m00dawg

I think you may have misunderstood me. The GM5 is just a USB to MIDI bridge chip - it's not really even a MidiBox project (it doesn't run MidiBox firmware). MIOS32 has enough MIDI ports to be able to function similar to a GM5 (LIKE not AS), but with some MIDI routing built in as a nice bonus. So, I guess to avoid further confusion, I'm not talking about a GM5. I'm talking about a MidiBox-powered MIDI interface with USB/OSC/RTP/DIN bridge capabilities. Correct me if I am wrong, but the whole point of the KissBox RTP board is so that can be offloaded from MIOS? Thus, adding RTP capability is possible by having MIOS talk to the KissBox, which handles all the other stuff. So in other words, as I understand it, a MIOS-powered MIDI interface with USB bridge can already be done (that's partly what MIDIO128 is and there is a direct MIDI Router MIOS app if I'm not mistaken) so adding RTP would extend the capability allowing for a super MIDI router. With some application modifications being required for all that to work, obviously.

More like a GM5-like solution. Basically a MIOS32 with maybe some MIDI routing capabilities that can talk MIDI over RTP, USB, and a set of DIN MIDI ports. MIOS32 can already replicate GM5 functionality so I would bet adding RTP might not be too bad given TK is already looking at it. Integrating features found in MIDIO128 (MIDI playback mostly), would make such a device very compelling in my opinion.

I'll admit it seem a bit price prohibitive. About $140 US per board if I read the original price estimate right. I can certainly figure out how to interface synths with just regular ole MIDI, minus tablet integration. The idea of connecting DAWs on different computers is pretty neat though! What I would like to see that would make this more relevant for me is, say, an RTP-MIDI to MIDI solution (ala GM5x5x5 kinda thing) where you can basically expand out to how many MIDI connections you need (within reason). Being able to connect that back to a MIOS32 application could simplify the method of needing to add MIDI connections. I'm at the point with MIDIO128 where I may have to use MIDI Thru in some cases to connect everything eventually. That's more so a limitation of MIDIO128 currently (with standard MIDI ports anyway) but RTP-MIDI could simplify things here. That is, assuming, latency is better in such a scenario. If the OEM board was cheaper, I could see bolting it onto my synths to simplify connections between them. I haven't seen what the max cable distance is (I assume given it uses the IP stack, it uses the same cabling standards for distance), but that, plus the PoE module, would be really cool for my GameBoy MIDI bridge (powered by ArduinoBoy).

One thing I would be interested in is a simpler way to connect my MidiBoxen to various MIDI devices without a computer. RTP-MIDI support for MIDIO128 would be pretty awesome, for instance. Then adding to this an alternative over using OSC for interfacing with, say, a tablet, could be really neat.

Hmm this sounds neat! I wonder, on the tablet and laptop software side, if it might make implementation of certain things simpler. Makes me wonder about MidiBox to MidiBox communication as well in cases where USB isn't ideal.

Hmm that's what I thought. So some sort of OSC-based approach sounds like it would be best. I don't know enough about OSC yet, but if that didn't exist, the Linux SysAdmin in me would be wondering about using something like telnet and capturing the results on the tablet. My hunch is doing something similar in OSC won't be much more difficult than that.

I really love our band, but one thing we're pretty lame about is we use music stands and lyric/chord cheat-sheets for live shows and that's no fun mostly because they are obtrusive (well, and lame :P). I'm sure eventually we'll have everything memorized, but we're writing songs while doing live shows, which makes it a tad difficult at times. That said, I've been trying to think of ways to make it less of an eye-sore. Since MIDI supports lyrics and I'm already testing out the MIDIO128 for playing back MIDI files (and doing routing, etc.), I was thinking about some way of sending the lyrics from that to some sort of a display. Be it a character LCD attached to a micro-controller, an iPad or phone using something like OSC or? I was also thinking about integrating that with actual visuals (which I would imagine might require OSC or some sort of network support so I can use WiFi). I was curious if anyone had any clever thoughts? One thing I was curious about is what the max length of a cable for an LCD can be?

