Well, I don't think there's any type of PCI based midi interface, unless it comes bundled as part of an audio card. Some of MOTUs' interface's utilitize both LPT & USB ports. I have the MOTU midi-express XT and MTP A/V. I don't know if you're looking for that many ports but it defenitely would'nt hurt to have them. Also the panel works very well too. My buddy has an OPCODE interface which does'nt work like any of the MOTU interfaces. I'm still using the LPT port. It has'nt caused any problems so far.

I had a MIDISport 2x2 that served me faithfully. I never encountered any jitter issues, but YMMV. I think it becomes an issue if you use a lot of controller data, or heavy sequences. Depending on your platform, your only other option is to get a serial MIDI interface, which are pretty much out of production, but you can find one on ebay for pennies. I also have a Opcode Studio 64x, which is connected via serial to my second computer (Mac G3 B&W), and I can't tell the difference WRT timing compared to the MIDISport.

The 2x2 is strong. I have been running it with LOTS of data and NO issues........yet:D. But, like mjones sez, "YMMV".

hi folks, thanks for the feedback. both the edirol and midisport are looking like strong contenders.

--cranbo

reverting to the matter in the first post, do USB MIDI devices actually cause latency?

it may not be true for the MOTU devices, but is it known to happen with others?

i ended up going with the midisport 2x2, because it's nice to have the additional midi channels.

thanks for the feedback!

cranbo