USB vs MIDI or USB plus MIDI Configuration?

You can either run USB MIDI directly into a USB port on your computer, or you can run a 5-pin DIN cable into the MIDI port on the Focusrite. There isn't much practical difference between the two methods, except that the latter might be a little simpler, since you only have the Focusrite driver to deal with.

You can use either connection method, but don't use both at the same time. Maybe try both to see which works best.

With the A-800 connected to your PC via USB, you can still use its MIDI in and MIDI out ports as another USB MIDI interface for connecting external MIDI controllers and MIDI sound generators. See the settings info in your manual.

So you now have 2 USB MIDI interfaces!

RobWS
I thought that MIDI was MIDI and USB was USB, but apparently not.

Just FYI, MIDI data can be carried over various media (physical connections) and using various transport protocols (how the data is encoded for being transmitted), such as Firewire or USB or Ethernet, as well as the original 5-pin DIN type serial connections.


Early PC MIDI interfacing used serial (modem) and parallel (printer) port connections (neither of which are even offered on many PCs today), while Apples and Macs used other connection schemes too. As well, many audio cards offered MIDI interfaces based on Roland's MPU-401, including Sound Blasters and others which routed MIDI through a joystick (game controller) port (still found onboard some motherboards) to which a MIDI breakout cable dongle could be connected.


Very few computers have ever offered built-in MIDI ports (only the Atari 1040ST and some Japanese "music" computers come to mind). So MIDI interfacing with computers has always been an adventure (and sometimes, a headache). Welcome to the latest chapter!