The MIDI Express PC consists of a card for your PC, which connects by a cable to a 19" rack-mount unit. This one-rack-space unit has 6 MIDI ins and 6 MIDI outs on the back, with an extra in and out on the front. Since each of the 6 MIDI ports can use any or all of the 16 MIDI channels, you can have up to 72 independent MIDI outputs (or inputs). This unit allows you to route MIDI information among various inputs and outputs in many different ways, and to save each routing as a setup that can be recalled later. It also reads and writes SMPTE. When it comes to MIDI, this is a muscular machine.
February 25, 1999
So who needs a MIDI converter/patchbay this powerful? If you only have a couple of MIDI devices to control, this one may be overkill. Let's look at the basic parts of a computer sound system for a moment. Most PC sound cards include 3 devices: a digital audio recorder/player; a synthesizer that can be controlled by MIDI files, and a MIDI converter that allows you to connect to external input/output devices such as keyboards, drum machines or synthesizer modules. Most sound cards do not have an actual MIDI jack, however, so you must buy a little adapter, which you can get at Radio Shack for 10 bucks or so.
MIDI allows 16 independent channels of information to be transmitted over a single cord, so even if you have only one MIDI out port, you can still control up to 16 MIDI devices at a time. In fact, you can have even more if you assign more than one MIDI device to each channel, but you can have 16 independent parts. As a practical matter, if your music is very complex, 16 channels of information may get to be too much, and errors will occur. MIDI sends information to the channels in numerical order, so if information overload occurs, the higher channel numbers will be the first to show a noticeable delay. Putting drums and other parts basic to the rhythm on channel 1 is a good idea for this reason.
But of course the answer is to have more than one MIDI port. If you sequence dense music with several independent parts, you may wish to use several MIDI ports even if you don't need more than 16 channels. A variety of little splitters, combiners and routers are available. Whatever MIDI routing problem you have, there's a little black box to solve it (or to offer a solution, as we say in the computer biz).
The MIDI Express PC does it all in one convenient unit, and that is its appeal. If you must orchestrate for 72 voices, then you must have this device. However, even some of us with more modest polyphonic ambitions will find this box a good buy. If you have a fairly complex MIDI setup, the powerful routing capabilities of the MIDI Express PC will make your life easier. Instead of pulling MIDI cords in and out, or flipping switches on little black boxes, you can simply recall different routings for different tasks. For everyday recording and playback a straightforward routing can be the default. But there are some situations in which you might wish to have a special routing. If you own an older MIDI device that will not differentiate MIDI channels, or that only transmits on channel 1, or that can't turn local control off, or some other synthosaurus problem, you can get around it. If you want to do a bulk dump from one device to another, you can have a routing that connects them directly. If you have several keyboards, and want to be able to change which one controls which sound module, it's a snap. The software that comes with the MIDI Express PC presents you with a matrix in which any or all input ports can be routed to any or all output ports, and any channel may be mapped to any other channel. Then the whole setup can be saved and recalled later.
The MIDI Express PC reads and writes SMPTE, and converts it to MIDI sync. This means that you can use the MIDI Express PC to write (or "stripe") SMPTE code to a tape deck, and you can slave your computer to a tape which has SMPTE code thereon. Sync is a rather complex business so I'll go over the basics.
If you wish to combine sequenced MIDI tracks with audio tracks on a tape recorder, the sequencer and tape deck must be synchronized, that is they must play back in sync. Older analog tape decks are not capable of slaving their motors to an external sync signal, but they can record and play back a sync signal that can be used to slave a MIDI sequencer to the tape deck. SMPTE time code is used to synchronize audio and video recorders. It provides a running count of hours, minutes, seconds and frames, so that any spot in a video can be linked to the proper moment in the audio accompaniment. Although it was designed for video, it's handy for audio-only applications as well. The sync code provided on most drum machines and sequencer units is a simpler thing than SMPTE. It provides a steady pulse that machines can lock to, but no running count of time.
The MIDI Express PC is tops when it comes to MIDI. This is pretty much a "set it and forget it" device. Everything you need to do on a daily basis, you do from within your sequencer program. There is a software package included, which is used to set up MIDI routings for later recall. The front panel has an LED for each in and out which lights up when MIDI information is present. There is also a Panic button that sends note-off messages on all channels in case something gets stuck. While most of us may never use all the features that this monster has, they are there if you need them, and the box doesn't cost that much, so go ahead! Get it! Highly recommended.
