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.
Loganix wrote on 2020-08-12, 13:02:
Thank you for all your suggestions dionb. Edirol UM880 and UM550 seems to be the best options since I also want to be able to connect to several computers in the long run and use the USB interface instead of an Roland UM-ONE mk2 - USB/MIDI-interface for my Win 7 computer. Would you say about 240 USD for an UM880 is an OK price?
Way too high, IMHO. Also, I'm not sure the drivers will work properly on Windows 7 and later (no new drivers will ever be produced because it's a legacy product).
For that price you can almost buy one of the modern equivalents...new.
Modern MIDI interfaces/patchbays (19", the same manufactuers also have smaller units):
- Motu MIDI Express XT (can work without computer)
- Motu MIDI Express 128
- iConnectivity mioXL
- Miditech Midiface 16x16
- ESI M8U eX
- Future product: Kenton Interchanger, which probably will cost about twice what the other modern patchbays cost, but probably will pack a lot of features are have no problem with sysex and continue working for decades.