Hi all, I'm a little confused on how to set up my leonardo as a midi controller with a hardware synthesizer.
A little background -
I am trying to make music/sounds with a capacitive sensor
I have accomplished my goal by connecting my leonardo to my laptop and running FL studio and using MIDIUSB library
I have never used a synthesizer and am considering to buy the korg volca keys
So I saw one option that uses some circuit with a female midi jack - https://docs.arduino.cc/built-in-examples/communication/Midi
But I also saw a USB c (Leonardo's serial port) to MIDI cable.
I'm not sure if this approach would work at all and if so will there be latency?
Some guidance would really help !
Thanks in advance
Does your hardware synth have traditional MIDI serial connectors (5-pin DIN) or USB connectors? It looks like the Korg Volka has a 5-pin DIN connector so the "option that uses some circuit with a female midi jack" will work and cost nearly nothing.
Thank you for answering,
The synth only has a 5-pin DIN MIDI input.
The mentioned option seems to work but if I could just buy one USB c to MIDI cable then that would be preferred over buying a few different components...
But I'm not sure if it would work, and if it does, will I run into latency issues?
With the direct midi connection (leaving out FL ) the latency will be lower, but i understand that using FL will give you other options, and then the latency just depends on the speed of your CPU.
The components are really not much more than a 5pin female din-connector and a few resistors.
Thanks for your answer,
I'm still not sure from your answer if the USB c to MIDI cable will work or not...
If it does work does it have any disadvantages compared to the option with the female din-connector? because if not then I would rather just go with the cable
could you explain what you mean here?
The whole point in getting my Arduino to connect to a synth was so I wouldn't have to use my computer. From what I've seen this should work... right?
The whole point about using a USB to MIDI cable is to connect your MIDI device to a computer.
The whole point about using a Leonardo is that it can look like a USB MIDI device to a computer.
Using FL studio requires you use a computer.
Any Arduino can be used to generate MIDI signals to a MIDI device. All you need here is a MIDI interface to turn the signal from the Arduino to the MIDI voltage and isolation the MIDI signal specification requires. Often this is called a shield or a 5 pin MIDI interface. You can make one or buy one.
The circuit you showed in the first post is very crude and doesn't supply any protection against plugging in the wrong sort of MIDI cable at either end. Also it will only be a MIDI output.
On a Leonardo there are two serial interfaces one that can look like a USB device to a computer and one that is on the hardware pins. This latter is called Serial1 and any MIDI code you want to send has to be sent to this serial port rather than the default Serial.
There is no need to buy anything, it can all be done in software. There are what is known as virtual instruments that can be used stand alone or with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
Here is a link to information about them. https://musicproductionnerds.com/best-free-virtual-instruments
by plugging in the wrong sort of MIDI cable at either end
I meant plugging it to a MIDI output cable instead of plugging it to a MIDI input cable.
Yes, I have read about virtual instruments and as I said I've succeeded in implementing my project with fl studio. However, I am trying to make this project work all the time and not only when my computer is on