I admit it, I've been unfaithful. I love my Hamers, but I have curiosity and appreciation of keyboard sounds, too. So, I have accumulated a few keyboards. But I want to keep this deviation under control, so I only have one solid-state keyboard amp with two inputs to listen to them.
Set-up goes like this: MIDI-only (i.e. no instrument out) keyboard and pedalboard (for organ) controllers, stage piano with both MIDI and instrument out, organ synth with both MIDI and instrument out, and two other synths with both MIDI and instrument out. Not yet in my hands but likely sometime before Christmas is another small synth with MIDI and instrument out. MIDI is both in and out for the devices with instrument out. So I need to route both the MIDI signals among the devices and the instrument outs to the amp.
For the MIDI, it looks like there are merger boxes that combine MIDI signals from multiple devices into one MIDI signal, as well as thru boxes that take a MIDI signal and make multiple copies for routing to multiple devices, although I haven't seen any yet that do both in one box. So, I can for instance merge the MIDI keyboard and pedalboard into a single signal for the organ synth. Of course I will have to assign the device ID numbers for the MIDI messages properly so that the correct device acts on the signal received. I have some learning to do and experience to gain, but it seems achievable to link everything together.
It's a little more aggravating on the instrument signal side. At first I looked at ABY boxes, but they seem to be invariably a single input to two outputs. Right now my best option looks like a Morley ABC box that can either distribute an input to three outputs or collect three inputs and send them all to an output, which is what I need. Since it's three into one, I'd need two to collect what is probably soon to be five instrument outs into the two inputs of the amp. I've seen some discussion on different boards, and while people talk of mixers, it seems that mixers are looking for either mic level or line level signals, which would mean more boxes. If there is an advantage in doing that, I could go that way, but the seeming simplicity of the ABC box is appealing.
Cost is always a consideration, but for what I'm looking at at the moment (MIDI merge, MIDI thru, and two Morley ABC) it's under $500 to give me the ability to just power everything up by stepping on the switch for the power strip, and having it just work. I know that for no additional expenditure I can just switch cables for whatever noise I feel like making each time, but I'm tired of that.
Are there other options I should be looking at, for either the MIDI (at which I am a beginner) or the signal collection?
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mrjamiam
I admit it, I've been unfaithful. I love my Hamers, but I have curiosity and appreciation of keyboard sounds, too. So, I have accumulated a few keyboards. But I want to keep this deviation under control, so I only have one solid-state keyboard amp with two inputs to listen to them.
Set-up goes like this: MIDI-only (i.e. no instrument out) keyboard and pedalboard (for organ) controllers, stage piano with both MIDI and instrument out, organ synth with both MIDI and instrument out, and two other synths with both MIDI and instrument out. Not yet in my hands but likely sometime before Christmas is another small synth with MIDI and instrument out. MIDI is both in and out for the devices with instrument out. So I need to route both the MIDI signals among the devices and the instrument outs to the amp.
For the MIDI, it looks like there are merger boxes that combine MIDI signals from multiple devices into one MIDI signal, as well as thru boxes that take a MIDI signal and make multiple copies for routing to multiple devices, although I haven't seen any yet that do both in one box. So, I can for instance merge the MIDI keyboard and pedalboard into a single signal for the organ synth. Of course I will have to assign the device ID numbers for the MIDI messages properly so that the correct device acts on the signal received. I have some learning to do and experience to gain, but it seems achievable to link everything together.
It's a little more aggravating on the instrument signal side. At first I looked at ABY boxes, but they seem to be invariably a single input to two outputs. Right now my best option looks like a Morley ABC box that can either distribute an input to three outputs or collect three inputs and send them all to an output, which is what I need. Since it's three into one, I'd need two to collect what is probably soon to be five instrument outs into the two inputs of the amp. I've seen some discussion on different boards, and while people talk of mixers, it seems that mixers are looking for either mic level or line level signals, which would mean more boxes. If there is an advantage in doing that, I could go that way, but the seeming simplicity of the ABC box is appealing.
Cost is always a consideration, but for what I'm looking at at the moment (MIDI merge, MIDI thru, and two Morley ABC) it's under $500 to give me the ability to just power everything up by stepping on the switch for the power strip, and having it just work. I know that for no additional expenditure I can just switch cables for whatever noise I feel like making each time, but I'm tired of that.
Are there other options I should be looking at, for either the MIDI (at which I am a beginner) or the signal collection?
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