Ableton Forum

hello people,

I've been working inthebox for some years now and everything went smooth. recently, I've started using more and more analog synths and modules. I am really satisfied with my audio interface but it only have 1 midi I/O.

I would like to be able to work with more than one analog synth without having to plug/unplug midi cables. I guess a midi interface would probably help me. from what I understand, I'll be able to use different midi cables comming out of my future midi interface to control more than one synth at the same time in ableton. this is what I want to do and I think that a new midi interface is what I need. also, will it work as standalone or only within my DAW ??

I don't really need that much I/Os. I see lots of products with 8 ins and 8 outs, that might be a bit too much for me. I would not want to pay more than 200$ if possible. I am on OSX Leopard and using Live 8.something.

sorry for the kinda newbie stuff in here, I guess I'm only looking for some recommandations... MOTU ?!

thnx,
arbszx

If it's just a midi interface, M-Audio will work

If your only working with a small number of devices, you can utilize midi thru. If you set your first synth to receive on channel 1, and your second to receive on channel two, then run a cable from synth #1 midi thru to synth #2 midi in, it should work perfectly well. I run 4 synths this way, and I'm sure you can get more going. However these are in a chain, so if #1 dies, then #2 will stop receiving midi. This can be remedied with a midi-thru box, which effectively 'splits' the signal from one input.

lolrusPL, that is actually a pretty interesting idea. might be ideal for me until I have more needs.

will this solution be able to make both of them play at the same time using 2 midi channels in ableton (one running channel 1 and the other channel 2) ? I guess that it's the case... ?! would actually be perfect for me right now !

Yep, that should work. Just make sure both devices are only receiving on the one channel (Sometimes they are set to omni/all channels), and make sure your sending on the right channels and your good to go.

lapieuvre wrote:If it's just a midi interface, M-Audio will work

I concur.