Hi,
I saw a few pictures of DAW controllers that had more than 16 fader. But I could not find any information about how this works.
As I understood: Every fader information needs to be sent on a special channel. But there are just 16 midi channels. So what do I do if I want to have more faders?
I suppose one way would be, to have more than one midi device but is there a way to do this with just one midi device?
Best Regards
Your question isn’t specific enough, I don’t know what you want to achieve, therefore I fear that nobody can give you a sufficient answer…
Of course, MIDI allows everything, the channel limitation can be easily bypassed by using SysEx messages.
By transporting MIDI events via USB the speed doesn’t matter, a clever MIDI implementation is even faster than any OSC solution (IMHO).
While speaking about USB: with USB up to 16 IN/OUT “cable connections” can be created from a single USB port, which means 16x16 channels.
This could be sufficient for your specific usecase if you are not able to change the DAW drivers?
I mean (considering your last posting): you could create 16 virtual Mackie Control Emulations from a single USB MIDI device - is this for what you are searching for?
Best Regards, Thorsten.
I might have not given very much information.
I want to use one USB port. As you got right I want to have more than 16 faders behind that and I think you have the solution.
You are saying I can emulate 16 midi devices on one real device? And every device works the same? So I could use this very easiely with every DAW software instead of using sysex messages which would not work without anything else?
Do you have a link or something where I can find more information about this?
Yes, every “USB MIDI cable” is handled like a separate MIDI interface, proven on MacOS 10.4 .. latest/Linux/WinXP/Vista/Win7 (at least)
The DAW software only looks for MIDI interfaces, and every USB device which is compliant to the USB-MIDI specification (-> http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/midi10.pdf ) can announce up to 16 - just follow the descriptor example.
Each interface has a cable number, which is coded in byte 0, bit [7:4] of the Event Packet (see Figure 8)
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Thanks, I will try this. I think it’ll take a while 
Each interface has a cable number, which is coded in byte 0, bit [7:4] of the Event Packet (see Figure 8)
I am confused. You said I can have 16 times 16 channels? But in this sentence you are saying that the 16 different devices code themselvess in the cable/channel number (byte 0)?
Where would it be possible to choose again 16 times which 16 channels I want? Or does my computer recognize 16 different midi devices and each one has 16 channels in byte 0?
Or does my computer recognize 16 different midi devices and each one has 16 channels in byte 0?
Yes.
I am confused. You said I can have 16 times 16 channels? But in this sentence you are saying that the 16 different devices code themselvess in the cable/channel number (byte 0)?
I haven’t said “cable/channel” number, but cable number in byte 0, bit [7:4] of the Event Packet (see Figure 8)
The MIDI channel number is coded into byte 1, bit [3:0] of the Event Packet.
Please read the linked document again, it clearly explains the protocol, I couldn’t explain it better.
The second
Hi,
I got it now and it works. I changed the midi usb descriptor. My computer recognizes a few different midi devices and each one has 16 channels.
Now I got another problem. The devices are displayed as:
“Device” / “Device”
“MIDIIN2 (Device)” / “MIDIOUT2 (Device)”
…
Is it possible to change the name? I couldn’t find any information about this.
Best Regards
Which Operating System?
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Do you mean Win7?
I wanted to change it on my device. I thought I could change something in the descriptor?
If you’ve luck the port names can be changed somewhere in the registry (just open “reged” and search for the name which should be changed)
They can’t be defined in the descriptor.
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Thanks.
If they cannot be set on the device I do not need to change them.