Usb & Midi Cables, what is the difference? Options

[monads]

Can someone please explain to me what the difference is between connecting a keyboard/controller via USB cable and traditional Midi cables are? I know the later you need a midi interface. I read that the USB transfer rate is faster and you can switch channels to rout different midi data. Am I missing something?

[lepetitmartien]

Midi cables are not "slow" it's the clocking that regulates flows in it that is (remember it's 20 years old this thing)

USB cable are "fast" in comparision, but not a lot if you look at alternatives (like Firewire or fast SCSI), USB is just a bus protocol (with unique devices, rules for sending, receiving, aknowledging, data correction… a developer could tell you much more, but you don't need it) like midi is a communication protocol (a time base, notes on/off, controllers, data…)

So even if USB is not the state of the art nor the fastest way to move data, it's way faster than Midi at that.

Now…

When you connect a USB keyboard to a computer you're not using midi. The keyboard is just a computer peripheral sharing the USB bus like the mouse. No Midi, no channel, just peripherals and a computer. A driver controling it.

Even if you use a USB midi interface, midi is not used between the interface and the computer. The computer send paquets to a peripheral which is sorting out Midi after having made his stuff to the data coming from the computer (mostly assembling the packets as a continuous midi data stream) and reverse just the same.

then does it answer you question?

[monads]

I think I understand now. I guess the one good thing about USB is to eliminate all the midi interface clutter. Thanks again for the reply and help.