Multiport MIDI interface for Windows 7

Don’t feel bad: it’s happily working on my Mac. I’ve got a great DIY GM5-based MIDI interface now on the PC. I was just curious. Thanks for the followup.

:open_mouth: pray tell more! Is it this one?

Yes. There’s been several group buys over at the MidiBox.org site, but it looks like the current one (the 3rd) is pretty much closed as there aren’t any more GM5’s available from that source. It comes out pretty cheap for a very good 5x5 interface, but unless you have experience with electronics I don’t recommend it. The only hard part for me was soldering the damn chip in place; it’s so tiny, I ended up gluing it to the PC board so it would stop moving to allow me to solder it. And soldering these chips is a bit challenging: I ended up using the “flood and suck” method :wink:

I’ve built two of these and they work perfectly and are natively recognized on both Mac OS X and Win7-64. But ploytec provides a good driver for windows which runs even better. Obviously I’m using these on W7. For less than 30 euro in parts each it was a good deal.

Thanks Breeze! Looks like a very interesting project.
Have you tried MIDITest (PC) on it yet?

You’re going to make me drag my ass behind the rack unit, aren’t you… :mrgreen:

I’ll let you know.

Just curious, for the guys that are concerned about multi-client drivers - why is this important?

I typically run my gear from Cubase. Are there other midi apps that people use frequently along with Cubase?

-Tom

Speaking for myself, I run at the same time with Cubase mainly extrernal hardware editors/librarians: Roland Fantom X editor/librarian, Sound Diver (adaptation for the Roland VK8-M), DSI MoPho editor/librarian, etc. I’m sure others would have plenty more examples.

Paolo

Got it. Come to think of it, I sometimes run an XV editor (for my XV-3080s) at the same time as Cubase. Guess the little Roland um-3g boxes arent the answer then.

I have two midex8s that just work well. Maybe I’ll hold off on the 64 bit upgrade for a while more. UAD card aint there yet either.

I found MIDItest unstable: it crashed on me a few times. But for what it’s worth, here are my port-to-port results with MIDItest. Let me know how it compares to others.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
		 MidiTest Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------



================ Info ====================================================

Date:		16 Apr 2011
Time:		10:33:51
AppVersion:	4.9.243
OS:		 Professional, Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Processor(s):	Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz
Speed:		3005 MHz
Number:		4
API:		DirectMusic (direct mode)
Test type:	Advanced
Use timestamp:	yes
Errors:		None



================ Tested Message Types ====================================

		Note off:					yes
		Note on:					yes
		Key aftertouch:					yes
		Controller:					yes
		Program change:					yes
		Channel aftertouch:				yes
		Pitchbend:					yes
		System exclusive:				yes
		MIDI time code quarter frame:			yes
		Song position pointer:				yes
		Song select:					yes
		Tune request:					yes
		MIDI clock:					yes
		MIDI tick:					    no
		Start:						yes
		Continue:					yes
		Stop:						yes
		Active sensing:					yes
		System reset:					yes
		System exclusive mixed with realtime messages:	    no



================ Ports ===================================================

MIDI Output:	GM5 port 4
Description:	midibox.org GM5
Provider:	midibox.org
DriverDate:	11-26-2009
DriverVersion:	1.0.10.0


MIDI Input:	GM5 port 5
Description:	midibox.org GM5
Provider:	midibox.org
DriverDate:	11-26-2009
DriverVersion:	1.0.10.0



================ Results Per Message =====================================

MESSAGES		   Snd		   Rcv		    Snd+Rcv

Message TotalTime:	  734.19 ms	59736.92 ms	60471.10 ms
Message MaximumTime:	    0.25 ms	    3.34 ms	    3.35 ms
Message MinimumTime:	    0.01 ms	    0.56 ms	    0.58 ms
Message AverageTime:	    0.02 ms	    1.91 ms	    1.94 ms
SysexTime:		  179.10 ms	 2796.67 ms	 2975.78 ms
SysexAverage:		    0.00 ms	    0.03 ms	    0.03 ms

