How are your midi devices?

[Jagwah]

A few nights ago I fired up old faithful (Reason Standalone), and a few minutes later I pulled out my midi keyboard as usual and it occurred to me - this keyboard (M-Audio Oxygen 49) has been working day in day out for something like ten years, and never skipped a beat. Not one issue besides a dusty slider here and there. Pretty good by today's standards.

I also have a PadKontrol (thanks Benedict) which I rarely use but I am certain it would work no problem.

I have my first keyboard, a Behringer UMX25 stored in its box and I'm sure that would fire up no problem - and that is around 15 years old!

I wonder if newer gear will stand the test of time like these have.

What midi gear do you have and how has it served you over time? Anything you had to replace or do away with?


Cheers!

[Jackjackdaw]

Most of the electronics I have had fail over the last few years have had the micro usb port break. I also had a Beatstep pro that frazzled and needed the whole board replacing. Li-on battery’s are useless over time. I miss the days of cylindrical dc power ports and AA or 9v rechargeable batteries.

[robussc]

A few nights ago I fired up old faithful (Reason Standalone), and a few minutes later I pulled out my midi keyboard as usual and it occurred to me - this keyboard (M-Audio Oxygen 49) has been working day in day out for something like ten years, and never skipped a beat. Not one issue besides a dusty slider here and there. Pretty good by today's standards.

I also have a PadKontrol (thanks Benedict) which I rarely use but I am certain it would work no problem.

I have my first keyboard, a Behringer UMX25 stored in its box and I'm sure that would fire up no problem - and that is around 15 years old!

I wonder if newer gear will stand the test of time like these have.

What midi gear do you have and how has it served you over time? Anything you had to replace or do away with?


Cheers!

I've recently joined a nascent band and pulled out my ancient Kawai K4 (circa 1991) and Proteus FX (circa 1994) to have some hardware synth sounds. After the Proteus got a needed battery replacement for RAM refresh, both are still working great. It helped that they''d been kept in their original boxes when not in use for 20+ years!

[DaveyG]

I've also had a couple of devices rendered useless by the poxy micro USB connector failing - Akai, I'm looking at you.
But apart from that the main things that kill old stuff are batteries and outdated device drivers.

Back in the day I had a couple an Akai S-series sampler which had a SCSI interface and operated with an ISA (!) PC SCSI card and a SCSI Orb drive (anyone remember them?) That stuff is long since sold, and probably skipped by now, but just imagine the hassle of trying to get that lot working with a Windows 11 PC, and that's before you worry about buying the removable media for the Orb drive and for the sampler's 3.5" floppy drive.

[Jackjackdaw]

I had to ditch a perfectly good Tascam interface because the drivers were abandoned and kept playing up. I made a point of buying a class compliant one after that.

[huggermugger]

In the early days of my MIDI studio, I had an Atari Mega 4 running Notator, a Roland JD800 and AlphaJuno 2, Roland R8m drum module, two Yamaha TX81z's, two Oberheim Matrix 1000s, Roland MKS70, Roland JV1080, Kurzweil 1000SX, Kawai K3m, Kawai K5m, Yamaha SPX90, Korg KMS30 Synchronizer, and a Roland A880 MIDI patchbay. And a shit-ton of MIDI cables. All I've got left are some of the MIDI cables lol. I loved my MIDI labyrinth back then, but I'm glad to never have to deal with it again.

[DaveyG]

All I've got left are some of the MIDI cables lol.

Haha! I used to have 32 MIDI ports across my racks. I've never measured but I'd guess the total length of MIDI cabling comfortably exceeded 200 metres. And, yes, I still have all the cables and almost none of the midi devices. That's two large cardboard boxes I'll never need to dip into again. The same applies to patchbay cables. All but one of the patchbays are in the attic. The patch cables were all hand made by me over several weeks. I saved a fortune but got very bored...

[crimsonwarlock]

... and a Roland A880 MIDI patchbay.

Still have two of those floating around in my studio. I used those to patch the 80 MIDI channels I got from my Atari Mega1 with a Steinberg MIDEX expander (which added 4 MIDI outs, 2 MIDI ins, and SMPTE sync). Both the Atari and the MIDEX are also still here, but not for long, as they are going up on Reverb next month.

[Loque]

I still use my old Evolution which was crazy cheap back in the time. Guess it is easily 20 years old now. Comparable controllers today cost up to 10 times more and maybe die directly after warranty period is over...

[BonsaiMacKay]

I have a good old Korg microKontrol bought in 2004 and a black Korg padKontrol bought in 2007. Both working as they did back then, no reason to replace them (though I will at some point, there are some high-end controllers on my wishlist at the moment that offer better integration with my DAW).

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/korg-microkontrol

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/korg-pad-kontrol

[motuscott]

I’m running my keytar into Reason12 on my flip phone through a SCSI breakout board.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[miyaru]

I still use a MIDI interface from ESI, used to have a MOTU Timepiece AV and before that Emagic 8 x 8 interface, the simple one.

I use a Push2 and an Akai LPK25 Wireless as my daily controllers, if I want fancy 88 keys under my fingers I use my old Korg N1 synth as controller.

The latter is an N1 not an M1 and was bought back in 1999 and still in use sometimes. For a bread and butter synth wit just 18MB of RAM it is doing well, but not for recordings anymore. There I use softsynths and drummachines.

