E-MU EM8780 Professional USB Bus powered Midi Interface with 1 in 1 out and Midi Status Indicator Lights

One of the most important facets of a home studio for me is how quickly I can get set up to do some recording. This simple interface helps enormously. I leave the MIDI cable attached to my Yamaha P-155 and when I arrive with my MacBook Pro all I have to do is plug in the USB end and the two dongles needed for Ivory pianos and Cubase (That's the crazy part, especially when one dongle is shaped like a large plastic key). There's no power (and associated cables) to worry about.This arrangement is also very useful for an outside gig. With the new MacBook Pro (Quad-core) you can install an SSD (I use a 120 GB Intel X25-M) in the Optical drive bay for the Mac OS and Cubase projects, leaving you with the hard drive bay for a 7200 RPM large capacity drive to partition for data and instrument samples. This combination makes for zero latency - hit a key - hear a note - amazing. For audio recording (I don't do this very often) I use the E-MU 0404 which is great also. Remember to put the MacBook Pro into 32-bit kernel mode first though. There are very few 64-bit drivers out there. You can use a terminal command string to force 32-bit mode on startup. The MacBook Pro comes with 64-bit kernel set up as default. You don't need to think about this for the Xmidi however, it works right out of the box using Apple core MIDI. There should be no confusion about which MIDI connection to use. When you come out of the MIDI (OUT) connection on your instrument you need to go to a MIDI IN connection. This is clearly marked on the Xmidi 1x1 adapter and anyone who uses MIDI regularly is probably used to this convention. Still, I can understand that some newcomers might expect that the MIDI OUT on the cable should be connected to the MIDI OUT on the instrument - it's a reasonable assumption however it would be contrary to normal MIDI conventions. I've seen some complaints about the lack of indicators but I can't say I agree. There is one white indicator light on the USB end which lets you know that you are getting a MIDI signal (It flashes as it receives MIDI signals). This is really all you need. I agree that the Amazon model is really the "TAB" version of the product (the latest) even though they show a picture of the old and the new. I think they should clear this up because I was not sure which product I was going to receive. I would much rather get the latest version which fortunately is what they sent. So I give this product five stars for making my life easier and for being plug and play with no latency.

On a quest to turn my synthesizer into a midi controller for VST instruments in Acid Pro 6.0, I found this little gadget (and if you don't know what that means, you probably don't need this). First off, Acid won't recognize the hardware without the drivers, and the included software refuses to install on a pc running Windows Vista. On the bright side, E-MU has a patch on their website under support that WILL work with Vista. After installing that, everything ran perfectly for me. The cord's a bit short and won't wrap behind my desk, so I ordered a usb extension to avoid having to unplug it all the time. E-MU should figure out that in a home studio with speakers, guitars, and such, not every piece of equipment can get shoved into the same corner. Yes, the midi plugs are labelled backwards. Or perhaps not, depending on how you think about it. Arrows to indicate data flow direction might have been helpful. PROS: Low price compared to fancier, muti-track midi converters. Does what it says. No noticable delay or lag, great for live recording. CONS: Requires patch for Vista. Cord is only about 8 feet long. Midi plug labels might be confusing: in = out, out = in?

Awesome MIDI cables. Lives up to its "ultra-fast" message reception. I wrote a Python script that accepts incoming MIDI messages from the keyboard and bounces them back 3 semitones higher. It sounded like I was playing intervals, which meant that the round trip delay of the MIDI packets were below my distinction threshold. I played chords with both hands - same thing. Pretty responsive. I tested these with Yamaha P-95 and Roland FP-80 keyboards. There were some issues with the Yamaha: With the Yamaha P-95. the white LED flickers and turns off shortly after the keyboard is powered on. If you leave it connected for a while (1-2 min) WITHOUT pressing a key or sending any MIDI to the keyboard, the MIDI messages will be severely delayed (1-2 seconds between pressing a key and receiving the corresponding MIDI message on the computer). This can be remedied by simply re-plugging the MIDI Interface, or keeping a steady flow of MIDI across the interface. It's a minor annoyance. Perhaps the Yamaha P-95 port MIDI ports are not supplying enough power or something. It also might have something to do with the white LED flickering, since I did not observe this with the Roland FP-80; the light stayed on all the time while the cable was connected. The Roland FP-80 has no issues with this cable. Regarding the price, I prefer to have one good product rather than a few poor ones, especially in the case of electronics such as these. It's reliable, does what it's supposed to do, but has some issues with my Yamaha P-95, which is what Yamaha wants anyway, as they want you to buy their own MIDI interfaces which will perform better only on Yamaha keyboards. Good product!