Yeah I ran into both that one as well as this Perl script which seems to do the trick. It does show that Reaper is indeed doing something real funky with it's MIDI output :/

Anyone have a suggestion on a tool (Linux, OS X, Winders - doesn't matter) I can use to verify and, optionally, adjust a MIDI file? I'm trying to export a MIDI file from Reaper so I can play it back on a MIDIO128 and I don't think it's exporting the channels properly. That or I have my router setup hopelessly wrong, but I don't have a great means of debugging that from the standpoint of the file. I was hoping MIDIOX might have something, but it's MIDI file playback seems a bit funky. I know I can use something like hexdump and various hex edit tools and do it the hard way, but that is not a fun way to have to validate and make changes to a MIDI file. Any ideas?

Woohoo, thanks Hawkeye! That did the trick!

I've been trying to figure it out from the web-interface (http://svnmios.midibox.org/listing.php?repname=svn.mios32&path=%2Ftrunk%2F) but I can't figure out the path with using 'svn' after trying a number of combinations with svn checkout. I did this once before but I can't seem to figure it out :) Trying to grab the MIDIO128 source so I can see about adding transport controls and seeing if I can add IIC_MIDI for MIDI OUTs.

I don't think Lemur will be going away so that will always be an option. Bang for the buck is true, but it's a trade off. I would suspect the physical CS might have a minimal control surface (like the SID does) and then modules off that with heavy use of soft buttons/knobs. It will likely implement some of the things Lemur can do already but with soft knobs, you could really set it up in the way you might most prefer to us both. Who knows, though, it's all just random guessing on my part :smile: Likewise, having MIDI support for some of the core elements (I think it does already?) would be significant as well.

Yep that seems to work flawlessly with the intended BPM behavior. I have discovered what may be a bug in Reaper but as far as MIDIO128 goes, that change seems to have done the trick. Thanks TK!

Thanks for looking into it TK! I put a ZIP together of basically everything off the SD card. Celebration.mid is the file that came from Reaper. It starts at 105BPM and goes to 80BPM at measure 82 and then does a slide down to 67 starting at measure 88.3, then starts a slower slide up to 105 starting at measure 89. There is only a single track - a 4 on the floor style thing at various points we used with MBFM (sammichFM). I have been focusing on the clock issue so I haven't tested that out yet, but just wanted to let you know it's there. REC1.MID and REC2.MID were blank recordings I made off MIDIO128. The first only went for about a measure, the second for a minute or so I think. daft_punk-get_lucky_ft_pharrell_williams.mid is the file that came from the Interwebz which, I think, might be at 150BPM. Neither Reaper or Live found any clock data but 150BPM is what I was able to see from the MIDIO128 when playing the track when I was able to get Live to behave and give me an accurate BPM reading. Hopefully that gives you something to go on! MIDIO128_BPM_Test.zip

*begins chanting for a demosong* :smile: Really though that looks rather fantastic!

Aha figured out a bit more. If I start MIDIO128 up and immediately put it the BPM on LOCK, I can sync the GameBoy at the set BPM. Live still flips out some of the time, but if I start Live fresh and start the song in MIDIO128 and then hit EXT, it will lock on, but only until I stop the song. If I try to play a song on MIDIO128 again, Live still looses it. Also, if I have the BPM set to Auto or MSTR and then go to LOCK, the displayed BPM isn't correct, though I can change the BPM up and down from whatever the MIDI file was set to. Also of note, I think MIDIO128 is having trouble reading the clock data from the Reaper exported file. Looks like it's playing at around 300BPM instead of 105BPM. Reaper and Live can read the tempo data without issue though. MIDIO128 plays the test song I grabbed off the Interwebz at around 150BPM, though Ableton and Reaper can't seem to find a master clock in that file.

My MIDIO128 seems to not want to keep a stable BPM over USB or the MIDI ports. Using Ableton Live in slave mode shows that BPM being woefully inconsistent. Likewise, using my GameBoy (via LSDJ and my custom ArduinoBoy) causes music to play 2-4x faster. This is true when using my own MIDI files (generated from Reaper), a blank MIDI file recorded on the MIDIO128 and a random MIDI file on the Interwebz (this one specifically). Looking at MIOS Studio and MIDI Monitor show otherwise normal data, although I do see an awful lot of clock updates (not sure if that is normal or not). MIOS Studio thinks the BPM is the same as what MIDIO128 shows though neither Live nor LSDJ show anything close. Live's BPM drifts from 100-300+ constantly and never settles down like it normally does when in slave mode off an external clock. I'm running the bare essentials at the moment - just the standard CS with a 2x20 LCD and an SD card. No IIC_MIDI or anything like that. I thought maybe the CS might be causing grief so I disconnected it while playing a MIDI file but to no avail. Anyone have any thoughts about how I can go about troubleshooting this?