    <   1 ms:		   31250	    1280	    1079
  1 -   2 ms:		       0	   17597	   17248
  2 -   3 ms:		       0	   11267	   11787
  3 -   4 ms:		       0	    1106	    1136
  4 -   5 ms:		       0	       0	       0
  5 -  10 ms:		       0	       0	       0
 10 -  20 ms:		       0	       0	       0
 20 -  50 ms:		       0	       0	       0
 50 - 100 ms:		       0	       0	       0
    > 100 ms:		       0	       0	       0

Message count:		   31250	Sysex count:	    1555
Sysex size:		   99990	Sysex passed:	   99990

Message latency:	    1.94 ms	Total time:	 114.776 sec
Message jitter:		    0.54 ms
Message max deviation:	    1.42 ms



================ Results Per Byte ========================================

BYTES

Byte TotalTime:		25583.25 ms
Byte MaximumTime:	    2.64 ms
Byte MinimumTime:	    0.42 ms
Byte AverageTime:	    0.82 ms

    <   1 ms:		   25577
  1 -   2 ms:		    5107
  2 -   3 ms:		     566
  3 -   4 ms:		       0
  4 -   5 ms:		       0
  5 -  10 ms:		       0
 10 -  20 ms:		       0
 20 -  50 ms:		       0
 50 - 100 ms:		       0
    > 100 ms:		       0

Byte count:		   78916

Byte latency:		    0.82 ms
Byte jitter:		    0.32 ms
Byte max deviation:	    1.82 ms

Interestingly I found this post poking around which shows better results than mine. Maybe it’s because it’s using an older driver and it was done on Vista-32 instead of my W7-64?

Hello Paulo,
I’m also AMT8 owner. I’d like to move to Win7-x86. Can you please share whole steps how you did it? Which registry keys you added to Win7?
Thanks in advance. Andrei.

I strongly suspect you should find the correct registry keys for YOUR system.

Anyway, what I did: I analyzed the winXP registry of an XP installation on a different partition on the same PC of the Win7 32 bit installation, looking for the relevant registry keys for the amt8 (use Regedit to search “emagic”, “unitor”, “amt8”, and when you find one, hit F3 to find all the next recurrences on the the whole registry) and then I applied the same registry Keys in Win 7 (that needed a little tweaking actually: e.g. I remember a particular key that needed some sort of administrator privileges to be edited, but I don’t remember which one; I remember I searched on Google how to edit that particular key, and found the solution).

For the same purpose, I also analyzed the UNI2k227.inf file: the old 2.27 WinXP driver doesn’t have a setup file, you just have the driver files (.sys, .dll) and an .inf (text) file containing the instructions for the OS to install the driver.
So, I’ve analyzed the .inf file and compared it to the Win XP System registry.

Then, I copied the driver files to the Win7 system32\drivers folder. The driver files are UNIS2K.dll and UNIS2K.sys (valid only for the serial connection, that I use; for USB connection, the files are different, but I don’t remember their names).

A complicated job indeed, if you are unaware of the risks implied in tweaking the Windows registry, you’d better give it up…or at least do a complete backup of your system before you start…

Sorry I can’t be more helpful.

Paolo

OK, here you are something more detailed.

One BIG WARNING though: the registry keys contained in the files are those correct for MY PC and MY configuration, you must adapt them to yours. Backup EVERYTHING before, if you’re not sure what you’re doing.

