Trouble with Bluetooth Linking / Compatible USB Bluetooth Dongle?

[Max]

Hi everyone,

I can't link the DM48X to my music pc (Windows7 32 Bit with LogiLink BT0015 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Dongle). The dongle recognizes the DM48X, but then it says that the linking failed because a wrong code was entered. But there is no code to enter and even no input window was shown.

Bluetooth dongles are cheap these days, so maybe someone else succeeded with another model ...

[Max]

Bluetooth midi seems to be a proprietary apple technology. But Roland offers a compatible pc usb midi dongle, the WM-1D. The CME WIDI Bud Pro enables also a bluetooth midi connection for all operating systems, even Linux.

Has anyone experience with these dongles and can recommend them for the DM48X?

[Max]

Meanwhile I tested the CME WIDI Bud and it works like charm on my old pc! :)

The CME WIDI Bud is the anchestor of the Pro version and seems to be discontingued, but there exists still a remaining stock. I chose it because it's backwards compatible to Windows 7, while the new Pro version needs at least Window 10.

Have fun! :)

[Rudy Larsen]

I will atest to that successful use of the CME WIDI BUD dongle. It is available on Amazon and worked

with my Win7 Dell PC along with the Mixcraft program that was loaded and it recognized the

wireless USB connection. Regards, Rudy

CME Xkey Wireless MIDI (WIDI Bud Bluetooth) https://a.co/d/001zcDY

[Michael Turner]

The CME WIDI Bud Pro works fine with windows 10 until you speed up you playing and then a single note will lock up, even if you go to a different key.  I have no idea what setting is needed to correct this problem. I am using multichannel 
{1-4}.

[Rudy Larsen]

Hi Mjturner snd DM48X group -

Concerning this issue, I see Lekholm instruments published this notice on their

website:

"USB MIDI. BLE MIDI is therefore not recommended when using the DM48X in

multichannel mode (e.g. MPE), as this can produce large amounts of MIDI data

per time unit, thus surpassing the limits of the wireless link."

Therefore, I am asking for a general discussion if you may have reached the limit of

your bandwidth on the BLE wireless connection and you may start missing "Stop Note"

MIDI commands to your Software Synthesizer on your PC. Regards to all, Rudy

[Max]

I would set both the DM48X and the synth to mono mode. Then the DM48X sends less midi data and the synth is quite robust against missing note-offs.

[Erik]

Hi,

My understanding is that BLE MIDI should work on Windows machines without any extra hardware (provided that the PC supports Bluetooth Low Energy). It seems a bit complicated though compared to Mac - see example below:

https://www.kawai-global.com/support/faq/how-do-i-connect-my-kawai-piano-to-a-windows-pc-via-bluetooth-midi/

It would be interesting to know if anyone can get this to work (have no Windows machine unfortunately!).

[Max]

Hi Erik,

maybe this is true for Windows 10, but not for older machines.The WIDI Bud dongle has an onboard chip which translates BLE MIDI to normal USB MIDI. That's the reason why it works with every operating system that supports USB.

[Erik]

Yes - as I understand it it's supported as of Windows 10 as you say.

[Tom Gleason]

I'm in Windows11 and can confirm that it works, but it took some more work even. Once set up, it works nicely. 

One thing that took me a  while (well maybe a year) to figure out was the Windows Bluetooth Settings menu. There is a Device Settings section called "Bluetooth devices discovery", and my DM48X was not discovered until I switched that to Advanced.

This does work and is necessary, I can confirm: https://www.kawai-global.com/support/faq/how-do-i-connect-my-kawai-piano-to-a-windows-pc-via-bluetooth-midi/ 

Note the MIDIberry interface is a little confusing. You have to select the inputs and outputs in a little scroll list that isn't clearly a scroll, and you have to click on the device and make it purple to be selected.

I was then able to get a LoopMIDI port findable in Ableton as an input for a track.