Yamaha MDBT01 Wireless Bluetooth MIDI Adapter - They're Brilliant! (Edit: Check compatibility)

ipadthai

@Jes said:

@ipadthai said:
I was interested in buying the adapter but since virtually all midi controllers require wired power anyway (not battery operated), I don't see much benefit in going Bluetooth since I won't be wireless. Something like the Nanokey Studio, for example, is appealing because it is truly wireless.

Yes I agree that optimum wireless means the controller is also self powered.
Fortunately my Xstation and little Kawai midi controller both run on rechargeables and support the BT01.

Man, the Xstation looks so feature-rich and perfect. What's the catch? I'm looking at pics and it has two MIDI DIN outs, USB MIDI, two input audio interface, labels for all the parameters (very nice to have for a MIDI controller), 8 faders, and battery-powered.

lukesleepwalker

@bsantoro said:
I have the MT-BT01 and it works great with my Yamaha MOX6; Edirol PCR-M1; and my Korg taktile 49 midi controllers.

Has anyone tried the Puc+? It would be great for my midi controllers that only have USB midi out.
https://jamstik.com/products/pucplus

The UD-BT01 wouldn't do the trick? See above that a Linnstrument user who uses the UD-BT01 and a battery charger!

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/pianos/accessories/ud-bt01/index.html

SpookyZoo

@ipadthai said:

@Jes said:

@ipadthai said:
I was interested in buying the adapter but since virtually all midi controllers require wired power anyway (not battery operated), I don't see much benefit in going Bluetooth since I won't be wireless. Something like the Nanokey Studio, for example, is appealing because it is truly wireless.

Yes I agree that optimum wireless means the controller is also self powered.
Fortunately my Xstation and little Kawai midi controller both run on rechargeables and support the BT01.

Man, the Xstation looks so feature-rich and perfect. What's the catch? I'm looking at pics and it has two MIDI DIN outs, USB MIDI, two input audio interface, labels for all the parameters (very nice to have for a MIDI controller), 8 faders, and battery-powered.

There isn’t a catch!

They’re only available 2nd hand but worth grabbing one if you see a listing.

It’s also a very capable synth in itself.

BlueGreenSpiral

@Lt_Core said:

@SpookyZoo said:
Just wanted to let anybody interested know that the...

** Yamaha MDBT01 Wireless Bluetooth MIDI Adapter **

Is awesome. They work great and very low latency.

They're currently on a littles sale in UK Amazon @ £32 from £39.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-MD-BT01-DBT-O1-Midi-Adaptor-x/dp/B01AXSYSLU

I've got 3 of these now.

1 plugged into my FCB1010, another into an X-Station 61 and another that I switch between various controllers.

Even used it on the Novation Circuit as a fun experiment using the Circuit as a midi controller.

I've not had any trouble getting the iPad to recognise and pair via bluetooth any device with the MDBT01 plugged in.

EDIT:

@Jes included a list by MidiSolutions of devices that don't give power to MIDI connections. Could be a similar issue with the MDBT01 so check this list first.

http://www.midisolutions.com/faqs.htm#List

Very cool!! This might solve my dilemma for triggering some loops/samples on my iPad. So I can connect this Yamaha adapter to a MIDI foot controller, like the FCB1010, and then it will be available in my iOS apps? For example, I want to trigger a cool sound in Synthscaper, plus various other apps.

Works great with FCB1010, I can confirm the unbelievably low latency!
I'm going to get another one for my non-Bluetooth xkey 37, works perfectly with that one too.

klangsulfat

For those who are interested, I can confirm that the Yamaha MD-BT01 works great for me with the following devices:

Korg Electribe EMX
Elektron Digitakt
Korg Monologue
Korg Minilogue
Korg Microkorg
Roland Fantom-X6
Nord Lead A1

MikeyP

Works great with my Roland AX-7

knewspeak

All good with the Korg Prophecy.

[Deleted User]

Anyone know if this works with the Korg Electribe 2 sampler?

HokieKev

I am using with a Kurzweil PC3x and an Ensoniq SQ80. Works great with both.

