Tapping-in to a MIDI signal path with a second MIDI signal?

#1

Imagine this, you have an Axo, a MIDI keyboard, and a separate Pitch and Mod wheel unit that also connects via MIDI (MIDI DIN in all instances here).

The MIDI keyboard gets connected to Axoloti using the DIN connection, but now I need another to connect the wheels. My question is whether it's feasible to physically "tap-in" to the MIDI cable going between the keyboard and Axoloti, so that I can feed the same DIN input with a signal from the wheels as well as the keyboard?

Would that work or would the MIDI signal get screwed-up and start locking-up due to it coming from two devices on the same cable? I understand the MIDI protocol is very specific, so in that respect I suppose it would work as the protocol would decide what to read and what to ignore. But perhaps it has to be done all from the same device for that to work, to keep everything 'in check' so to speak, or does it?

#2

You need a piece of hardware to do the MIDI merge:
google "midi merge"

#3

Like SmashedTransitors says, you need a MIDI merger to merge two streams together. The MIDI stream is a serial digital protocol and unless they are perfectly sync'd so the MIDI commands are parsed so they don't overlap, then the messages are lost. Midi commands are formatted as a Header ("this is a note command"), the data (this note is on and this value), and a end command (this command is over). If you were to just splice two MIDI streams together, the commands would ge mixed with data and clocks and everything would be unreadable.

There are many small MIDI merger boxes out there and many master keyboards even have merging abilities built in. For small boxes look up Midi Solutions - http://www.midisolutions.com/prodmrg.htm They can be found on Amazon.

#4

Damn, sorry for the late reply, I actually saw the responses some days ago while logged out, then got destracted after I'd logged in!

Thank's both for the advice, I was aware of MIDI merge and you have both confirmed my suspicions, but what about MIDI via USB and DIN at the same time? I don't have any USB MIDI, it's all DIN gear so I can't try it, but I was wondering, is it possible to connect both MIDI types to Axoloti at the same time and use them in the same patch to control Axoloti in the same way you would if you only used one MIDI type?

For example, could I connect Pitch and Mod wheels via USB MIDI, and a keyboard via DIN MIDI, and use them at the same time without issues?

#5

Your computer can certainly behave like one.

#6

yes, that works. you can even separate the midi streams from usb and din in axoloti subpatches.

#7

@SmashedTransistors
Doh!

@lokki
Excellent, with a bit of luck then, I'll be able to squeeze quite a lot of control onto a single Axo!