i2c cables are not included with crow (or TT or ansible), but they are very cheap and there are so many different ways to wire up. see A user's guide to i2c
the MIDI implementation was a last-minute hack/addition— and while it initially looked promising (ie, it worked great with the couple devices we tested)— when i went to do a thorough test of many more MIDI devices, some didn’t work— likely because the circuit addition was a minor tweak rather than a full MIDI design, which would’ve required more parts, expense, testing, and time. since it was never an original intended feature, we decided to scrap it. i made the mistake of announcing it early.
however — it’s still in there. the code is all there. it’s just there’s a strong chance that your favorite midi device might not work. so don’t bet on it. and we’re leaving the feature out of the official docs. at some point we’ll post a little clip of how it works for those interested.
yes!
currently the norns software doesn’t support multiple crows, but it will likely be something that will be added in the future.
chaining is the better option, via i2c. that’s a firmware update we’re planning for the future.
