Used Bome MIDI Translator for several years when my rig was laptop-based … with great success.
A year ago, I went to a no-laptop ‘hardware’ rig with a Push 3S as my ‘background’ and a daisy-chained string of MIDI synths to render my Sylphyo sound. Worked great … EXCEPT …
Daisy-chaining is a problem with SysEx (which I have to send to configure some of my synths, for arcane reasons). SysEx is not channel based, so all the synths get the sysex and they get wacked out. Also … some of the synths (VL70, CraftSynth 2, and Tooro in particular) need specific CC messages to control specific functions. This is untenable, since the Sylphyo setup cannot be controlled from external MIDI and I have to do it by hand on the device on the tiny back screen … in the dark, on stage.
So … I’ve got a Bome Box on the way. Assuming my success with MIDI Translator Pro will transfer nicely to the Bome Box, using a star, rather than daisy chain config.
One question:
Do I use a MIDI Interface to supply the 8-10 OUT MIDI ports I’m gonna need? Looking at the iConnectivity mioXL … any thoughts / advice appreciated …
Yes the mioXL should do nicely. Just make sure you use the Auracle MIDI Router function configure it, however just to route to the MIDI ports you want. I think by default, it routes all ports to all other ports and you probably just want it to route to your MIDI port and then use a project file running on BomeBox to determine the routes you want to and from the mioXL. There may be lower cost solutions out there, just make sure they are USB class compliant as some are not. As a rule of thumb, if they require a driver for use with PC or Mac, they are likely not class compliant.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
In case you need to change MIDI settings for outgoing controllers, MIDI Translator (in BomeBox) could do that for you, with switchable presets. I leave the Sylphyo on my standard MIDI settings and process all CC, Aftertouch etc elsewhere. For Sylphyo-specific settings we are bound to the tiny screen of course.
As Steve said. Just keep in mind to connect devices via USB whenever you can. Active USB hubs work quite fine on the BomeBox. You can even cascade them, if this is better for the hardware setup. USB is faster than DIN MIDI.