USB MIDI host to 5 pin, success?

[ElmerJFudd]

Those that have Kawai ES120 or any USB MIDI controller that no longer provides 5 pin midi…
 

Does anyone have good things to say about one of these models or another?  Works as expected, reliable, built well?  
 

 

[Delaware Dave]

There are two DOREMidi boxes that look alike, one is model UMH-10 and the other is UMH-21.  One supports 'standard MIDI' and I assume that means USB 1 and 1.1. while the other supports that plus USB 2.0.  Not sure what your needs are but be careful about the model that you currently need as well as in the future.  Since UMH-21 supports both USB 2.0 as well as USB 1 series I'd be inclined to purchase the UMH-21; a few bucks more.

[Baldwin Funster]

I have a midiplus unit that works.

[wd8dky]

I own the Kenton and have never had one issue with it. 

[rogs]

I have both a Kenton and a DORMIDI.  Both work as expected.

The DOREMIDI is better made IMHO, and cheaper!

[obxa]

+1 on the DoreMidi.  Cheap and easy to attain on this side of the pond.

  Use mine in  some occasional non-computer setups to power and merge  Behringer X-touch or Korg Nano;   to control and send program change to (old) hardware Midi modules. 

[Reezekeys]

I'm looking at that DoreMidi site - they have a lot of very useful midi "swiss army knife" gadgets and pretty reasonable prices too, imo.

[AnotherScott]

A possibly interesting alternate way to go would be the CME WIDI products... e.g. a WIDI Uhost on the board that lacks 5-pin MIDI, and a WIDI Jack on the device that has 5-pin. Then you'll have a bluetooth MIDI connection between the two devices, and CME is good at minimizing the latency.

[Delaware Dave]

I was using a CME Widi bud pro to access my gemini editor via bluetooth.  Two times it dropped on me from two feet away.  It took a little time to re-establish the connection.  Now i just use a usb-a to -b hardwire which is 100% reliable.  So I would be wary of bluetooth connections in a live playing situation.  My two cents.

[ElmerJFudd]

22 minutes ago, Delaware Dave said:

I was using a CME Widi bud pro to access my gemini editor via bluetooth.  Two times it dropped on me from two feet away.  It took a little time to re-establish the connection.  Now i just use a usb-a to -b hardwire which is 100% reliable.  So I would be wary of bluetooth connections in a live playing situation.  My two cents.

Interesting.  If latency and jitter are decent - Bluetooth midi is convenient and neat.  But, yeah, I’m old fashioned when out and about.  Reliable wires are fine with me. 

[AnotherScott]

1 hour ago, Delaware Dave said:

I was using a CME Widi bud pro to access my gemini editor via bluetooth.  Two times it dropped on me from two feet away.  It took a little time to re-establish the connection.  Now i just use a usb-a to -b hardwire which is 100% reliable.  So I would be wary of bluetooth connections in a live playing situation.  My two cents.

 

Just two feet, ouch! What was the Gemini editor running on? Did you communicate with that device using another CME piece, or with that device's own internal BT capability? (Either should work, but I think CME's stuff is most solid and predictable if it's got a CME piece on each end of the transmission.)

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Delaware Dave said:

I was using a CME Widi bud pro to access my gemini editor via bluetooth.

 

"Editor" might be the key word here. If it used sysex, the strings can be long, and it's generally up to the manufacturer to decide how to implement the communications; there's a lot of leeway as to what you can put between the F0 and F7. IIRC a "sysex dump" of my old Roland JV module's performances is around 20K. A typical midi message is much smaller. I've seen cheap midi interfaces that can't pass any sysex.

[obxa]

I'm  part of the minority along with Delaware Dave that trusts wires.  Ironically, I'm probably less picky about pianos being in tune-  but anytime I'm given a wireless pack for in-ears, I always ask for wired  because I can hear the latency/delay and  dropouts drive me crazy.

 

It could be the unit I have:  I've used  Bluetooth (Yamaha BT01) with an iPad or Macbook transmitting from a slab piano or Hammond Xk3.   Always have connectivity issues where the BT stops connecting at some point.   Used to think it was Ipad related, but did it with the Macbooks too.  Plus still can always feel a sense of latency for anything piano or percussive - even if the units are inches away from each other.      I've tried to edit my Mojo with its Wifi thing- always have problems.   I do love Apples' AirDrop for moving things around, though it's also flaky right when i need it most.  Then i'm back to dropbox  or sneaker-net. 

 

I guess that makes me a luddite. The more I've dabbled with blue-tooth and/or wifi connections on gigs,  the more I realize it's just easier, safer, and less hassle to use a wired connection when practical.  Even if it adds some more stuff to plug in.   Been rehearsing this week where ForScore is sending tons of program changes to a Nord. Which should be a pretty simple thing.    I used to use that Yamaha BT thing so the Nord could receive from the Ipad .  When it worked it was a very clean setup.  But it would often be time consuming to get connected which is partly both Forscore and Ipad's fault.    More so, to maintain that connection.    On  many shows,  I'd often found it would stop working after I came back after intermission.  Then I'm in panic mode trying to get things back before downbeat.   Tonight  I'm trying a little IK  USB Midi interface.   The downside is that now means also using a big honking ugly white dongle to provide Ipad power & USB connection.  Plus likely  a USB hub to power the interface.  

 

[stoken6]

10 hours ago, obxa said:

Been rehearsing this week where ForScore is sending tons of program changes to a Nord. [...] Tonight  I'm trying a little IK  USB Midi interface.   The downside is that now means also using a big honking ugly white dongle to provide Ipad power & USB connection.  Plus likely  a USB hub to power the interface.  

If you have a relatively recent Nord, you don't need a MIDI interface. You should be able to use USB MIDI with Apple's CCK and a USB A-B cable (I do this with BandHelper). Or if your iPad has USB-C, a direct USB C-B cable (although you don't get power into your iPad tht way).

 

Cheers, Mike.

[obxa]

14 hours ago, stoken6 said:

If you have a relatively recent Nord, you don't need a MIDI interface. You should be able to use USB MIDI with Apple's CCK and a USB A-B cable (I do this with BandHelper). Or if your iPad has USB-C, a direct USB C-B cable (although you don't get power into your iPad tht way).

Thanks Mike- I'm using a NS 2EX. and my Ipad pro is lighting- but do have a camera kit.- I really like your idea about  using a single cable if the Nord is OS compliant.   I know there's the final NS2 firmware update I don't have that might help there.  Going to try that tonight.

 

I did use the Mio last night.  Surprisingly, my ipad didn't complain about it needing power.  I updated Forscore this morning.   One of these days I'll figure out why the  ipad is doing some kind of time-out thing that stops BT after inactivity.   The background app settings don't seem to ever make any difference.  It's not a total show-stopper, but this particular gig has a ton of embedded program changes in the charts, and I hate the added stress of BT going offline.

[changearound2]

If you're changing from using the Stage 2 midi din to midi over usb then you'll need to change the midi settings on the Nord. You can set the channels to 1-16 for din or usb1-16 for usb.