Connecting 2 midi synths to both send and receive

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Hello fellow Elektonauts,
I did a search but came up with no similar questions.

I want to be able to connect my Moog Grandmother and my Behringer MS-1 to the Digitakt in a way that I can send midi note messages from both synths and receive midi as well. Both synths have midi thru. I’ve been able to send midi to both synths, BUT I can only send midi from one synth at a time with this setup. I can’t seem to figure out how I can send midi from both synths without having to reroute midi cables. If there is no way to do it, I’ll accept my fate and just keep plugging and unplugging as needed, but I feel like there should be a way.

Can anyone shed some light on this situation?

Thanks in advance!
Ara

#2

Welcome to the forum!

In many scenarios, people would use one synth as a primary keyboard for playing notes in a system like yours.

Your options, in increasing order of complexity, are:

  • Use only one of your two synths to play the other instruments;
  • Reroute your MIDI cables as you have been doing so far;
  • Buy a 2 -> 1 MIDI merge box to merge the messages from the two synths into the DT’s MIDI In;
  • Connect the instruments to a computer (or other MIDI host device) and use software to route the MIDI messages.
2 Likes
#3

Thanks so much Peter for taking the time to write that thorough explanation!

I think option 3 is what I’m looking for. Although I have Ableton and enjoy using it, I bought the Digitakt so that I can do more of a DAWless setup when I don’t feel like being in front of a computer. Is there a MIDI merge box that you recommend?