Miditech Midi Thru 4 /Filter Reviews

Does everything I need it to

I use this to split midi signals in order to sequence different synthesizers. It works perfectly.

Pros:

-Is quite affordable in comparison to similar products.

-It has the ability to selectively block certain midi messages (e.g. velocity, sysex, etc.)

Con:

-Made of cheap plastic.

It's very useful to have, and comparitively good value for money.

Works out of the box.

This unit isn't going to create world peace but it will hep you route your midi signals efficiently and effectively Does what it says on the tin. Glad I bought it.

Doesn't do what it promises

Bought this to detune a synth from another synth by one octave using the Transpose function. The manual says it can transpose +/- 2 octaves. After months of trying intermittently, the manufacturer responded to one of my messages, and it turns out the manual was wrong. The manual was quickly updated, but updating a manual doesn't make my device work.

Money gone and another useless plastic brick.

Power needed!

Works good, if you have power from your main midi in cable.

I was surprised that it haven't worked with Miditech's own Midilink mini and few cheap midi interface manufacturers-for beginners in midi especially- are giving warning/notice about whenever their product provides midi power or not.

From all other synth sources-Volcas (DIY midi out), Arturia's sequencers, Octatrack and so, I haven't problem at all.

Having midi splitter (and filter) without batteries/power cables is great and I would buy another in some time.

Easy to use, does the job

Once I realized that the description of what each switch does is printed in the opposite order of the layout of the switches it worked great. Done everything as advertised, no problems this far. In fact, I bought a second one.

Does the job beautifully, no latency, no power issues

Great price, great bit of gear! Works perfectly well for my set up.

I bought two of these as they are at a great price, and because my gear is all hardware with a fairly complex setup, and I found in multiple instances that even if a device (synth, MIDI controller etc) has MIDI IN and OUT ports, doesn't mean they both work simultaneously (I can't understand why) and obviously doesn't mean they can do MIDI thru or merge.

Also I don't need to have extremely strong build quality since they won't be moved from the desk.

So I'll outline my setup in case anyone with similar equipment is looking to know if these Miditech boxes will work ok. I suspect they will!

It's hard to put into understandable words (a picture would be better but I'll try anyway. You'd probably be as well drawing your own picture as you read down through this!)

I have Roland TR-8 Drum Machine with MIDI OUT port (master clock) going to Miditech box1 IN.

OUT1 on the Miditech box1 goes to a Korg Volca Beats IN port (for clock only, no need for MIDI controller control on the Beats) and OUT2 goes to IN on an Arturia KeyStep Arp/Sequencer. (There will be more devices added to the OUT3 and OUT4 at a later date. (Clearly, as you'll see from the rest of this, I'm completely addicted to hardware :)

So this keeps perfect clock time, no noticeable latency of any kind. No power issues with the Miditech box running off the TR-8.

Next, I have a Tascam FW1884 Mixer with inbuilt 4 IN / 4 OUT MIDI (2 IN > 4 OUT/THRU/MERGE simultaneously).

The KeyStep OUT port goes to FW1884 IN1 port (which passes clock to everything else).

A Korg Kontrol 49 MIDI controller OUT port goes to FW1884 IN2 port.

FW1884 OUT1, OUT2 and OUT3 ports go to a Volca Keys, a Novation Bass Station 2, and an Access Virus C Desktop ..for MIDI Controller control AND KeyStep arp/sequencing (and clock), on ALL of these synths.

FW1884 OUT4 port goes into second Miditech box IN port. Again, no noticeable latency or issues with power.

Miditech box2 OUT1 goes to the TR-8 IN (so some functions can be controlled by the MIDI controller such as scatter and sidechain).

Miditech box2 OUT2 goes to a Korg KP3, also so it can be controlled by the MIDI keyboard (ie: the hold button and effects volume).

Miditech box2 OUT3 goes to a Volca Bass.

Ok so all that's probably hard to follow but put as simply as possible, with all the gear tied together using two Miditech boxes, I can play and/or control a Volca Bass, Volca Beats, Access Virus C, Bass Station, TR-8, KP3 with the programmed K49 controller (specific synth determined by K49 scene and midi channel - just a 2 button press) AND I can play an arp or sequence with the KeyStep on any of the synths (excluding the Volca Beats) and switch between them very easily (again, specific synth determined by midi channel set on the KeyStep - also just a 2 button press). All latency free.

I am absolutely delighted with these Miditech boxes. No need for external power as they power off the MIDI IN device (although while I haven't had any issue myself, I believe some devices won't quite have enough power for it or won't pass the power through properly. This would not be the Miditech box at fault.)

I currently have no need for the filter on the Miditech boxes but tested it anyway and it worked very well. All switches off, everything gets through. One switch or more on, and the MIDI gets filtered accordingly.

Even if it didn't have the filter switches, they're still one of, if not THE cheapest 1 IN > 4 OUT/THRU MIDI boxes going. Not the strongest plastic shell I've ever seen but you should be fine if you don't get too rough with it.

Highly recommended!

Does what's needed without issue

This is an essential product for anyone serious about using hardware to make music. Plug in and off you go, no fuss. Configure the filtering if needed, again without fuss. I would prefer a sturdier case with retaining screws on the enclosure as it probably wouldn't survive a hectic gigging schedule but I am unlikely to have issue with it.

Buy it, you can't go wrong with the features for price :)

Poor quality

Returned due to poor quality, was sending bad MIDI data.

Also, the filter functionality is unneeded by most people and likely to create problems, especially with those dip switches and their illogical implementation. (To disable filtering all must be set to OFF except Velocity... why???)

It does exactly what I needed, acting like a MIDI router and filter. Only 4 stars for the build quality which is a bit on the flimsy side, but no problems so far.

Does what it promises, except with devices with low midi output voltage/current

Works really well when used with devices with standard proper midi output. The dip switches are a nice feature to filter out unwanted messages.

Doesn't work with NI Maschine!