I purchased this thinking I was getting a quality product. It worked well at first but then failed after 8 months of light use. I did not have the PRINTED receipt which was required by the manufacturer to return the defective unit... What? Seriously? Amazon would not send me a digital copy of the printed receipt, Creative Labs would not work with me. It looks like both these companies are too big to want to stand behind the products they sell. Very unhappy. I buy a LOT of audio gear from Amazon. I will be looking for alternate sources from now on.

As other's have said, plug the EMU to opposite connectors on your midi keyboard, in to out, out to in, and you should be good to go. EMU to Win 10. My Roland D 70 lost it's internal memory, so I had to reload the system through a midi dump. I connected the Roland to my Win 10 USB, even using a USB extension cable (which isn't a good idea). I used BomeSendSx on the PC to send a large midi dump file the the Roland. The Win 10 PC and BomeSendSX app picked up the EMU right away. EMU to Ipad. I also attached the Roland/EMU to an Ipad and the midi was picked up perfectly in my Ipad app. So great device. Couldn't ask for anything more. My thots on midi sysex dumps. Sysex dumps are temperamental and people have had problems with getting good transfers forever. Here are my suggestions for getting a good transfer. If the EMU is showing up on your Sysex app, then presume it's not the EMU that is the problem, but rather the settings in your midi device or your Sysex app. These settings are critical. I've attached pics of my notes that I followed to get a good sysex dump. Along with following all the steps laid out in my notes (including slowing the transfer rate to the slowest setting possible), the final thing that was the break thru for me, was bypassing the Roland's internal midi transfer routine, and putting the Roland into "Manual" mode to receive a midi dump on channel 17. I outline all the steps in the attached pics of my notes. Also be sure to have the latest version of Win 10, if that's your operating system so you have all the latest drivers.

This thing has served me so well, it's a shame they stopped making them. Almost a decade after buying this, I still use my EM8780. Very slim and sleek design. My only complaint is the power/data lights are confusing to interpret.

Here is my experience. This cable works! I, like many others, tried the cheap no name USB-to-MIDI cable, and it did not work (at all). This one by E-MU does work. I tested it by connecting a CASIO MZ-2000 Keyboard to a Dell Inspiron 530s PC running Cakewalk Music Creator 4 and Windows Vista Home Premium. Upon plug-in, Windows automatically loaded generic drivers and the cable was then ready to work. No fuss! I used the factory integrated soundcard in my Dell PC (Realtek) and run ASIO4All for low latency sound. Any latency from this E-MU cable was virtually undetectable. The sound from the Cakewalk synth software played as naturally on the Casio's keys as the sound source built into the Casio. If I have any complaint, it's the relatively short 6ft cable length... otherwise, I'm happy! Update: Eleven months of use reveals a reliable cable that's always up to the job. I recommend a USB extension cable for greater flexibility in equipment placement. Update June 2013: Over 2 years of use and still no problems. Update September 2014: Over 3 years and still perfect, now using it with a Casio PX-5s and XW-G1 on Windows 8.1. Works great!

I purchased this to be able to input notes into my notation software. Once I figured out how to plug in the cords, it worked GREAT! Sure wish there had been instructions with the cables telling you how to insert them!!! It's counter intuitive that the Midi IN plug goes into the midi OUT port of the keyboard and the Midi OUT plug goes to the Midi IN on the keyboard. Not sure why that is....but it was the only way I got my keyboard to input notes into my notation software. Now, if I could figure out WHY there is a small beep of a sound every time I release a key on the piano, that would be very helpful. It's annoying when I try to record into the computer...as there is an additional sound with every note played (when I release the key). Not sure if this is a problem with the cable, my keyboard or the software! Will continue trouble shooting. I would give it a 5 star rating had I not had to spend about 2 hours messing with it to make it work. Nothing is more frustrating than having something that should be VERY easy be VERY difficult!!!