Emagic amt8 (serial) Driver install (custom)

In Windows 7 32 bit:

  • copy UNIS2K.dll in c:\Windows\System32;
  • copy UNIS2K.sys in c:\Windows\System32\drivers;
  • start Regedit;
  • go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318};
  • note down the last subkey number of that key;
  • open amt8s_1.reg (contained in the attached zip file) with Notepad;
  • “Find and replace” every instance of “\0XYZ” with last subkey number + 1;
    (for example, if last subkey number is 0008, “Find and replace” “\0XYZ” with “\0009”);
  • exit and save amt8s_1.reg;
  • do the same with amt8s_2.reg (also contained in the attached zip file);
  • double click on amt8s_1.reg;
  • start Regedit;
  • go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root;
  • right click on Root;
    - NOTE: my Windows 7 version is localized in Italian; I don’t know the exact English equivalent for the following steps, if you use the English Windows 7 localization;
  • Autorizzazioni;
  • Avanzate;
  • Proprietario → Modifica proprietario in:
  • click on Paolo (Paolo-PC\Paolo); this is my username on Windows, you must click on your username;
  • OK;
  • Utenti e gruppi → click on DIRITTI PROPRIETARIO;
  • enable Consenti → Controllo completo;
  • OK;
  • double click on amt8s_2.reg;
  • restore previous Proprietario;
  • reboot;
  • DONE!

One last thing: I absolutely don’t guarantee this will work for you, do at your own risk! Anyway, please let me know should it work!

Paolo
amt8s.zip (2.31 KB)

Hey, Just to give everyone heads-up. I’m running Cubase 6.5.2 on a win XP system with no problems at all!
Steinberg says Cubase 6 is NOT supported, but never said it wouldn’t run on a XP system!..Cheers!!

Hello Paulo,
I’d like to ask you few questions on driver installation.
Being far away from home I decided to test installation you described for AMT8.
I managed to follow all steps. Both registry keys have been successfully added. It was a bit tricky for root\Media key, it didn’t let me change owner rights even under administrator account but I used third party tool to make it happen.

Finally after reboot new driver appeared in Sound, video, game controllers → emagic AMT8.
But no any MIDI in/out ports are visible from sequencer.
Sure, I don’t have AMT8 with me. Is it the root cause? I meant if AMT8 is disconnected or powered off, should I still see Midi ports in the list?

and another question. I’ve never used AMT8 serial connection and don’t have cable from the box. I’ve just read that normal null-modem cable needs to be reworked:
http://www.kymatasound.com/AMT8RS232.htm
is it true?

Hope, to get answer from you. Thank you in advance.

Hello,

Sorry for reviving this thread. Read this thread and my 8x8 predicament is as bad as everyone elses here. The level of the responses I noticed was high and so I will offer my story and hope someone reads it and can help.

My Midisport 8x8/s USB just died. :frowning: In Cubase and other DAW’s I can see all eight midi ports though I use only seven and all are Midi channel 1, so I distinguish them by port number. And yes there is a driver for Windows 7 64 bit. Luck me!

TSI http://www.tsirepair.com/ informed me that to send in the Midisport and they may be able to repair it. It’s a gamble.

In my closet I found a dusty Roland A-880 which is 8x8. This is a 8 in and 8 out midi patcher/mixer without USB. Yes, truly a miracle!? Eight midi in and eight midi out. I can map all my eight midi in to go to a single midi out. I need 7 midi controllers to go down a single USB connector which I plug into my computer.

My question:
If I get a “midi to USB device” http://tinyurl.com/bgr9nho or a “midi pci card” will the single midi out plugged in to the adaptor be able to handle the midi stream? Will I be able to see the all eight ports in Cubase?

It will be another miracle if I can get the one midi out into a usb. Please help.

Steinberg staff, I see an opportunity here…

For everyone who wants to use Unitor8 (Serial connection) with Windows7 32bit, the Registry-files of Paolo have to be modified.
Similar to Paolo I checked the registry settings on WindowsXP and changed all Unitor8-relating values in Paolos .reg-files and it works great with my oldschool digi9652 and Cubase6.5 on Windows7 32bit. If you like to install the driver for Unitor8 serial, use Paolos tutorial in combination with the following modified .reg-files…for sure I don’t guarantee for nothing, you can do it at your own risk :slight_smile:
Registry_Unitor8.zip (2.38 KB)

Or how about a community effort?

In a dream multi-port interface, with hardware thru ports for all in ports and software routing capabilities, how many in’s and how many out’s would you want?