midiman midisport USB interface 4x4 and 2x2 - time to replace?

[cosimo193]

As the crow flies, my midisport is less than 2m away from my PC, but I'm not allowed to have the wire trailing across the middle of the room ), so it has to go round the outside and ends up around 8m. I've got a 5m active extension and a 3m A to B cable on the end of that. Maybe I'll invest in an 8 or 10m USB cable and see what happens before buying something else.

[ef37a]

As the crow flies, my midisport is less than 2m away from my PC, but I'm not allowed to have the wire trailing across the middle of the room ), so it has to go round the outside and ends up around 8m. I've got a 5m active extension and a 3m A to B cable on the end of that. Maybe I'll invest in an 8 or 10m USB cable and see what happens before buying something else.

cable.
You might consider extending the MIDI side rather than the USB?

Some years ago I was experimenting with MIDI and got it going reliably over 20mtrs of CAT 5e.

Dave.

[cosimo193]

How did you wire that up? Was there 1 x cat5e cable replacing each midi cable or multiple MIDI (e.g. both directions) on per cat5e? It's a 4 x 4 and all the devices would be the other side of the room from the PC, so would need 4 ins and 4 outs.

I considered using a raspberry pi with VirtualHere to try to access the 4x4 as a remote USB, but that would be a job to get the 4x4 running on Linux from what I can see.

[ef37a]

How did you wire that up? Was there 1 x cat5e cable replacing each midi cable or multiple MIDI (e.g. both directions) on per cat5e? It's a 4 x 4 and all the devices would be the other side of the room from the PC, so would need 4 ins and 4 outs.

I considered using a raspberry pi with VirtualHere to try to access the 4x4 as a remote USB, but that would be a job to get the 4x4 running on Linux from what I can see.

Ooo! Been a while. IIRC I just soldered a DIN plug* each end of a length of CAT (I had steady hands and 2 eyes then!) Plugged one end into an EKeys 49 controller and the other end into the DIN input of a 2496 and Cubase played out faultlessly.

But then I enjoyed cobbling such things together. Not everyone does.

*Pins 4&5 don't NEED a common screen but would be a good idea for a proper installation.

Dave.

[James Perrett]

I have a computer that is a similar distance away from the keyboard to yours and I use a combination of 5m MIDI cables with a 5m USB cable on a Midisport 2x2 with no problems.

[cosimo193]

I have a computer that is a similar distance away from the keyboard to yours and I use a combination of 5m MIDI cables with a 5m USB cable on a Midisport 2x2 with no problems.

Interesting. I'd have to put the 4x4 on top of a 7' high bookshelf to do that, but it's a thought.

[cosimo193]

Ooo! Been a while. IIRC I just soldered a DIN plug* each end of a length of CAT (I had steady hands and 2 eyes then!) Plugged one end into an EKeys 49 controller and the other end into the DIN input of a 2496 and Cubase played out faultlessly.

But then I enjoyed cobbling such things together. Not everyone does.

*Pins 4&5 don't NEED a common screen but would be a good idea for a proper installation.

Dave.

Interesting. It would mean up to 8 cables round the back of my bookshelves instead of 1, but....

[cosimo193]

Anyone know anything of these... https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-an ... 8UEALw_wcB?

[ef37a]

Ooo! Been a while. IIRC I just soldered a DIN plug* each end of a length of CAT (I had steady hands and 2 eyes then!) Plugged one end into an EKeys 49 controller and the other end into the DIN input of a 2496 and Cubase played out faultlessly.

But then I enjoyed cobbling such things together. Not everyone does.

*Pins 4&5 don't NEED a common screen but would be a good idea for a proper installation.

Dave.

Interesting. It would mean up to 8 cables round the back of my bookshelves instead of 1, but....

Well, it's a bit of work but one CAT cable can carry 4 'balanced' signals so I made 4 way DIN breakout boxes connected by RJ45 and patched using standard DIN cables each end.

