"Off line" MIDI patching

[Jan Schultink]

I love to just play my instruments without having to go into Logic on my computer to configure MIDI settings. I solved the audio part with a basic mixer. How can I get a "MIDI patch bay"? This guy: http://www.motu.com/products/midi/xpressxt_usb ? Configure a bunch of presets once and then be done with it?

[chysn]

Depending on how big your setup is, there are various ways to do this.

For example, I use the low-tech method of "hooking stuff up when I need it." I only have a few synths, and my computer moves around a lot, so it's good enough to just plug stuff in ad hoc.

If you have a main controller and several slaved synths, and everything stays pretty much put, you can get a MIDI interface with a MIDI Thru mode. For example, the M-Audio MIDISport 2x2 has a button that hooks the MIDI ins to the MIDI outs so that you can use your stuff without having software running. The MIDISport is considerate in that it doesn't require power for this feature to work, so you don't even need to have your computer turned on.

Then there's the thing you mentioned. That might be overkill for most people, but you didn't say how much gear you have. It's safe to say that it would probably do the trick, and then some, for most home studios.

[DavidDever]

Nothing beats physically connecting the units that you need together with DIN cables on the fly...I find that a simplified setup encourages deep-diving into a single unit (or, at least, a limiter number of units).

[Jan Schultink]

Thank you!

[BobTheDog]

I have quite a few midi interfaces connected up here, I find this quite a useful piece of software: http://notahat.com/midi_patchbay/

[Jan Schultink]

I have quite a few midi interfaces connected up here, I find this quite a useful piece of software: http://notahat.com/midi_patchbay/

This looks great!

[BobTheDog]

And its free.

[Jan Schultink]

In the end, I went for a hardware solution, the 4 in, 6 out Motu Micro Express. http://motu.com/products/midi/micro_usb

You can define 8 presets of differing configurations of anything-in-to-anything-out, which are accessible with a single button on the front of the device. The device is powered by the computer USB, but you don't need software to switch between the presets once you defined them. You can leave the laptop closed and just play.

This is all ancient technology. Motu updated this device in 2011. If you are looking for 2nd hand devices, make sure the serial number starts with "ME", or you are dealing with a pre-2011 device for which you can't update the firmware.

Speaking of firmware (http://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/firmwarechangelog), don't update to the latest version 29 (June 2015), but stick to 28 (February 2015). Version 29 gives hanging notes and latency with the latest Mac OSX update (after 3 hours of Googling I stumbled on a German language forum post that stated this). Some people complain about issues between the USB 3 of the Mac and the USB 2 of the device, forcing them to put in a powered USB 2 hub. For me all works fine.