Split midi for on and off board use

I built a new pedalboard with a PBC 6X and several midi pedals which functions well, it has a Source Audio EQ-2, a Mobius, Timeline and Bigsky.
I am able to control them and can also use Strymon Nixie to control and edit presets on the Strymon pedals by connecting USB from the PBC. I am now trying to get midi to also work off board by splitting the midi cable coming from the PBC into a set of in and out connectors and one connector with all wires. I do this because I made a patch-bay with a single midi connector that passes all 5 wires through so I can connect a Y splitter on the back of the board.
Here is a small schematic of how I wired things up:
midi.jpg
I am now trying to use a Melo Audio Midi Commander connected to the external midi in to do simple preset switching. The problem I have is that this works as long as I do not connect the out connector from the Bigsky (or anything that is last in the chain before going back to the PBC in). As soon as I connect both the on- and off-board "in" connectors all pedals stop receiving midi messages and the midi commander can't control the PBC. When I unplug the "out" connector on the BigSky it works, I can switch the presets on the PBC with the Midi Commander and the PBC succesfully sends PC and CC messages to all pedals. I think, but its a bit hard to verify, that the same issue arises when I connect both on- and off-board out connectors. Am I doing something weird? Should this in theory work? I am new to midi and soldered the patch and splitter cables myself (I am not using midi splitter devices).
 

Attachments

  • midi.jpg
    midi.jpg
    35.8 KB · Views: 0
That's strange that it would do that. If the cable is right, the In side should be isolated from the Out side. How did you wire the cable, exactly?
 
Good to know its probably me :D I did check multiple times with a multi-meter but maybe I did it wrong or just got confused.
This is a schema of the wiring, between the plugs that say patchbay and external there is that actual patchbay but that is just a 1 to 1 passtrough.
midi-cables.jpg
 
That looks correct, I'm not sure why it doesn't work. I recommend looking for shorts in the cable and the box. Also make sure that none of the MIDI pins are connected to the connector shields or the interface box, not even pin 2.
 
Back
Top