DOREMiDi USB MIDI Host

The DOREMiDi USB MIDI Host, model UMH-20, is a USB MIDI host box: a small box that sits between a USB MIDI device and conventional MIDI gear, converting MIDI data so the two can talk. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as a new generation of high-speed USB MIDI host box¹. It belongs to the wider family of MIDI pedals and tools players use to wire up controllers, switchers and effects in a rig.

What it does

A host box solves a common wiring problem. Many modern controllers, footswitches and MIDI-capable effects only carry MIDI over USB, while plenty of amps, rack units and older pedals still use the round 5-pin DIN connector. The Miditech USB MIDI Host, a closely related product, describes the job plainly: "a simple, but very useful MIDI Tool to convert MIDI data from an class compliant USB MIDI device to" a normal MIDI device with the 5-pin DIN MIDI port². The DOREMiDi UMH-20 does the same kind of work: it acts as the USB host, so your USB MIDI device plugs into it and your DIN MIDI gear plugs out of it.

Compatibility and connection

DOREMiDi makes two points about how the UMH-20 connects¹:

• It uses a standard high-speed USB 2.0 connection, which the maker describes as having strong compatibility and fast transmission.
• It has a firmware upgrade function and, in the maker's words, is "perfectly compatible with all devices with USB MIDI interfaces."

The firmware upgrade function matters in practice: MIDI hosts live or die by how well they handle the quirks of different devices, and an updatable box can be improved over its life rather than replaced.

Power

The UMH-20 is a USB MIDI host box rather than a battery-powered pedal¹. That is worth knowing when planning a board or rack: it is a mains- and USB-based piece of studio gear, not something that taps a pedalboard power supply.

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