OWNER’S MANUAL Version 1.
Need help? Email us at support@iConnectivity.com tel +1 (403) 457-1122 url www.iConnectivity.com Warranty iConnectivity warrants to the original purchaser that this unit is free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and maintenance for a period of one (1) year from the date of original purchase.
PRECAUTIONS / IMPORTANT NOTES Interference with other electrical devices FCC (USA) / IC (Canada) Regulation Warning Radios and televisions placed nearby may experience reception interference. Operate this unit at a suitable distance from radios and televisions. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Warranty ........................................................................ 2 Compatibility .................................................................. 2 Precautions/important notes ................................... 3 Do you need to read this manual? .......................... 6 What’s in the box ..................................................... 7 The iConnectMIDI2+ hardware ................................... 8 Mac OS X set-up ..........................................
Thank you for purchasing the iConnectMIDI2+ Hybrid multi-host MIDI interface with Audio passThru™ technology. Your iConnectMIDI2+ completely redefines the concept of a MIDI interface, integrating today’s professional multiple-computer set-ups with iOS devices and traditional MIDI hardware.
Do you need to read this manual? Setting up and using your iConnectMIDI2+ Hybrid multi-host MIDI interface with Audio passThru™ technology is very simple and intuitive, and anyone who’s ever used MIDI and audio interfaces should have no trouble using its basic functions without reading this manual. However, we do suggest that even the most advanced users give it a quick perusal, because there are a few details that require explanation.
What’s in the box • The iConnectMIDI2+ • One 5 ft 30-pin to iConnectivity USB (B) inline connection cable to connect the interface to an iOS device that uses this connector. • One USB-A to USB-B cable to connect the interface to a Mac or PC computer. Please contact your dealer or iConnectivity directly if any of these three items were not included in the packaging. Not included: the optional power transformer for charging iOS devices.
The iConnectMIDI2+ 8
1 Power button This switch has several functions. • Putting the iConnectMIDI2+ to sleep and waking it up. Put the device to sleep by holding the button in for a couple of seconds until the green LED (2) goes out, then releasing it. Wake it up by touching it briefly. • Hard-resetting the device. Hold the button in for about seven seconds until all the LEDs light up, then release it. • Putting the device into boot loader mode, ready to receive firmware updates.
5 Device port 1 This port accepts a USB B-standard plug for audio and MIDI connection to a Mac or Windows computer. It also accepts the iConnectivity 30-pin to USB (B) connector for both audio and MIDI connection to an iOS device. MIDI is transmitted at full USB speed. Important: Device port 1 will charge an iOS device when the optional power adapter is connected. Unlike Device port 2, it does not accept USB bus power for the iConnectMIDI2+ from a Mac or Windows computer.
Mac OS X set-up 1. Connect a USB A-to-B standard cable from Device port 1 or 2 to your Mac computer. If you’re using the iConnectMIDI2+ alone on the Mac, that’s it. It will show up as an available audio and a MIDI interface in your software. You can confirm this beforehand by opening the Audio MIDI Setup application found inside your Applications -> Utilities folder; the set-up in this program is shared by all audio and MIDI software running on the Mac.
After that the Aggregate Device will behave as a single interface with extra inputs and outputs.
Whether the iConnectMIDI2+’s audio I/Os are numbered before, after, or in between other interfaces connected to your Mac computer may be arbitrary.
In the following two screen shots, the device we’ve created (called iCM2+ & 2882) shows up in Apple Logic Pro X, then in Avid Pro Tools 10: 15
Windows set-up 1. Connect a USB A-to-B standard cable from Device port 1 or 2 to your Windows computer. The iConnectMIDI2+ will appear in your MIDI software as an available MIDI interface with four 16-channel ports. In the following dialog in the Plogue Bidule host, for example, the MIDI interface is called “USB Audio Device”: 2. For audio set-up, go to www.ASIO4all.com to download and install the free ASIO4all driver.
