[sdiy] USB and the art of MIDI

[Batz Goodfortune]

Y-ellow Achim.
         And thanks to all who wrote back on this.

At 12:58 PM 4/19/2008 +0200, ASSI wrote:

>That should work in principle, but I'd rather use a USB2.0 high-speed
>hub if more than four MIDI interfaces are in use at full bore.

Yeah. I should have made that clear I guess. It's all USB2. Although what 
it is to the MIDI converter, I'm not sure. But I'm figuring 400Mb/S to the 
hub at least should cover it.

I was looking at an 8x8 USB matrix but it was a little expensive IMHO. The 
irony being that despite it having 8 I/Os it was still only USB1.

That's still on the table as it were but I liked the modular approach of 
using separate interfaces.

>Depends on what you mean by "computer".  With a modern Linux I don't see
>any problem, and all interfaces should show up as seperate devices
>(they may have multiple ports).  Getting them to always use the same
>device name and MIDI port number in ALSA will be a bit tricky however,
>normally they will show up in the order they are found during device
>discovery.

I have had great difficulty convincing linux how to handle USB devices but 
subsequently I'm pretty sure I could tame that under linux. It should be 
able to discover all devices on the hub in the same order every time. BOSH 
should be able to do that too but you know how M$ products are. They like 
to attack when you're not looking.

All the crap-tops dual boot so it's going to be a matter of figuring out 
which OS is going to give us more mileage. But I know what I'd prefer to 
use. At least under Slackware I know we could go out there and not have the 
things suddenly reboot in the middle of a gig.

>   MIDI interfaces which need a driver downloaded at each
>plug-in also often require manual configuration, but class-compliant
>interfaces just work.  If the USB descriptors are halfway
>spec-compliant each interface is listed with the name given by the
>manufacturer so it is relatively easy to tell them apart.

Well, I'd assume that all these would be the same manufacture. And exactly 
the same type. Although of the 3 I've just bought, 2 are the same and one 
is an orphan. But then again, probably the only difference is the little 
plastic housing they're in. :)

>The sysex bug is supposedly fixed in Vista.

Oh. So that's the only thing that actually works on VISTA now is it?

These crap tops came with vista pre-installed. I kept it on there for about 
3 or 4 weeks. It might be just that I'd been laid up ill for 3 months but I 
haven't laughed that much in the last year. Every time I get a bit down I 
only have to think about running vista. I replaced the hard drive and kept 
the original just in case I ever needed a good belly laugh. It's a good 
thing in a way that Steve Ballmer became a multi-billionaire and only does 
comedy in his spare time. We'd all have died laughing by now.

The MIDI interface limit was always set at 10 from BOSH95 onwards. 
Ironically there was no such limit previously under WIN3.11. This was a big 
problem till one day, under BOSH98SE, we realized we had somehow managed to 
plug in and use 12. But in this case it's all a driver thing. Under USB? 
Who knows?

>Sysex with interfaces bringing their own drivers is hit-and-miss: if
>they used the Microsoft demo code it won't work, if they actually
>checked the result they may have fixed it.  Sometimes it works and then
>they break it again with a new driver version...

Yeah. Been there. Swore I'd never go there again but It'd probably be a 
laugh to stir up the kiddies on the dance floor again. How could I not 
enjoy the site of some pumped up blond blowing chunks into the bass bin 
from too much E and a squeeze of lemon. While her boyfriend looks on 
helpless but later decides to get off with her best friend because at least 
she wasn't wearing her stomach contents when he was dancing with her. Ah. I 
love the nightlife. I love to boogie.

But I digress.

>Dunno how the Mac is stacking up in that department, but at least it
>should show the proper device name if the interface provides a suitable
>string descriptor.

It's BSD. How bad could it be?

>If timing is important to you, then this setup is probably too
>troublesome all-around.  What may work with one hub may not work with
>another or even when the order of interfaces somehow changes.  With the
>prices I can get here it is still more cost effective to have 4x4
>interfaces directly hanging off the computer's USB ports.  I also find
>the 1x1 "cable interfaces" appealing for their lack of another box to
>have around, but I haven't had a chance to try them yet.

In the end we may not need to go out with too many I/Os. I'm getting too 
old to lug. But then again, I know I'll need at least 2, maybe 3 
controllers and at least one out-board instrument per box. Then again, 
we'll be playing to mostly tone deaf bogans who have the rythm of an 
epileptic seizure. They'll probably think a blue screen is the new black.

As those Great Melbournian philosophers TISM once put it.
         "Every band get's the audience they deserve."

Thanks again.
Be absolutely Icebox.

  _ __        _    __International Pain-in-the-Ass and prophet of doom__
| "_ \      | |
| |_)/  __ _| |_ ____       ALL ELECTRIC KITCHEN
|  _ \ / _` | __|___ |Your source of Armageddon in a musically crass world
| |_) | (_| | |_  / /
|_,__/ \__,_|\__|/ /   Disgusting-> http://all-electric.com
                 / ,__  Music-> http://all-electric.com/music_downloads.html
Goodfortune    |_____| Cult  -----> http://www.subgenius.com