Can I Build My own combined MIDI merge and thru box.

[pj-27]

OK so i'm new round here, but i do love making stuff!

It recently occured to me that i have 5 MIDI devices in my studio, none of which have MIDI through ports, and an audio interface with just one MIDI port for in and out....... So daisy chaining isn't an option, and theres only so many times you can swap round the cables before you go crazy!!

So I started to look for products on the market that would solve my problem, i just wanted 5 MIDI ports merged to 1, and 1 MIDI port expanded to 5. Sounds common eh? Nope! All i can find are products like...

http://www.thomann.de/gb/midi_solutions_t8_thru.htm

http://www.thomann.de/gb/midi_solutions_m8_merger.htm

those made by midi solutions, and unless i'm willing to sell a leg and/or arm they still require 2 induvidual units. At £220 to just solve what must be a common problem i'm kinda confused.

It's at this point i'd like to offer to anyone who can point me in the direction of an existing product that will do this for me and wont cost me a bomb.

Otherwise looks like i'm making it myself, fun as that may sound, i'm quite out of my depth, so this is my official call for help.

Is this possible? Am I alone? or am i staring at the obvious?

Any help much appreciated!

PJ

[nILS]

Welcome aboard pj-27 :flowers:

Please read the stickies. Especially

Topic moved.

[Janis1279]

Have you looked at the Midi Router project?

http://www.ucapps.de/midi_router.html

midi thru ports :

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox/midi_thru.gif

http://m.bareille.fr...midithrubox.htm

Regards,

Janis

[Futureman]

Search ebay for a Midi Patchbay. It's what I use.

It'll let you route any input to any output. Handy if you have a whole pile of midi stuff, and don't want to re-patch all day long.

Generally, they are 8 in , 8 out. Only a few let you merge (Roland I think), and if they do, it's only merge a few inputs.

Korg made em, Akai made em, Kawai made em and Roland made em.

If you want to make a 'Thru' box, there are quiet a few schems out there on the interweb. No real need to use midibox for that.

http://m.bareille.free.fr/midithrubox/midithrubox.htm

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schemview.php?id=1250

http://hackaday.com/2008/11/24/simple-midi-thru-box/

Heaps. Just google 'Midi thru schematics'

Regards

Mike

[pj-27]

Thanks for the help everyone.

From what I can gather a merge box is somewhat more complex since it needs to schedule all incoming data and so requires some form of processor. On the other hand a thru should be a little easier....

But yes a MIDI patch bay did occur to me, and for the sake of the cost and hassle switching a few leads every now and then does seem appealing, just means can't communicate several devices simultaneously. I'm a bit of a purist, so the idea of my creation still seems appealing.

The schmatics are a great help, never thought to search for them!

Ok so a thru box seems easy enough to do.....

Anyone got any more info on a merger?

I've played around quite a bit with Arduino (a processor dev board) so wondered ifany one had used one of these before to make a merger?

Thanks!

[julienvoirin]

the cheapest in your case is to get a second hand midiman 8x8 (now midisport by m audio)

i does midi patch and midi interface to computer

[widdly]

You could build a GM-5 interface since you have 5 devices it would be perfect. It's a 5 in/out usb midi interface that is cheaper than anything else out there. You can set it up so the midi port names match the devices they are connected too. So when you are using say Ableton Live you select "Roland JV-2080" instead of "midibox gm-5 port 2". It's pretty ace.

Edited August 11, 2010 by widdly