November 12, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Wireless MIDI is here, and it works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a small company in Japan called CME that recently developed a novel idea\u2026 wireless MIDI over bluetooth\u2026WIDI !<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, traditionally, Bluetooth technology was not all that great. Oh, sure, it worked well connecting the audio of your earpiece to your cell phone, or carry the audio from your iPod to a small external speaker, but no \u201cserious\u201d musician would consider using BT technology in a music instrument\u2026 or would they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BT was a technology with some very strong limitations:
1 \u2013 It had a high level of latency
2 \u2013 It had short range
3 \u2013 It was still fairly expensive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, today that latency is now much improved, and prices dropped a lot\u2026 even more so if you participate in a pre-release that let\u2019s you make a purchase at 50% of retail. That alone made it interesting enough for me to want to try it out\u2026 along with a promise from the manufacturer that latency would not be a factor in my case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cool\u2026 sign me up\u2026 for 6 units, or the equivalent of 3 complete MIDI cables!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that, the waiting started and more info was released, and they sounded pretty good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day arrives, I get a package in the mail, and there they are\u2026 but there are no instructions? OK, MIDI is not rocket science and the one little obvious thing is that there are 2 plugs (MIDI in and out) per package and they connect with a small connector. Doesn\u2019t sound too hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insert the MIDI in and MIDI out dongles in to the proper connectors in the 8X and do the same on the BK-7m, but how do I know that they\u2019re connected? Oh wait, if I turn on the BK-7m first, when there is communication between the BK and the 8X, the BK will want to run the config wizard\u2026 ok, the BK is turned on, then the 8X\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heck, before the 8X is even finished booting, the units are not only connected and talking, but the 8X is seen by the BK and the config wizard boots!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OK, it seriously cannot get any easier than this, truly the definition of \u201cplug and play\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WIDI Master takes its power from the MIDI socket of the accordion and just\u2026 works, and having ONE CABLE LESS is the big plus in this case!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n