MIDI Management

[Reveirg]

Ok, I've recently purchased a few extra synths for my studio, bringing my total of synths from 4 to 7.

I'm now getting a bit overwhelmed at how to manage my MIDI wiring.

I only have an Audiofire 12 with 1 MIDI in / 1 MIDI out
Ideally, I would like:

1. To be able to play every of my non-keyboard synths without having to go through a DAW. This means depending on MIDI cable connections instead of USB connections.

2. Have access to a PC Librarian/Editor for each of my synths. This is easily doable through USB for some of my synths (Nord Stage, Minitaur, Virus Indigo II). For others, it can only be done through MIDI/SysEx.

Here's my list of synth for reference:
-Nord Stage
-Prophet 08
-Yamaha TX81Z
-Kurzweil K2000R
-Moog Minitaur
-OTO Biscuit
-Virus Indigo II


So how do you all manage your MIDI connections?

I know synths can be "chained" with MIDI cables serially, but have no experience in the matter. Would I have to set specific channels? How would that work?

It gets especially confusing for librarians use as I have no experience whatsoever with Sysex. Let's say my MIDI connection setup goes like this:

Audiofire -> Nord Stage -> Prophet 08 -> Yamaha TX81Z -> Kurzweil K2000R -> Audiofire

-If I want to use a PC Librarian for the TX81Z, how would I set it up so that it doesn't screw up the patches on my other synths?

Any insight in the matter would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[fh991586]

You need a midi patchbay.

I can't give enough credit to the Roland A-880!
http://fr.wikizic.org/Roland-A880/gallery-2.htm
[The hosting page doesn't allow redirection, so you need to click on the link to see the image.]

[meatballfulton]

I have no experience whatsoever with Sysex. how would I set it up so that it doesn't screw up the patches on my other synths?

SysEx is System Exclusive. Messages for one synth are not even recognized by any other synth. The only time it could be an issue is if more than one of a particular synth are on the same MIDI port.

What can be more of a routing problem is if a synth requires handshakes with the librarian, then the MIDI OUT has to be routed back to the computer. The MIDI patch bay suggestion above can solve this.

[garranimal]

You need a midi patchbay.

This may not be necessary if each synth is set to a different midi channel. But a patchbay does make things clearer/easier. I'm using an M-Audio 3x8 midi box that has switches that allow me to quickly switch midi paths. Not sure if things like this are still being made.

[Reveirg]

I have no experience whatsoever with Sysex. how would I set it up so that it doesn't screw up the patches on my other synths?

SysEx is System Exclusive. Messages for one synth are not even recognized by any other synth. The only time it could be an issue is if more than one of a particular synth are on the same MIDI port.

What can be more of a routing problem is if a synth requires handshakes with the librarian, then the MIDI OUT has to be routed back to the computer. The MIDI patch bay suggestion above can solve this.

But if I have everything plugged serially in a "circle", it should work if I assign different channels to each of my synths?

Let's say I setup my stuff like this: http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7964/j6vx.png

Would this allow me to:

1. Track/Record MIDI to my PC with every of my synth
2. Track/Record MIDI with my Nord Stage, Prophet 08 and Minitaur to my PC without powering on my other synths.
3. ALSO play every of my synths, including the rack ones, without having to go through my PC.
4. Use a librarian for every of my synth through SysEX, by assigning a different MIDI channel to each of my synth.

I realize this is quite the unorthodox setup, but if it's doable, it would fill all my needs without me having to shell out a few hundred bucks on a MIDI device.

Thanks!