Bluetooth midi in the 7u case ports?

Hey, everyone! I’ve been trying to figure out Bluetooth midi in my 7u performance case. This is so I can easily use my iPad and save HP on sequencers in my case. I have the CME widi master and Yamaha bt01, both midi Bluetooth dongles that derive their power from the midi out port, and a bunch of jumper cables for midi routing inside the case. I had a fine time using a dongle on the keystep pro, connecting the keystep to hermod via usb, then using hermods midi ports, midixoxo breakout and a few stereo aux cables to get midi routed from my iPad, across the case - to the hermod and my sound modules, the disting via the breakout and the midi in of the bitbox. It was all a dream. Trouble started when I thought I could use jumper cables and get rid of the midi breakouts for the disting and pams, saving me all of 4 valuable HP. I was hoping to add dongles to the back of the case and the front of the hermod and internally route the disting. Then take the out or thru from the case to a midi solutions Quadra thru to play the bitbox and sync my external gear (pedals/bpm synced stuff).

First night in, I realized the midi ports are passive so the Bluetooth dongles don’t work. But I’ve been able to drop the midixoxo breakout and use the in/out ports in the back exactly as I did the midi breakout. This leaves me with a view questions.

  • Any way to use the jumpers to power the midi out port?
  • Any ideas for getting the midi out and thru to work?

Now I’m researching the midi 1u modules and the USB module. There’s also a Bluetooth midi USB dongle from CME and a WIDI Jack that can be powered by USB. So I’m thinking either powering the dongle via usb or if the dongle can be plugged directly into the usb 1u + midi module and use that to connect to the case and modules via jumper cables.

I know it’s a stretch but if anyone has done this before or has advice, I’d LOVE the help.

For context, I have the Disting EX and PNW with midi headers in the back and hermod and bitbox micro with midi ports in the front, plus a midi solutions Quadra thru to help duplicate my ports to external gear, mostly pedals. There’s also an SP404 and keystep pro in the mix connected via Bluetooth dongles.

Excellent subject that I’ve never considered. Bluetooth input to eurorack could be so powerful. Personally I use age old 5 pin din from a Korg ESX unit to provide midi info, including reasonable sequencing duties.