MIDI Breakout and other subjects

[geeus]

i have found this blog by a chap called tony on a MIDI breakout board. Looks good. i just find it interesting how the PI can be adapted to different educational subjects, in this case music tech.

MIDI breakout board for Raspberry Pi (v0.10)

This got me thinking has anyone put any thought into different i/o boards and software build around different subjects ie.

Geography>  geology sensor pack ( acidity, partical and temperature)

Design Tech> laser measure, g-sensor and intergrated design software to check measurements against design.

Performing arts/media> camera and recording pack or for theater DMX light controller and audio mixing

The list could go on.

Just woundering on your thoughts.

regards gee

[ArborealSeer]

you can get a chinese usb midi in/out breakout for about 4 quid - i use one.

how would software be compatible between the 2 interfaces?

[ringz]

He's missed a 220R resistor from the MIDI out connector. The way he has it, it's possible to short the +5V supply to ground.  Not a good thing. I left a comment.

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/.....rispec.php

Martyn.

[Harrkev]

ArborealSeer said:


you can get a chinese usb midi in/out breakout for about 4 quid - i use one.

how would software be compatible between the 2 interfaces?


Those cheap interfaces **SHOULD** work.  Note that there are two types of USB-MIDI interfaces.  One type directly implements the USB MIDI HID class.  Those SHOULD work plug-n-play.  They work great under Ubuntu.  If the kernel modules are included, they should work just fine on the Pi.

Some companies make USB-MIDI interfaces without EEPROM or FLASH on-board.  They come up as a generic USB device, and you need drivers to upload the firmware to turn it into a MIDI interface.  Those can be problematic.  I seem to recall that some Roland and M-Audio interfaces are like that, but the cobwebs are thick in the old noggin, so I could be wrong.

As far as software compatibility between USB-MIDI and GPIO-MIDI, I would bet a considerable amount of money that they are NOT compatible.  Now, with a custom kernel module, you could probably hack something.

[alexeames]

ArborealSeer said:


you can get a chinese usb midi in/out breakout for about 4 quid - i use one.


Any chance of a link? Couldn't find anything on fleabay (perhaps I was using the wrong search term?)

[TonyD]

ringz said:


He"s missed a 220R resistor from the MIDI out connector. The way he has it, it"s possible to short the +5V supply to ground.  Not a good thing. I left a comment.

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/.....rispec.php

Martyn.



Thanks Martyn. I'll update the design to add a 220R resistor

[ArborealSeer]

alexeames said:


ArborealSeer said:


you can get a chinese usb midi in/out breakout for about 4 quid - i use one.


Any chance of a link? Couldn't find anything on fleabay (perhaps I was using the wrong search term?)


I just used the terms USB & MIDI!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-.....2c55613f1a

This looks exactly like the one I bought for myself and a friend. I've used it with an old commodore passive midi controller keyboard and didn't need to do a thing, I don't recall it coming with a disc. The auction says it has a "built-in driver".

Reminds me - I've got one of the rock band 3 midi fender mustang guitars (not the strat ), not tried hooking that up through it yet!

[alexeames]

ArborealSeer said:


alexeames said:


ArborealSeer said:


you can get a chinese usb midi in/out breakout for about 4 quid - i use one.


Any chance of a link? Couldn"t find anything on fleabay (perhaps I was using the wrong search term?)


I just used the terms USB & MIDI!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-.....2c55613f1a

This looks exactly like the one I bought for myself and a friend. I've used it with an old commodore passive midi controller keyboard and didn't need to do a thing, I don't recall it coming with a disc. The auction says it has a "built-in driver".

Reminds me - I've got one of the rock band 3 midi fender mustang guitars (not the strat ), not tried hooking that up through it yet!



Thanks. Oh, I saw those, but didn't think that was the right thing. I was looking for a bare board. That looks even better Cheers.