If you are using the iConnectMIDI2+ alongside other audio interfaces installed on the Windows computer, as shown above, they are automatically “aggregated” into what appears to the software as a single interface with combined number of outputs in each one. This is automatic when you select the ASIO4all driver. Whether the iConnectMIDI2+’s audio I/Os are numbered before, after, or in between other interfaces connected to your Windows computer may be arbitrary.
iOS set-up 1. For both audio passThru™ and MIDI, simply connect your iOS computer device to iConnectMIDI2+ Device port 1 with the supplied 30-pin to iConnectivity USB (B) inline connection cable. Device port 2 will pass MIDI only to an iOS device, and it will not charge it. The iConnectMIDI2+ should automatically take over the iOS device’s audio input and output ports, and most iOS apps will use it for MIDI input and output as well. This is the case with Apple GarageBand, for example.
Port Routing: understanding iConnectMIDI2+ MIDI The iConnectMIDI2+ has four physical sets of I/O jacks (two bidirectional USB Device Jacks plus two pairs of standard MIDI 5-pin DIN I/Os). Inside the unit each MIDI DIN pair has its own 16-channel MIDI Port, and each USB Device Jack has its own set of four 16-channel MIDI Ports. Any Port associated with one jack may be routed to any or all of the Ports in another jack’s set in the iConfig software.
Audio passThru™ Audio passThru™ is the technology behind the built-in bi-directional digital audio connection between the two computer devices hooked up to the iConnectMIDI2+’s USB Device ports. It appears to a Mac, Windows, or iOS computer device just like any other audio interface, but there are two important and unique distinctions. The first one is that this interface connects to two computers at the same time, unbeknownst to either one. Second, it doesn’t have (or need) analog-to-digital and v.v.
iConnectivity iConfig software The iConnectivity iConfig software is available for download from www.iConnectivity.com (the iOS version is available on the Apple App Store). It provides access to some sophisticated MIDI features in the iConnectivity interface(s) connected to your system, as well as the audio settings. It allows you to save and open complete routing and processing Snapshot files that make working with sophisticated systems very simple.
Launching the software/Device Info The first thing iConfig does when you launch it is scan your system for a few seconds to determine what’s connected. You can see the green iConnectMIDI2+ indicator lights flashing while this is going on. In the following example we have one unit connected to a Mac: (Should any of your iConnectivity devices fail to appear, the most likely culprit is an unplugged or bad cable, ora powered-off device. Check this and click Refresh.
Then the program opens with the Device Info screen (in the iOS version it opens the Main Menu, so please tap the green button at the upper left to bring up this screen).
About the “Running Status on DIN ports” checkbox (under MIDI Information): this defaults to being disabled/not transmitted (white), since it must be implemented – and implemented correctly - in the receiving device to function. As a practical matter, Running Status is a “leave it off unless you know otherwise” parameter. Running Status is part of the MIDI spec, implemented to reduce the amount of MIDI data that must be sent.
In the following screen from the Mac version you can see that iCM2 DIN 1 is routed to both USB Device Jacks’ first ports and to DIN 2. This is the default routing: [Port Routing window] There are countless applications in which the routing feature might be useful. Perhaps you need one MIDI keyboard controller routed to a layered sound that’s on two different computer devices, or maybe you have a percussion pad that you want “hardwired” to a percussion module.
Then select the data type to be filtered on that port. The first six types of data can be filtered on selected MIDI channels; due to their nature, the remaining data types are filtered/enabled for the entire Port on all channels. MIDI Active Sensing, an arguably obsolete command designed to let you know when a device has gone offline (usually because it’s unplugged), is filtered by default. The iOS version breaks this down into multiple steps because of its smaller screen.
Channel Remap tab The Channel Remap matrix allows you to change various types of incoming or outgoing MIDI data from one channel to another. To use it in the Mac and Windows software, select the Port(s) to be filtered in the Port column.
