USB MIDI interface

[Dana.]

I haven't seen any recent discussion on good ones. Any recommendations? I want to connect my Electro to my MBP so that I can try VB3 and Compact V.

[Marzzz]

MOTU

 

For Mac I have had much better success with MOTU vs M-Audio, for instance.

 

[Mark Schmieder]

Most audio interfaces these days include MIDI in/out. I have found most MIDI-only interfaces to be extremely buggy and unreliable, and worse still, most are now bus-powered only (i.e. no power cable), which usually means you can't use them in standalone mode.

 

If all you'll ever need is MIDI with a computer, the MOTU devices are probably the best currently offered. Several others were better but are either no longer made or were absorbed into other companies that have provided lackluster support for development.

 

Nevertheless, there are plenty of two-channel MIDI/audio USB interfaces that are quite good and quite cheap. And of course almost any multi-track audio interface will have MIDI in/out.

[Dana.]

Thanks guys. Will go the MOTU route.

[Steve Force]

Midiman aren't bad; however, my older one does not have Win 7 driver support (which I think is really BS...)

[Mark Schmieder]

Midiman is one of the ones I was thinking of as having been very good at one point, but I thought it wasn't really being properly supported anymore? That's second-hand from forums, so may be off the mark.

 

If you want to go the used route, the Edirol interfaces from Roland are the most flexible and work in standalone mode as actual MIDI patchbays, each channel having dedicated hardware switches for muting/etc. I owned one for awhile, and as I recall it did have USB as well. Both half-rack and full-rack editions.