• Hardware
  • Best midi interface - at least 4 in out and Windows 10 drivers - LOW latency
2016/02/13 22:52:37
deswind
heading says it all.
recommendations?
2016/02/14 08:46:45
dwardzala
Budget?
2016/02/14 08:58:06
pwalpwal
midi only?
2016/02/14 11:46:28
deswind
If it is supertight midi - budget hopefully under $400.  If it happens to have audio (which I would likely not use) - not matter.
2016/02/14 12:26:07
rsinger
I use the MOTU MIDI Express XT as a MIDI router and interface. I like it. It looks like it supports Win 10.
 
http://www.motu.com/products/midi/xpressxt_usb/body.html
 
 
2016/02/14 13:14:47
Waffle
Steinberg UR44 meets all your requirements.
2016/02/14 14:09:56
Cactus Music
The UR 44 is an Audio interface, The OP is ooking for MIDI only. They are not as common these days. 
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/c677--MIDI_Interfaces
 
 
 
2016/02/15 03:12:46
TerraSin
M-Audio just announced they are bringing MIDISport interfaces back if you want a cheaper option: http://www.sweetwater.com...t-hub-midi-interfaces/
2016/02/16 17:41:17
tlw
M-Audio's history of driver support, or the lack thereof, would make me very reluctant to buy any of their MIDI products. Waiting years for a driver update is something that puts me off a product.

As does the amazing ability of a MIDISport 2x2 Anniversary to garble sysex and NRPNs. I have one and it's scrambled the patches on my Mopho under WinXP, Vista, 7 and 8.1. Also OS X Yosemite and El Cap, despite it being claimed to be "class compliant". If forums are anything to go by I'm not alone in that experience.

It seems OK for everyday 7-bit MIDI other than sysex, but I wouldn't recommend M-Audio MIDI interfaces.

I've been using MOTU for a few years now, and their MIDI interfaces seem very solid. At least, I've had no problems.

Edited to add -

MIDI interfaces don't affect what we generally mean by DAW latency, that latency is a product of the audio driver/interface and how long it takes the software and operatimg system to process the audio side of things.

There's always a tiny bit of latency in MIDI because it's a serial protocol so daisy-chains see a progressively delayed signal and because different synths take different amounts of time to process incoming MIDI and output a sound. Even MIDI-controlled analogue gear has this limitation. Generally it's very, very few milliseconds indeed, and if it's consistent across all devices (unlikely) or you only use one hardware synth Sonar has a setting in preferences where you can apply an offset to Sonar automatically compensates.

I've several synths so generally have to slightly shift audio clips to get them to align with the relevant MIDI track. Unless the slight difference doesn't make any audible difference when I leave it alone.
2016/02/16 22:41:03
Cactus Music
Good post Tim, Glad you pointed out the difference between audio and midi latency to the OP and others. People get this mixed up easily. Myself I'm not dead sure where an audio interface which also has midi in/out ties together in the drivers. I would assume midi drivers are off the shelf and have not changed much in 20 years.  I've used a few different audio interfaces and even though the audio latency may have been terrible, the midi was always the same. My worst interface was an M Audio fast track pro. So that company is off my list. 
The only time I've experienced midi delay was due to look ahead effects being involved. 
 
© 2025 APG vNext Commercial Version 5.1

Use My Existing Forum Account

Use My Social Media Account