Incidentally, as I mentioned on the site earlier I have connected the two keyboards above to a single iPad (two different applications on the iPad) and that works great as well.

Love these Yamaha wireless things.

Also, second the idea of the poster above. I would love to have an ultimate, nice, 88 key Bluetooth midi controller that ran forever on batteries. I think someone should put a lithium ion battery in a keyboard that charges while you play at home and then runs on batteries when you go out to the gig. That would be cool.

[Deleted User]

@HokieKev said:
I am using with a Kurzweil PC3x and an Ensoniq SQ80. Works great with both.

Incidentally, as I mentioned on the site earlier I have connected the two keyboards above to a single iPad (two different applications on the iPad) and that works great as well.

Love these Yamaha wireless things.

Also, second the idea of the poster above. I would love to have an ultimate, nice, 88 key Bluetooth midi controller that ran forever on batteries. I think someone should put a lithium ion battery in a keyboard that charges while you play at home and then runs on batteries when you go out to the gig. That would be cool.

What a great idea 💡

AlexB

@[Deleted User] said:

@HokieKev said:
I am using with a Kurzweil PC3x and an Ensoniq SQ80. Works great with both.

Incidentally, as I mentioned on the site earlier I have connected the two keyboards above to a single iPad (two different applications on the iPad) and that works great as well.

Love these Yamaha wireless things.

Also, second the idea of the poster above. I would love to have an ultimate, nice, 88 key Bluetooth midi controller that ran forever on batteries. I think someone should put a lithium ion battery in a keyboard that charges while you play at home and then runs on batteries when you go out to the gig. That would be cool.

What a great idea 💡

Or you simply buy a power bank and one of these Yamaha BT and you have it...

SpookyZoo

@AlexB said:

@[Deleted User] said:

@HokieKev said:
I am using with a Kurzweil PC3x and an Ensoniq SQ80. Works great with both.

Incidentally, as I mentioned on the site earlier I have connected the two keyboards above to a single iPad (two different applications on the iPad) and that works great as well.

Love these Yamaha wireless things.

Also, second the idea of the poster above. I would love to have an ultimate, nice, 88 key Bluetooth midi controller that ran forever on batteries. I think someone should put a lithium ion battery in a keyboard that charges while you play at home and then runs on batteries when you go out to the gig. That would be cool.

What a great idea 💡

Or you simply buy a power bank and one of these Yamaha BT and you have it...

Yep, I have a 61 Key X-Station with a MD-BT01 and power bank permanently connected (when charged) available for quick wireless connection whenever inspiration takes hold. Lovely option!

The X-Station does actually charge inserted batteries when plugged into mains, but the reliability of battery use alone is sketchy. Power bank much the better option for this particular setup.

Pierre118

When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

knewspeak

@Pierre118 said:
When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

I think you’re going to have to route them via an iOS device. Nanokey as an input going to Digitakt using something like midimitr, but it just depends what you are trying to do with the setup you want.

Pierre118

@knewspeak said:

@Pierre118 said:
When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

I think you’re going to have to route them via an iOS device. Nanokey as an input going to Digitakt using something like midimitr, but it just depends what you are trying to do with the setup you want.

Thanks for your reply! So a direct bluetooth connection between a Korg Nanokey Studio and a Digitakt is not possible, if i understand you correct.

rs2000

@Pierre118 said:

@knewspeak said:

@Pierre118 said:
When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

I think you’re going to have to route them via an iOS device. Nanokey as an input going to Digitakt using something like midimitr, but it just depends what you are trying to do with the setup you want.

Thanks for your reply! So a direct bluetooth connection between a Korg Nanokey Studio and a Digitakt is not possible, if i understand you correct.

Yes, because none of them can act as a bluetooth host. To play the Digitakt from the Nanokey Studio you have to use an intermediate iPhone or iPad, compnnect both and forward the MIDI data from NKS to DT.

rs2000

If anyone doesn't like the fact that the Yamahas are very long and prone to breaking because they're sticking out quite a bit, there's also the Quicco mi.1 pair of BT dongles. They're basically the same as the MD-BT01 but in very tiny case that is almost unnoticeable. On some boxes like the Digitakt you have to insert them with a tiny bit of force but that has never been an issue for me and I'm very satisfied with them.
However, I've heard several times that they're not available everywhere in the world.