[selig]

In the early days of my MIDI studio, I had an Atari Mega 4 running Notator, a Roland JD800 and AlphaJuno 2, Roland R8m drum module, two Yamaha TX81z's, two Oberheim Matrix 1000s, Roland MKS70, Roland JV1080, Kurzweil 1000SX, Kawai K3m, Kawai K5m, Yamaha SPX90, Korg KMS30 Synchronizer, and a Roland A880 MIDI patchbay. And a shit-ton of MIDI cables. All I've got left are some of the MIDI cables lol. I loved my MIDI labyrinth back then, but I'm glad to never have to deal with it again.

I’ve kept hardware around, and even with USB I still found a use for the old MIDI cables. Some of mine are still working from the mid 1980s!!!
With the live gigs I’ve done recently actually had to order MORE MIDI cables, and even a MIDI splitter box to keep timing tight between devices.
My original 1980s controller was my Matrix 6 keyboard, which I still have but never use (it may not even power up at this point). I also have my M-Audio controller that’s around 20 years old now, but it’s my ‘backup’ so it sits all by itself in a corner waiting for the day…

I’ve gone through many MIDI interfaces over the years, they seem to be the most short lived part of the equation probably more due to lack of driver support more than build quality.

[miyaru]

My Timepiece AV by MOTU was eventually out of use due to drivers not updated by MOTU, a shame for such an expensive interface. The same with the Emagic interface.

[mimidancer]

Devil's snare would be a good description of the midi in my studio.

[Jagwah]

Most of the electronics I have had fail over the last few years have had the micro usb port break. I also had a Beatstep pro that frazzled and needed the whole board replacing. Li-on battery’s are useless over time. I miss the days of cylindrical dc power ports and AA or 9v rechargeable batteries.

I've also had a couple of devices rendered useless by the poxy micro USB connector failing - Akai, I'm looking at you.

Using a micro USB doesn't sound great for gear but I assume there's modern benefits for it, USB type B works for all my gear but it's a bit older I guess.

...both are still working great. It helped that they''d been kept in their original boxes when not in use for 20+ years!

This is what I'm talking about, niceeee!

I had to ditch a perfectly good Tascam interface because the drivers were abandoned and kept playing up. I made a point of buying a class compliant one after that.

I am glad I am not messing with drivers as of late, that used to do my head in so bad.

I loved my MIDI labyrinth back then, but I'm glad to never have to deal with it again.

Things do typically seem to get easier in the digital world. Just a few days ago I was trying to connect my HD video camera to my PC and it was a nightmare - then tried my phone camera instead and everything was great and pretty instant.

[MuttReason]

I read an interview with Roger Linn in which he was asked why he wasn’t fitting a USB-C port instead of the plain old USB-A port on the Linnstrument.

He pointed out that all of the smaller USB ports (the old micro version, the more recent micro version and now the USB-C version) are far flimsier and more liable to break than a full size USB-A port.

I’m also in the “the micro USB port broke” club. Not a fan. They are a point of weakness for any gear IMO.

Also, yes, drivers. I have a pile of older audio interfaces that are gathering dust because they relied on a proprietary driver and the manufacturer eventually gave up. Similar problem with some of my older Novation MIDI controller keyboards (like the Nocturn) that relied on a proprietary software interface to map the controls to a DAW.

The other thing that extends the life of a MIDI controller is having a plain old MIDI DIN port on the back. I use hardware as well as Reason so a MIDI keyboard with a DIN port as well as USB (and class-compliant drivers) is a good thing. Sadly, not that many of them around (Arturia and Roland seem to be the best bet).

[Jackjackdaw]

I think convenience comes from sticking to an ‘era’ of tech. If everything is designed to work with everything else it is usually fairly seamless. It’s when you start trying to hook up something older to something new that it gets tricky. I remember thinking that the scsi cdrw drive I had with my Tascam 8 track was very convenient at the time. I bought the recommended drive and it worked great. I bet if I still had it and wanted to connected a usb cd drive or get the tracks into the computer it would be a nightmare.

[crimsonwarlock]

It’s when you start trying to hook up something older to something new that it gets tricky.

My Roland RD-150 digital piano is MIDI-only, My Komplete Kontrol S61 has MIDI connectors but is connected over USB, and my CME UF5 has USB but is connected over MIDI. Then there's my Yamaha WX5 with only MIDI. Everything integrates nicely thanks to my MOTU midi express 128. And I'm planning to get at least one Roland A880 midi patchbay back into operation because of the MIDI filtering options.

Still contemplating getting the older gear that floats around in my studio back into use (Alesis D4, Kawai K1rII, Kawai RV-4 multi FX), but not sure it's worth the effort.

[robussc]

Still contemplating getting the older gear that floats around in my studio back into use (Alesis D4, Kawai K1rII, Kawai RV-4 multi FX), but not sure it's worth the effort.

I have refills for both the Proteus range & the Kawai K4 which definitely reduces the desire.

[selig]

Devil's snare would be a good description of the midi in my studio.

Unless your devil’s snare sound sucks…

[RobC]

Yellowed all of a sudden. Was a very humid half year though!

[DJMaytag]

Working better than ever!

It's massive overkill, but I have a iConnectivity mioXL connected to my machine, which I only use for MIDI input... I have the MIDI out's of several synths connected to it, plus several USB devices (2x Keysteps, Arturia Minilab mk2, RME ARC USB, and an X-Touch. I only got the XL because I was going to use it as a port expander for my Sequential Cirklon 2, but ended up selling the CK2 this summer. I sold the CK2 because...

My MIDI outputs to my devices are all handled via Expert Sleepers hardware and the Silent Way VST suite. Sample accurate MIDI outputs (8x 5-pin DIN), MIDI clock (4x TS MIDI), analog clocks (up to 6x), plus multiple pairs of CV/gate/mod outputs.