MOTU MIDI Express 128 Reviews

4.5/5.0 based on 11 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Nick Schenkel

This rock-solid unit is the perfect central hub for your MIDI composition studio. Route MIDI messages from any one piece of gear to any other. Easy programming. Amazing dependability. Bargain pricing. A truly exceptional value!

Austin Moss

If you like MIDI modules and need the software routing functionality of a MTP, but don't need SMPTE, then the MIDIExp128 is what you need! Don't worry about yet another power conditioner, it's USB powered.

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Customer Reviews

from California
May 5, 2013Music Background:
Music Production

Works great with MacBook Pro

Keeps all 4 sound modules, a triton keyboard and an Mpc all playing nice together. 16 channels per piece lovely

Errol Edwards
from Arlington, TX.
August 2, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician

I can connect all my musical equipment to my computer

The MOTU MIDI Express Interface is a great product.

chris klinvex
from United States
January 4, 2012Music Background:
Audio Software Engineer

Awesome!!!

Complete functionality with all my midi gear in one rackmount design, definitely makes my life a whole lot easier!!! No problems at all and really does it's job well. BTW latency is minimal, and I use an AXON AX100 MK2, so latency has been an issue in the past, but not with this thing!

Mike Gervais
from klamath falls or usa
September 28, 2011Music Background:
strudio musician

Excellant Midi Interface

Express 128 was so easy to set up and works like a champ. It works well very dependable and it is expandable. The engineers at Motu nailed it on this one.

Art Moe
from Ft Lauderdale Fl
July 6, 2011Music Background:
Guitar Player & Midi Composer

Motu Midi Express 128

Works fantastic.. Wish I knew about this years ago......Had 5 midi modules and was always having to turn certain ones on and off when I did not want them to trigger. This solves that problem by easily assigning 8 separate midi ports within Cakewalk Sonar

Bob Dickow
from Moscow, IDaho
August 29, 2012Music Background:
Professional musician and composer

MOTU midi express 128

MOTU makes good stuff, and the 128 is good for what it sets out to do. The unit is a lot simpler than the midi express XT, and lacks the SMTP striping signalling and the routing. It comes with the Digital Timepiece software, but the written documentation says it doens't apply to the 128. You can't do any routing of your MIDI port assignments through the software. Of course, the 128 is tad cheaper than the XT, so if you need a basic unit to control a hefty bunch of MIDI devices at lower cost, and you don't need fancy capabilities, the 128 will do the job ok. The rack mount unit looks nice, with lights to show MIDI IN/OUT activity. No buttons to mess with, even for on/off, since it is powered by the USB from the computer.

Ron Fields
from Schaumburg IL
June 2, 2011Music Background:
26 yr MIDI arranger and composer

good piece of gear

the only thing i'd like better is the 128 had it's OWN power and could act as a stand alone processor i.e the Unitor 8 that it replaced. I don;t always like to fire up my computer just to sit down and "noodle" at the beginning of a song idea. I DO wish they'd invent a midi interface that had both midi and usb capabilities where you could see the signal path
both input and output where you might see a midi signal loss more or lessimmediately

from comox, bc, can
September 16, 2006Music Background:
musician

Great no hassle product.

the midi express 128 works just as expected out of the box. Usb makes installation a snap, with no ugly wall warts. I like the (simple but convenient) activity lights on the front, as well as the computer connection light. All inputs showed up in my sequencer hassle free. not to mention - easy to expand! i'll probably add a few more.

michael beachum
from dallas, TX
January 9, 2013Music Background:
musician, hobbyist

Set It, Forget it, Love It

Sure, this is worth 5 stars but due to its simplicity just doesn't deserve a wow! I mean, it's not changing the world (even if it is making it a whole helluva lot easier).

It does what it does, and it does it well. I do give it 5 stars for its ease of connectivity and installation - either put it in your rack or on your desktop, install the drivers, connect your gear.

After, that never look back.

It even offers the added bonus of being well-constructed and looking great.

Awesome, economical midi hub. Wouldn't think twice about getting another if I needed to.

Wayne Hartman
from Cincinnati, OH
October 19, 2006Music Background:
Musician, Home Studio

Utterly Simple

I read the reviews and bought it after consulting my sales associate. Not being a "midiot" I had hoped for an extremely easy to use solution for plugging in all my midi modules in my rack. Thank God for USB !!! No wall wart, easy installation and it worked flawlessly the first time. It shows me what channels are sending and receiving from across the room. I am impressed with it's ease of use and it was easily recognizable by my software....no hassles. This is a great buy !!!

Rodney Foster
from Lancaster,CA
January 31, 2011Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Stage Hand ,Writer,Producer

Driver stability issues

The unit does not stay connected to the computer. I always have to unplug and replug the USB. After all, I should not have to write about a faulty product from a company with such a long history of making good software. One would think that their hardware would be top notch gear.