Somewhat simple use case, but need some help

Hi all, just making sure I have my MIDI hub set up properly. I have 3 synths and then 1 midi thru box with synths that I control from my MIDI controller via USB. The thru box is A.

So for A, I just have that output on the MIDI hub going to A. In The editor I have it set as From USB A to DIN A output.

The slightly more complex thing I want to do is use sysex plugin editors in ableton to send and receive from my romplers so I can edit them and see the updates from the synth in the synths plugin editor. I want to do this without any loop back since I send and receive sysex patches to them as well.

Is this the proper way to do this ? :

I have a Rompler DIN midi out going to the MIDI hub’s B input. I then have the output from MIDI hub B going into the Rompler’s input. In the midi hub editor I have “From DIN B” going “to DIN B”. This would be so I can send sysex back and forth to the synth.

My other question is how can I play the synth with my midi controller? Do I need to use the output of my interface for that? What is confusing is that in ableton it seems like I can use any of the 4 MIDIhub ports to send to any of the synths as long as the proper midi channel is selected.

Its all pretty confusing, so any help apreciated. If I can play my synths and also use the sysex editors so I have a gui that shows me the synth and each path details that I am loading, I’d be really happy.

This makes Midihub simply loop back whatever the Rompler sends back to itself.

Do you want the host computer to be aware of the MIDI messages the Rompler is sending? If so, do it like this:

FROM USB B → TO MIDI B
FROM MIDI B → TO USB B

This will make the Midihub’s USB B port (Midihub MH-… Port 2 in Ableton’s preferences) to be usable to send & receive MIDI data to/from the Rompler.


Here’s a quick description on how the MIDI events flow between the host, Midihub and DIN-5 synths.

The way the host computers see Midihub is as a device having 4 USB MIDI input ports and 4 USB MIDI output ports. The preset stored into Midihub’s memory is the one that routes out and around all of the MIDI data between the USB MIDI and DIN-5 MIDI ports.

While there’s not a single pipe placed in the preset, Midihub acts as a basic 4 in 4 out USB MIDI interface with direct mappings between the port letters. (see File → Open Example… and pick MIDI USB interface.mhp to see the equivalent preset)

As soon as a single pipe is placed, it stops being a simple interface, and all the MIDI routing logic is now based on the preset you build.

In order to get MIDI events into Midihub from your host computer, you have to make the software on the host send MIDI events to MIDI output ports named MH-… Port 1 - 4 (or these names), these will appear in Midihub’s preset as originating at FROM USB A - D pipes, respectively.

As within every line in the preset, the MIDI data flows only to the right (and you can get multiple copies of the same MIDI data too, if you place more than one identical Input pipe, that’s how you’d build THRU type functionality, by multiplying same events, sending to different outputs), you build out your processing chain towards the right, finally terminating it with some Output pipe.

To get MIDI data into the host computer, you send it TO USB A - D Output pipe, the MIDI events on the host will appear as coming in from MIDI input ports named MH-… Port 1 - 4 (or these names).

The DIN-5 MIDI data enters the Midihub’s preset at FROM MIDI A - D Input pipes, matching the DIN-5 input ports at Midihub’s Input side. Similarly, the MIDI data sent TO MIDI A - D Output will appear at the matching Midihub’s DIN-5 output ports.

Let me know if this makes sense. :slight_smile:

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Oh wow, thank you for the detailed answer. I did not put it together that I should assign the different USBs to the synths. This explains a lot. I probably was going to have loopback issues just using Din to Din.

And yeah all I want to do is be able to send midi to a rompler to play it, send sysex patches and use CC’s, and then get midi back from the rompler so I can see the patch in the software editors I have for the Rompler. Pretty simple where I can build a patch in the editor, shoot it to the Rompler and then the GUI reflects the changes I made. Huge help for programming these rack synths and I have been struggling to get it set up properly. I will try this setup you mentioned - FROM USB B → TO MIDI B
FROM MIDI B → TO USB B

Thank you!

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