[sdiy] MIDI + Ethernet

[Glen]

At 11:38 PM 7/8/04 , Paul Higgins wrote:

>Well, the "Revolution 7.1" is kind of a joke when it comes to pro audio 
>specs/features, but it's "good enough" when it comes to software synths 
>and monitoring non-critical edits, which is all I'd be using it for.

Of course, M-Audio doesn't call this card a pro card, or even a "semi-pro"
card. I wouldn't expect a lot of pro features on a consumer card.

You refer to it as "kind of a joke". Other than the lack of pro features,
what do you think of the Revolution's sound (or its specs, if you haven't
yet heard one). Do you think it sounds bad? 

Also, did you know the "Revolution 7.1" uses the same AD/DA and mixer chip
as your "Media 7.1" card?


If I were you, and I wanted a modern inexpensive audio card, but didn't
want to sacrifice MIDI connectivity, I would just add a separate MIDI
interface. You can use USB-based MIDI interfaces if you like. They seem to
work fine. You could also buy a used multi-port interface from eBay that
interfaces to a serial port. This would provide you with multiple MIDI
ports for just a little cash.

If your motherboard happens to have a built-in "soundcard" with a MIDI
interface via the joystick port, did you know that you can usually enable
only the MIDI interface portion of the joystick port? Look at your BIOS
settings. You can usually enable just the MIDI port of the soundcard
circuitry, if you want. This gives you a MIDI port via the joystick
connector, but it doesn't use up valuable computer resources for things
like audio playback, soundblaster emulation, game ports, etc. It's a very
"low-impact" way of using the onboard "soundcard" strictly as a MIDI
interface only, and it's totally free--if your motherboard happens to have
the MIDI port capability.

Another source of MIDI connectivity is the wavetable "daughterboard"
connector on many of the cheaper soundcards. It's possible to tap into a
MIDI output port located on this connector, if you're willing to do some
minor hacking of the daughterboard connector. This should give you two
separate MIDI output ports from just one cheap soundcard--one via the
joystick port and one via the daughterboard connector. (I'm not aware of a
MIDI input port on this multi-pin connector, but I can't totally rule out
the possibility either.) Look around the internet for a pinout diagram of
the daughterboard connector. From that, you should be able to figure out
which pins of the connector to use for a MIDI output port. I think you'll
probably need a buffer chip, a couple of resistors, some shielded
twisted-pair cable, and a suitable connector to create a functional MIDI
output port. Windows will probably recognize this new output port as your
"wavetable synth" or something to that effect.


later,
Glen