Using Express XT as a MIDI pathcbay

[Seth33]

I just purchased a MIDI Express XT and I am trying to use it to send songfiles from an old but still perfectly functioning Alesis DataDisk to an equally old and still perfectly functioning Alesis MMT-8 sequencer and an Alesis HR-16 drum machine. Although information is received by both the sequencer and the drummachine, it is somehow garbled as a result of which the songs are unplayable. By contrast, if I physically route a cable from the out of the DataDisk to the inport of the sequencer and another from the sequencer's through port to the inport of the drum machine, the files are received and I am able to play the songs in question without any problem.

Does the Express XT in some way 'process' the songfiles and thereby cause them to become garbled? Or is there something else I am not doing correctly or overlooking? I would be grateful if anyone can tell me where I am going wrong.