Hi all,

I collected quite some synths and other MIDI gear during the past few years, and I never connected more than a few devices via MIDI so it was a simple setup until now.
But let's assume I have more than 10 synths which I'd like to use simultaneously at any given time. What kind of MIDI interface is needed, and how would you cable this ..? Just MIDI out from the interface to MIDI In on the synths? And would you use separate interface ports for each synth? I suppose that has a maximum amount of ports.

Thanks for feedback!

Depending on the miltitimbral parts of your synth , you might get away with just a midi splitter (also called midi thru box ).
You don't need to sacrifice a whole midi bus ( 16 channels ) if your synth only has 4 part multitimbrality .
Instead using a midi splitter , the incoming midi is distributed across all outputs , so you can route the first output to synth A , second to synth B etc...
MAke sure that they all have different midi receive channels.
A midi interface with 4 output busses and a midi splitter with 4-8 outputs will get you pretty far

You do know you can chain synths via midi, i.e. midi in to midi thru to midi in to midi thru, you can even use midi out to midi in, then just set each synth to receive on a separate midi channel 1-16. Then the final synth midi out to midi in back on the interface.

Video for dummies

Ok thanks for the tip. But in theory this means a maximum amount of 16 devices (because of max 16 channels) right.. ?

16 per midi out on any midi interface, if a midi interface has 4 midi outs that is 4 x 16 maximum(if chained).

That's crystal clear Thanks!

If you use midi thru a lot you'll also introduce latency.
If you use multiple thru connections it will add up.

My stance is that you use a dedicated midi/usb connection for every synth.
That way you ensure you have the maximum bandwith for midi notes and CC/NRPN.
The odd midi thru loop can be applied as an exception.

I’m using 3 Motu midi express units. I’ve had them for about 20 years….luckily, no problems. Seem pretty solid and easy to use.

Agreed, it’s easier to have a MIDI i and o port for each device. But it’s ok not to, it’s just a bit of a head scratcher at first.

Pro tip- search for this stuff out of books or magazines. Not forums. Here’s a good one:

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/midi-by-example/1150

Now to address the problem in this thread. The MIDI THRU latency myth is still alive after all these years. Only soft thru has latency. You will recognise it instantly- the MIDI OUT port can also be the MIDI THRU port. Assigned in the device’s menu. If there’s a dedicated THRU it’s hardware, delay is 3 microseconds which a human cannot detect. More here
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/t...s-of-midi/7508
For the sake of argument (not to start one), roughly (I said roughly) 15milliseconds (i.e. 5000 times slower) is where it might get annoying for some people.

Could be worth picking up a MIDI router, old ones can be found quite cheap, most everyone made one, Roland A880, Yamaha MJC8, Kawai MAV8, etc. They often don't merge, but are great for distributing MIDI without daisy chaining your devices, no need to have every synth powered on to use the last in the chain, and most do their routing in hardware so no danger of any latency being introduced.

8 MIDI devices, 5 MIDI i/o ports. Plus 2 USB MIDI devices.

Thanks a lot for your feedback and tips
Probably another noob question, so sorry in advance .. I see on your diagram that some devices use In & Out, but others are connected by just the In port.. Why is that? The KSR, Alesis etc are sequencers (or else) which need to send data back.. ?

Get yourself a MRCC from Conductive Labs, it's like a router that allows everything to talk to everything

Has filters and other tools to manipulate your incoming and outgoing MIDI, can save presets and do all sorts of other awesome things

Works as a MIDI interface with your computer and acts a a USB hub, and with both DIN and mini TRS midi

In my setup I have a few devices outputting MIDI back into my interface: controllers, sequencers but also synthesizers and drum machines themselves, so that the patches and configs on them can be loaded into software.

A keyboard synth can send midi to other devices/DAW and also receive midi from other devices/DAW, so you would generally connect both In and Out.

A synth module with no keyboard can usually get by with just the midi in connected. But in some cases, such as sysex patch dumps, you might want the midi out connected too.

A midi controller or sequencer could just have midi out connected, but if you’re using something else as your midi clock, the in could be used for tempo sync, or to record notes from a midi controller/keyboard into the sequencer.

It really depends on your needs and what you want each piece of gear to send or receive.

As for the OP’s original question, a midi interface can really help. Ones like the MRCC or MioXL/XM can do routing standalone as well as to/from your DAW.

