Midiman Midisport 2x2

Had this for years. On windows 98/XP and now Vista. Drivers freely available on the net.

Presets/Patch editing n/a

Manual not needed. Just remember to run the exe to install drivers before plugging in.
XP/Vista appear to install multiple times. Won't bore with details but this is normal and required for this type of device. They require more than one driver.

N/a

Never had problem with MIDI speeds through this device....but then I don't push it severely.

Still working and about to buy another 2. Would trust it while gigging more than the laptop but never hurts to have a backup.

Never needed to. Upgraded drivers are freely available for download.

Worth the money. Would replace if lost/stolen
Playing for 10 years. Midi Controller keyboard, SY85, TG77, Korg M1, Roland JV1080, Accoustic guitars, Violin. Effects.

Easy to use! Never compared coz it does what I need.

All in/outs on one side would be better.

Doesn't help me make music.....it's just an interface for the gear!

It's been belted around during moving etc with no ill effect. Very sturdy.

Very easy to use - I previously installed on XP pro and it went thru about 2 or 3 cycles of installation, but when finished, it worked fine. I downloaded the latest driver and installed on Vista Ultimate - only one install cycle and it installed fine - worked great on my Dell XPS M1530.

2 ins and outs not many features, just does what I want which is get midi in and out of my computer

no sounds

had this thing for about 4 years, never had a problem with it. Always used on my laptops.

never had to deal with customer support

if stolen, I'd get another. Been playing guitar for 40 years, keyboard for about 20. A very simple device, just what I needed

Used on Windows XP. Fairly simple to install the drivers, just have to keep clicking on the OK buttons until done (3 different drivers, but didn't have to reboot for each driver).
Presets sound: N/A.
Editing patches: N/A.
Manual: not much of a manual. The only thing had to remember was to disconnect the USB cable until I was told to reconnect.

MIDI Thru was never used because I had only one keyboard. Later bought a MOTIF and add it to MIDISPort 2x2 B, but still didn't use the MIDI Thru button.

One thing puzzled me was that Windows shows output to either MIDISport 2x2 A, or MIDISport 2x2 B in addition to whatever I have on my soundcard. Why is there two seaparate outputs (A and B) when there is only one USB cable to the MIDISPort unit?

2 points off for that.

N/a

Own it for 2 years.

My Windows XP crashed every single time I launched a MIDI player, must be serious for an XP crash. I couldn't tell what the problem of Windows was, so after 3 Windows installs, playing around with the MIDI cables, the keyboard, the MOTIF, the connections, I found that the MIDISPort 2x2 was officially dead.

What could go wrong with something that sits idle 95% of the time?

I have not tried, but I figured there won't be any support for a 2-year-old interface. I guess M-Audio would probably say their new version would be more reliable for another $80.

The midi box looks heavy duty with a metal enclosure, no high tech look, rugged, and heavy for its size. midi cable input are on two opposite sides, making it cumbersome for a proper and clean placement. All of the cables (both ins and outs) should be on one side of the box for aestheticity.

Worked great as long as it worked. I would pay for something much cheaper for that kind of reliability.

The midi interface has no moving part, and not a self-powered circuit. It should work forever but it doesn't.

If yer using Mac OSX, hey no problemo; install and plug, it actually works!

You have a situation though - well, at least I had - when using XP, especially when yer a newbie to Windows (last time I used Microsoft was ye old handtype DOS).

Anyway, the reason I've upped this is cos I'd hopefully help a few who have might have come across the same prob when trying to install the "MidiMan2x2_1010_web.exe" on a fresh system. Well, 'ere goes the quick and dirty method that worked best for me:

1. doubleclick the .exe driver to install, after installing,
2. plug in yer MIDIman (wouldn't MIDIwoman sound better and more logical here?)
3. the wizard will be activated; let it automatically search for the driver and install (again..)
4. the MIDI interface might unmount and remount once again in which case you want to
repeat step 3. (yes, again...)

Now it should work. Rather unlogical, as I have come to learn that this is Bill's way, but the easiest way that I found out. And remember on which USB port you had it connected to during installation.

If anyone knows an easier way let me - or us for that matter - know.

