CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 4, 2012 CMS Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Or somethin'? I'm looking at a USB audio interface that, in addition to the audio I/O, has one MIDI intput and two MIDI outputs. Am I off base thinking that two inputs and one output would be more practical (if they were going to have two of one or the other anyway)? Just about everyone who uses MIDI with a DAW these days uses virtual instruments, and probably rarely uses MIDI Out to play sounds. You could have one MIDI input for the black-and-whites, and the other either for an alternate instrument controller like a drum pad, or for a DAW hardware control surface. You might want to use the MIDI out for minimum latency monitoring while laying tracks, or perhaps to control an outboard signal processor or lighting system. Of course there are lots of uses, but this is a simple box that isn't likely to find its way into a highly sophisticated setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted August 4, 2012 Members Share Posted August 4, 2012 They were so useful in their day... In the 80's, I owned 2 sound modules, and it was cool getting MIDI to trigger them appropriately. (I used some ATARI software to sequence all those lines!!) I used to do a show in SFCA that had 6 MIDI sound sources linked up. I wonder if I'd go to the trouble in the wake of in-the-box synthesis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bookumdano2 Posted August 4, 2012 Members Share Posted August 4, 2012 About the time you zap the output, you'd have 8,000 consumers complaining there's no output on the $30 adaptor. Or at least 7 people complaining. Isn't it best to just leave it as it is and then if need be, buy a second $30 adaptor for basically two ins- two outs? Now that I think about it, does that even work to use two cheapo usb midi adaptors at the same time? Any conflicts? About sound modules, I basically think they've been abandoned, but here's something i notice...... I have some so-so old vstis and some really great vstis. I can get some fantastic sounds out of most any of them, but they mostly take a lot of tweaking on my part. But I can plug in my old SC88 Sound Canvas, or a SonicCell, or a bk-7m to a midi output and those things are INSTANT COOL. Really... for me anyway. I'll have another point in a minute after I ramble........My 12 year old SC88 has some problems of intermittant sound out any/all audio outs. I took it apart and found that hitting the main pcb with the head of a screwdriver SOMETIMES gets the sound back for an hour or so. But I don't dare power it down EVER... or else on power up, the display shows the wackiest characters you've ever seen and it takes about a week of pounding on earlier mentioned pcb to get the sound to maybe come back. That's how tech oriented I'm able to be in hunting down the problem. If the SC88 didnt' sound so cool, I wouldn't bother. Roland LA doesn't work on them so I'll probably take it over to a Hollywood place I know of that does repairs. In the course of this, I periodically check ebay for used sc88 prices.... they're astronomical !!!! If sound modules are so out of favor, why can't I find a cheapo sc88 used? And forget sc55s or any of the earlier models. Those are truly horrible sounding. The virtual sound canvas that came out a decade or so ago... truly horrendous. Anyway, the point is, yes, sound modules seem to be history (overall) but I am SURE having a hard time finding a good price on the old stuff used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 4, 2012 Author CMS Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Hey, I have an MT-32 in the closet, along with a Roland U220 and a handful of sound cards. And a Korg P3 which is a great rock piano module (plus an Orchestral card for it). Those were the days. But what do you mean by About the time you zap the output, you'd have 8,000 consumers complaining there's no output on the $30 adaptor. Or at least 7 people complaining. Who zaps the output? In fact who zaps the input? MIDI is about as bulletproof and can be, at least it used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bookumdano2 Posted August 4, 2012 Members Share Posted August 4, 2012 That was my fast way of saying ....."about the time you instruct the China factory to delete the midi output in the design and replace the adaptor with only two midi inputs, 8 people will complain". Having two inputs and one output would add ten cents to manufacturing, so i was projecting that a mfr would mainly zap the output section if it could ... and still only have two connectors. Both being inputs. You didn't actually talk about deleting a midi output on the adaptor... so of course, I was expecting you to read my mind. ....and it was faster for me to just say "zap". By the way, I sold my U110s and ten or so extra sound cards to GC last year... they paid a LOT!! If you ever want to bypass ebay etc. I never liked my U series stuff much. Anyone got an sc88? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted August 4, 2012 Members Share Posted August 4, 2012 I just picked up a roland mc909; while there are a bunch of other things that I need it to do, it is acting as the sound module for my Korg Kontrol49 (which, BTW has two MIDI in and one MIDI out, as per the OP). It's got a lot of nice sounds in it, and since I already had the k49 I think it was a better solution than getting a workstation for this project I'm working on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 4, 2012 Author CMS Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 That was my fast way of saying ....."about the time you instruct the China factory to delete the midi output in the design and replace the adaptor with only two midi inputs, 8 people will complain". Probably so. I don't see any point in having two MIDI inputs and no MIDI output, but I wasn't proposing that. There are three connectors. Leave them, but turn one of the two outputs into an input. But mostly I was trying to take a poll to see whether anyone but me thinks this would be a better idea than having one MIDI input and two MIDI outputs. By the way, I sold my U110s and ten or so extra sound cards to GC last year... they paid a LOT!! If you ever want to bypass ebay etc. I never liked my U series stuff much. I haven't listened to any of my MIDI stuff in years other than to verify that the MIDI output of somehting I'm reviewing works. But I really liked the piano and wood bass. The brass on the expansion card was pretty good, too, but I wasn't impressed with the Super Acoustic Guitars. But that's what a lot of modern acoustic guitars with pickups sound like. I almost got an SC-88 but then I decided that I didn't really need anyting that sounded any better than what I already had, and now it's all in the closet anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I still have my Roland D110, Yamaha TX7 and Akai VX90 modules, I will never part with them, because the sonic power of the electronics inside of these boxes will never be truly replicated by VST, if you compare the sound of DX7 VST for example, there just isn't any comparison to the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 don't use them anymore, to time consuming nowadays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I still own a Roland JV-1080 but hardly use it. I keep it because there are some cool sounds on it but honestly, I`ve been using REASON since 2005 and theres no turning back. Virtual instruments are the only way for me... with that said, I should sell the 1080. