max amount of expansion?

[Nelson Baboon]

My second mrcc arrived, and i'm sitting here trying to organize my midi setup to figure out how to set this all up.

I'm wondering one thing - will any of the currently planned accessories (like the splitter, etc) allow a system of 3 MRCCs? Ultimately, in looking at my room and all of my midi devices, I have 3 sections of the room. 2 mrcc's won't be enough (of course, i don't have to connect everything to the mrccs immediately), but given the usb connections, and the sheer amount of midi (some devices have multiple midi ports) - if it came to be an option to have 3 MRCCs, I'd do that, and then sell the remote.

3 would be so ideal!!!

if 3 will never be an option, of course, i could bring in an older splitter, and try to employ a 3rd one - using 3 mrccs and the router. Not sure how that would all work, but in my mind, it seems to.

Just trying to figure out an initial config here, and realizing that I'd really like to hook up 3 of these.

[Dark Waves]

if 3 will never be an option, of course, i could bring in an older splitter, and try to employ a 3rd one - using 3 mrccs and the router. Not sure how that would all work, but in my mind, it seems to.

Just one idea, if there's a part of your studio (one of the three) which is more independent from the others, or just less used, you could set it up with it's own MRCC that wouldn't be integrated the way the first two are, and then just run a pair (or two) of DIN cables to one of the main MRCCs and basically just daisy chain to an in port and an out port there, and then just route to the third MRCC (and back if needed) the way you would to anything else, as if it were a multi part synth.  Since each MIDI connection has 16 channels, you could probably still get a fair amount of flexibility in addressing devices in your third zone.  This way you wouldn't need the splitter.

One thing that I would find complicated is having multiple MRCCs connected to my PC, and trying to keep all the virtual connection straight in my DAW.   But just for standalone use it seems like a viable option.

As far as plans for the future updates allowing for multiple devices to talk to each other and seamlessly route from any source to any destination the way it's now possible with just two units, of course I can't speak for the company, but the level of complexity involved is such that I'm frankly quite impressed that they've managed to do it with even just two routers in this budget range, with the only compromise being that the Remote 7 ports return to parallel outs and not additional ones.  Of course MIDI uses much less bandwidth, but video routers traditionally have a mainframe buried in a rack somewhere doing all the processing and switching, and all the signal (video) connections and user control points are just dumb remote terminals feeding into the mainframe, which is very expensive, unlike the MRCC which combines controls, signal connections, and the actual routing in an all-in-one device, which is obviously the most viable form for the typical musician or small studio.  But hey, we can dream, and I do like the idea.

[Nelson Baboon]

yeah - one of them being independent. already thought of that, and obviously that would work. But I'd love the flexibility of hooking them all up together.

another issue that is mixing up my brain a bit today as i think about all of this, is that even if I'd like to set a lot of this up w/o a computer, i have a few synths with software editors, and I also have a controller (love it - the electra.one) that needs to have the computer as a link in the communication.

So, this is all a bit of a challenge.

ok. back to multitasking and being confused. (note - i don't mind doing it, but come on - please update to the latest firmware before you ship these out. The one that I just received and was ordered just 3 days ago, still has 1.0.147 on it. Not a big deal of course. I love this company)

[oldgearguy]

Note that having computer editors talking to synths across the MRCC doesn't seem to work. Straight sysex dump or CC type stuff, no problem. However, getting (for example) Arturia sw to communicate with a KeyStep or the tc ICON app to talk to a tc reverb only works with a direct connect PC <--> device without the MRCC in the middle.

[Dark Waves]

Note that having computer editors talking to synths across the MRCC doesn't seem to work.  Straight sysex dump or CC type stuff,  no problem.  However,  getting (for example) Arturia sw to communicate with a KeyStep or the tc ICON app to talk to a tc reverb only works with a direct connect PC <--> device without the MRCC in the middle.

In your experimentation, have you had something like a synth connected both to a computer via USB, and to the MRCC on DIN?  Curious if such a combination causes any timing hiccups or other anomalies.  I imagine one would have to be careful not to feed note info and the like from two sources, especially on the same channel, but that's just a guess coming from limited setup experience so far.  Or maybe the devices only 'listen' to one input at a time?  Like I said, still learning.

