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Understanding MIDI Data Flow from USB Connected Device

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Tony
 Tony
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Hello. I took a risk and brought my new MODX7 to church without really knowing its capabilities and limitations. In the past, my rig was an Arturia MIDI Controller connected to a Yamaha Motif Rack XS. For those who may not be familiar with this gem, it uses MULTI's instead of Performances, and has 5 ARP's instead of 8 Scenes. I have designed 128 MULTI's which cover a lot of the songs we do, and they church pretty much depends on it for a full "backing track".

I programmed my Arturia to send the necessary control commands to change ARPs 1-5 (Scenes), but without that I was essentially stuck on ARP #1. I had hoped that plugging my iPhone into the USB port would allow me to use the MIDI Designer app to send the CC# data through the MODX and into the Rack XS attached via 5-pin MIDI. Unfortunately, this didn't work out, so we did the service without the "backing tracks" provided by the MULTI's. Kind of quaint, but not what I had hoped for. One lesson I did learn was to disable the MIDI Clock on the MODX because otherwise it would override the tempos on my Rack XS.

So at this point, I am hoping to understand just what capabilities and limitations I have when attaching my iPhone/iPad Pro to the USB port. So far, I have confirmed that I can get audio output from the iPad which is a super nice feature. What it does with MIDI data I still need to learn. By this I mean CC# data sent from the MIDI Designer app on my iPad. Is it limited to just the MODX. or can it continue on to the Motif XS? By the way, I am not asking for help with the Rack XS side of the equation -- honestly I would be delighted if I just saw the lights blinking indicating MIDI data being received by the Rack XS.

Please let me know if you need more detailed information.

Thanks, Tony G.

 
Posted : 17/08/2020 7:22 pm
Bad Mister
Posts: 12304
 

So at this point, I am hoping to understand just what capabilities and limitations I have when attaching my iPhone/iPad Pro to the USB port. So far, I have confirmed that I can get audio output from the iPad which is a super nice feature. What it does with MIDI data I still need to learn. By this I mean CC# data sent from the MIDI Designer app on my iPad. Is it limited to just the MODX. or can it continue on to the Motif XS?

When you connect the MODX to an iOS device (iPhone/iPad Pro, etc) via USB, the MODX will be seen by that device as "MODX Port 1", anything you connect to the 5-pin MIDI OUT jack of the MODX will be addressed by "MODX Port 3"

Sorry, I know nothing of the capability of the App you mention - can it address the multiple USB PORTS? And can it THRU the signal (reroute) to Port 3.

A DAW app like Cubasis can take MIDI In via the USB connection from the MODX and you can reroute that data either back to the MODX, or to trigger an iOS synth app, or Out via MIDI (5-pin) to an external synth hardware.

 
Posted : 17/08/2020 9:07 pm
Tony
 Tony
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Topic starter
 

Thank you, Phil. I very much appreciate your time, insights and expertise over the years. Eventually, I will migrate all 128 MULTI's from the Motif Rack XS to the MODX7, and we can put this behind us. I don't think I'll be using Cubasis since I just bought a Novation SL Zero MK2 to manage all the external MIDI CC commands. What's particularly cool about this one is that it can send SYSEX, so I'm not limited to the standard list of CC#'s. Best Regards, Tony.

 
Posted : 19/08/2020 7:20 pm
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