Pierre118

@rs2000 Thanks!

SpookyZoo

@rs2000 said:

@Pierre118 said:

@knewspeak said:

@Pierre118 said:
When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

I think you’re going to have to route them via an iOS device. Nanokey as an input going to Digitakt using something like midimitr, but it just depends what you are trying to do with the setup you want.

Thanks for your reply! So a direct bluetooth connection between a Korg Nanokey Studio and a Digitakt is not possible, if i understand you correct.

Yes, because none of them can act as a bluetooth host. To play the Digitakt from the Nanokey Studio you have to use an intermediate iPhone or iPad, compnnect both and forward the MIDI data from NKS to DT.

AUM’s midi matrix is perfect for this.

I use this setup for 2 BT devices...

DMan

I really need to get one of these. My biggest problem is one of the keyboards I would want to use with it most is a Roland PC-300 that I love as a small portable 49key keyboard but it only sends 3.1v... It won’t power it. I’ve thought about rigging a lithium ion battery pack in it to make it have it’s own power. There is already a separate switch one each for power source and MIDI destination.

rs2000

@Pierre118 said:

@knewspeak said:

@Pierre118 said:
When i put the md-bt01 in a Digitakt, how do you connect (for example) a Korg Nanokey Studio? Do they connect automaticly?

I think you’re going to have to route them via an iOS device. Nanokey as an input going to Digitakt using something like midimitr, but it just depends what you are trying to do with the setup you want.

Thanks for your reply! So a direct bluetooth connection between a Korg Nanokey Studio and a Digitakt is not possible, if i understand you correct.

In Cubasis for example, you would just choose the BT MIDI adapter as an input, enable the THRU button and set the MIDI output to the Digitakt. Done. No need for a 3rd party utility.
Now you can record either in Cubasis or on the Digitakt or both

(Cubasis can send MIDI clock and let the Digitakt run in sync too, but this only works if you don't loop a part in the arrangement in Cubasis because Steinberg has still not fixed a stupid sync bug since version 2.2 or something...)

Jes

@rs2000 said:
If anyone doesn't like the fact that the Yamahas are very long and prone to breaking because they're sticking out quite a bit, there's also the Quicco mi.1 pair of BT dongles. They're basically the same as the MD-BT01 but in very tiny case that is almost unnoticeable. On some boxes like the Digitakt you have to insert them with a tiny bit of force but that has never been an issue for me and I'm very satisfied with them.
However, I've heard several times that they're not available everywhere in the world.

These were previously difficult to find but
Rev3 of these are now available from Japan via ebay :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Quicco-Sound-mi-1-Bluetooth-LE-MIDI-Interface-Rev-3-w-Tracking-form-JAPAN-F-S/183213763301?epid=917455334&hash=item2aa8642ae5:g:11oAAOSweMVa8Eer

Here is a list of some midi devices known Not To and To work with this interface

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mYRWBT_WT1BX2bG30O6WJ7EzYZyRlLVrkLB3zK27Dl0/htmlview

rs2000

@Jes said:

@rs2000 said:
If anyone doesn't like the fact that the Yamahas are very long and prone to breaking because they're sticking out quite a bit, there's also the Quicco mi.1 pair of BT dongles. They're basically the same as the MD-BT01 but in very tiny case that is almost unnoticeable. On some boxes like the Digitakt you have to insert them with a tiny bit of force but that has never been an issue for me and I'm very satisfied with them.
However, I've heard several times that they're not available everywhere in the world.

