I bought a MOTU MIDI Express XT last year but have only been using it for one MIDI controller.
 
I had purchased it in anticipation of getting some analog synths for outboard and I also wanted to add some extra MIDI controllers.
 
In the past month I have hooked up a few outboards synths and I have several controllers hooked up. Everything seems to be working well.
 
I used to have the hardware unit hidden behind my rack but now I have sitting on a rack so I finally figured out that the input number indicators blink all the time.
 
Question: Is that normal?
 
 
2nd question:
 
How about synchronization etc. I am not using MIDI in any MIDI Machine Control capacity so I think I can discount any worries about that but I have been wondering about how my USB MIDI express is synching with my firewire MOTU 896HD audio I/O system.
 
It does seem ok but I feel like I have just been blundering through with it.
 
For example; I think I have SONAR set to use the 896HD timing, but I think I have the MIDI express XT set to it's internal timing. I don't know what I have selected in Pro Tools 11 and I have never thought about it with Studio One 2.
 
I think I must be doing something wrong... even though they all seem to work OK. :-)
 
Does anyone have any tips?
 
I'd like to make sure that the MIDI and Audio is set up for best sync and I'd like to make sure each DAW has the proper selection choices made.
 
 
Thanks for any help you can offer to this perennial MIDI newbie.
 
 
 
 

Q1 - normal, see "active sensing". It's how sound modules are protected against stuck notes when your dancers  dislodge a midi cable.
Q2 - there is no syncing between those devices. The DAW usually uses incoming audio clock to regulate its timeline and so determine when to transmit midi. The DAW may sometimes need to delay the audio passing through your audio interface from your outboard modules when your project uses look-ahead type plugs. There are also adjustments you can make to midi timing. On each midi track there is a time+ offset widget to use if some of your external modules don't sync up right, which is usually patch-dependent. See also "midi latency".

Thank you.
 
I was thinking that was the answer to Q1, although that blinking keeps reading as "Warning Will Robinson" in my pea brain.
 
Q2: Thanks, all my outboard stuff is analog so I don't anticipate any round trip latency being added by digital I/O conversions out there. I'll take a look at my non SONAR DAWs to confirm they are all set up the same way.
 
Thank You for helping me feel some what reassured that I have it set up as it is intended to be used.
 
FWIW, I've been having fun with all my new MIDI options! :-)

mike_mccue
 
 ...
I was thinking that was the answer to Q1, although that blinking keeps reading as "Warning Will Robinson" in my pea brain.
...

That's what's wrong with blinking red lights. Those lights are indicating good things, not bad, so green might have been a better choice.

bvideo
Q1 - normal, see "active sensing". It's how sound modules are protected against stuck notes when your dancers  dislodge a midi cable.
Q2 - there is no syncing between those devices. The DAW usually uses incoming audio clock to regulate its timeline and so determine when to transmit midi. The DAW may sometimes need to delay the audio passing through your audio interface from your outboard modules when your project uses look-ahead type plugs. There are also adjustments you can make to midi timing. On each midi track there is a time+ offset widget to use if some of your external modules don't sync up right, which is usually patch-dependent. See also "midi latency".

Mike, just another re-assurance to the above for you. I have the exact MOTU that you have and everything bv said is spot on. The only time you *might* have to adjust the time+ offset is when you get something from someone else or if you have created midi using something consumer grade. Example....
 
I created a little song idea as a quickie so I'd not forget it using an old Soundblaster 64 gold card on Cakewalk PA 9 years ago. I happened to fire up that old box (that still works running Win 98 SE) to see what was on it and found that old idea. I brought it over to my current recording rig and noticed the midi was out of time with the audio so I had to adjust that time offset control. It fixed things right up for me. Other than that and a few times where clients have sent me stuff with weird midi (it's rare but it has happened a few times) I've never had to touch anything.
 
The only stuff I've done to my MOTU is custom routing due to a slight "flam" type artifact I was getting on my V-Drums. The fix was to just use the ins and outs I was physically using instead of having ALL of them "internally connected" inside the MOTU software. For example, I only have 3 units that I would use as "controllers". So I didn't need to have more than that connected. Disabling the other inputs made the flam artifact go away. It could have just been a glitch of sorts because I should be able to run 8x8....but for some odd reason, disabling the other 5 in's and literally disconnecting them from the MOTU software solved the problem for me.
 
On the blinking channels.....uggh, that has always made me nuts thinking something was wrong. But I knew about this as my first midi device was the original MOTU midi Express, which was a legacy unit...and I still have it. LOL! To be honest, they have both been so reliable to me, I'll never use anything else. Great choice there...enjoy it. :)
 
-Danny

Hi Danny,
 Thank you for the helpful info.