While I’m waiting for my Mk2 pre-order, I started to think how to integrate it into my setup. I understand the Electra One has 2 MIDI interfaces, with 16 channels each, so I can control up to 32 channels in total, shared between the USB and DIN MIDI connections.
One question I have is whether I can connect a USB hub to the host port to connect multiple USB MIDI devices to the E1? And if so, what would determine the interface (1 or 2) a hub connected device gets assigned to?
A second question is if the interfaces maintain separate clocks, or if they can be synced, so that clock/sync received on one interface is passed on to the other.
Q1.
Yes. https://docs.electra.one/userinterface.html#usb-host-configuration
"Electra features a <USB HOST> port to connect USB MIDI devices and Electra accessories. Although there is only one USB port, it is possible to connect a standard USB Hub to increase the number of USB ports.
Any USB MIDI device connected to Electra’s <USB HOST> port can be assigned to PORT 1, PORT 2, or CTRL.
To open the USB Host configuration window, press and hold the [MENU] and then press the right-top [PATCH REQUEST] button."
Yup, E1 supports hubs. mk1 can connect up to two devices. with mk2 I want to make the number of devices higher.
Without any configuration, a USB device gets connected to the first available port. You can adjust this on the USB HOST settings page (as @phonaak wrote). If you want to make the connection assigments permanent. You can adjust the E1 configuration so that particular USB device gets connected to the same port whenever you connect it.
They maintain separate clocks. But again, there will be extra routing options on mk2. I am quite sure that some kind of merging will be introduced.
@Martin somewhat related to this thread. I am thinking of supporting two E1’s in the Ableton remote script, where the first always displays the effect and the second always displays the mixer. Plugging in the second E1 in the USB Host port seems like the best way to go (the 2nd E1 gets power through the 1st; Nice!). But is there a way to address SysEx messages to a specific E1? (The mixer uses SysEx messages too, for visibility of controls and changing group label names)
Yeah, I seen that idea (of yours) somewhere already, probably github. It is super cool. I am making steps to make it possible for E1 to to send “extra messages” to specific device / port. The setup of two E1s is one example. But I am also working on making a Launchpad mini kind of companion device for E1. Launchpad would get programmed dynamically by E1 according to the preset pages.
