No, unless it’s passive, you most likely will get issues with the intelligent mode from the MPU-401.

"Cheap" is relative. I use a Roland A-880 that I bought in Japan for about EUR 100, but with very cheap shipping. This is an 8x8 patchbay. It was a 110V device but the motherboard uses 5V input, so I disconnected the transformer and modded on an USB power connector. Works like a dream.

dionb wrote on 2024-03-09, 22:55:

"Cheap" is relative. I use a Roland A-880 that I bought in Japan for about EUR 100, but with very cheap shipping. This is an 8x8 patchbay. It was a 110V device but the motherboard uses 5V input, so I disconnected the transformer and modded on an USB power connector. Works like a dream.

Well the Kenton 4-1 merge box was £80 new when I bought it, iirc, so not that different.

I suppose that I could retain the investment in the current merge box by adding another 2-1 or 3-1 merge box to get an extra 1 or 2 ports.

Please define "cheap".

That being said, if you have enough outputs snd just need 2 more inputs, why not just stick 2 cheap 2x1 merge boxes in front of your Kenton one (each plugged into one of the Kenton's inputs)?

kenton make a merge-8. i also have a A880 and its great. not "cheap" are the iConnectivity MioXL (that will be my next upgrade).

Thanks for the tips. I think I agree that one or two 2-1 merge boxes in front of the Kenton Merge-4 is likely going to be the most cost effective route forward.

Why not go for an Emagic Unitor8 / Unitor8 MkII / AMT8. They are sold under 100 € mostly. They cannot only merge but route 8:8 with SysEx support. Downside is that routing must be controlled via software.