Wireless midi interface

Hi, what options do I have for wireless midi dongles other than the HK one? I’m reluctant to spend £150 unless I absolutely have to. Are there any others that are cheaper that do the same job connecting the iPad and hk app to the head?

Hi,

not to my knowledge, the thing is, that H&K uses two additional pins (they use 7 pin cables instead of 5) to power the WiFi adapter.
I could imagine that some Bluetooth low power adaptors could work as they could get away with some current flowing from the MIDI-Out.
But the next thing to consider is, that this adaptor also has to be recognised by your OS as MIDI in and out.
Unfortunately, I never stumbled across a device which was working, so it would be trial and error.

Best wishes,
Jo

Sorry to have missed this for so long, "Christmas comes but once a year..."

I have looked into this myself in the past and, while I can't give a definitive yes or no, I did get advice from Roland.  They had a MIDI WM-1 dongle of their own which they said should do the job.  It only has to be able to power from the device it is connected to and it does that direct from the data lines.  This sounds flaky but it is a standard way of powering up serial devices, (I know because I have designed devices which do that for industry and for my own Marshall amps).  It then transfers MIDI data back and forth via Bluetooth.

I've just had an online chat with one of their support guys and he says that, from my description of what we want to do with the unit, theirs does just that.  At around £45 it's a LOT cheaper than the H&K version.  The main difference that I can see is that the H&K WM-1 claims to set up a private network whereas the Roland WM-1 is a Bluetooth device.  It may be worth having a look at that.

Roland WM-1

Anyone's comments on this would be useful, I am no MIDI expert. I know the tech behind it but not so much the capabilities and day to day use.

I have seen online that the GM Deluxe 40 can use the WIDI jack for wireless midi connection to the GM40 Remote App.
The only thing is, I do not know how to connect the app to the amp once everything is plugged in.....No one seems to share how they did this. Anyone out there know?????

Hi Netmaster,

as a matter of fact I recently implemented CME's WiDi stuff in three different setups and could not be happier.
As I also use a wireless guitar system you have no cables on stage, thats beyond awesome.
So far the system has not let me down, even at not optimal settings.
One of my setups consists also of the Grandmeister 40.
For control I have a WiDi Jack configured as a master sitting on my pedalboard connected to a Midi footcontroller.
The other WiDi Jack is connected to my Grandmeister, unfortunately the Grandmeister Midi Out is not enough to power die WiDi Jack,
so you have to use the USB-C socket for powering the Jack.
Concerning the app:
I manage my Presets using the windows application for the Grandmeister. But for this a plain bluetooth connection is not sufficient,
you need a bluetooth midi adapter such as the WiDi bud from CME. For the operating system the WiDi bud is a Midi adapter you can choose in
the drop down menu of the application. If the WiDi bud is paired with your Jack connected to the Grandmeister it should work.
However, this is only true for the Windows and maybe the MacOs version of the app. Concerning iOs or Android I do not see how this could work,
as the bluetooth in our mobile devices, to my knowledge, is not able to transfer the Midi Data in a way the WiDi Jack is able to understand it.
In short:
WiDi Jack for cable free performances on stage and rehearsal: Awesome!
WiDi Jack and WiDi Bud: Management and programming on a desktop system: Works, application has room for optimization.
Grandmeister and mobile app: Does not work, at least on Android (iOS I cannot say for shure)

If you have problems configuring it or have further questions, please let me know.

Best wishes,
Jo