[Nelson Baboon]

Well, I realized today that a computer editor + an mrcc connections should work fine in the following scenario. I realized that it probably would, and verified it - for one synth only, but I think it will be the same.

If the synth has both usb and din midi connections, usually (not always, I guess) they can both be active simultaneously.

So, I set up my motas 6 (the synth itself isn't really relevant, but it's just a chance for a little shout out for a great synth and a great small company of one person who makes them) with a sequencer controlling the motas through the mrcc, but then the editor working through the usb connection.

I think that a similar set up (if they both work simultaneously, which i suspect they will) will work with my electra.one, and the synths I use it with.

I'm pretty thrilled the way that this is working out - i spent way too long puzzled over this and that but yeah - i have the 2 mrccs working together. Works great.  I practically shouted for joy when I got it to work. I forgot that I try to act glum all of the time.

next test is to see if i can get the equivalent data flow with the electron.one controller. I don't see why not - i think that you can use both the usb and din at the same time.

Pathetically, I haven't tried the MRCC arpeggiator yet. I will have to get that going this weekend.

[Dark Waves]

It's great to know that at least some synths can handle multiple MIDI in sources at the same time.  I'm going to have to try it out on my Pulse2.

[oldgearguy]

Well, I realized today that a computer editor + an mrcc connections should work fine in the following scenario. I realized that it probably would, and verified it - for one synth only, but I think it will be the same.

If the synth has both usb and din midi connections, usually (not always, I guess) they can both be active simultaneously.

So, I set up my motas 6 (the synth itself isn't really relevant, but it's just a chance for a little shout out for a great synth and a great small company of one person who makes them) with a sequencer controlling the motas through the mrcc, but then the editor working through the usb connection.

I think that a similar set up (if they both work simultaneously, which i suspect they will) will work with my electra.one, and the synths I use it with.

I'm pretty thrilled the way that this is working out - i spent way too long puzzled over this and that but yeah - i have the 2 mrccs working together. Works great.  I practically shouted for joy when I got it to work. I forgot that I try to act glum all of the time.

next test is to see if i can get the equivalent data flow with the electron.one controller. I don't see why not - i think that you can use both the usb and din at the same time.

Pathetically, I haven't tried the MRCC arpeggiator yet. I will have to get that going this weekend.

As long as you're not trying to edit the Electra.one presets or have it communicate in any way to the computer through the MRCC you'll be fine (I have an E.1 here as well).  IOW - using it as a standalone controller talking to other gear through the MRCC is perfectly fine and in parallel connected to the computer via USB should work.

[Nelson Baboon]

Well, I realized today that a computer editor + an mrcc connections should work fine in the following scenario. I realized that it probably would, and verified it - for one synth only, but I think it will be the same.

If the synth has both usb and din midi connections, usually (not always, I guess) they can both be active simultaneously.

So, I set up my motas 6 (the synth itself isn't really relevant, but it's just a chance for a little shout out for a great synth and a great small company of one person who makes them) with a sequencer controlling the motas through the mrcc, but then the editor working through the usb connection.

I think that a similar set up (if they both work simultaneously, which i suspect they will) will work with my electra.one, and the synths I use it with.

I'm pretty thrilled the way that this is working out - i spent way too long puzzled over this and that but yeah - i have the 2 mrccs working together. Works great.  I practically shouted for joy when I got it to work. I forgot that I try to act glum all of the time.

next test is to see if i can get the equivalent data flow with the electron.one controller. I don't see why not - i think that you can use both the usb and din at the same time.

Pathetically, I haven't tried the MRCC arpeggiator yet. I will have to get that going this weekend.

As long as you're not trying to edit the Electra.one presets or have it communicate in any way to the computer through the MRCC you'll be fine (I have an E.1 here as well).  IOW - using it as a standalone controller talking to other gear through the MRCC is perfectly fine and in parallel connected to the computer via USB should work.

yes. Since by definition i'm going to be using a computer software synth editor on the computer, I don't mind setting up 2 connections for it, and editing on the computer. And the computer editor will only communicate with this one synth - i don't need any additional flexibility with its routing. 

I'm not aware of any synth with an editor (that I have) where these 2 independent connections could not be made...but i may be forgetting .

the potential issue with the electra.one that I had foreseen without thinking about it too hard, was in designing the editor for a synth. Obviously this wouldn't work if the connections were soley through the mrcc.