Comparison of different MIDIMATE models

Over time, ESI has released a number of different products with the MIDIMATE name. This text explains about the differences. The different models are described first, followed by a table that mentions the differences of them.

XP MIDI Mate

XP MIDI Mate was sold with the AUDIOTRAK brand name. It can be recognized by the red PCB color under the transparent plastic case which is placed roughly in the middle of the cable and the large "XP" printing in white letters on a red sticker on the plastic case.

MIDI Mate (= Rev. A)

MIDI Mate was the ESI branded version of XP MIDI Mate. It has a white PCB under the transparent plastic case in the middle of the cable. The sticker has a dark gray ESI logo over the letters "MIDI Mate". We refer to this cable as Revision A in technical support.

MIDIMATE (= Rev. B)

MIDIMATE is a newer version of the cable in blue color. It no longer has the plastic case in the middle of the cable, making it the worlds first MIDI interface cable with the electronics inside the connector. We refer to this cable as Revision B in technical support.

MIDIMATE II

MIDIMATE II is the worlds first MIDI interface that features an automatic input & output detection, i.e. both connectors can be used as either input or output. It consists of a transparent cable with white plastic material inside the USB and MIDI connectors. We later released it as an upgraded version, called MIDIMATE eX. In this article you can find a comparison of the two models.

Comparison Table

The following table shows the important differences between these versions:

	XP MIDI Mate	MIDI Mate / Rev. A	MIDIMATE / Rev. B	MIDIMATE II
colors	transparent / red	transparent / white	blue	transparent / white
plastic case	yes	yes	no	no
brand name	AUDIOTRAK	ESI	ESI	ESI
automatic I/O detection	no	no	no	yes
max. no. of input ports / channels	1 / 16	1 / 16	1 / 16	2 / 32
max. no. of output ports / channels	1 / 16	1 / 16	1 / 16	2 / 32
Windows 2000 support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	no	no
Windows XP support	yes, optional driver	yes, optional driver	yes, native	yes, native
Windows Vista 32-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Windows Vista 64-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Windows 7 32-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Windows 7 64-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Windows 8 32-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Windows 8 64-bit support	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, via driver	yes, native
Mac OS X	yes, native	yes, native	yes, native	yes, native
downloads	drivers & manual	drivers & manual	drivers & manual	only manual
product description & picture	click here	click here	click here	click here

"native" means that no driver installation is required and that no driver is available for download. You simply plug in the cable to the computer and the built-in support of the operating system for so-called class compliant devices supports the interface.

"optional driver" means that although the device is supported by the built-in driver for the operating system, we provide a driver for download that can be installed.

"via driver" means that a driver is required for the interface to work on that particular operating system.