As a minor update, I finished the CORE board and uploaded the MIDIO128 application to it. I am waiting on some parts before I can connect my LCD (I only had a cable for the old CORE) and get a control surface going, but the app does seem to respond to MIOS studio. Given the lack of the FreeRTOS option on the OS X version, I'm not sure if there may be some missing functionality still, but so far it seems to be working without issue.

Ah hmm, I wonder how that changes things. I picked the LPCXpresso C project instead of FreeRTOS (which the thread you linked to is correct, there is no FreeRTOS option) just to see what it would do. I don't have a working CORE board yet so I can't do any further testing right now, but after flashing it, the LED did fade in and out 3 times. I hope to have the CORE finished in a week or so and can then see if it responds over USB/MIDI and the like.

I wasn't sure where this might go, but I noticed on ucapps that the LPC CORE page (http://ucapps.de/mbhp_core_lpc17.html) indicates needing to use a Linux or Windows (in a VM or otherwise) to flash the bootloader onto the LPC. I just tried it using the Mac version (available here: http://www.lpcware.com/lpcxpresso/download) and it seems to work like a champ! May be less relevant with the new core being on the horizon but thought I would share that tidbit nonetheless.

That's my project. It's still in the works, but it's on the back burner for the moment as I have moved to needing to build stuff more suited for live performing. That said, I have almost all the layouts for the control boards done, though they aren't tested yet. Part of the problem was figuring out a 3U enclosure that was both cost effective and roomy that was also available in the US. Among alternatives, I was thinking of just mounting the panels and using a shelf to put the MB6582 baseboard and associated modules.

I thought I would close the book on this thread - turns out, the MIDIO128 seems to be more suited for what I need currently. That is not to say anything negative about MBSEQ - it's amazing for sure! MIDIO128 is a lot cheaper to build and hit my core needs with less modification it would appear. I'm going to piece one together very soon (parts are in the mail!) and go from there. About the only thing it may need modification on is sending MIDI commands to remotely control it (as opposed to OSC, though I'll be looking at that as an option too).

Oh man I had no idea MIDIO128 could playback MIDI, that's awesome! Glancing at the code, it looks like it does indeed support SysEx at some level, though I'll have to keep digging to know more. That said, yeah this basically does everything I need! Thanks a ton for helping me see the light, kpete! EDIT: It does look like I may need to extend it a bit to get remote transport commands working (say from a NanoKontrol). I'm also not sure if I can play back a MIDI file while also playing live through MIDIO128? Some songs have both backing tracks as well as live playing. Seems like adding that functionality, if it doesn't exist, should be doable. The hardware cost of building a simple MIDIO128 setup is far less than MBSEQ, so I'm gonna grab up the hardware and start playing around with it.

Ah well it looks like there is already a basic implementation I can use! http://svnmios.midibox.org/filedetails.php?repname=svn.mios32&path=%2Ftrunk%2Fapps%2Ftutorials%2F019_midi_player%2FREADME.txt http://svnmios.midibox.org/listing.php?repname=svn.mios32&path=%2Ftrunk%2Fapps%2Ftutorials%2F019_midi_player%2F

I realized that MBSEQ, while extremely powerful, is not the best fit for me needs. What is lacking is the ability to playback MIDI files with CC and SysEx support, and route the channels to the correct MIDI output/channels. Basically what I am looking for is a MIDI file playback device with some clock, routing, and patch management. I've looked at some non-MidiBox solutions (rPi + midish or PD, Arduino + MIDI library + me writing my own program) but it seems like MidiBox has just about everything I need, at least on the surface. I've looked at the PIC code, mostly for MBSID. I haven't looked at the new CORE32 platform hardly at all and was curious as to if someone might be able to point me in the right direction? Arduino would be fine, but CORE32 already had support for SD cards, I/O, MIDI, etc. The only thing lacking is the ability to use USB-based MIDI controllers (right?) but that's not a massive deal. Any thoughts/suggestions?