Best Practices working with lots of MIDI devices

Hi All,  I've been away for a while but have started to put my studio back together again.  I upgraded to Sonar X1 (latest patches).  I have, as my name implies, added to my synth arsenal as well.  The problem is, the problem I've always had is even worse.  I have TOO many MIDI devices (can you ever have enough?)!!

I started mapping everything out and have 23 devices needing MIDI connections.  In the past, I have always tried to have a 1:1 MIDI device to port relationship.  None of them are connected using MIDI through.  Each one is connected to an individual IN/OUT port on a MIDI interface.  I have 2 8 port USB MIDI interfaces on my system (M-Audio Midisport 8x8/s).  They've always been a little flaky but once I got everything working it was usable unless I changed things.

Out of the 23 devices, 4 have USB MIDI capabilities.  2 of them are other computers with their own midi interfaces and synths running connected or on them.
 
I have a few specific questions, however, my overall question is what best practices do others use when working with a large number of external MIDI devices?

Of the specific questions:

-What is the maximum number of MIDI ports (interfaces/ports/channels/whatever) does Sonar X1 support?  It used to be 15 ports a while ago.  Has this changed with newer versions?

-If I have several synths connected via USB MIDI to a secondary computer, and each synth has it's own tracks running in Sonar on that computer, how do I specify what port/track to trigger from the primary sonar computer that I'm tracking from?  Does it have to be MIDI channel based?  To be clear, I have one computer running an older version of Sonar.  I have several synths connected to that computer via USB MIDI.  In Sonar, each USB MIDI port shows up as a separate MIDI device.  I then have separate MIDI tracks for each device.  I also have a master Audio/MIDI interface connected to this computer that is connected to my primary computer's midi interface (1 port on an 8-port interface).  The primary computer that has control of the 2 8-port interfaces runs Sonar X1 as the master tracking machine.  I create a MIDI port on the master machine that patches to the secondary machines MIDI interface.  On that port I have the separate tracks for the USB MIDI interfaces.  Not sure if that's clear or even more muddy but now you're starting to see my problem.

I realize I may be a candidate of the next synthesizer hoarding show.  It is a disease.  But I'm hoping to find a way to cope with it so that I can at least make use of each of my pets.

Thanks in advance to anyone crazy enough to give me the time of day!

Is that a fizmo I see front and center in your avatar?

I used to have many midi devices as well (not quite as many as you - something like 15). I can say that it was maddening at times. I made one set of rules for all and applied it: each had its own in / out port pair and tracks predefined in my default project. As I have streamlined toward more homogeneous instrument setup my ability to 'just make music' has improved. That would be my suggestion after hearing about your rig. It seems like you have an overly complicated setup with the two computers and different ways of getting MIDI into the computers. I am having trouble seeing what that gains you. You could greatly simplify by adding another 8x8 interface and getting all MIDI connected to one computer in the same way.

The latest Sonar supports many MIDI ports, not sure what the limit is if any. You can also give 'friendly' names to all ports. I have had good luck with multiple emagic AMT-8 series interfaces in Sonar, and I am sure there are modern equivalents that play well together when daisy chained.

Also, this may be the dark side to you (it once was to me) but gradually moving to software synths has provided me with flexibility and ease of use that makes hardware seem like a hassle. While I still keep a few hardware synths (some vintage stuff) and probably always will, I no longer have hundreds of cables, a large hardware mixer, hardware effects, the need for constant sysex dumps, the need for setting up and tracking all those connections  - and I can't say I miss it. Now I can more easily layer multiple synths, manage presets, etc. I still get my knob turning fix from my couple hardware controllers, but I don't have all the extra headache of managing such a large hardware setup. With a few exceptions, there is not much in the way of sounds that cannot be done with software these days, and its nice to be able to map most of it to a hardware controllers knobs and sliders instead of having to edit sounds dozens of different ways on all your hardware. The flexibility to layer and create effects chains on software synths means I don't go for the hardware as often anymore unless I am looking for a specific sound. I keep one 8x8 MIDI interface around for that, and my audio interface has enough I/O to bring in all the synths I do keep. Just something to think about.

If you do have to keep with the gear hoarding (I certainly understand as a former junkie) I think you should simplify that setup to get maximum enjoyment.

D.

Thanks for the replies so far.  (yes, that's a fizmo and, thanks for turning me onto Vince Clarke.  I'm not him but wish I had his synths)

I agree that I need to simplify things.  I know I don't always play everything and could stand to weed some things out...afterall, it's not like I have any really good analog gear worth thousands.  Guess it's my boy scout background of always being prepared.  Never know when i'm gonna need that old Korg M1 piano sound (even though I always hated it).  I keep some of it around to just be able to play old tracks sequenced for those synths.  Plus I really like the way it looks ;).

Part of my issue is that the computers I built are a few years old and don't have the USB bandwidth needed to fit everything on one computer.  I just added an Ultranova and Virus T1 and they both have USB audio built in.  My computer complained that it didn't have enough bandwidth to handle both plus everything I already had on that computer.  I have EastWest Symphonic Strings and Chiors on another PC and moved all of my USB based synths there to keep my tracking PC cleaner.

Fog, is that 127 *DEVICES* or *CHANNELS*??  I've always had a problem with Sonar where I could never select all 16 ports at any one time.  Even with X1, I select all 16 ports, save it, go back in, and several of the ports are deselected again.  The driver is multi client since I can use more than one device.  Just never been able to select all 16 ports at once.  Always wanted to move to an Emagic or MOTU 8x interface but they were twice the price as the Midisport...I got what I paid for I guess.  They are probably about 10 years old.

I think I know my options:  -Get a more powerful PC, -get new and/ or add more midi interfaces, -get rid of some gear.

For now, I think I'm going to pick some gear I rarely use or don't need to do anything other than midi notes and patch changes and start using MIDI thu to start saving ports until I can afford to work on the first two options.  Unfortunately, I've got a hankering for the Blofeld so the new PC and interfaces will have to wait for one more purchase.

Anybody know of a good therapist?

Synth Junkie, What are you actually going to do with 23 midi devices? Do your self a favor, get one 8X8 midi router, only hook up 8 at a time, switch them out when you get the "need" for a particular midi controller. I mean come on, they're Midi Controllers, not voiced synths with their own particular voice and imprint. Start a collection for sure if you want, start a museum, but hey, Toys in the Attic is an old song.