to eliminate as much un-needed midi data from the midi stream as possible. When stuff is quantized so you have a lot of events happening on a single clock step, e.g. a big keyboard chord happening with a kick drum & cymbal crash... and all coming out one port, that's when you can get audible delays.

 

You´re talking about sequencing here and it´s correct in that case.

When we used early apps for the Commodore 64 (C-Lab Supertrack p.ex.) and later C-Lab/Emagic Creator/ Notator (SL) as also Cubase ATARI,- thinning out MIDI data stream (mainly from controller data) and slightly moving events by 1 tick back or forth as also moving timing critical data to top (lower numbered) tracks in the arrange window were the tricks.

MIDI running status, implemented by manufacturers, was another one.

But I also recognized it needed a lot of MIDI info on most of the tracks to saturate the MIDI buffer and it was system/ hardware depended too.

 

When playing a rig w/ both hands and feet for the MIDI (bass) and/or CC pedals and momentary switches, I´d had a hard time to bring MIDI to it´s limits,- even w/ the large "3-4 keyboard plus several racks filled w/ modules" rigs I used in the 80s/90s.

 

BUT when I played 8-voice block chords p.ex. on a DX7, DX7mkII or D50 alone, there was,- (non-MDI related !) and at least for me audible,- delay between notes already.

I bought a Musitronic "speed-kit" (incl. memory- and multi-mode expansion) for my D550 I aquired later and after I had sold the D50 keyboard.

The stock D550 introduced the same behaviour as the keyboard version also via MIDI and the "speed-kit" minimized that.

 

In fact, different manufacturer´s machines introduced varying internal key-to-soundengine as also MIDI-In latency and jitter independent from ext. MIDI hardware condition and data stream density and my guess is it´s the same today.

 

Will say,- you can find better or worst ext. MIDI gear and when the instruments already introduce all kind of latency and jitter, nothing will eliminate that.

 

A midi thru box's different outputs will send to separate synths, but each synth has to take the others' data into their buffers even though they don't respond to it â that's not an ideal situation, I think.

 

Yes, it´s not ideal because the baud rate of MIDI isn´t anyway.

But how many MIDI channels, notes and controller data will be present and transmitted to these 4 MIDI-Outs when performing a MIDI controller keyboard being connected to the single MIDI-In of the "Cubit" box and in a "real world" live-gigging situation ?

It might be different WHEN there were more MIDI tracks running via USB and coming from some MIDI sequencer app being hosted on a laptop,- but my guess is, today when we need backing tracks,- these will be audio already.

 

I also learned the general idea of the MIDI-Thru box per sé was NOT acting like MIDI Thru ports of keyboard instruments or tonegenerator/expanders.

Instead there should be parallel MIDI-Outs vs "daisy-chained" MIDI-Thrus and I guess that can be technically realised in cheaper or more expensive ways depending on quality of components.

It´s called "MIDI-Thru box" even it´s a " x-way-MIDI-Out box".

 

But that´s all the experience from the past and theory ...

Only tests will tell how well this little thing works.

 

And,- you´re right w/ "their advertisement babble" !!!

 

 

:)

 

A.C.

 

 

 

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A midi thru box's different outputs will send to separate synths, but each synth has to take the others' data into their buffers even though they don't respond to it â that's not an ideal situation, I think.

 

Yes, it´s not ideal because the baud rate of MIDI isn´t anyway.

But how many MIDI channels, notes and controller data will be present and transmitted to these 4 MIDI-Outs when performing a MIDI controller keyboard being connected to the single MIDI-In of the "Cubit" box and in a "real world" live-gigging situation ?

It might be different WHEN there were more MIDI tracks running via USB and coming from some MIDI sequencer app being hosted on a laptop,- but my guess is, today when we need backing tracks,- these will be audio already.

Of course you're right that in the real world, one's playing may not necessarily saturate a midi bus. But with this unit, anything coming to the midi input does not go directly to the "incredibly tight timing" outputs â like all midi interfaces, the data has to go through the host software. That means there are a lot of other factors that can affect "incredibly tight" :-). This is simply a midi interface with four parallel outputs. They're electrically connected so the four outputs' data comes out at the same time, i.e. "tightly" â but that says nothing about the paths the midi takes before they get to those outputs!

 

Build a tiny box like this with multiple addressable outputs and the option to merge a midi input to the outputs in hardware... that might be a cool product. I know it would be more than $60!

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