Inversion of MIDI IN and MIDI OUT?

Hello,

I'm reading the manual and the explanations boggle my mind because it seems MIDI IN and MIDI OUT are inverted in the documentation. e.g. p.29:

MIDI THRU connections can span from one MIDI IN port to many MIDI OUT ports. This will effectively duplicate all MIDI messages to the connected MIDI OUT ports.
Conversely, you can create connections from multiple MIDI IN ports to a single MIDI OUT port. This results in MIDI messages being merged.

It's the opposite, right? (i.e. from MIDI OUT to MIDI IN, and not the opposite). Same for the screenshot p.20, that shows MIDI data going from MIDI IN to MIDI OUT (weird).
What do you think?

Hi bmn

I think the confusion is coming from how we have been taught to think about MIDI using the keyboard as the starting point. In that case, you run the MIDI cable from the MIDI Output on the back to the MIDI input on another device. MT is a little more complex than that. Instead of MT replacing the MIDI Din connection, think of it as replacing the box where those DIN cables sit. So now MT is handling your keyboard's MIDI input and output completely.

MT needs to receive MIDI before it can send it anywhere. It doesn't receive from an Output port, it receives from an Input port. So, for example, you are using a MIDI keyboard, connected to your computer via USB. You are using your keyboard to play notes in your DAW, with MT in the middle to translate the MIDI signals. So the keyboard is sending MIDI to MT, MT is sending MIDI to your DAW via a virtual MIDI Port, and your DAW is sending MIDI information back to MT, which is then sending that MIDI out to your keyboard for feedback.

So MT is receiving from your keyboard's MIDI Input port. Your instinct is that it is receiving from the output, though, right? The keyboard is sending out of the output port to MT. This is not the case, though. MT is listening for the MIDI Input of the keyboard. So when you turn a knob or press a key, the keyboard is receiving MIDI via its Input port. Then MT sends that data to the Output of the virtual port (the MIDI cable connecting the Output of your Keyboard to the Input of your DAW) to your DAW. The DAW then sends its own MIDI back through a second MIDI port back to MT (the Output of your DAW to the Input of your Keyboard). Then, when you want MIDI feedback from your keyboard (lighting up buttons), you would select the MIDI Output port of your keyboard for feedback.

I'm not sure if this makes 100% sense, as I've been trying to type it so it is as clear as possible, and in the process I may have made it more complicated. Every time you connect another application's virtual MIDI port to MT, think of it as connecting another MIDI Output port on the back of your keyboard. It needs a new cable to connect to the new device, but those cables connect to the Output of the keyboard, and the Input of the application.

Hope that helps. If not I can always try again.

Thank you. I'll have to reread the explanation, though !