Daisy Chaining Midi: Kaoss Pad 3, Roland RD-300, and Mainstage 3

Question

I am trying to daisy chain my Kaoss Pad 3 to my Roland RD-300sx keyboard to my Macbook Pro (13" mid-2012) in order to use with Mainstage 3 and am having problems. I have a normal midi cable going from my Kaoss Pad midi out to my Roland mini in. Then my roland is connected to my computer by USB. My computer recognizes the Roland but not the Kaoss Pad. What do I need to do to make it recognize both?

Answer 1

sorry, it won't work like this.

Do you need any interaction between the Roland and the Kaoss, or do you want both of their signals "just" being received by the Mac?

You are connecting the MIDI Out from Kaoss Pad to the MIDI IN of the Roland and then via USB from the Roland to your Mac. With that setup, the Roland would "react" to MIDI commands from the Kaoss, but will not relay them to the Mac.

In order to daisy-chain MIDI devices, they need to have a MIDI Thru port as well.

Check out these pages for example:

• Introduction to Computer Music, Vol. I, Chapter 3
• MIDI Connections

But why so complicated? Both, the Roland and the Kaoss have USB ports, right? So just connect each of them to your MacBook Pro via USB separately, either with a USB-hub or without if you have enough USB-ports left on the Mac.

Another solution would be to use a MIDI merger and a USB audio interface, but no need to buy all that stuff if two USB cables do the same.