[sdiy] MIDI over Ethernet (was Microchip DSP kit $60 > AVR32)

[Tom Wiltshire]

On 25 Mar 2008, at 08:27, Neil Johnson wrote:

> One other aspect that I haven't yet seen mentioned is that  
> Ethernet, like MIDI, has electrical isolation on inputs - opto- 
> isolator for MIDI, transformer for Ethernet.  Even with Power-over- 
> Ethernet you still maintain the isolation between input and device  
> via the switcher magnetics.  Ethernet also adds isolation on the  
> output as well just for completeness.
>
> Unless you spend $$$ on special boxes you don't get isolation on  
> USB, so ground loops and noise-sharing via common grounds start to  
> be a problem again.

Thanks Neil. If you combine the lack of isolation with the fact that  
you're probably connecting your USB MIDI to a computer with the usual  
atrocious switched-mode power supply, it seems like noise might be  
quite a problem.

T.