N00b- How many devices can you MIDI sync together/How many MIDI ins-outs do you need?

[tablesalt]

Supposing I wanted to work with these items (I don't actually have any of them -- just figuring out possibilities.)

- a synth with 1 MIDI in/out
- an Akai MPC 500 (1 MIDI in/out)
- a Boss RC-50 loopstation or similar (an EHX 2880) (also 1 MIDI in/out)

Q1) Am I right in assuming all these things could be synced in some order?

Q2) In this video

the guy demonstrates how you can sequence MIDI from a synth using an MPC 1000. It requires one MIDI in/out per synth -- the MPC 1000 has 2 MIDI ins/outs and he sequences two synths.

If I wanted to sequence one synth with an MPC and still have the MIDI clock synced with the Looper (RC-50 or other), does that mean it would need more than 1 MIDI in/out? i.e. an MPC 1000 not a 500?

Thanks for helping me figure this out. The last thing I'd want is to spend all this money on a grand scheme and then find out I didn't have enough MIDI ports

[Edit: For that matter, to sync with a DAW would I need another 2 MIDI ports? Thanks to anyone with enough patience/pity to answer.]

[AnotherScott]

In theory, you can daisy-chain up to 16 devices off a single MIDI OUT, but in practice, latency becomes and issue after 3 or 4. In order to connect more than one device to a MIDI Out, each additional device (except the last) must have a MIDI Thru connector. If it doesn't, you can buy a MIDI Thru Box (essentially a MIDI splitter) to accomplish the same thing (and that's also a way to connect more devices without latency).

[selfinflikted]

Originally Posted by AnotherScott

In theory, you can daisy-chain up to 16 devices off a single MIDI OUT, but in practice, latency becomes and issue after 3 or 4. In order to connect more than one device to a MIDI Out, each additional device (except the last) must have a MIDI Thru connector. If it doesn't, you can buy a MIDI Thru Box (essentially a MIDI splitter) to accomplish the same thing (and that's also a way to connect more devices without latency).

This ^. Also, I'm noticing a new trend in gears - missing MIDI thru. It could just be me, but it seems like most of the newer gear are missing this feature.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MidiExp128/

I have that ^ particular midi patch bay (it replaced an old Unitor 8 that died) and it does exactly what you're wanting to do. Only drawback to that particular unit is that it's bus powered which means you have to boot up the PC for it to work, which is slightly annoying. Had I known this ahead of time, I would've gotten a different unit because I don't particularly like having to boot up when I want to just noodle around. The old Unitor 8 (you can easily find them used on ebay) had a wall wart, and a panic button (also lacking on the MOTU unit) and was the superior piece of hardware, imo.