CME WIDI X8 Preliminary Review

[J. Dan]

Wireless MIDI Transmitter/Interface.

 

A long time ago I bought this intending to use it with my old band, except that I realized you have to buy 2 (they sell them individually, not as pairs, because you can communicate between multiple devices..ie, send 1 MIDI to 2 destinations). I left that band and never bought the second one until recently to use with my AX7 in my 80s duo. It arrived DOA - wouldn't turn on. Exchange was very easy and a week later (today) I received a working unit.

 

The units each have MIDI In/Out and USB for USB MIDI and can be battery or USB powered. They have a jack for an external power supply (not included). Inside the battery compartment is DIP switches for various settings, mainly setting the frequency to manual or auto, and setting what the frequency is in manual mode. In Auto, it's simple - there's a button on the top you push and it finds the other one. When they are talking, an LED turns from red to green on both. The power switch on the side has 3 positions: OFF/ON/LOCK. Once they are talking, setting it to LOCK disables the button that makes it search frequencies. Apparently, you can have up to 32 pairs of these operating in the same vicinity on different frequencies (I assume that's when you'd want to use manual).

 

First thing I was worried about is that on the receiving end, I'm going into a MIDI solutions box, which is powered by it's MIDI in. I was happy that the WIDI X8 powers the MIDI Solutions box.

 

Next, I thought I'd test it out around the house. I had my Kronos and K10 in the front office of the 2nd floor of my Brick and plaster house. I put on the AX7 and began walking around the house. Went downstairs toward the back of the house...all good! Made it all the way back to the Kitchen, which is opposite corner of the house on the first floor, with walls and ceiling in between. There was a very definite pretty significant Latency in the kitchen, but I'm guessing it was due to the amount of time it takes sound to travel down the stairs, through the house around corners, etc. As I was walking around downstairs, it did drop out once for just a couple notes, but there were no stuck notes or anything and it was very brief.

 

So far it looks like this will work wonderfully. In need some sort of pouch to mount one to the strap of my AX7, and a power supply for the one in my rack.

[KeyMoe]

Dan I have used a pair these for many years without fail. In a clear line of sight I never experienced a drop out or noticeable latency. I run all over the venue.

 

Once setup I never had to back to sync the devices. Battery life gets me through 4 or 5 gigs on a pair of double AAs.

 

Good luck, I think you will enjoy them!

[J. Dan]

Yeah, I wanted to really run it through the worst possible scenario to try to force a dropout so I could test howit handles it, which is why i went on a different floor around corners, etc. I'm happy with the way it handled it and was surprise that the obstructions didn't have more of an impact. I kind of expected it to drop out as soon as I went downstairs. Note that the 1st floor ceiling is 10', and constrction is Plaster on lath board, on timbers, covered with hardwood floor, pad, and carpet (100yr old house)...so that's a pretty thick/dense obstruction. Distance front to back of the house is about 35' with at least 2 walls in between depending on the RF path. Line of site, the CME is rated for 262 feet, and i have no reason to doubt it.

 

Rated max latency is 3mS. Based on the distance and all the twists, turns, and reflections the sond had to take to make it to the kitchen, I'm sure the latency was simply speed of sound and nothing else. Might be interesting to use wireless audio to send the sound downstairs where i'm playing.

 

CME specs the battery life at around 20 hrs, which sounds like it jives with your experience assuming 4-hr gigs.

 

The other question was battery life on the AX7. I bought it from DB a couple years ago and dont remember if he sent it with batteries or if I put them in when it arrived. It sat unused for most of that time, then for the past couple months I've been using it while setting up my sequences and for a couple 4-hr rehearsals. A couple times I accidentally left it on overnight. Batteries went dead at the last rehearsal...so I think battery life will be pretty good on the AX7 as long as I don't forget to turn it off!