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MIDI Box

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A black plastic box with DIN rail mount, D-shell connector, and two sets of MIDI out/in connectors (DIN and 3.5 miniplug). The inside of the box, the D-shell connector connects to a JST connector on a perfboard, on which is mounted the two sets of MIDI out/in connectors (DIN and 3.5 miniplug) and some LEDs and ICs.

1. Introduction

This is not particularly ground-breaking... a little DIN-mountable MIDI interface box to connect a PC game port to some MIDI devices. In particular, the innovations on display here are the alternative 3.5" miniplug ports which may be used alternatively to the DIN connectors (but not at the same time!)

2. Schematic

Schematic of the MIDI box circuit. It's a basic MIDI interface circuit.

The circuit is very simple. This schematic is missing the 3.5" miniplug for the MIDI-IN port (J1), but that should be trivial to add in parallel by copying the 3.5" jack (J3) wired to the MIDI-OUT port (J2).

The latest version of KiCad files can be found at the midimbox repo.

3. Demonstration

Please enjoy this rendition of the SimCity for Windows theme. It's rendered from our Tandy 4850 EP through the MIDI Box to a MIDISID.

4. References

  1. MIDI Specification: Hardware
  2. MIDI Soundcard adaptor
  3. PC Game Midi Ripping Guide
  4. A simplified guide to MIDI over TRS minijacks
  5. How To Wire A TRS MIDI Connection

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Schematic
  3. Demonstration
  4. References