+1 on iConnectivity mio. I also have the XM, but XL is the same, just more ports, good idea if you’ve got a lot of gear.
I’ve been running with my Launchpad Pro MKIII plugged directly into Hapax, Hapax and everything else into the mio. I just got a NDLR, though, and am sorting out how I want to integrate that into things - probably will also route it through the mio for purpose of filtering out clock and such.
Totally agree that it’s best as a ‘set and forget’ device.
Another vote for the MioXL. Lots of ports and routing options. I actually do use the presets. Or three of them. One where Octatrack is the “conductor” for everything, one for Pyramid and one for Logic Pro. Makes switching pretty seamless without having to bother with cables.
A low cost solution could be an old Emagic AMT8 or Unitor8 if found <100{currency}. They work just fine standalone as an 8 to 8 port router. Where the ESI disappointingly only allows 1 to X routing,
I have the MRCC and it is magical. Will try it together with Hapax when mine arrive in the beginning of August. I have no reason to think they would not work good together.
I have watched video demonstrations of both the MioXL and MRCC and although they both do what I think I will need, I am leaning heavily toward the MRCC because it has physical routing buttons and you don’t need a computer to change the routings. I also kind of like the scrappy unpolished presentations by the guys who make the MRCC (kind of like Roger Linn and the Linnstrument).
I have the MRCC and it is indeed awesome, but it certainly is frustrating at times. As technobear stated earlier, sometimes set-and-forget might be better.
Cons
— Can get really confusing, really fast.
— The screen is tiny and not real easy to use. I have mine in a rack about knee high, and I have to sit on the floor to use it.
— Once you populate it with a bunch of cables, it’s pretty difficult to see where things are at, so on the floor again to make basic changes
— Sometimes things don’t work, and I try and try for an hour and can’t get it. Perhaps it’s the USB issue mentioned earlier.
— I’ve had customer support emails go totally unanswered
— I was working on a Teensy MIDI project, flashed the firmware, but instead accidentally flashed the MRCC. It also uses a Teensy inside, so if you’re going to work on a Teensy project I highly recommend unplugging MRCC first. I bricked mine for a while but was able to re-install MRCC firmware.
Pros:
— Super powerful and can connect your entire studio. Once you get past the spaghetti routing of tons of devices, it just works.
— Ethernet powered expander is awesome if you have gear on the other side of the room (and another expander coming soon)
Overall — works great with Hapax and other gear, and I do highly recommend it. Still, I wish there were a separate controller that I could place on my desktop or setup.
Another +1 for iConnectivity. I’ve been using Mios for years. Once I wrapped my head around the old routing software on the Mio10, I was a dedicated lifer. It really is a game changer. I currently use 2 Mio10’s, a MioXL, and a MioXM, and I have one of their older Mio4’s on a shelf somewhere. Funny enough, as confusing as their old routing software was, I kinda still prefer it over the ethernet-centric platform of the MioXx line. There are a lot of advantages that the MioX’s bring to the table, but I really got myself to a good, comfortable set-it-and-forget-it studio setup with my trusty ol Mio10’s. Being comfortable with the interface and your current setup is paramount with MIDI routers, because one wrong connection or missing clock filter can turn into hours wasted troubleshooting a MIDI feedback loop that kills the entire mood to make music for the rest of the night.
I also have a MidiHub and an MRCC because I’m a MIDI addict, but I have never actually used either of them bc my setup is so fully covered by the Mios. Also the pandemic had an opposite effect on me than it seemed to have for many - I got so busy (and stressed) with work that my home studio has been mostly gathering dust, save for a select few pieces of kit that help me play myself to sleep on the weekends. I have been excited to try the MRCC, just haven’t had a use-case that needed more ports than I already have.
Kenton boxes work great and are very compact if you dont need any advanced features like only sending certain channels to certain ports or filtering clock input messages from synths that don’t let you disable their clock output.
@jps and @rdean150 Thanks so much for your input regarding your experience with midi routers. @jps, I know what you mean by both spending hours trying to locate a midi problem and also becoming distracted by the Pandemic. I have fallen into both realms you mention, GAS for my studio as a distraction from life and boredom sitting at home, which then makes me feel remorseful for not spending more time with my new toys. I have fortunately managed to slow down and focus on what I have (only one new synth in the past 12 months and no intention to add anything right now, other than Hapax and new Midi Router). I mention this because I am leaning toward a “set it and forget it mode” since I think my studio setup is likely to remain mostly static for the foreseeable future.
