2MIDI Hardware

Making MIDI connections is deceptively simple. While most setups have benefited from the integration of USB as a MIDI carrier, there are six common ways to connect MIDI devices. Each method has similarities and differences, but none have been able to fully escape the low bandwidth of the original MIDI design. What this means is that you can’t look to a single format as being better than the rest and instead you have to look at each individual interface and workflow. The six connection types are the 5-pin DIN MIDI cable, USB, FireWire, Ethernet, PCI cards, and WiFi. In this chapter we explore the practical side of hooking things together.

Five-pin DIN MIDI Cables

Five-pin DIN MIDI cables have been around since the earliest MIDI ...

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