Then go over to the Remap Channels table and select the data type and channel to be remapped, and enter the destination channel number in the Remap to Channel row. Again this is in multiple screens in the iOS version, and again this should be completely intuitive. First select either Channel Input Remap or Output Remap, then the port to be remapped on the next screen, then the MIDI to be remapped on the next screen, and the destination channel and data type to be remapped on the last screen.
Then each row lets you select one of the 127 MIDI Controllers from the Controller ID drop-downs.
This too is on multiple screens in the iOS version. Start by tapping either the Controller Input Filters or Controller Output Filters. Tap the port to be filtered on the next screen, and a screen with the eight filters appears. Select one of the filters and you’ll bring up the screen to enable or disable filtering on the MIDI channels you want the filter to apply to: In this case Controller Filter #1 is enabled on Channels 1 and 2.
Controller Remap tab This matrix allows you to remap, or convert, up to eight MIDI Controllers from one type to another on selected MIDI channels. If you want to use, say, the mod wheel to control volume, this is where you’d convert MIDI CC#1 (Modulation) to #7 (Main Volume). The iOS software interface works just the controller filters above, except that there are Source and Destination controllers at the bottom of the second to last screen.
Then choose the Controller types in the Source and Destination drop-downs on each row, and enable/disable the MIDI channels you want the conversion to apply to. The lists of available controllers are identical to the one in the Controller Filters tab above.
Audio Info tab The final tab is a list view with information about the internal audio ports, along with a few adjustable parameters. With trivial exceptions, the iOS Audio Info is the same and doesn’t require separate explanation. Please note the emphatic yellow notice at the bottom of the screen shot below: for changes you make here to take effect, you must click the Commit and Reset button. It is suggested that you then remove the USB cable in Device port 2 and plug it back in.
Audio Configuration: this drop-down offers a choice of seven different combinations of sample rate, number of audio channels, and bit rate. (Audio channels are divided evenly between the inputs and outputs, and they’re all accessible by any computer device connected to the iConnectMIDI2+.) The higher each of these numbers is, the more data is transferred and therefore more bandwidth is used.
Troubleshooting No indicator lights Typically, data flowing through iConnectMIDI2+ will cause the respective indicator lights to flash. If, however, there are no lights flashing at the port where you expect a device to be active with data, then this is an indication of one or more of the following causes: 1. detached cable 2. non-responding application 3. broken cable Checking for any of these potential sources may resolve the issue.
your headphones to the computer and listen through it instead of the iOS device. No Audio passThru™ from the iOS app to the DAW Confirm that the sample rate set in the iConfig software is supported by your iOS app (DAWs generally support them all). If not, change it. Optional power supply is connected but iOS device will not charge The ConnectMIDI2+ with the optional power supply can only charge iOS devices that are powered up (or in sleep mode).
Specifications General USB Device port 1 - supports audio and MIDI for iOS devices, Mac, and PC. When optional power supply is connected, charges iOS device in this port (note: device must be powered on to charge). USB Device port 2 - supports audio and MIDI for Mac and PC, MIDI only for iOS, accepts USB bus power (from a computer or a USB charging device). Two pairs of standard MIDI DIN ports. Dimensions Width 107 mm Depth 71 mm Height 38 mm (without feet) 40 mm (with feet) Weight 312g (11 oz.
Appendix: MIDI and audio basics First came analog synthesizers, then came the digital revolution, at which time synthesizers were starting to come under digital control. To allow them to communicate with one another, in 1983 several musical instrument manufacturers agreed upon a standard: the Multiple Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). MIDI is a control language that says things like “play a C3 at xxx velocity, now turn on the sustain pedal, now turn it off, now stop playing that C3, etc.
convenient and cost-effective to add, say, an iPad to your music-making set-up. USB MIDI USB is a bidirectional protocol that’s fast enough to carry a wide variety of things simultaneously – audio, MIDI, printer hookups, keyboards and mouses, etc. Some MIDI instruments today have USB connections instead of the standard DIN ports, in other words they have the equivalent of built-in MIDI interfaces that connect directly to a computer. Those devices don’t need to go through the iConnectMIDI2+.
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