I have definitely narrowed things down to the MioXL or the MRCC. My ideal set up would be to have the following controllers or midi outs (MatrixBrute, Kronos, Linnstrument, Hapax, Octatrack, MPC One and Mac) available at all times without having to reset or manually route them to all the midi inputs (including these same outs, plus an addition 10-12 hardware devices that would really only need to be connected through their Midi ins). I still can’t decide when it is better to use DIN midi or USB Midi (more on that below). I use my two analog mixers to layer sounds from several different devices simultaneously and then record this audio mix into Logic on my Mac when I (rarely these days) do any kind of recording, mostly just creating sounds and “musical” ideas for temporary enjoyment.
Like I said, my current midi set up is two midi hubs. One is a Kenton 2 in 2 out box connected to a midi hub with a single in and 15 outs. This actually works okay, but it is only DIN Midi and only allows me to have two midi controllers operational at the same time. I guess I could just replace the Kenton 2 in to a merge box with more ins. For USB Midi, I have a 7 port USB hub dedicated (but not designed for) Midi, and I often have to tinker with cable routing from the machines to get them talking to the MPC or the Mac (for Midi and also for updating firmware or transferring samples and preset packs, but this often requires me to be connected to the Mac directly with no hub (e.g. Elektron overbridge and transfer and Cobalt8m). One thing I like about the MRCC, if it works, is that it has a dedicated port for taking all my DIN Midi and connecting it to a separate host (PC or MPC One). I assume the MioXL also has this feature, but need to confirm this.
Yes, the ESI is pretty limited and I regret buying it (except it looks really cool due to its colored metal anodized case). I currently use it in “1 to X routing” but you can also set it to 8 ins and 8 outs (set up as pairs) or 15 ins to 1 out. Still not very flexible. I reached out to ESI to see if there was a way to manually configure it and was told no, these are the only options (a toggle switch on the front changes between these three setups). I also hate that it defaults to the 8 in 8 out pairing, so every time I power up my studio I have to remember to reach way back behind a mess of cables and switch it to 1 in 15 out.
OMG. So true! Been there too many times.
I think I’ve never gotten rid of a piece of musical gear as fast as this. I also asked them if there was a chance of a more advanced firmware and got the same reply as you. Oh, well.
After watching reviews and tutorials of both the Mio XL and MRCC, and considering that I already have a thru box with 15 outs, I think I will just pick up a Kenton Merge 8, which will give me 8 ins and 2 outs, to connect to my existing through box. This could be my “set it and forget it solution” for Midi, which is what I really want. And it will save me roughly $300. The only real drawback is that it is all DIN midi, but when needed I can still use my computer as a USB host for tasks specific to USB.
Yeah, I’ve been occasionally wondering whether the MioXL was really worth the price. From “MIDI POV” the main gain was ability to get synth outputs connected for SysEx dump (with ancient gear on original batteries…). But a merge box would’ve been enough for that.
Other benefits of the Mio to me were USB host + central power, to get Pyramid USB into use. But the one thing (Blackbox) I want to place there is a host in itself, so the Mio kinda just complicates matters there. It also seemed a nice pair for the MidiHub, but the MH can’t be programmed while powered from the Mio because it uses serial data rather than MIDI for that. So either swap cables for programing or give up USB on the MH 
SysEx programmability seemed also awesome, but in the end you dont want to be programming these things but making music instead.
The rack format is nice though, who wants to clutter their desk with all the cables going into a router type thing? But when you start needing connections to the Mio front panel, it’s no longer that tidy…
The MioX? series are most useful IMHO for a “meshed” rig of keyboards and other tone generators, where you might be controlling one keyboard’s sounds from another.
If you’ve got a single sequencer and controller keyboard talking to multiple tone generators, the complexity of MioX? isn’t needed.
I play an 88-key hammer action board, with a waterfall key organ-oriented board above it. I use a KMI Softstep as a CC-controller, and an iPad to organize sounds into songs. Combine this with a multi-timbral poly synth module and a sampler/sequencer (sequencing duties soon to be assumed by a Hapax) and a drum pedal, and here’s a good application for an “any to any” MIDI network. MioXM works great for this.
