MIDI 16x16 MIDI Interface

I had been using a MOTU MIDI Express 128, which was fine _when it worked_. But it needed custom drivers, and often would just go AWOL. There are other products like the iConnectivity mio10 and MOTU MIDI Express XT which look ok. But they both have fancy clever features with clocks or presets or ethernet which I don't need and don't want. And MOTU still needs drivers. I took a chance on this on it's PERFECT. Super simple, plug and play. And it _works_. And it has more MIDI ports than the other choices. You can see the hardware design is "basic", just sheet metal and holes for ports and LEDs. No fancy injection-molded parts or clear panels. It is solid though. For some reason it doesn't come up easily in product searches. Some notes, though: 1. The rack size is "one and a half" and you can't use all four screw holes without drilling. I just used the bottom two. 2. It is finicky with respect to USB hubs. It works when plugged into my laptop. It works plugged into my cheapo four-banger dangling USB2 hub. It didn't work connected to my really nice powered 16-port USB3 hub. (Symptom is the white power LED lights up, then the green and red LEDs flutter a little and it goes dark. I'm guessing they don't do power negotiation quite right.) 3. It is the identical product from Midiplus and from Miditech, both associated with a company called Tahorng. Or something. They're the same. Sometimes different prices though. Only used it a few days, no reason it should "wear out" but time will tell on that front. Overall: Pleased as punch to finally have enough ports to reliably hook up ALL my devices! EDIT: 2021-04-30 Still working great.

This unit is exactly what I was hoping for. Nothing fancy and does the job. Only 4 stars because it wasn't easy to get it to work in my system. This unit HATES USB hubs. In the end I used a powered USB hub and got it to work as advertised. I'll mention the non-standard rack spacing like all the other reviews. Not a big deal. It leaves 7/8" empty space in your rack. I can live with that. In the end, it works great, price was good compared to other units with less MIDI ins and outs than this one.

I now have 5 of these units. Yes, the rack spacing is non standard for the US. Like others reported, I just use two holes as well and they hold without a problem. I just view the space they leave before the next rack unit can be mounted as an additional heat vent. The install is nothing but attaching to a USB port as they are class compliant for Win10/11. No drivers to install. I have one attached to a BomeBox and there was no problem with this working as well. The only caveat is that as a 16 port unit, their power draw via USB is not handled well by tiny NUCs like the Micro Ace etc. Other than the BomeBox, the rest are attached to either Lenovo or HP mini PCs.

I needed a 16 x 16 USB MIDI interface with all connection on the rear panel. My equipment is rack mounted and front connections are useless. I was therefore pleased to see this product for sale. It appears to be the only such product on the market, although it is sold under two different brand names. However, the Chinese manufacturer clearly does not understand the concept of NEMA rack specifications. I could see that that the unit was more than 1U (1.75") in height so I assumed it was the next size up, i.e., 2U (3.5"). But no, the unit is a completely non-standard 1.5U in height. That means that there will be an open gap of 7/8" above or below the unit when rack mounted. Further, the location of the rack ear mounting holes will not allow it to be mounted to standard NEMA rack rails without modifying the sheet metal. Regardless of the enclosure size, the front panel should have been a standard 2U with standard mounting hole locations. I am in a position to have some sheet metal fabrication capabilities so I guess I can mill out the mounting holes to allow it to be rack mounted and to fabricate a custom blank panel to fill the gap, but jeez. Even if it works perfectly, it still only deserves one star for such nonsense. Unless you are prepared to start cutting metal don't buy this product if rack mounting is intended. I did connect the unit via USB to a Windows 10 PC. The MIDI ports were recognized after the PC was rebooted. There is a large obnoxiously bright white LED on the front panel that indicates USB connection. Now that I know it is functioning it is time to take it to the workshop to mill out two of the rack ear mounting holes to allow it to be rack mounted. If there were any other product with the 16 x 16 MIDI i/O capabilities I would have returned it. Late note: I have modified the unit to fit into my equipment rack. All four rack ear holes had to be nibbled out with a sheet metal punch. The top holes needed to be enlarged about 0.1" upward and the bottom holes needed to be enlarged about 0.1" downward. That means the hole centers are off by nearly 1/4" for mounting in a NEMA standard rack.

Pros- did work with Mac CoreMidi, no drivers needed. Did work with sysex and older synths. Cons - non standard rack size - 1 2/3 U? Died after about 2 years of working. Channels went out a few at a time, now not even recognized as an interface in my Mac Mini M1's Audio MIDI Setup.

It works well. So far it does everything i need it to do. Not difficult to set up. Just plug it in and your computer does the rest. I would give it 5 stars if it weren't for the odd size which doesn't fit in a rack with other gear very well. I've got a workaround that so far works, but we'll see.

I was looking so much forward to use the interface to control all my gear with ableton but I am so disappointed that after using about 12 USB cables of all kind I am getting ghost notes inconsistently every time. You can even do 1 single scale without a ghost note. I am returning it and use my Hapax instead. Hope this will help you folks.