pandaMidi Solutions has introduced the midiBeam 4Control, a MIDI interface designed for reliability and flexibility.
The midiBeam 4Control is a basic 1-in-1-out USB-to-MIDI interface for Mac/PC computers with two twists:
- The company says that it is the safest MIDI solution for sound editing and bulk MIDI data uploading/downloading. With some interfaces, there can be reliability issues when transferring sysex chunks. With 4Control, no data loss is guaranteed.
- Second, it lets you connect two continuous controller pedals, or four switches, and translate their data into MIDI. This means that you can use standard pedals to control additional parameters of your synths.
The midiBeam 4Control is a compact class-compliant USB-to-MIDI interface. Each of the two stereo 6.35mm TRS jack sockets on the rear of the device can be configured to accept either an expression pedal or a 1- or 2-button footswitch (as shown below). The jack sockets can be further configured to accept connectors of either polarity.
The device is capable of generating PC, CC, Note-On/Off, Aftertouch, Pitch Bend and MIDI start/stop messages. Messages can be sent using either a pedal or a switch and the maximum and minimum values are fully configurable.
Switches can be set to be either momentary or latching. Each message generator (pedal or switch) can be set to a different MIDI channel, if so desired.
All of the aforementioned settings can be configured using the accompanying Mac/Windows software Editor. Settings can be backed up to a file to be loaded onto the device at a later date, which allows for easy recall of different device setups.
With its standard 5-pin DIN and USB MIDI ports, it can be used with almost any MIDI-capable equipment. A high quality USB micro-B cable is included.
Pricing and Availability
The midiBeam 4Control is available now for €99.00.
Reminds me of Audiofront’s MIDIexpression pedal adapters. Among windcontroller players, pandaMIDI is mostly known for wireless MIDI (with varying degrees of success). Maybe they can come out with a wireless box which also accepts pedal input. (Otherwise, I’ve had good results with the MIDIexpression and the simple Yamaha BT-MD01 Bluetooth MIDI dongle.)
Hi Enkerli,
You’re right, there’s quite a bit of overlap between this and the AudioFront MIDIexpression.
I like that this has a no-data-loss feature which guarantees throughput of all data. . I also like that this is a full-on MIDI interface that merges CC data from pedal inputs.
I suspect I’m a lone voice on this one, but I keep waiting for one of these devices to say: “expression inputs include 16-bit converter for high-res controls like multi-turn pots and force-sensing-resistors. 14-bit mode is for MIDI 1.0, and a 16-bit mode is available for MIDI 2.0”
And taking it a step further– there are some generative and transform features in the MIDIexpression that could be expanded upon.
Meanwhile my little MIDI box is still a pile of parts that I’ll never finish.