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 Yes, I do and many people still do use sound modules. For me it's because I've yet to audition a virtual synth that does justice to the hardware original it's supposed to emulate... not even close. Over the years I've become a believer in the dedicated device in which everything in it right down to the op-amps contribute so much to its unique sound that it can't really be done in software. Some come closer than others, but I have my fav outboard modules I've had since new, some almost 30 years old, but most from mid-80's to early 90's. Never had one fail and I never have to worry about them becoming outdated or need to be upgraded to keep up with new OS's and computer hardware. I haven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bookumdano2 Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I still use MIDI the, "Old fashioned way" like God intended. On a Packard Bell 286 with 1mb of ram and two 5.25" floppy drives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 On a Packard Bell 286 with 1mb of ram and two 5.25" floppy drives? Haha... no, silly! With 5-pin DIN MIDI cables connecting synths, sound modules and rhythm machines together. I didn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted August 5, 2012 Author CMS Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 I haven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I still have one 8 IN / 8 OUT MIDI interface, the last unit, before I had three of them, today only needed for the controller units, light touch keyboards performance data, KAT, Alesis ControlPad, a digital 88-key weighted master keyboard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 and a word about sound design... - If I want to sound as 30 or 40 years ago, then I get the particular machine from the storage room, happen maybe once in a year, rather less. - If the production requires the latest sound design, then any of the software which creates this sounds. The idea that for example a Jupiter-8 VSTi sounds like the real hardware unit, this is not the case, and if it would it makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monstermaker Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I guess things have come full circle for me. I was considering the Cakewalk Proteus 2 download even though I have the module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 off the synths I have in hardware, I also have the VSTi of them if available, however the VSTI sound different, and when I need the original hardware sound, I go and sample this sound off the original unit - I have 340 synth and organs in the storage room, the {censored} is, the storage room is 1 hour by car away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 Not as many as once, but yeah people still use them. I have a 5x5 MIDI interface. I use 2 inputs (sometimes a third) and 4 outputs. One of my inputs is the keyboard (which also takes one of the outputs) and the other input is for a module which transmits MIDI on knob turns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I have a bunch of old synth/sound modules, including a Kurzweil Micropiano, an Emu Proteus III, and my favorite among the ones I have, a Roland MKS-70, which gets a lot of use still. Since I like the sound of these and find them extremely useful, I'll just continue using them. Some of my clients like the sounds quite a bit as well, so why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I have an Alesis QSR (rack mount version of the QS8 keyboard) that I still use regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Temple of Light Posted August 5, 2012 Members Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'd be having a JV5080, and a Proteus2500, both expanded to the max, if I could find em...these things are becomingly increasingly rare due to people who have them holding on to them...other than that I still have a microQ that I still use regularly.Sound modules to me, work best as a midi'd secondary layer to an existing patch on a keyboard. I tend to like evolving complex and multi timbral/high polyphony type of noises... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 off the synths I have in hardware, I also have the VSTi of them if available, however the VSTI sound different, and when I need the original hardware sound, I go and sample this sound off the original unit - I have 340 synth and organs in the storage room, the {censored} is, the storage room is 1 hour by car away That's quite a collection you have there Einstein, you probably have all of the bases covered for any sound you need to create. The passiveness of the electronic components inside the synth is what makes the tonal quality of the sound, the only way a VSTi can get close is to sample the sounds, and because of practical restraints, can only reproduce a minimal set of the popular sounds. I also use VSTi too and love it, mixing VSTi with hardware gives me an endless variety of sounds to use for the production of unique music creations any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 Listening to the samples on a Roland MKS-70: http://www.synthmania.com/mks-70_super_jx.htm I'm trying to pinpoint what, exactly, makes this sound different from a soft-synth? Maybe you'll disagree, but to me, it's in the initial attack and swell... On a hardware module, a patch has more of a "virile urgency" than I seem to get on soft-synths. A real "immediacy" "confidence" and "fire", maybe? (pardon the poetic, non-electronic descriptions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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