These were previously difficult to find but
Rev3 of these are now available from Japan via ebay :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Quicco-Sound-mi-1-Bluetooth-LE-MIDI-Interface-Rev-3-w-Tracking-form-JAPAN-F-S/183213763301?epid=917455334&hash=item2aa8642ae5:g:11oAAOSweMVa8Eer

Here is a list of some midi devices known Not To and To work with this interface

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mYRWBT_WT1BX2bG30O6WJ7EzYZyRlLVrkLB3zK27Dl0/htmlview

Note that these Bluetooth MIDI dongles are powered by the MIDI port's weak current loop and therefore require a MIDI port with proper physical specs.
They're not made for full speed MIDI data like Sysex communication or very busy note or controller flows, as they can contain too many "zeroes" that fail to continuously power the device, no matter if the brand is Yamaha or Quicco.

By the way, there's an option to change the mi.1 default settings (from Quicco's manual):
4. MIDI sync with the volca beats
The current versions of the mi.1 firmware (v2.2.1/v3.2.1) filters MIDI clock (F8) messages by default (i.e. MIDI clock will not be transmitted/received)
In order to allow tempo syncing, please send the following SysEx message to disable the MIDI clock filter:

F0 00 02 08 10 55 01 00 00 F7 (MIDI clock will be transmitted/received)
To re-enable the MIDI clock filter, and return to default settings, please send the following SysEx message:
F0 00 02 08 10 55 01 00 01 F7 (MIDI clock will not be transmitted/received)

You can even change its name presented over Bluetooth, very handy if you have more than one of them in use (from a Vimeo user, in my setup they're called "Digitakt" and "KeyStep"):
SysEx Format for setting "Device Name" is below

F0 00 02 08 10 55 00 01 nn nn nn nn nn nn nn nn 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 F7
nn=Ascii Character

In this example, the device name is "QY70 ".
Hex number of "QY70 " is "51 59 37 30 20 20 20 20" . (including four spaces)

You only have to do these settings once, they'll be remembered after power-off.
If I remember correctly I had to power-cycle for the new settings to become effective.

knewspeak

I’ve tested Sysex on several synths and both transmissions and reception works well, the only problem I’ve really encountered was the iPad sleeping and losing connection to the dongle. It probably depends on the complexity of your setup though, but if you’re just sending Sysex and nothing else I think you should be okay.

klangsulfat

@klangsulfat said:
For those who are interested, I can confirm that the Yamaha MD-BT01 works great for me with the following devices:

Korg Electribe EMX
Elektron Digitakt
Korg Monologue
Korg Minilogue
Korg Microkorg
Roland Fantom-X6
Nord Lead A1

In the meantime I could successfully test additional devices with the MD-BT01:

Synthstrom Deluge
Roland XV-2020
Roland SonicCell

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but there is an app from Yamaha that allows you to update the firmware. I did that the other day and now my MD-BT01 finally transmits/receives MIDI clock! This didn't work before (I bought the adapter immediately after release).

You can also use the app to change the bluetooth name of the adapter.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/md-bt01-ud-bt01-utility-us/id1106859013?mt=8

vitocorleone123

Not sure what makes the following better than the less expensive bluetooth option - other than range and flexibility, but if you need those, then check out the more expensive midibeam solution

pandamidi.com/midibeam/

rs2000

@vitocorleone123 said:
Not sure what makes the following better than the less expensive bluetooth option - other than range and flexibility, but if you need those, then check out the more expensive midibeam solution

pandamidi.com/midibeam/

Latency! Works for anyone who needs extremely low latency over a wireless link.
For its price, you can purchase four Bluetooth MIDI adaptors and you cannot connect it directly to the iPad, neither over Bluetooth nor over Lightning.
Adding a CCK3 adds another $40...

Howard

I had previously written a different post about sending the Midi In on my MD-BD01 not working but now I see the problem is that my adapter is no longer working and hasn't worked since updating to firmware 1.05. It's not bricked as I can connect to it and also update the firmware a second time but it wont send or receive data anymore. Anyone else having the same issue?

SpookyZoo

Not updated firmware in a long while and I believe all 4 of mine are working as intended.

Not sure what firmware I’m on but I’ll check and test tomorrow.

Howard

Thanks @SpookyZoo but do yourself a favour, don't update to 1.0.5. I also had no problem with all the other versions and now I'm stuck. I see that the app is no longer in the App Store here in Canada so perhaps they removed it for now while they get a fix for those who did the update.