The BomeBox and BMT documentation offers a lot of options for how to interconnect my devices, and I’m at a loss to pick one that is appropriate for my needs. Hoping you can suggest something straightforward …
I’ve got a Laptop running BMT and (as soon as US Customs releases it) a BomeBox. My rig also has:
3 or 4 MIDI sources (Sylphyo wind synth, Ableton Push 3S, Novation LaunchPad, and maybe even a NDLR),
numerous physical synths (VL70, Tooro, CraftSynth, Aodyo Link), and
things I need to control (Allen & Heath CQ20B, various hardware FX units, and maybe even the Push 3).
My plan is to connect all the above devices by USB (sometimes through a MIDI DIN<=>USB interface) to a big USB hub and have either the BomeBox or the Laptop be the USB host, actively filtering all MIDI, routing it, and controlling all the boxes.
However, since only one unit can be the USB host, I am not clear on:
how I can easily switch between the laptop controlling my rig (for testing) and the BomeBox controlling it (for ‘production’) and also
how I can get the BomeBox connected to the Laptop (for configuration and transfer of BMTP).
I have a general ‘Basement Area Network’ (wired and WiFi), but that does not seem to come into play, since I would like to be able to switch between the Laptop and the BomeBox for control of the Rig.
Yes this will work. Make sure it is a powered USB hub.
When on the Computer you hook to connect to the ports via Bome Network Remote Direct MIDI feature. Basically it enable the BomeBox to expose all selected attached MIDI ports. On you computer you then set your alias, point to those remote ports for testing.
In the below example I am using Bome Network to expose the 5 connected devices on my BomeBox. One is the BomeBox DIN port and the other ports are MIDI DIN to USB conversion via a Blokas MIDIHub.
On my computer in Bome MIDI Translator the ports are shown as follows:
I would recommend you give these ports Alias names. Then later when you transfer your project to BomeBox, you reassign the aliases on your BomeBox to the locally (to BomeBox) attached ports.
Just download Bome Network. It is free to use for BomeBox to Computer and Computer to BomeBox communications.
For transferring the project file there is a web interface and you can just select the file on your computer and upload it.
The two domains works independently at home and on stage.
For your gigs:
You simply pull the Ethernet plug out of the BomeBox and the whole Bome Domain keeps running standalone. You have your laptop with you anyway. If anything needs to be configured off-site, you can communicate with the BomeBox by WiFi.
At home:
With the “Bome Network” software on the laptop you can establish direct connections with individual devices by mouse click. Then each one can be used almost as if it were plugged directly into the computer.
A note: If you have devices whose editors do not or do not always work via the BomeBox, you may need an additional USB hub or a USB extension to temporarily connect this gear to the computer.
Right! I had something like this vaguely in mind, but @Peter.Ostry this takes it a major step further … Thank you so much!!
One question that comes to mind: When developing and testing using BMT from the Laptop, will I need to manually disable the MIDI translations of the BomeBox (or else I may have ‘double MIDI routing / translation’ going on)?
I have had no issues working with the Gekry and I-Tikol hubs. They are compact and provide USB power at levels sufficient for my gear. So, your USB Hubs A, B, and C are combined in my (round 1) USB topology into a single 16-port I-Tikol hub.
Is there an advantage to your 3-hub topology in the BOME Domain versus a single big hub?
Another thing is that I am planning on plugging at least some of my DIN MIDI devices directly into the BomeBox. Since I’m planning on routing all MIDI through the BomeBox, I think this should be OK.
Then each one can be used almost as if it were plugged directly into the computer.
… Yes! … now I’m beginning to see how the BomeBox works … Honestly, it was not really clear to me how this was all going to play out. The Bome Box descriptions did not really set up in my mind the possibilities of a setup such as this …
devices whose editors do not or do not always work via the BomeBox
… or things such as outgoing DIN5 patch-save operations that I do occasionally for backup or to shadow one device to another (such as between the two VL70’s)
As I have much simpler processes than you, I don’t do that. I simply write in BMT, load the file into the BomeBox and check the function. Since I have been programming databases and websites for a few years, this is a familiar scenario for me.
Steve can probably explain better how best to ‘switch’ between BMT and BomeBox, as he does it all the time.
I’ll try to describe the circumstances: On the computer, you only see one input and one output port on the BomeBox. But for development you need the virtual in/out ports in BMT. This means aliases for the BomeBox I/O. You also need the ports of all devices that you manually connect to the computer for development via Bome Network. This means aliases for each device I/O.
In the BomeBox itself, it is sufficient to deactivate the currently loaded file via the web interface and ensure that no route is open. If the aliases are set correctly, switching standalone/development should be limited to a few clicks in the web interface.
No, rather a personal thing. My devices are not together in one place.
I have no experience with 16-port hubs, but with a good power supply such a thing should be able to handle USB-powered devices. Just look at the maximum power consumption of your devices and whether the total power (!) of the hub is sufficient.
Well, this means DIN serial or a MIDI Merger. Why not. I would prefer a MIDI interface to the hub, but it really depends on what is running and how.
Not necessarily. I think I did patch saving with Eventide effects through the BomeBox. But I prefer to route them manually (Bome Network) for backup. For the editors, it’s rather a matter of the protocol. Some editors use additionally their own protocol, they are not happy with MIDI/Sysex alone. And some insist on certain port names, which we don’t have via Bome.
As far as routing, turn off all automatic routes after shutting down your project file on BomeBox. Then use Remote Direct Midi on Bome Network to access you BomeBox devices remotely with Bome MIDI Translator Pro in testing mode.
BomeBox arrived (three weeks, much of it in Customs). Got it mostly working … except …
Is there a way to see the activity log from the BomeBox? It would really aid in development … (since things are not working the say between a networked BMT and the local BomeBox) …
There is Log pulldown from the main screen but logging is pretty limited on BomeBox. I usually set up MIDI paths back to the computer if something is not working to see what is happening. If your computer is named ‘My Computer’ you would set up a path from the suspect incoming port on your BomeBox to ‘My Computer’ then set up MT Pro on your computer to monitor ‘BomeBox’ (if that is the name of your BomeBox) and then you can monitor traffic at different points. In might also help to turn off any Remote Direct Midi ports enabled on your computer.
The most common reasons for things not working is you may be sending and receiving from physical ports in some of your translators instead of the assigned alias. For instance if you are sending to ‘Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual’ instead the alias ‘MySynth’, you may have problems because there is no port called ‘Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual’ on your BomeBox.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
So I’ve found that, in my case, I can smoothly run the whole Bome project from another host using BMT (with full BMT logging and error reporting), and there are no issues (as long as I don’t screw up the alias reassignments) when transferring to the BomeBox.
This quickly becomes addictive.
I can now run my entire video rig from any of three hosts (PCs), and it’s set up for the road simply by transferring to the BomeBox. I’m now expanding things to control OBS Studio (+ a plugin) from MIDI controllers in my rig (Push3S or Novation LaunchPad or FaderFox EC4) and may move on to my ATEM video switcher (although that’s at my right arm at the moment, so a MIDI controller might not be easier).
I guess for one host to control another, Bome Network Pro is needed … don’t have a need for that … yet.
If you use 1 at a time with 1 license, then yes. Your Bome MIDI Translator Pro license allows you to run on as many machines as you like but only one at a time. If you run concurrently on 3 machines and only have 1 license, you should purchase 2 more.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care
Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
