What is everyone doing nowadays?
 
Prior to W10 I used a couple of MIDISPORT boxes. W10 no longer supports those.
 
I'm currently chaining my JP-8000, OB-12 and Nova but I'm no longer happy with that (various reasons).
 
Connected to this is a thread I have just posted in the Hardware section, regarding Kenton MIDI Utility Boxes.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Kenton-Thru-5-and-Merge-4-MIDI-Utility-Boxes-m3599105.aspx
 
If anyone has any experience with those boxes then could you please reply to that topic.
 
If anyone has any other solutions of connecting their MIDI gear together, without chaining, please reply here.
 
cheers
 
andy

I used a midi merger in the past, that ran off a 9v battery, back in the 90's. Kenton was the name back then too. I can't see it having any problems.

I use a ver basic Tapco 4 in and 4 out Midi box that's bus powered with no driver necessary. It's no longer available but here's something similar.

https://reverb.com/au/ite...gent-mate-midi-box-4x4

Would taking one of them out of the chain help. Maybe put one on blue tooth. This is less than the Kenton. It's about 40quid
 

I use a Motu Micro Lite which gives me 5 MIDI ports, the 2 ports on my RME UFX and some stuff connected by its built-in USB connection.

Kamikaze
I used a midi merger in the past, that ran off a 9v battery, back in the 90's. Kenton was the name back then too. I can't see it having any problems.

Thanks Scott, yes, I do remember Kenton from back then. I think I remember them more for fitting MIDI to older synths, which they still do, according to their website.

mudgel
I use a ver basic Tapco 4 in and 4 out Midi box that's bus powered with no driver necessary. It's no longer available but here's something similar.

https://reverb.com/au/ite...gent-mate-midi-box-4x4

Thanks Mike,
 
I'm in the UK. When I did a search on Google for the MIDIBOX 4x4 I failed to find one available in the UK. But thanks for your input.
 
cheers
 
andy

Kamikaze
Would taking one of them out of the chain help. Maybe put one on blue tooth. This is less than the Kenton. It's about 40quid
 

Thanks again Scott.
 
You didn't provide a model number for the item in the picture, but I did a search for a Yamaha Bluetooth MIDI device and it came back with the MD-BT01.
 
Nice idea that, I must admit. Not sure how reliable it would be... I've never used any Bluetooth stuff.
 
However, according to the Yamaha website this device is only supported by apple stuff.
 
Cheers
 
andy

tlw
I use a Motu Micro Lite which gives me 5 MIDI ports, the 2 ports on my RME UFX and some stuff connected by its built-in USB connection.

Hi Tim,
 
Thanks for mentioning the Micro Lite.
 
I had spotted this, but was put off when, on some websites, Thomann for instance (https://www.thomann.de/gb/motu_micro_lite.htm) only mentions Windows ME, 2000 and XP, which I found a bit bizarre, to be honest. Even Sweetwater only mentions Vista, 7 & 8. And at this point I'm thinking, oh no... not another device unsupported on 10...
 
But I have since visited the MOTU website, which I should have done in the first place really. MOTU confirms that it is supported by W10.
 
Just got to weigh up the pros and cons now and a bit more research may be required.
 
I like the idea of just one box and therefore the Micro Lite. Only potential downside may be the lack of USB ports on my laptop and there is no mention of whether it is compatible with USB3. I guess there should be no reason why it isn't but I need to check.
 
My laptop only has one USB 2 port and I reserve that for connecting my Q-C or O-C. We are always told that we should use USB 2 ports for our sound devices, and, although I have connected my devices to a USB 3 port, I only tried that to see if it worked and I always use the USB 2 port.
 
The other nice thing about the Micro Lite is it doesn't need a power supply as it draws its power from the USB port.
 
If I went down the Kenton route I would need both the Thru and Merge boxes, plus two power supplies. And they cost a bit more too. But I wouldn't have to bother about what OS I am running as they do not connect to the computer at all.
 
It's a bank holiday weekend here in the UK so I've got another full day to look further into this.
 
cheers, and thanks again,
 
andy

The Micro Lite worked on USB 3 sockets on my Win 8 PC. These days I'm using it with a MacBook - it worked on a USB 3 port with Yosemite, then when Apple released Sierra last year they made some changes to the USB driver and it didn't work. Motu took a week to get a beta driver out which worked fine, the final release driver came along later.
 
So I'd expect it to work with a PC USB 3 socket... this might be of help - http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technotes/usb3
 
I currently have it connected to a powered USB 2 hub (which also handles all my hardware MIDI stuff that has a USB socket) attached to a Mac USB3 socket with no problems.