Looking at the MIDI note data revealed the WIDI data to be marginally later, but this wasn’t obvious when playing.Īs people who remember how liberating it was moving from two MIDI cables to MIDI over USB, losing the cables completely is very welcome, and though we’ve tried new controllers that implement MIDI over Bluetooth as standard, the device-to-device option is new to us.

We did a quick comparison with a direct USB MIDI connection and the timing was close. Of course, in practice, you simply notice the overall performance. These combine various features including smart pairing, latency reduction and range optimisation to deliver a more reliable wireless experience. What about latency? WIDI uses what CME call Smart Connectivity Algorithms (SCA). Plug this into your MIDI hardware and it should immediately be able to communicate with your Mac or iOS device via Bluetooth MIDI. The WM-1 is a two-plug device that offers MIDI I/O on standard 5-pin ports. We easily managed 10 metres distance with no problems, and, in this range, the connection was very stable. These paired straight away and worked without extra steps. We also connected two MIDI devices with a pair of WIDI Masters. In use, we connected both my Novation and Studiologic controllers to iPad and OSX devices without a problem (I didn’t try Windows). With everything paired, the main unit blue LED stops pulsing and flickers to indicate MIDI data activity. Meanwhile, Windows 10 users must check if their DAW supports Microsoft’s latest UWP API.

For other devices, it’s worth following CME’s detailed instructions as there are various options that facilitate the process.īoth Android and iOS users are advised to use apps (Bluetooth MIDI BLE Connect and midimittr respectively).

Like anything Bluetooth, pairing properly is key to success and if you’re using two WIDI Masters they pair automatically (check the blue LED on the main unit). Alternatively, you could try CME’s MIDI Jack device instead, as this allows external powering. This could simply be down to internal pin wiring, and for the more technically capable, CME’s website includes workarounds that modify your instrument or facilitate hooking up an external PSU.

Widi bud