MRCC is really good, I also run this <3
Very much like my MioXM for DIN and USB midi routing. 5 synths, mpc one, hapax, guitar looper, boss rc505, boss reverb pedal, focusrite interface din, and a second preset for when I’m using ableton/softsynths. +1 for iConnectivity
Sorry I am late to the party. I have had an MRCC as the main midi brain for my computer-less studio for 18 months or so? And have been using it with the Hapax since I took initial order of the Sequencer. Before that I had the Blokus midi hub doing the same thing.
The MRCC + Hapax is a bit overkill for a studio my size (5-8 synths depending on how the Euro is being driven + a bunch of pedals) but the 2 in conjunction have opened up a lot of space and very quick midi routing changes, which has been really nice.
Couple of MRCC caveats/ Issues. They still haven’t worked out all of their USB midi bugs, so the USB ports are super hit and miss and it very much depends on the piece of gear plugged into them. The Hapax, unfortunately, is not one of the USB midi devices the MRCC likes. However, even without good USB support, the normal midi routing is so damn good and fast, it really doesnt matter.
And while you can (and sort of have to) program the MRCC without a computer, it can be a bit tedious and the UX is pretty unforgiving. after 18 months I still always have to have the manual to figure out how to save a topology, or filter specific data.
I liked the Blokus a lot, but having to have a computer to update and change it saved settings every time I needed to change my midi routing (specifically input devices) ended up being tedious. I think it would be a great piece of kit if you had a computer as the main portion of your studio.
My current topology is A and B out of Hapax into 1 & 2 input on the MRCC. Hapax C output is unused. Hapax D out goes straight into a Ramples midi in. Hapax USB Host is connected straight to an Inellijel uMidi.
The rest of the inputs on the MRCC are reserved for routing input devices back into the Hapax (Keystep, Hydra desktop, OMX27) I have a 16n going directly into the Hapax B input (I dont have TRS cables long enough and the 16n sits right next to the hapax) .
All the rest of the synths are paired with either input 1 (Hapax A) or input 2 (Hapax B) on the MRCC, depending on channel overlap. I have a couple of older Elektron devices, that have some wonky Midi specs so I do a fair amount of filtering and isolating those 2 devices on the MRCC.
Any chance you’ve had a chance to use your MRCC with the Hapax?
I bought a Kenton Merge 8 to go along with my 15 channel splitter, for a static setup. Then, the other night, I was running a latched arpeggiator from the Hydrasynth desktop through the audio input of the MatrixBrute to use its filter and effects, while also running a separate arpeggiator from the MatrixBrute (on Osc 2), with both running to main outs, then wanted to use a linnstrument to send Midi only to the Iridium, and realized I would not be able to do this because the Linnstument midi signals would be interrupting the Hydrasynth and Matrixbrute (not that I can figure out) with only a merge box and a splitter (all inputs going to all outputs), and also wondered about midi looping problems.
So, now on the fence again with returning the merge box to Perfect Circuit and getting either an MRCC or MioXL, with our without the Hapax. I like the MRCC tactile stuff, so I can change routings on the fly, but also wonder about its limitations and am hearing tech support issues here and at GearSpace from CL. Hmmm…
Thanks for the very detailed post here. Very helpful. I am not too concerned about USB Midi issues, although good to know. I have mostly given up on USB midi and stick with DIN for midi. Also, I am much more interested in how the MRCC would give me the ability to make routing decisions on the fly.
Sorry, been crazy busy with work (travelling atm), so my Hapax is currently gathering dust 
It’s going to be another couple of weeks before I get any more quality time with it
So my primary use case is switching between input devices for live playing/ tweaking. Sometimes I might want the fader bank to be controlling levels or parameters during sections of songs, and then I may want to live play using the keystep, or lately, the pads on the Hydrasynth. You could in theory have them all merged via the MRCC but I have run into unwanted data when doing that (usually channel conflicts) so often I will just switch on and off the inputs from the mrcc side of things.
Yes, this is what I want to be able to do. I don’t play live, but I don’t want to have to turn on my computer to route devices (once I turn on the computer, I tend to get lost in doing “maintenance” stuff and then never get any sounds going). I know I can save presets, but I also tend not to want to remember what preset does what (I don’t play with enough consistency for this). Ultimately, I’d like my studio to be kind of a “blank sketchpad:” I turn everything on, and then build as I go, independently each time I use it. I really enjoy not actually knowing which controllers and synths I will end up using in isolation or in combination with something else.