MIDI Ports on the Link

Clint

Cantabile on my PC shows three input and three output ports related to the Link:

"Sylphyo Link" - which is what I use for MIDI input from the Link over the physical "USB Power Supply" Mini USB-B connector on the Link,
"MIDIIN2 (Sylphyo Link)" and "MIDIOUT2 (Sylphyo Link)" - which is what I would expect to use for the two physical MIDI DIN-5 connectors on the Link, and
"MIDIIN3 (Sylphyo Link)" and "MIDIOUT3 (Sylphyo Link)"

Would anyone know what those final two ports connect to?

Clint

I just tried plugging a basic MIDI keyboard into the DIN Input connector.

I expected (from this post from @Laurent_AODYO last year) that the MIDI from the Keyboard would be merged with wireless output from the Sylphyo and appear on the USB channel output on the USB Power Supply port that appears in software as "Sylphyo Link". No dice.

I then plugged to MIDI keyboard via USB to the USB Host connector on the Link. Again, no data appears on the USB Power Supply port that appears in software as "Sylphyo Link".

When I try connecting my very basic MIDI Monitor (MidiView) to the Sylphyo Link, no problem - it shows data from the Sylphyo. However, I cannot connect to MIDIOUT2 or MIDIOUT3 (error: the ports are in use). The MidiView application does not show the MIDIIN2 or MIDIIN3 ports.

Could you possibly suggest what I might be doing wrong?

(My goal here is to hook up a MIDI Sustain pedal to play with the Sylphyo ... but I would like to understand the routing and merging so I can better make use of the Link in general).

join

Windows still has some trouble reading USB descriptors, hence the "MIDIIN2" names. However, the three MIDI ports of the Link always appear in the same order. Here's what they do:

the Sylphyo Link port outputs the MIDI data from the Sylphyo,
the MIDIIN2/MIDIOUT2 ports connect to the DIN connectors on the Link, as you guessed,
and the MIDIIN3/MIDIOUT3 ports connect to the device plugged into the USB Host port of the Link.

It's true that all the MIDI from the USB device, DIN, and USB host connectors are "merged" before reaching the onboard synth. Similarly, the data received wirelessly from the Sylphyo is dispatched to those three ports at once. Apart from that:

what comes from the DIN IN connector will also arrive into MIDIIN2 on your computer (maybe I've switched the MIDIOUT and MIDIIN but you get the idea)
what you send to MIDIOUT2 from your computer will arrive to the device connected to the DIN OUT connector
what comes from the USB host connector will also arrive into MIDIIN3 on your computer
what you send to MIDIOUT3 from your computer will arrive to the device connected to the USB host connector

Here's a picture from the manual recapitulating the routing:

So if you've connected a MIDI keyboard with a sustain pedal to the USB Host port, you should be able to see what it sends by looking at that MIDIIN3 port on your MIDI monitor. It's weird that you can't connect to those ports using MidiView. Does it do the same with another tool, such as MIDI-OX?

Clint

@join Excellent description ... thank you so much!

I now see how the routing diagram from the Link manual works ... it was not clear to me at first.

I have done my own version, so I don't have to figure it out all over again in the future:

I hope it's correct ...