Yamaha MD-BT01 bluetooth MIDI adapter compatability?

[mvdirty]

Has anyone tried using the Yamaha MD-BT01 wireless MIDI adapter with the NerdSEQ? I was thinking I might try one to keep setup clean and simple for occasional note entry from iOS (Navichord is awesome, for example,) but figured I’d best check here first.

Thanks in advance!

[XORadmin]

I don't know. These things are harvesting their energy from the Midi port which is out of the specs. I expect it to work basically though, but i also can't say anything about the quality or latency.

[mvdirty]

Understood and agreed.

Apparently there’s at least one other similar adapter coming to market which allows external power and also claims to be even lower in latency (as much as I’m not too worried about that, as I aim to treat it more as a note selector than to use it for real-time recording of any real complexity.) I’ll have a think about whether or not to wait for that product to release. Either way, I’ll post back here if/when I test one out.

Thanks for the reply!

[mvdirty]

Upon doing a little more looking after posting, it turns out that the new adapter coming to market (the CME WIDI Master) should be shipping very soon, at both a better spec and lower cost than the Yamaha adapter, and with what I suspect will be easier attachment given the MIDI port layout on the expander. I’ve thrown caution to the wind and pre-ordered a couple units.

For what it’s worth re: “out of the specs”: +5V on MIDI OUT and THRU have been part of the spec since the early 80s, with the 2014 update to the spec adding a 3.3V variation on that. It’ll be interesting to see how much this adapter actually tries to draw and which piece of hardware, if any of them, is actually in or out of spec.

[mvdirty]

The WIDI Master has arrived and is working perfectly from iOS Bluetooth MIDI on the first attempt. I bought two of them, and will be doing some tests from a traditional MIDI keyboard next (though I won’t be using it that way nearly as often as from my iPad.)

Height of the tallest part is 3cm, not that the expander needs to stay where it is or that the WIDI Master needs to be directly connected. I’ll surely relocate one or the other.

   

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Update: Also working nicely between two WIDI Masters (one for an old keyboard and the other on the NerdSEQ) and between the old keyboard and iOS Bluetooth MIDI.

[Gimber]

I wonder if the range would still be usable if the whole midi expander with the widi master attached was mounted inside the case somewhere.

[mvdirty]

I may try that if feeling pressed for HP, but for the moment I’ve simply spun the expander to clear that space for my left hand.

[ianski]

I received my WIDI Master adaptors today and tried connecting up my Launchpad Pro with the Nerdseq and happy to report they work perfectly!
Even better is I can fit the midi expander panel inside my case under the Nerdseq with the WIDI Masters still connected (TipTop Mantis) and it still works as intended.
I wondered if being inside the case with the electronics would affect the signal, but no problems so far. It's such a cool clean solution and saves 6HP too

[mvdirty]

That’s great news, ianski. I’m glad we now have more datapoints than just mine.

Your Mantis is probably one of the best cases for this type of internalization, given the plastic body. I wouldn’t be surprised if those with all-metal cases might have some trouble, or at least lose some range.

I’m not planning to move the expander inside the case but, by chance, am in the middle of a re-racking and so might be able to give it a quick try with one of my Rackbrute cases, as they’re basically all metal, not counting the “wood” trim.