Cheers,

Sacha Rinia

Same as most Interfaces would have. MIDI thru is always handy.
If yer a fan of Knigh Rider you'll love the LED's :)

n/a

That remains to be seen, so I can't judge on that. The design seems solid.

Usually they don't give you problems, however I had a MOTU Fastlane that broke down durng a performance. If you're using multpile interfaces during performance like I do I nowadays keep a spare in handy.

I agree on a former reaction: Part of the support is a good driver and manual.

Hard to give, my experience on the Mac are good so I give it the benefit of the doubt.

I'm using Windows XP, and I had some trouble getting mine working, but my solution didn't have anything to do with the driver stuff discussed often on this page. I want to write my solution here in case anyone else is having the same trouble I was.

A great little unit if you want more than one MIDI device attached to your computer, and you don't want to mess with MIDI thru problems.

I've only used it tonight, but it seems like a durable unit.

The driver installation issues have been covered very exhaustively on this site, so I'll jump right to the problem I was having.

Now, this may seem obvious, but oh well. It just didn't cross my mind for a little while. I use Cakewalk Sonar 3.0 Producer, but I suspect this will be a similar issue on any system.

I finally thought to go into the MIDI settings, and there it was. It was sitting there waiting for me to enable it. So enable the two inputs (input A and input B), and enable the two outputs, and you're set for global settings.

Then go into the individual tracks and make sure your input is set to the correct channel (if your keyboard is in input A, enable that input, and if you're having it play itself, be sure to enable the output as output A).

Once I did this, it worked like a charm. Sorry if this seems simplistic or obvious, but I figured if it annoyed me for a while, surely someone else will stumble over the same problem. If not, you're all better than me. Is that what you think? You think you're better than me?

Just a midi interface in my eyes but as for all of the driver grumbling, it seems as though they've taken care of the issue with "MS2x2_1010_web.exe".

I've owned this thing for about 4 years now.

Easy/Straightforward (if you pay attention).

Marked this down a bit, because it did seem a little strange loading the driver into my Windows XP-Pro PC (yesterday). Part of the problems was that I missed the fact that the driver I downloaded from the M-Audio site (MS2x2_1010_web.exe), was an executable file. That is, instead of it being a straight-up "driver" to be installed in the typical "Windows XP" manner, this driver basically auto-loads itself (at least it did on my HP 500GR PC). :)

Great Funtionality, from the glowing/pulsing indicator to MIDI thru-switch and response.

n/a

Absolutely dependable; built like a truck.

Great Website.

USB (when USB was new). :)

I HATED going into my PC, to get my MIDI interfacing set up; IRQ's, conflicts and all that (Remember? Arrrgghhh!!!). This little green box ended those woes.

It is the most durable and reliable part of my MIDI setup.

-Cefshah-
www.cefshah.com

xp

na

na

No. I cannot depend on this product at all.

I have and it went well.

Doesn't install on xp. It is crap. Don't buy it. Don't listen to people who are all cheery cuz theirs installed good the first time and stayed installed. They lie. If you manage to get it installed, you will soon need to install it again. And again. And again. This is because Midiman hates you. The installation problems on the Midisport 2x2 were created deliberately to infuriate musicians. Midiman hates art. They hate you. Don't buy their products. Period.

No more midiman for me. What a nonsense it is that I have to download drivers from their site, fart around extracting the firmware file by aborting an install on a windows system before transferring that file over to my Linux system and so on. If they can't be bothered to support their customers who have paid good money for their product then I'll buy no more of their products.

If it was lost or stolen it would be a relief since I would then have the excuse to abandon it altogether.

I'm that kind of "expert" that tosses the manual away instead of reading it first. Saved me lot of trouble, I think. My device came without a CD, so I did the following steps (PC/Win98):
1. download drivers
2. attach device
3. pointed the installer to the extracted device drivers

works fine. I might've got in trouble, regarding other postings, if I spend the time reading the manual. Thank god I didn't!

no sound...

no problems yet. Metal construction, it's small, and heavy for it's size, but still great for "mobile usage", I think

not needed

it's worth it's money, I think.