connecting psr433 to psr433

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Obviously through the USB host. Can it be done? What settings must I access on each keyboard? Thanks folks.
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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If you want to connect them together via MIDI, so that each one can be used to send MIDI to the other, then you'll need to connect both keyboards to a USB host device.

The most common solution would be to connect both of them to a computer or laptop-- or possibly to a tablet or smart phone-- and then use software to route the MIDI from one keyboard to the other (and vice versa if you want the connection to be bidirectional).

But you can also buy special MIDI-USB interfaces which can act as a USB host. Some of these are specifically designed for connecting a device with MIDI DIN ports to a device with a USB-MIDI port, but others can be used to connect multiple USB-MIDI devices together-- usually requiring the multiple USB-MIDI devices to be connected to a powered USB hub, which is then connected to the interface device. Furthermore, the USB-MIDI devices must be USB-MIDI class compliant; fortunately, the PSR-E433 is, so it should work.

Sevilla Soft makes one such interface-- the UHMR or USB Host MIDI Router. iConnectivity also makes a few MIDI interfaces which can act as a USB host, such as the mio4 or the iConnectMIDI4+.
 
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Thanks so much for that. It was so easy on the old PSR with DIN ports. As far as midi is concerned Yamaha seem to have lost the plot!
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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In general, Yamaha doesn't include MIDI DIN ports on their less-expensive consumer-oriented (i.e., home use) keyboards any more, but they do have MIDI DIN ports on keyboards aimed more at professional keyboardists. For instance, the PSR-S775 and higher models have MIDI DIN ports, but the less-expensive PSR-S670 and lower models have USB-MIDI only; but the inexpensive MX synths do have MIDI DIN ports, because they're aimed at professional keyboardists more than at home keyboardists.

Whatever the reasons might be, it's actually very simple to route MIDI between two PSR-E433 keyboards using their USB-MIDI connections-- that is, if you're connecting both of them to a computer or laptop. I've got four Yamaha keyboards now, and that's how I do it. I used to keep my PSR-E433 and PSR-E443 connected to my desktop computer all the time, and would connect my YPT-400 (a.k.a. PSR-E403) if I ever wanted to use three at once. But with my current arrangement, I've got just my new PSR-EW400 connected, and my other three are stored away due to limited space.

If you need to connect two USB-MIDI keyboards in a situation where it's inconvenient or undesirable to use a computer or laptop as a go-between (USB host and MIDI router), then the iConnectivity mio4 or the Sevilla Soft UHMR might be just what you need.
 
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Thanks. It's really for my school where we have 16 E433s. It would be have been handy to connect them up in twos (or more). I'll check out the iConnectivity and sevila Soft but maybe go with combining audio outputs mechanically.
 

SeaGtGruff

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Ah, that explains your user name, "schoolpsr." :)

If they could all be connected to a central computer, that would solve the issue-- except that Windows has a limit of (if I remember correctly) 10 MIDI devices, and unfortunately I think the built-in Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth counts as one of them, so it would take at least two separate computers-- say, eight keyboards connected to each computer. And there's also the issue of how many USB ports each computer has, because the owner's manuals for the PSR-E models say they shouldn't be connected to a USB hub.

As a possible alternative, you could investigate using a Raspberry Pi as a MIDI USB host.
 

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