Yes, exactly like that - my setup is very similar to Tomás'. I have about 16 midi devices plugged in (monosynths, polysynths, drum machines, multi-timbral digital stuff).

I run most of the synths on a single midi output, as each only needs one channel and nothing needs midi clock. I use a seperate midi output for my multi-timbral digital stuff (normally using 3 midi channels for each), then I run the midi clock out of another midi output for the drum machines, so I'm not blasting midi clock down to the synths that don't need it.

I've got two midi outputs on me UFX, two on a midisport 2x2 interface, then another on an old AudioKontrol-1 - they are all plugged into my PC over USB.

I've also got a couple of midi-thru boxes such as a Roland A880, so I can plug each synth into them on a single cable, so dont actually need to use midi thru on any individual synth. Latency is pretty stable.

I have the output of a few synths plugged into midi in so I can record my notes on them, or use them with midi editors and want to be able to send patches back to the computer

Everyone else explained it already just fine. But here is some detail... KSR is mapped to control Arturia synths. SR-16 and CT-6000 get clock just for adding random accidental patterns, and I can record them back to the DAW from the SR-16. SPD can be a controller. MX-1000 is merging a keytar (it has built in MIDI merge).

There's a common saying that MIDI Thru adds latency. Yes and No. The type of MIDI Thru is what determines this.

A MIDI Thru port, either a dedicated port labeled 'Thru' on the controller/synth, or a Thru box, does not add latency measurable by human perception. It's simply an electrical split of the MIDI In. You know that it's one of these when the port can't be used to send any new messages that aren't already coming from the MIDI In. You can chain up as many of those as you want without any detrimental effect.

However, a MIDI 'Out' port can also double as a "Thru". This is where the messages coming from the MIDI In are merged with new messages that the device itself wants to send. Additional latency and/or jitter begins to add up because this must be done through a microprocessor. When planning, there's no hard number to say how many of these you can daisy chain before ill-effects occur. It depends on the frequency of messages sent, the speed of the microprocessor and the general care used to write the code, but around 6 devices chained up like this is usually a hard limit for me, though it can be even fewer.

In my setup, each device has its own dedicated midi port. Needless to say it's an expensive solution, but it has a few advantages:
- in my daw I can rename each port with the name of the device, so I don't need to remember which output I need to use when I create a midi track (and I don't need to think about midi channels).
- there's no chain of midi through devices, so I can turn only what I actually want to play (I don't need to turn on things in the middle of a chain only to transmit the messages to a device down the chain).
- I can decide freely to which devices I'll send the midi clock. I usually send it to my TR-8S, but I don't usually send it to my synths (unless I want to use the internal arpeggiator / sequencer or sync their lfo or effects): if they were connected to the same port (and using midi through, of course), I would have to change the settings on the synths to ignore midi clock (each synth has its procedure, while in the daw it's the same for every device), while currently it's on "auto detect" on most of my gear.
- Dedicated midi ports, in theory, should provide tighter midi, because midi is a serial protocol, so the less going through a cable the better.

It has also a drawback: some software editors don't behave that well when there are a lot of physical midi ports (I'm looking at the SE-02 editor, which has difficulties with selecting the correct port past a certain number of midi ports)... but you need a lot of ports, I think more than 30... and it's a software specific issue, the daw doesn't complain.


If I were to use a midi through box (which eliminates the disadvantages of the soft through chains), I would save quite a bit of money. There are through boxes up to 25 outs as far as I know (but, in my opinion, that's designed mainly to distribute midi clock, given the maximum of 16 channels midi channels). Building a diy midi through box is easy and cheap and you can have as many outputs as you want.

An advantage of a through box is that it makes it easier to play a bunch of different devices from the same master keyboard: you just change the midi channel on the master keyboard and you play a different instrument; on a daw with different midi outputs, you need to change midi track or midi output. I have some midi interfaces that act also as routers, so I can do the midi channel workflow as well (when playing without a daw), but it required some funky routings and remappings.

Another possible advantage of a through box (or a through chain) is easier layering (maybe also slightly tighter?): set all the instruments to the same midi channel and you're ready to go. But it can be a disadvantage if you want to layer sequences on your daw and you want to keep all the instruments on their own channel, because then you would need to send through the same physical port the same data replicated on multiple midi channels. This is not a concern with dedicated midi ports.


