Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!mandrill!neoucom!wtm From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Build your own Amiga Midi Interface Message-ID: <701@neoucom.UUCP> Date: Mon, 21-Sep-87 22:36:22 EDT Article-I.D.: neoucom.701 Posted: Mon Sep 21 22:36:22 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 26-Sep-87 16:48:18 EDT Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Lines: 112 Keywords: DIY midi interface What follows is a file uploaded from a local BBS at an Amiga dealer. I present the file intact as Steve Stevens wrote it, except that I have edited the file names to reflect the currect names that I found in the arc'ed file. The description of the circuit and how it works remain unchanged: --Bill ----------------------cut here--------------------------------- ******************************************************************************* * Amiga MIDI Interface Schematic * by Steve Stevens * c) 1986 all rights reserved * Released into Public Domain * ******************************************************************************* Parts List for MIDI Interface: Qty. Item ____________________________________________________________________________ 5 5 pin 180 degree DIN jack (female) 1 Male DB 25 connector (plugs into serial port) 1 8-pin DIP socket (for 6N138) 1 14-pin DIP socket (for 74LS04) 5 220 Ohm 1/4 watt resistors 1 1k Ohm 1/4 watt resistor 1 180 Ohm 1/4 watt resistor 1 1N914 diode or equivalent 1 74LS04 IC Hex Inverter Buffer 1 Hewlett Packard 6N138 opto-isolator (or Sanyo PC 900 with corresponding pinout changes) Misc. wire, a box to put the stuff in, etc. All in all this project is pretty easy to put together. Other computers require a separate UART to make this sort of thing work. But thanks to the programmable UART already in the Amiga it becomes pretty easy. The schematic was drawn using Dpaint in hi-res mode. The files "schema" and "schema.info" have been included in the accompanying uuencoded arc format file. To view the picture, save the following mail to disk and process with uudecode to obtain midi.arc. Download the file to your Amiga with kermit protocol using Dave Wecker's vt100 2.3 or similar. I'd stick with Kermit, as I've had trouble with xmodem corrupting files by adding junk at the bottom. Decompress the arc'ed file with arc016.exe or whatever its current successor might be. The midi.uue should be 11111 bytes midi.arc 8043 bytes schema 16204 bytes schmea.info 458 bytes The .info file contains dpaint -h as the default tool type, thus clicking on the icon from workbench on a dpaint2 disk should bring up the picture. The shematic should be fairly self-explanatory for anyone with a little electronics experience. I hope it is. I built the circuit on a small piece of perfboard and mounted it in a black plastic box. The hardest part was drilling the holes for the DIN jacks to mount in. I drilled a pilot hole with a regular drill and then enlarged it with a rotary rasp that attached to my drill motor. It made nice round holes and was fairly quick. The holes need to be 5/8 " in diameter. This circuit has all the features of any other commercial MIDI interface available for the Amiga, plus two more out jacks. These extra jacks are made available for those folks with many keyboards (like me) who want to avoid the mysterious and elusive MIDI delay problems. With three OUT jacks you also may not need a separate MIDI-thru box. If you have only one synth that you want to connect you may want to eliminate the other two jacks. Just don't hook them up and they won't be there. Or, if you think you need one more out jack you can hook up one more OUT jack by duplicating the out-jack circuit and connecting it up to the sixth hex-inverter in the 74LS04. I didn't include it because I didn't need it. The one thing this interface doesn't have is a drum-sync port. I don't have a drum machine so I didn't need one. If there is enough response I will update the circuit with one. One more thing, a dot at an intersection point is the indication that there is an actual connection. When lines simply cross, there is no con- nection. This circuit works fine for me and was easy to build but I will take no responsibility nor will I be held liable for anything wierd happening with someone else's computer. Altogether it cost about $8 in parts and a few hours of time to put together. That's alot less than the $50 one's in the store. I can be reached at Amiga BBS (303) 693-4735 Steve Stevens or People Link ID# IGZ542 GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edited 9/21/1987 by: Bill Mayhew Division of Basic Medical Sciences Norhteastern Ohio Universities' College of Medicine Rootstown, OH 44272-9989 USA phone: 216-325-2511 (wtm@noeuocm.UUCP ...cbosgd!neoucom!wtm) This circuit should work OK with DMCS and Pro Midi Studio, and probably some other stuff too.