Blokas have launched a campaign for their midihub
I helped beta test this, so had one for a while and it’s a really great device…
Basically it’s an intelligent midi hub with 4 in/out din and usb device.
Can do all sorts of trick in routing but also filter and processing midi message all via a simply GUI app to configure , then it runs standalone ( with 8 stores presets )
Very cool, been the centre of my setup ever since it arrived 
The pre-orders seem to be going pretty fast too, I’ve watched it go from 7k to right now 12k… Maybe something to do with the loopop video
It’s a really powerful device. I’ve owned a few midi matrices, but nothing that has been so easy to get creative with. Highly recommended!
Do you find Midihub useful even if you use a DAW? It has a lot of functionality though Ableton Live does much of the same via MIDI Effects and Max4Live, etc.
I’ve shunned midi and daws for years but a confluence if them actually being technically capable and just a general mislike of the midi protocol once I discovered cv/gate but this looks very cool and with midi 2 coming I’ll be grabbing this - just wish it was here now!
Midihub is designed to be used in a laptop-less set up and to connect lot of devices with the ability to “build” specific configurations for each one.
IMHO compare Midihub with a DAW centric set up has no sense.
I will use it paired with an OP-lab
I’ve been waiting so long for them to even expand the beta on this. We can finally buy it? Done!
Don’t compare. Pair.
Ever try generating multichannel MIDI in Ableton?
(they filter the results of your Max4Live devices, such that everything’s on channel 1)
That’s fairly high on the list of things I have to do externally (in the max runtime) before Ableton’s allowed anywhere near my controller signals.
I’m very comfortable with my setup, don’t get me wrong. But why am I running additional software? Especially during a show?
That’s a layer of overhead. System resources that would be better allocated to the DAW.
I don’t imagine it’s as bad under Max 8 / Live 10, but still. This is silly.
so this is really in 2 parts
a) midi routing/filter/utility
midihub is a useful usb<->midi din router.
also i find it useful for dealing with ‘oddities’ in hardware , this you could do in a daw, but when i do it on the midihub, its done for in one place for “everything”…i.e. different daws, or when i use standalone
its generally useful as a midi merger/spitter
so the question is … do you need that functionality?
b) creative midi fx
here its definitely less ‘clear cut’
for sure if your using a computer, then you can do creative midi fx using max/pure data, and also some parts of it in a DAW
so its usefulness is…
again, doing it standalone in one place… so you can use in different daws or when you take the computer out of the loop
ease of use - programming midi fx in something like max is not hard, but not all musicians know how (or want) to code, so this is a simple UI to do these things.
summary, like any tool - there are many ways to achieve the same thing, we choose what we find most comfortable.
personally, i think the midihub is excellent for what it does…
a midi splitter/merger with 4 din i/o and usb at 122 euro is pretty good value,
but add the intelligent routing , and i think its great value
i think the only ‘competitor’ if you need this kind of functionality is the BomeBox.
which is 199 euro, but is not quite as easy to use, and only has 1 din in/out.
but on the flip side has usb host/ethernet and wifi midi, and its a bit more flexible (as you can create your own fx)
I’ve actually been considering getting a BomeBox to pair up with the midihub, as i think they will complement each other nicely.
it’s the same, from my point of view.
I think that if you are able to make Max patches you can build anything you want, more than Midihub offers.
the challenge is to play without a pc, take a look to the videos by the duo Clavister, the first, and seems more important, thing that they said is: “we play electronic music without laptop, only with our instruments setup”.
And I agree with their approach, I love manage the complications that it implies. : )
for this reason that I think that the purchase of the Midihub should be considered from another point of view. obviously, subject to you need Midihub’s functionalities too.
I think that Midihub is the perfect companion of creative devices like BELA, Axoloti, OPlab etc…
IMHO 
From a coders perspective, I completely agree.
But some of these platforms are a bit of a challenge for non-coders - so nice to have something that’s easy for anyone to use.
absolutely
Do you know if this will host an OP-1 on its USB, or will it still require another box?
After a month of using the midihub I shall say it is a brilliant device that allows an immense amount of routing complexity. Highly suggested.
Hello people,
New here and just had a few questions regarding the Midihub.
As of lately, I have been battling with Ableton live to get accurate midi send & receive clock signals when working with hardware synths etc. After much research, I came across the E-RM Multiclock and from what I have read and other people testimonials, it seems to solve this exact issue with latency and timing issues etc.
Has anyone had any experience with Midihub, sending & received midi data to and from hardware synthesizers with Ableton live? Is there still issues with clock timing accuracy running the midihub? The E-RM Multi clock is pretty expensive and not as nearly as interesting and cheap as the Midihub, so I am trying to work out which is the better purchase.
Any help would be much appreciated.
I have the Multiclock, and have only heard of the Midihub through your post.
The Multiclock works really well for its specific role - I generally view its success by the limited amount of attention I’ve given it since adding it to my setup several years ago. Looks like the Midihub is a completely different proposition, and not intended as principally as an accurate MIDI clocking solution. The Multiclock offers clock following using an audio impulse that you’d generate in Ableton either with the Simpler device or E-RM’s plugin. As far as I can tell the Midihub doesn’t offer this functionality due to having no audio input on its hardware.
Have you set up the latency compensation in ableton? It’s in the help section but you basically run audio out of your computer and then back in and find out how much it’s off by and plug that in. They when you turn on delay compensation you will get a little lag of what’s going on to what your herring but helps keeping everything in time via computer and hardware.
I’ve had this little box since yesterday and I’ve started with the biggest challenge. I had read somewhere that this can be used to convince the Digitakt to change its pattern immediately. And actually this works great. I send Program Change MIDI data from the Polyend Tracker via Midihub to the Digitakt. In the Midihub, a MIDI start command is sent directly after the program change command with the help of a modifier (called Transform). Thus, the Digitakt receives the task to change the pattern and starts it immediately. The Digitakt also remains in sync with the Polyend Tracker. This opens up a wide range of possibilities.
Woah, that is cool! Do you know if the same trick works on other Elektron boxes?
I will test this with my Octatrack, Model:Cycles (and Digitakt) and will provide some feedback.
EDIT:
Instant pattern change…
Digitakt → yes
Model:Cycles → yes
Octatrack MKII → I haven’t managed it yet.