Choosing Your MIDI Hardware

Nitelite sends MIDI from your browser to your pedal. What sits between your computer and the pedal depends on the pedal — this guide covers the four connection types and what to buy for each.

None of the product links or mentions here are sponsored — these are just commonly available, known-good options.

First: Find Your Pedal’s Connection Type

Every supported pedal falls into one of four groups. Nitelite shows the exact connection for your pedal in the app (open the MIDI channel guide from the pedal view), and your pedal’s manual will confirm it.

Connection type	Who uses it	What you need
USB MIDI	All Universal Audio UAFX; most newer Strymon; Line 6; Eventide; Darkglass; Hologram Chroma Console	Just a USB cable
5-pin DIN MIDI	Classic Strymon (TimeLine, BigSky, Mobius…); Meris LVX-generation; Eventide; Hologram; Line 6; Endorphin.es; CXM 1978; Chase Bliss Big Time	USB-MIDI interface
1/4” TRS via adapter box	Most Chase Bliss; classic Meris (Mercury7, Polymoon, Hedra, Enzo…); Empress (Reverb, Echosystem…)	USB-MIDI interface + the manufacturer’s adapter
3.5mm (1/8”) TRS MIDI	Source Audio flagships; Darkglass; Empress ZOIA	USB-MIDI interface + TRS adapter or TRS-tip cable

Many pedals offer more than one option (e.g. newer Strymon pedals have both USB and TRS). When USB is available, use it — it’s the simplest and cheapest path.

Setup 1: USB MIDI — Just a Cable

If your pedal has class-compliant USB MIDI (all 14 Universal Audio UAFX pedals, most newer Strymon, Line 6 DL4 MkII and HX One, most Eventide), plug it straight into your computer with a regular USB cable. It appears in Nitelite’s device list like any MIDI interface — no extra hardware.

Cost: the price of a USB cable
Who it’s for: anyone whose pedal supports it — start here
Tradeoff: one cable per pedal, and your pedalboard ends up tethered to the computer by USB. Fine at a desk; less tidy for a full board.

Setup 2: 5-pin DIN — A USB-MIDI Interface

The classic MIDI connection. You need a USB-MIDI interface — a small box or cable with USB on one end and 5-pin MIDI plugs on the other.

Known-good options:

Roland UM-ONE mk2 (~$40) — the long-standing default; solid drivers, works everywhere
M-Audio UNO (~$25) — budget pick, does the job
iConnectivity mio (~$40) — compact and reliable

Almost any class-compliant USB-MIDI interface works — there’s nothing Nitelite-specific about it. Run a standard 5-pin MIDI cable from the interface’s MIDI OUT to the pedal’s MIDI IN.

Cost: $25–50 plus a MIDI cable
Who it’s for: single pedal with DIN jacks, or the first link in a multi-pedal chain
Tradeoff: none, really — this is the standard path

Setup 3: 1/4” TRS Pedals — Interface + Manufacturer Adapter

Chase Bliss, classic Meris, and Empress pedals receive MIDI on a 1/4” jack instead of a DIN socket, and need a small adapter box that converts standard MIDI to their format:

Chase Bliss → Chase Bliss MIDIbox ($59) — connects up to four pedals from one MIDI input, and internal jumpers can set each port for Chase Bliss, Empress, or Meris pedals
Meris (Mercury7, Polymoon, Hedra, Enzo, Ottobit Jr) → Meris MIDI I/O (~$99) — connects up to four Meris pedals; set the pedal’s EXP jack mode to MIDI in its global settings
Empress (Reverb, Echosystem) → Empress Midibox2 (~$60), or a Chase Bliss MIDIbox port jumpered for Empress

The chain looks like: computer → USB-MIDI interface → MIDI cable → adapter box → TRS cable(s) → pedal(s).

Cost: interface ($25–50) + adapter ($60–100)
Who it’s for: unavoidable for these pedals — the adapter is the manufacturer-supported route
Tradeoff: more boxes and cables, but one adapter serves multiple pedals from the same brand

Setup 4: 3.5mm TRS MIDI

Some modern pedals use 3.5mm (1/8”) TRS MIDI jacks — Source Audio flagships (via TRS Type B), Darkglass, Empress ZOIA. You’ll need either:

a USB-MIDI interface plus a 5-pin DIN → 3.5mm TRS adapter, or
an interface that ships with TRS breakout cables

Watch the TRS type. There are two wiring standards — Type A and Type B — and a mismatched cable fails silently: everything looks connected, nothing responds. Check your pedal’s manual for which type it uses (e.g. Darkglass Anagram is Type A; Darkglass ADAM and Source Audio are Type B) and buy the matching adapter, or a switchable one.

Source Audio One Series and ZIO pedals use the Source Audio MIDI Adapter on the EXP jack instead — same idea as the Setup 3 adapter boxes.

Running Multiple Pedals

Once you have MIDI into your first pedal, you have three ways to reach the rest:

Daisy-chain via THRU — most DIN pedals have a MIDI THRU (or OUT/THRU) jack that passes messages along. Run a cable from pedal 1’s THRU to pedal 2’s IN, and so on. Give each pedal its own MIDI channel so they don’t all respond to everything. Cheapest option; chains of 3–4 pedals are fine.
A MIDI thru box — a splitter like the MIDI Solutions Quadra Thru (~$60) sends one input to several outputs in parallel. Cleaner than long daisy chains, and necessary when a pedal has no THRU jack.
A multi-output interface — something like the iConnectivity mioXM (~$200) gives you several independent MIDI outputs from one USB connection. The tidy option for big boards.

The manufacturer adapter boxes help here too: one Chase Bliss MIDIbox feeds up to four pedals (Chase Bliss, Empress, or Meris, set per port), and one Meris MIDI I/O feeds up to four Meris pedals.

Power

MIDI cables don’t carry power — every pedal still needs its normal power supply. An isolated multi-output supply (Strymon Ojai/Zuma, Cioks, Voodoo Lab) keeps a multi-pedal board quiet.
The adapter boxes (Chase Bliss MIDIbox, Meris MIDI I/O, Empress Midibox2) need their own 9V supply — budget an extra outlet on your power brick.
USB-MIDI interfaces are powered by the computer.

Quick Recommendations

Your situation	Get this
One UAFX / newer Strymon / Line 6 pedal	A USB cable — nothing else
One 5-pin DIN pedal	Roland UM-ONE mk2 + a MIDI cable
One or more Chase Bliss pedals	Any USB-MIDI interface + Chase Bliss MIDIbox
Classic Meris pedals	Any USB-MIDI interface + Meris MIDI I/O
A mixed board of 3+ MIDI pedals	USB-MIDI interface + thru box (or a mioXM), one channel per pedal
Tightest budget, DIN pedal	M-Audio UNO

Hardware sorted? Connect your first pedal →