chatterbox Posted December 27, 2009 Author Share Posted December 27, 2009 Imagine if your midi port starts spitting out random garbage, or program changes, or whatever. A mege situation means that data still gets through.Likewise with audio, if a track gets stuck and the computer freezes, you're now going to end up with the changeover audio, plus the skipping track, or looping cue that refuses to stop or whatever. Which is exactly why any kind of merge solution will not help and may make matters worse :) Audio software freezing has a nasty habbit of sending out a loop of a couple of frames of audio - not a nice noise! You will end up doing the 'hold-the-button-in-for-10-seconds' to power off in which case you could have physically swapped the plugs around...... To draw on a parallel example, the community FM radio station I help out at has a mechanical switch to switch over to the back-up studio :) Thanks for that - if you look at my later post - I do explain that only one computer is running at any one time, so there is nothing coming out of the other midi port..... as far as audio freezing... I have never had this happen.. but if it ever did - I would just pull out the usb lead that is feeding the audio into the edirol..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 In my (and it would seem most people's opinions) it would still be worth putting a switch in if you're going to custom build the rack anyway. The switch that Mac linked to, or the 24PDT Olympic switch would work, and it wouldn't weigh much at all. You could even take one of the Maplin / Farnell switches apart, panel mount it and solder straight to the terminals to avoid the weight of the connectors. If a job's worth doing it's worth doing well - there's no point running all the additional weight of a backup system if you're relying on unplugging a USB port when it all goes wrong, as the results are going to be messy anyway. It seems a shame to implement the whole system so well and then skimp on the switchover just for the sake of a few connectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleah Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Thanks for that - if you look at my later post - I do explain that only one computer is running at any one time, so there is nothing coming out of the other midi port..... as far as audio freezing... I have never had this happen.. but if it ever did - I would just pull out the usb lead that is feeding the audio into the edirol.....Be wary of pulling USB cables, you may get some nasty pops and bangs from the audio output! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbox Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 In my (and it would seem most people's opinions) it would still be worth putting a switch in if you're going to custom build the rack anyway. The switch that Mac linked to, or the 24PDT Olympic switch would work, and it wouldn't weigh much at all. You could even take one of the Maplin / Farnell switches apart, panel mount it and solder straight to the terminals to avoid the weight of the connectors. If a job's worth doing it's worth doing well - there's no point running all the additional weight of a backup system if you're relying on unplugging a USB port when it all goes wrong, as the results are going to be messy anyway. It seems a shame to implement the whole system so well and then skimp on the switchover just for the sake of a few connectors. Yes, we will be going the switching way - the pulling out of the usb wire was not meant to be the way to go to the back up system.. it is just what I said I would do in the event (which has never happened) that I had audio frezze which had been mentioned in a couple of posts.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Yes, we will be going the switching way - the pulling out of the usb wire was not meant to be the way to go to the back up system.. it is just what I said I would do in the event (which has never happened) that I had audio frezze which had been mentioned in a couple of posts....I'd say that if it's been mentioned in a couple of posts, it's worth considering as a problem. But as you've decided to switch over it shouldn't be a problem. Any port can start outputting garbage, I've just had problems with usb ports into a kvm switch - somehow the switch manages to lock the keyboards of all pc's attached. It occurs very occasionally and evenwhen one pc is sat completely idle. Midi may be a reasonably simple format, but it's still a port capable of transmitting data. I'd isolate if I could. You have no idea in what state your pc could fail or freeze, possibly mid-not on command. If the midi port toggles on and doesn't release, merging will leave the output corrupt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Yes, we will be going the switching way - the pulling out of the usb wire was not meant to be the way to go to the back up system..Well let us know which switch you go for and how it works for you, a couple of pictures of the finished switch setup would be nice as well if you don't mind posting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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