MIDI / in setup

[ikaruga]

Hi ! this is my first post : ) I recently started playing music with my arduino from a script, but i would like to hook up a MIDI controller in my arduino and use it as synthetiser.
I was wonder how would I go about hooking it up using a midi plug. I can buy a midi jack i m sure, I would like to know if there s somewhere where i can find a lil tutorial on how to hook up a midi in jack to the arduino pins. I am a beginner at electronics, so address me like if i was electronichardware-retarded  

Thanks much !! <3<3<3<3<3

[boardboy]

Is this http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1186530609 what you're looking for?  It might be a step in the right direction.

[ikaruga]

yesss thanks !! I ve stumbled uppon this but couldn t find it back. It s close to what i want to do. my question tho, is more like how to hook up a midi jack onto arduino board. I ve been spenindg the last couple of hours looking around. and i found this: http://www.itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/images/labs/arduino_midi_schem.png and http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Labs/MIDIOutput and http://www.tigoe.net/pcomp/midi.shtml . I ve been reading also on how to decript thoses schemas. But it looks pretty complex to decript, plus it says midi output. It d be nice if i could just like put black wire in pin 1 and red wire in ground heh ..

Thanks for the link ^_^!!

[boardboy]

I wish I could help, I'm still a newbie as well, in fact I just got the IDE running a couple of days ago and changed the timing of the 'Blinking' example.  I am sure if you write in that thread that I posted someone with some midi knowledge will help out.

[Daniel]

hi ikaruga:

Midi is a current loop: you send some juice down the line and it goes through an LED at the receiving end, and that LED turns on something called an optioisolator, which is read by the processor. So basically, sending midi just means getting the Arudino to turn on an LED connected through a couple 220R resistor.  

There's Arduino code available for sending midi, that part is easy. There are also standard-type schematics available. This  is the best page for information:
http://www.audiomulch.com/midipic/

Tom Igoe has all the schematics and, as usual, an excellent and easy-to-understand explanation of the hardware and theory on this page: http://www.tigoe.net/pcomp/stamp/stamp-midi.shtml
 
One optoisolator I have used in the past, and that is used in many commercial designs, is a Sharp PC900. this is a good chip because the output is TTL-level  digital logic.

But here's the caveat: receiving Midi with Arduino, to my knowledge, hasn't been done yet, as you have to get the processor reading the incoming data at the right speed. tricky... If you can figure it out, you'd be a hero to the electronic music community, as they would love a $40 Midi interface that could read a dozen sensors. (edit: ladyada's MidiSense does what you want... You might want to check it out. And it is 100% open-source design too.)

D


PS: welcome to the forum

[ikaruga]

Daniel !! thanks man ! That was indead really usefull, that actually awnsered a question i did not dare to post. I get the midi output part.  So what is the logic behind MIDI recieving ? Is does it work like a knob where each keys would have a different resistance . Or is it something else. I m sure it s doable, I ve seen MIDI jacks, do you know what comes out of thoses 2 wires ? I m sure arduino can handle midi in and use pin 10/GND to play the notes using it s sampler.

I ll keep working, keep bringing in the ressources ^_^ !!!