Introducing: Wired MIDI Thru via WIDI App

Wired MIDI Thru (WIDI App v1.6 or higher)

After you update WIDI App to the latest version, you will notice a new feature available on the "devices" tab. Now you can turn "Wired MIDI Thru" either "on" or "off."

This blog explains the difference between the two modes for your WIDI devices.

Default mode

For the USB side, we are talking about WIDI Bud Pro and WIDI Uhost, the default setting is "off." The same goes for the wired MIDI I/O adapters such as WIDI Master and WIDI Jack.

WIDI Thru6 BT

Specifically for WIDI Thru6 BT, the default setting is "on." This is because by default the WIDI Thru6 BT is a thru box that passes midi messages from the Bluetooth (BLE) MIDI input to the wired 5-pin DIN outputs, and vice versa.

WIDI Thru6 BT merges the wired and Bluetooth MIDI incoming messages and copies them to the wired outputs. The incoming Bluetooth MIDI messages are not forwarded to the Bluetooth MIDI output. This is intentionally separated to prevent unwanted MIDI loops.

USB Soft Thru and Wired MIDI Thru

When connecting USB or wired MIDI, it may be necessary to send MIDI messages from the wired input back to the wired output.

Wired MIDI Thru is designed to provide a solution for very specific scenarios. It allows you to internally route the incoming message to the output, creating an internal pass-through without affecting the Bluetooth side of your WIDI device.

WIDI Uhost and WIDI Bud Pro

On the Roland V-Accordion, for example, USB soft thru (Wired MIDI Thru) must be enabled to play the internal sound when the instrument is in External Seq. Playback mode.

The same goes for a traditional keyboard, where it is now possible to send MIDI messages and trigger your internal sounds at the same time with Wired MIDI Thru enabled.

WIDI Master and WIDI Jack

If you use Wired MIDI Thru on WIDI Master or WIDI Jack, you can now turn the wired output of your WIDI Master and WIDI Jack - normally connected to the IN port of your device in the default situation with Wired MIDI Thru disabled - into a thru port.

You can use this feature to route the wired input directly back to the wired output as a pass-through function for daisy-chaining multiple WIDI devices or to connect the wired MIDI OUT and IN of two different MIDI devices.

Wired not Bluetooth

If you enable Wired MIDI Thru, it is important to understand that the operation of the Bluetooth MIDI side is not affected. This means that the Bluetooth MIDI input is not sent back to the Bluetooth MIDI output.

What does happen is that the incoming MIDI messages on the Bluetooth side are merged with the wired MIDI messages you want to pass through.