as others have pointed out… the issue in your top picture is you lack a USB midi host,
you cannot connect usb midi devices directly together (thats just not the way usb works, unfortunately)
loopop did a great youtube video on this topic. (which can be confusing!)
you could use midi din to get around this…
but if you want to use usb midi, there are quite a few standalone usb midi hosts, that you can use - all with differing features, and prices. (I think above video features a few?!)
I (fairly) recently bought an iConnectivity mioXM, and have to say its been very liberating since it integrates midi din, usb midi device, usb midi host (and also network midi) all pretty seamlessly - before this i seemed to alway be ‘juggling’ cables around … it worked but was a pain!
whats nice is it has fairly extensive features for routing, and filtering messages.
I will say that iConnectivity’s software for configuring it whilst useable/functional - is a bit of a mess, fortunately once done, you can save presets for your setup - and don’t have to touch it till you need something new.
not cheap, but honestly, for a more complex setup - I found it very valuable.
(but again, checkout other options that are cheaper… and might do what you need)
Thanks. Yeah, in my mind I assumed the Pyramid functioned like a host. Also, I was a bit fuzzy on the host vs. device distinction (even though now it seems so obvious).
It’s odd, because I have some experience with hardware development, using the Teensy and such.
Speaking of Teensy, the 4.1 version of the board just came out and it has better USB host support, enabling hot plugged USB devices and hubs.
I might be interested in making a simple USB MIDI router with it, maybe using a TFT display for assigning the routes. It would be a lot cheaper than a Bome Box.
yeah… being a usb host or usb device is a ‘tough choice’
(for Hermod, which came later, Squarp included both usb host and device)
the advantage of being a usb device, is you can connect it directly to a computer/daw - without any additional software/hardware.
(disadvantage : you need additional hardware for plugging in usb devices)
DIY : yeah, lots of options here… at times Ive used things like a raspberry PI, and often had the Pyramid connected up to a C&G Organelle - this then would route messages between various usb device - and also to my ES-8 to give me more CV outputs.
honestly, once Ive setup the ‘routing’ , for me it doesn’t change much - so personally didn’t need a display or anything, it just ran headless.
fun fact: some users of the Organelle-1 ‘complained’ it was a USB host, rather than a USB device… so they couldn’t connect it to their computer… so yeah ideally you need both.
I’m borrowing a Pi from a friend next week to see if this works with the Pyramid. Not sure if the usb ports on the Pi are powered which will be a requirement for the Pyramid.
An interesting new choice in this field is Retrokits RK006 which is both a MIDI hub (10x out, 2x in) and an USB host, with some basic routing and filtering capabilities. I was contemplating ordering one just to see which one arrives faster, that or the MidiHub, but then the non-cable set went out of stock in front of my eyes (exaggerating only a little bit) and the cable-bundle version is on backorder, and MH on its way so decided to wait for the MH afterall. Although, that does leave the USB Host part sort of unhandled. I have a Zynthian (Raspberry Pi3) to handle that task ATM, but it’s not ideal for the task in my setup.
yes it works, yes ports are powered - done it many times
with a rPI its important to make sure you get a decent PSU for it… check rating on the model of rPI your using. often when people have issues with rPIs it down to power related issues.
also make sure you have a decent audio distro on it, or at least remember to set the governor to performance - otherwise you will likely get latency/jitter when you use it ‘in earnest’
Plugable are very good hubs, and pretty well priced…
(I suspect you’ll find Elektron use the same MTT chipset, previously when I looked into MTT hubs, they all used the same chip )
MTT - really is not likely an issue for midi data, its required when you need usb 2.0 speeds, so really things like audio interfaces (esp. multichannel ones).
Elektron branded an MTT hub, because frankly many USB hubs are bad at advertising specs, usually you have to research to find the chipset to see if its MTT or not e.g. you can get high quality usb hubs that dont have MTT chipsets - so they solved this confusion by having one they could recommend.
if you don’t have an MTT, and you suspect you are having issues, its very simple to test - just unplug all usb 1.x devices from the hub, and use that usb hub for 2.0 devices only.
but as i said, really this is usually only an issue for devices requiring higher bandwidth like audio - you don’t want these being brought down to usb1.1 speeds.
This is mostly why I don’t care anymore. I wasn’t aware it was the chipset that determined whether it was MTT or not… but theres no reason I would know that off hand… My main issue with hubs in the past was whether or not the power supply was decent… and the plugable one has been very nice… It was also half of what the elektron one costs and for plastic seems as solid as it needs to be.
In your SETUP #5 graphic that you posted, you have your elecktron devices going to USB via the Overhub.
Question #1. Why did you not use the mioXL extra USB Host ports?
Question #2. Why are your elektron devices using both DIN and USB midi connections?
Question #3. What role is your mioXL connection to the network router playing, other than a potential distance resolver between the mioXL and the computer. Does ethernet serve any other goal in your SETUP#5?
Thanks in advance for replying. I am a newbie here. And thanks for the great graphic.
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