Members wheresgrant3 Posted January 18, 2011 Members Share Posted January 18, 2011 Just curious as I'm a self confessed MIDiot... is there a switch or pass thru device that can control a Midi signal being sent from a controller to a sound source. The reason I'm asking is I'm using a VP550 on stage for vocoding on a few songs. The rest of the set it's just sitting there. It would make a great controller for my racked XV5050 on stage (which I currently bring a separate controller for. Obviously there are times I would just prefer to use the vocoder without sending Midi to the rack unit. In the past when I've tried this I've just turned down the volume on the rack... but I'd prefer to just cut the midi signal being sent. The VP550 has a decent keybed but no global. So I'm looking for a simple switch or thru box that would allow me to cut off midi data being sent only temporary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted January 18, 2011 Members Share Posted January 18, 2011 I don't knowof anything offhand, but have you checked out MIDI Solutions range of MIDI utility boxes? http://www.midisolutions.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted January 18, 2011 Members Share Posted January 18, 2011 All you need is a MIDI switch. Except they are pretty rare these days I still own one (2 switchable inputs driving 3 outputs) even though I don't use it any more. +1 for MIDI Solutions, thank goodness they still make the sort of MIDI widget boxes that were widely available back in the 80s and 90s. I own one of their mergers, it works flawlessly. Either their input selector or output selector would do the job for you, but they are not cheap...$149 MSRP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members psionic11 Posted January 19, 2011 Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 Seems to me you can achieve the same thing by just switching MIDI channels on your controller... for example, have the receiving MIDI device listen on channel 4.... when the controller is set to broadcast on channel 4, the receiving unit will hear and play what the controller does. When you temporarily don't want the receiving unit to respond, simply change the broadcasting channel of your controller to something other than channel 4... Or am I missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted January 19, 2011 Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 If you're just turning off the MIDI output, an M-Audio MIDIsport 2x2 should do it. Don't plug a USB cable into it. Use it as a THRU box when you are triggering the modules. When you don't want any MIDI output, push the button to have it function as an interface. Without a USB cable, it should not send out any signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted January 19, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 Seems to me you can achieve the same thing by just switching MIDI channels on your controller... for example, have the receiving MIDI device listen on channel 4.... when the controller is set to broadcast on channel 4, the receiving unit will hear and play what the controller does. When you temporarily don't want the receiving unit to respond, simply change the broadcasting channel of your controller to something other than channel 4...Or am I missing something here? Well yes... a few things. Number#1-I've already stated that the VP550 has no global controls. It's basically a preset, button selected vocoder/vocal effects (which does that extremely well). There's no menu, no access for midi channel support, although it does send Midi perfectly fine. #2... in the heat of the moment, during a song switching between vocoder and sending notes to a rack unit or sound source, the last thing I prefer not to do is dig into controls to set and change midi channels. I'd much rather have a bypass switch (if one exists). I've been doing this long enough to know... the less you have to dig into menus onstage, the more free you are to just play the music. I've sent an email to Midi Solutions and it may be one of their programmable boxes. If I can make this work then it's one less controller on stage to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted January 19, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 If you're just turning off the MIDI output, an M-Audio MIDIsport 2x2 should do it. Don't plug a USB cable into it. Use it as a THRU box when you are triggering the modules. When you don't want any MIDI output, push the button to have it function as an interface. Without a USB cable, it should not send out any signal. That actually seems like a good solution. Worth enough to experiment with. That's exactly what I'm hoping to do... cut the midi output only temporarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted January 19, 2011 Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 I have the MIDI Solutions Quadra Thru. It's a great tool. But MIDI Solutions doesn't really make a box that's switchable like the MIDISport 2x2. I used to have one of those too. But I can't find it anymore. Most of the time, I used the 2x2 as a THRU Box. Now & then, I'd use it as a shirt pocket-size MIDI interface. But I remember that pushing the button in - cut off the MIDI THRU output. And that's what you're trying to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members larrybud Posted January 19, 2011 Members Share Posted January 19, 2011 If you're a DIYer, only 2 pins are used in a midi signal:http://www.interfacebus.com/PC_MIDI_Pinout.html You could go to Radio Shack buy a couple of midi jacks and wire up a double pole, single throw switch to switch on/off pins 4 and 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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