Reply 40 of 46, by Loganix
- Rank
- Newbie
dionb wrote on 2020-08-12, 21:11:yawetaG wrote on 2020-08-12, 16:49:Some comments: […]
Some comments:
dionb wrote on 2020-08-11, 21:30:A couple of options:
- Roland A-880 8 in, 8 out. Primitive, but does the job excellently. Unfortunately rare/expensive outside of Japan
Get a Japanese one and do the 5 Volt wall wart conversion.
- Edirol UM880. 8x8 instead of UM550's 5x5. Great, but usually VERY expensive.
Great solution if you are using older operating systems. However, no new drivers will be produced, and getting the existing ones to work gets harder and harder.
- Yamaha MJC8. 8x8. Looks good, but menu-heavy configuration.
Can do some interesting tricks with MIDI and sysex. Old Yamaha unit, so menu-diving is to be expected.
- Kawai MAV-8. 4x8, which isn't many inputs for the size of the beast. If I could find one very cheap I might do it, but that's not likely.
You can find them for as low as $15 in Japan. Fully mechanical and build like a tank (like most Kawai gear).
- Korg KMP-68. 6x8, again the wrong way round for my purposes. Looks really good (turn knobs 😀 ) but tends to be expensive & in Japan.
Turn knobs can wear out.
- Akai ME80P, 6x8, see above, just more 80's HIFI vibe
Ancient, complex, manual not online, can do some cool things, suffers from age-related electronics issues that can make it go crazy and/or just fail suddenly.
- MOTU MIDI Timepiece AV, 8x8. Probably the cheapest option, but as it is so much more than just a patchbay, I'm a bit intimidated by its complexity.p
There are multiple versions, some with atrocious driver support, some Mac-only, some with firmware issues. Usually will work well when you're lucky, on a limited set of OS'es (basically limit yourself to an OS that was released when your particular unit was current).
Then there are also patchbays with little or no controls on the device itself, designed to be controlled by PC. Sounds great, but driver support is usually so vintage it becomes on-topic here ( 😜 ). I just want buttons that work, but if you want to consider software, take a look at OPCODE Studio 64X, Emagic AMT8 etc.
Emagic units can be programmed to recall 100 or so programs, so are handy if your setup doesn't change much. Unitor Mk. I has no USB, only serial. Unitor Mk. II has USB, AMT8 is cheaper version of Unitor Mk. II with less features. It's possible to stack up to 8 units via serial cable. The problem is that the patch editor software is a modified version of SoundDiver that is not particularly stable and hasn't been updated since years, but apparently there is a special Apple driver that makes the USB version work on modern Macs.
Tbh not interested in any sw interfaces, I just want to be able to select manually, preferably without any menus. Any modern systems I need to hookup will do so through dedicated MIDI interfaces (my 2016-era 'support' PC has a PCI card with MIDI in/out). That means for 8x8 I'm limited to A-880 and UM880, with Korg if I drop requirement to 6x8 (and can find one cheap). Still, not in a hurry here, so for now I'll just keep using my UM550 and watch out for alternatives until I see one for a price I'm willing to pay (not multiple hundreds of EUR).
dionb, Just checking so I'm not out sailing on lost waters, the USB can be used instead of a Midi to USB like roland um-one mk2? Thanks