I was in the network hardware industry you see so had sheds of cable and development clutter!

Dave.

[cosimo193]

Just thought I'd add an update; I've now sourced a MOTU Micro Lite from eBay for what seems like a decent(ish) price. I attached it last night and, so far so good.

Cheers

[Martin Walker]

Hi cosimo193!

Thanks for coming back to tell us what worked for you

Martin

[cosimo193]

Hi cosimo193!
Thanks for coming back to tell us what worked for you
Martin

You're welcome - I hate it when I read through stuff like this and there's no conclusion

[Boehmer]

Hello

I have a midiman midisport 4x4 and 2x2, pre 2000.

Will they work under Windows 10?

Their website doesn't list them as products being supported

https://m-audio.com/kb/article/1882

It leads you to this driver,

https://m-audio.com/support/download/drivers/midisport-windows-driver-v6.1.3

which is the one I have been using but it now has stopped working. It did work in Reaper despite showing error messages but since scan computers sent round an engineer to replace the mobo on my new PC Reaper cannot see the two midi interfaces at all. Annoyingly, the input lights show when sending midi out from a synth but the midi goes no further.....

It would appear from searching google that this driver is not going to work for these products under W10.

The workarounds include using the windows midi drivers or a search for "m-audio W10 drivers midiman 4x4" reveals third party drivers....

Is it worth persevering with this?

NOt sure I trust third party drivers....

Maybe I shoud just get a new one? Any recommendations for a good 4x4 MIDI interface?

Thanks

Hi!
I found my latest findings so important that I quickly set up an account with SOS.
Because I also have an old Midisport 2x2 that didn't work at first. The 6.1.3 driver also started with an error under Windows 10 (Version 21H1 Build 19043.876). I then activated Windows XP compatibility mode for this file. Then he let himself be installed. It is also unfavorable if the path is too long or contains spaces. However, if you avoid these two pitfalls, the installation works and the Midisport 2x2 (not the anniversary version, but the old yellow one) is recognized as it used to be under Windows XP and can (finally again! be addressed!

[Martin Walker]

Hi Boehmer, and welcome to the SOS Forums!

Thanks for your info too - that will undoubtedly help someone down the line

Martin

[Boehmer]

Thanks very much! Yes, I believe you can use the ancient Midiman Midisport 2x2 under W10 as normal. I'm very excited to see if it will also work under W11! I've been reading the forum for a long time. It's one of the best on the web! Many greetings and thanks again!

[ajay_m]

There are, incidentally, active usb cables which amplify and regenerate the signal allowing quite long cable runs

[cosimo193]

There are, incidentally, active usb cables which amplify and regenerate the signal allowing quite long cable runs

Those were discussed earlier in the thread. I had been unsuccessful in getting one to work reliably with my 4x4, with regular BSODs on Win 10. However the one I used was bus powered; there are some where you can actually plug a PSU into the far end of the cable which, I suspect, may work better.

Nowadays I have a powered USB3 hub 5m at the far end (7m I think), with the MOTU Micro Lite (I mentioned I'd got to replace the 4x4), a Presonus Studiolive USB mixer, aa Roland SH-201 attached to it.

[thefruitfarmer]

Hi!
I found my latest findings so important that I quickly set up an account with SOS.
Because I also have an old Midisport 2x2 that didn't work at first. The 6.1.3 driver also started with an error under Windows 10 (Version 21H1 Build 19043.876). I then activated Windows XP compatibility mode for this file. Then he let himself be installed. It is also unfavorable if the path is too long or contains spaces. However, if you avoid these two pitfalls, the installation works and the Midisport 2x2 (not the anniversary version, but the old yellow one) is recognized as it used to be under Windows XP and can (finally again! be addressed!

Hi Boehmer

Thank you, only just seen this but I may give that a go

Been taking a break from home recording for a few years now but hoping to get bcak in to it soon enough