Midi Cable Or Interface Or What? Options

[Toccater]

I hope one of you big guys can give a quick answer on a stupid question : I want to hook up my e-piano to my imac g4. The piano's plugs say "tohost". Do I still need a midi interface or does a cable do the job? what kind of cable? I never found a usb-midi cable on ebay or similar. Thanks, Hope Im not being too dum

[Synthetic]

all depends on what connection your e-piano has with the "to host" port... for example... i have a Yamaha CS6x which has a serial port that goes directly to computer (older macs had serial ports) but I have Blue and White g3 and just use a USB midi interface instead. Is your "to host" port serial, USB or can you tell?

[Toccater]

Thanks a lot for answering! Its a great feeling to actually be able to get help here with problems that literally sabotage progress. As soon as I get back to my piano I'll check on the above criteria, thanks again!

[Toccater]

Ok, Im back to work and I checked my plugs- The In, Out and Thru plugs are round "female" plugs with five holes at the bottom. sort of a smiley without the eyes. The to host plug is round as well but smaller than the others with eight holes spread in groups of 3-3-2 (from top to bottom) over the whole surface. In addition the to host plug has a dent on top. Any idea? Thanks!

This post has been edited by toccater: Sun 20 Apr 2003, 13:03

[Synthetic]

ok... the 3 female ports with 5 holes are your midi in, out & thru ports and I think the "to host" port with 8 pins is a serial port just like my Yamaha. So... you will not be able to use the "to host" port unless you get a serial to USB adapter and I don't recommend doing that as most of the adapters have limited compatibility with other products and for about the same cost a just a little more you can get a midi interface.

so I recommend looking for a USB midi interface... one with at least one in and out port on it. Good place to look is Samash.com, Musiciansfriend.com, or Sweetwater.com. You should be able to get one for less than $60 bucks or look on Ebay and you might find a used one even cheaper. Oh... its not just a cable your are looking for.... its an actual box that connects via USB and then you will need a couple of midi cables to go from box to your epiano. Also... this is just for midi data and this won't get actual audio sound into G4 so if you want to get actual sound and midi data... you will need to spend a bit more money and get an audio interface with midi input as well.

[Toccater]

Thanks! I was thinking about getting a motu 828 since I need a mic or two (Im in the broadcasting business), but I guess this wont help me with the midi stuff. Id like to stick with firewire and as far as Ive seen the 828 (700$) + a serious midi piece (a few hundred bucks, too) is not much of a bargain compared to the motu 898 (at least 1400$), considered that the 898 has six more mic preamps than the 828. So what is a better option?

[Synthetic]

well depends on your needs. if you think you will need the extra mic inputs, then go with the 898. Another consideration could be the Digi001 which has same amount of inputs and ouputs as 828 but also has one midi in and out port as well and you can find it for between $700-800 plus it comes with ProTools LE with 32 track capability. This is what I use and love it. Thought about selling a few times but just can't bring myself to do it as it works so well especially with the ProTools LE app.

So I would evaluate how many mics you think you will need to record simulataneously and also consider what programs you want to use and this should point you in the direction of which unit to get.

[Toccater]

Well I use Logic 5.5, but I tried to install ProTools Free wich never worked, even with os9. Is the digi001 compatible with logic, so I could use both apps? Id like to learn to handle several programs anyway so that would be a good option. As for now I dont need as much as eight mics simultaneously, but its a good feeling to know I could. (and an expensive one, too)

[Synthetic]

well... I use Logic 4.8.1 with my Digi001 without problems. I will say that using Logic with the Digi001 seems to produce more latency than using Digi001 with ProTools LE. Its only noticeable though if you are trying to record while monitoring other tracks in Logic which depending on how you use Logic might not make a difference. For instance, I use Logic mainly for midi sequencing and recording midi sequences to audio, but if I want to say play my bass over top a drum track or something where I need to monitor as I play for rhythm sync... I go to ProTools and record it. Then after I have it in PT... sometimes I will cut loops out and bring them into Logic. The nice thing is you can use SDII format for audio files in PT and then export audio regions with their region names intact and pull right into Logic.

So yes they will work together (all inputs and outputs are available) but there is just a bit more latency but that may not be such an issue if in OSX but I am still stuck in the OS9 world with my music apps