I'm trying to rebuild Gr4yhound's ribbon synth guitar (schematics here) and I seem to be having problems communicating with the Micro. In short, I've had to buy a cheap £7.99 MIDI > USB cable on Amazon (well, I'm on my second one now, and the board is a little different). The schematic shows this. The new board doesn't have a VSS pin and I've tried several different wirings, but only the red LED comes on when plugged in. I assume all 3 LEDs should light up when it's wired correctly? I've obviously tried running blink but there seems to be a communication error somewhere. Please see the images to see what the board I have looks like. I hope someone can make some suggestions or see where I'm going wrong thank you!
Extra info: I detached the MIDI cable side, left the USB as soldered/untouched (aside from adding a wire to the V pin to share with the existing red wire).
That's a very confusing description of something, I'm not sure what.
Is there an Arduino involved in this anywhere? What sort is it? Does it have a program loaded? If so please post the program.
What exactly is your "hacked" cable supposed to do? I can't see a MIDI-USB adaptor with no connections on the MIDI side being of any use to anyone. But if it's the sort of MIDI-USB adaptor I know then one LED tells you it has power and the other two only light when a MIDI signal is going IN or OUT.
What does Blink have to do with it? The Blink I know doesn't do anything with MIDI. And what makes you think there is "a communication error somewhere"?
slipstick:
That's a very confusing description of something, I'm not sure what.
Is there an Arduino involved in this anywhere? What sort is it? Does it have a program loaded? If so please post the program.
What exactly is your "hacked" cable supposed to do? I can't see a MIDI-USB adaptor with no connections on the MIDI side being of any use to anyone. But if it's the sort of MIDI-USB adaptor I know then one LED tells you it has power and the other two only light when a MIDI signal is going IN or OUT.
What does Blink have to do with it? The Blink I know doesn't do anything with MIDI. And what makes you think there is "a communication error somewhere"?
Steve
Hi Steve, sorry! I'm in a bit of a panic right now. I should've made it clearer, but yes, there's a Micro involved. I'm running the IDE. Once the code successfully sends (without me getting an error message), I can open a DAW and hopefully it'll work.
Dean himself says to disconnect the MIDI side - and rewire manually to reconnect to the Micro. See here. The function is simply to power the Arduino and convert the info to Midi. Apparently switching to a powered setup is more complicated, requiring a change of code and components too. I'd rather do it this way if I can figure out a solution.
Blink was used simply to make sure that it wasn't a code based problem. Less focused on the function, more on testing the communication between IDE and board. Sorry, I'm a newbie and my lingo and expertise fall short. Thanks for reaching out.
Without seeing any code or error messages and with no idea of exactly what is connected to whatever Arduino you are using there's nothing I can help with. Good luck.
I am not sure what you are doing but if you have an Arduino Micro (https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-micro) or any board using the 32u4 microcontroller, you do not need to hack a USB MIDI converter.
The 32u4 has a native USB controller. Use the Arduino MIDI USB library to send and receive MIDI over USB.
gdsports:
I am not sure what you are doing but if you have an Arduino Micro (https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-micro) or any board using the 32u4 microcontroller, you do not need to hack a USB MIDI converter.
The 32u4 has a native USB controller. Use the Arduino MIDI USB library to send and receive MIDI over USB.
Ah okay, thanks! I was just looking towards that very library. I'm just following what the original maker, Dean, suggested doing. The code is here if what I'm doing makes sense. I'm currently having problems detecting the board, even though there's currently an LED lit up on both the cable's subcircuit and the Micro itself. Feeling stuck in a bit of a rut! Really appreciate your help though.
You might try posting on the Installation and Troubleshooting forum with the computer type (Windows, Mac, or Linux), the OS version, and the Arduino board type. I use Linux so I am not much help on Windows or Mac installation problems.
thank you!