In regards to multiple midi interfaces, I suggest to do a search before buying multiple of the same model. Some work well (for example MOTU... but those have a proprietary driver), while others - especially if they use the generic plug'n'play driver (which is a good thing for longevity) - may have limitations, for example you can have one model of each Miditech product (for example a 8x8 and a 4x4) on the same computer, but not two of the same model.
Various midi interfaces use the Ploytec platform, you can find more informations about them here: https://www.usb-midi.com/

There are a few bad boys out there who have "Thru" ports which are subject to processing, and thus the possibility of latency and jitter -- the Lexicon LXP-1 is one such example. Fortunately that kind of misnaming, which only adds to the confusion, is pretty rare.

Ya it is annoying using THRU when you forget to switch on the thing in between your controller and the MIDI device you want to use

You’ll notice a lot of my stuff is old. I like to recycle/ up cycle/ self repair as much as possible. And I’m mostly ITB.

During lockdown the guy who wrote the original driver for M Audio MIDIsport released a free update since M Audio stopped supporting it. And Cameron Jones of Synclavier fame updated the Frontier Alphatrack driver a few years before that. Those two devices are over 20 years old now eek!

I use Banana Split but according to this thread I could have daisy chained my synths via midi thru . Can anyone confirm that behringer synths do not introduce midi thru latency?

I have 13 active MIDI devices connected:

• Roland A-70 keyboard controller
• Yamaha S90ES keyboard
• GEM S2 Turbo keyboard
• Kurzweil K2600RS (x2)
• Yamaha TX802
• Yamaha TG77
• Yamaha EX5R
• Yamaha Motif Rack
• Korg Triton Rack
• Roland XV5080
• Roland JD990
• Kawai K4R

These are connected to two networked MOTU MTP-AV interfaces that looks like a single 16-port interface to my computer, and each device is on its own dedicated MIDI port (in and out). I've been running this configuration for right around 15 years with no issues.

I am using all 16 MIDI channels controlling more than 16 different synths. Everything being sent out of one MIDI out port of my Squarp Pyramid Sequencer. Some of my synths will be set to the same channel so that I can "layer" sounds. Also, my drum machines are all connected to the same MIDI output to receive MIDI clock. This can all be done by using a combination of both MIDI "thru" and "merge" boxes as is shown in the Diagram below. I also use the MIDI "thru" outputs of some of the synths that have dedicated "thru" outs.

It all works as it should and I have not experienced any latency issues.



Here is my MIDI Channel List:

1. Simmons SDS9 / MAM ADX1
2. Moog Sub-Phatty
3. Behringer MonoPoly
4. Korg/Arp Odyssey
5. Behringer MS-1
6. Behringer Model D
7. Prophet REV2
8. Behringer UB-Xa
9. Behringer DeepMind
10. Alesis SR18 / Behringer Edge
11. Korg OpSix
12. Modal Argon8
13. Access Virus B
14. UNO Synth PRO / System 100
15. Kurxweil MicroPiano
16. Behringer Solina

MC JoMoX Alpha Base
MC Elektron Model:Cycles
MC Cyclone TT-606
MC Cyclone TT-78

On they clones? I'd bet it's a genuine MIDI thru since none of them transmit MIDI. Taht'd be the cheapest way to do it, so, ya.

There are too many sub-systems here. My way it’s done in just one layer.
The max number of midi devices is pretty much unlimited. Each midi connection gives u 16 channels, but the connections can be expanded multi-fold with each device on its own channel or channels.
There are many ways to set this up. What you need to understand is what all is available to you and what each device’s capabilities are.

I've been working with synths since before MIDI was invented. I DO understand what is available and what each device’s capabilities are. That is why the way I have things interconnected simply and always works as it should with no latency or other problems.

Yes, of course there are many different ways of accomplishing the same thing, but I don't have any problem whatsoever it what or how I'm doing it. It always works as intended.

Most of my post was directed at the op. What was about your post was the very beginning. You do have too many subsystems. That’s not the best way to go.
We are here to discuss and present the best options for people that ask for help. It’s not personal. You may be old enough to have used synths before midi but that in no way makes you the king of midi. Your posts can and will be criticized.

Someone else mentioned it too but I seriously suggest one of these.

https://www.perfectcircuit.com/condu...labs-mrcc.html

It has everything and does everything.
Trying to set things up using multiple manual midi merge and midi split boxes actually costs you more and is much less flexible. I do use a few of those manual boxes for specific reasons but the backbone for my situation is actually 2 of those MRCC units, most will likely only need one though.