That was a nice attempt so far Mickie, you’re going through the motions of trial & error keep at it! Either you, or I or maybe BOTH of us have missed something. However I recall that I was able to get my own set up working, with what you are trying to accomplish…although being ONE person in my home studio, I was using ONE midi instrument/controller at a time mind you.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve got/been using a router now, but back when I was daisy-chaining > from my sound cards midi OUT > to my keyboards midi IN > then from keyboards midi OUT > to my drum trigger modules midi IN > then drum trigger modules midi OUT > back to my sound cards midi IN. With this I was able to do what I needed to do.
I may be recalling incorrectly, and now I’m not sure that I wasn’t using my keyboards midi THRU after all…though if I did, I don’t know how this may have helped any with what I know midi THRU to be You’re welcome to experiment with using the midi THRU in one way or another…can’t say how, as if you read up on midi THRU, it’ll say it’s often used from say a Master midi keyboard/controller, to send midi to say another keyboard, ‘unaffected’.
See these pics
As you’ve said before, the only way you can daisy-chain your drum module & keyboard is start by send the drum modules midi OUT 1st…then go into your keyboards midi IN…the midi THRU is just another kind of ‘out’ as I understand it…so really, the only ways you can then send both the drum module & keyboard by daisy chaining, is after you’ve sent your drum modules midi OUT into your keyboards midi IN…the only ‘two possible options’ now are to go from your keyboards midi OUT into your sound cards midi IN, OR just try your keyboards midi THRU into your sound cards midi IN instead …because I may have be wrong before, but as far as I know, if you were to send that midi THRU out into your sound card, you may only send midi from the drum module?, then NOT the keyboard…but try that anyway, so you can be ‘sure’ if I was wrong or not…?
My 1st thoughts of your issue of not sending midi from both your edrums & keyboard, are that you’re routing something wrong somewhere. Likely within Cubase. Remember there are 16 midi channels available through a single 5-pin midi DIN cable. And if using a single midi DIN cable in & out of your midi I/O connections, you’ll be on ONE single midi ‘port’…(each port has 16 midi channels)
As for a midi router, - which by the way, an 8X8 router having 8 ‘separate ports’ with 16 midi channels each = 64 midi channels total - that should make things a lot easier fer sure. Right now there are several Motu MTP AV’s for sale on ebay …the much older serial versions for $40-$80, and the newer USB versions for nearly double the price. USB to a computer can have a LOT more midi I/O traffic, although you’re not in great need for a lot of I/O traffic, but if you could get a USB model, you can either use the USB, or just use one of the 5-pin midi DIN outs on the router.
But, experiment more before you run out & buy a midi router. Ok, so you can hear both EZDrummer & the B4 VSTi’s, that’s a start. Again, I’ll mention/ask if you’ve selected the MONITOR button for each midi track (speaker icon)? Without doing this, you’ll probably only hear the midi track that is ‘highlighted’ (usually selected by your mouse, but the computer keyboards arrows can move/highlight from track to track too).
Things to check…
1st make sure your edrums are set to send midi out on say, midi channel #1 (could be any midi channels 1 thru 16)
Make sure your keyboard is set to send midi out on say, midi channel #2 (could be any midi channels 1 thru 16)
Make sure your Cubase midi track for EZDrummer is set for the corresponding midi channel #1
Make sure your Cubase midi track for the B4 is set for the corresponding midi channel #2
Keep in mind I said “Channel” not ‘track’ above, that easy to confuse the two terms.
Now, make sure that each of your midi tracks for EZD & B4 (after assigning the proper “channels” in the fields within the track you’ve highlighted (note, only after you’ve highlight the particular track do you have the area to the left to make changes for that particular track! - don’t make the mistake of making changes to a midi track you have highlighted, thinking you’re on another midi track - I do this all the time! )
Your ‘OUTPUT’ for each midi track must be ok, you’ve got EZD & B4 assigned to them already. But what about your ‘INPUT’ assignment for each midi track? What does that say? (left upper area of your Arrange Window after you’ve ‘highlighted’ that midi track). Make sure each midi tracks INPUT is set to what you want (you can select ‘ANY’ if you want to make it easy, but I tend to select the ‘particular’ Input I need.
If all this doesn’t do the trick, go into your main Midi Filter in the set-up, and make sure you don’t have any of the particular midi channels muted. That dialog box looks like this…
When I send midi between 2 computers via my sounds cards midi, I’m using ONE midi DIN cable. I do the above, but ALSO I had to learn about (PER MIDI CHANNEL here I’m talking now) I had to learn about Midi Filtering (not just the main midi filter as in the above pic) but PER CHANNEL, as well as the Midi Transformer PER TRACK. My bad results before this, is that every midi channel being sent from the midi sending computer, was sounding every Virtual Instrument (VSTi) on the other computer. Now this was with several different midi channels/tracks & VSTi’s, not just TWO incoming midi instrument/controllers (edrums & a keyboard). Mind you this took me SEVERAL MONTHS to figure all this out! DOH! Boy, did I ask a lot of questions! Lost some hair, and sanity along the way too. But man, when I got it going, I treated myself to a beer…or two!
Here’s a pic of the PER midi track Midi Transformer…whatever version this pic is from ???
You can selected it from something like this image…
See where is says “Rhoads”…to it’s right there’s a little “e” … just below THAT there’s a screwy looking tail on arrow thingy, selecting that button opens the dialog box for the Midi Transformer, again, for EACH midi track. There’s a GLOBAL & a LOCAL selection possible. For ME to get 2 computers to send/receive several midi tracks on their proper perspective midi channels, and be ISOLATED from each other, I had to go through all this. Let me tell you the Midi Transformer took DAYS to figure out! Hell, I can’t even explain it You’re going to have to read the PDF manual on that… over & over again. Now, you may not actually NEED the midi Transformer for 2 midi controllers at one time, as I did with 2 computers (much more complicated!) but keep in mind, I’ve never actually used 2 midi controllers at one time either! But still, I just KNOW it’s easier than my cluster-buck of a midi mess