Do you know if it is possible to use the Kenton USB MIDI Host with a MacBook to send SysEx files? I would rather buy the MIDI Host because I could use it with the OP-1 as well…
“The supplied USB cable is for connecting the MIDI USB Host Mini-B power socket to the supplied
power adaptor ONLY. Note that the Mini-B socket is for power ONLY, it is not a USB port.”
…so it doesn’t look like it can send sysex from computer to volca. You’ll need a USB MIDI cable to do that, and apparently only some actually support sysex. Somehow I got lucky and my cheap cable supports sysex… though I wouldn’t be able to tell you the brand, as I bought it nearly 10 years ago and it’s completely unbranded.
You mean the RK004 right? I thought I would need a Raspberry Pi to get it to work as a host… and then its again not really roadworthy without any casing.
You mean the RK004 right? I thought I would need a Raspberry Pi to get it to work as a host… and then its again not really roadworthy without any casing.
Looks like with the acrylic plates or modular front panel+small box it would be pretty roadworthy. Just as roadworthy as the OPLAB. And the RPi Zero is only $10, which seems like a fairly small monetary addition to get host functionality.
But yeah, overall doing what you want to do is either expensive and easy or time consuming and cumbersome.
I think actually this is overly complicated. If all you want to do is send Sysex using your computer to the VolcaFM, then you should start with a cheaper USB to MIDI cable for you computer. Something like the MIO1. Cheaper ones might not have isolated MIDI signals which might causing pops in your device’s audio.
Then you can just hook the Keystep and MIO1 to the Mac, and the other end of the MIO1 to the VolcaFM. Then just route the MIDI in Ableton so that the Keystep controls the VolcaFM, and the Sysex program sends data over the MIO1 also.
If you are looking for a portable setup that does all of this AND you don’t want to use a computer, then you’ll need something more.
I just thought if I have to buy a MIDI interface to get the SysEx files to the Volca FM I would like to buy one that enables me to play the OP-1 and the Volca FM with the Keystep without a computer as well…