FantomXR Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 Hey people, I have a keyboard that has two MIDIbox cores build in. It's because I use one running MB_KB for highspeed-keyboard scanning and the other one running NG for the controllers. So I'd like to ask if there is a way to chain those MIDIboxes without using a MIDI OUT -> IN - chain! Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK. Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 Hi Chris, there is no alternative solution for the physical connection, but if speed does matter: I could easily provide an option to increase the baudrate. E.g. 10 times faster, which would mean that MIDI events are sent within 100 uS instead of 1 mS Best Regards, Thorsten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 Hi Thorsten Also interested with this to chain two or more core ! Side question, can we interconnect two core directly without optocoupler ? I mean for example MO1 (PA2) from one core to MI1 (PA3) from second core ? My use case (moving fader) will be to have up to 4 core connected to a master which can handle routing from MIDI to USB (or RTPM) to have a single USB (or ethernet) cable to run 4 MCU/HUI instance (like 4 MF_NG hooked to one core). All core running NG. Master will certainly have dedicated event send/receive to manage slave core global data, like my conditional mute and "solo in place" function (actuating analog FET audio mute via optocoupler at DOUT) Do you think there will be enough "power" and bandwidth to send/receive 32xPB data constantly changing ? (worst case with 32 fader always moving) Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilmenator Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 38 minutes ago, Zam said: Side question, can we interconnect two core directly without optocoupler ? Yes, if powered from the same power supply this is no problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 4 minutes ago, ilmenator said: Yes, if powered from the same power supply this is no problem! mmm... not quite sure yet for the +5, but for sure SMPS (vero trivolt) will be in the same enclosure sharing same 0V ref at chassis earth/grounding As sense detection is at annoter PCB (the one with all Din/Dout, 3m from core 19' rack) there is voltage change at Core PCB which can be different if different +5V rail are used depending of LED activity. But that's another topic :) Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted December 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) Dear TK, yes! The only reason why I asked is the speed. I know.. 1ms is not much... but I try to save latency whereever possible. So if you could provide such a feature, that would be really great! Thanks, Chris Edited December 21, 2016 by FantomXR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK. Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 Before providing this option on a comfortable way (eg. via bootloader for all apps), it would be nice if you could configure and rebuilt the applications by yourself. The configuration has to be done in mios32_config.h, e.g. add following #define statements to set all MIDI interfaces to 312.5k baud: #define MIOS32_UART0_BAUDRATE 312500 #define MIOS32_UART1_BAUDRATE 312500 #define MIOS32_UART2_BAUDRATE 312500 #define MIOS32_UART3_BAUDRATE 312500 And if you have some time, it would be interesting to know at which baudrate MIDI transfers become instable. Up to 10 MBit are supported; this won't work through an optocoupler anymore, but should work with a direct eletrical connection. With higher speeds the RX buffer has to be increased, otherwise we run into potential data loss issues. By default, 64 bytes are allocated for each MIDI IN, which can bridge ca. 20 mS at normal baudrate, and ca. 2 mS at 10x faster baudrate (as proposed above) - should still be enough for a common MIOS application. But for the case that you notice data loss, try higher values. Max. supported size is 255 bytes (and not 256 as somebody could assume) #define MIOS32_UART_RX_BUFFER_SIZE 255 Quote My use case (moving fader) will be to have up to 4 core connected to a master which can handle routing from MIDI to USB (or RTPM) to have a single USB (or ethernet) cable to run 4 MCU/HUI instance (like 4 MF_NG hooked to one core). All core running NG. You've to try out if the higher MIDI rate improves the overall performance, and you've to find the sweet spot. With higher speeds also the performance of your computer, operating system and DAW become relevant. I'm very interested on reports before providing this as a general configuration option for "common users". Best Regards, Thorsten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted December 22, 2016 Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 18 hours ago, TK. said: Quote My use case (moving fader) will be to have up to 4 core connected to a master which can handle routing from MIDI to USB (or RTPM) to have a single USB (or ethernet) cable to run 4 MCU/HUI instance (like 4 MF_NG hooked to one core). All core running NG. You've to try out if the higher MIDI rate improves the overall performance, and you've to find the sweet spot. With higher speeds also the performance of your computer, operating system and DAW become relevant. I'm very interested on reports before providing this as a general configuration option for "common users". Best Regards, Thorsten. Hi TK I only have 8 fader and one core running for the moment, hope I can build the second pack soon (need to order the revised PCB) So unfortunately I'm not able to give any feedback now, I also need to go deeper at soft side knowledge, compiling etc ..., I still not so good at this... Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted December 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hey TK, sure! I can test that! I'll give you feedback asap. Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Hi TK Ok, I work some hours to build an HW config to emulate 4 MCU controler test condition: One "master" core (Benoit RTPM core pcb) as midi router only. IN1->USB1....IN4-->USB4 same with the other way One core (SmashTV) emulating 4 MCU instance, one MCU at midi1, and 3 MCU XT at midi 2 3 and 4 As I have only 8 fader for now, physical 1 and 2 go to midi 1, 3 and 4 to midi 2 etc... same for all button and led with midi event. Midi connection between core are quite direct, I remove optocoupler at input master core but use the buffer at output, for slave core it's direct at J11. I compile different app: -suggested 10x speed, 312.5k - buffer 64, look to work fine -20x speed, 625k - buffer 64, look to work fine... -aprox 30x, 1000k - buffer 64, strange things happen, like button mixed up with midi data and fader send wrong data, CC in place of PB etc, for sure there is massive lost in the data transfer... -same 1000k with buffer at 128, don't seem to help I don't go further for now with buffer at 255 for high speed, because for now 20x work... 1ms ? Voilà ! System is wired and up for running, so let me know if you need more experimentation at my side. Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Thanks for checking that! I'll do a test with 20x speed and will check if everything works at my side! I'll report later today. @Zam: Thorsten wrote some posts above, that 10x speed means 1ms... so if you are at 20x it should be about 0,5ms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 BTW: this setting has just effect on the MIDI ports right? The USB-speed is not affected by that, correct? (every ms counts :-) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 54 minutes ago, FantomXR said: Thorsten wrote some posts above, that 10x speed means 1ms... so if you are at 20x it should be about 0,5ms. are you sure ??? On 21/12/2016 at 8:38 PM, TK. said: By default, 64 bytes are allocated for each MIDI IN, which can bridge ca. 20 mS at normal baudrate, and ca. 2 mS at 10x faster baudrate (as proposed above) - should still be enough for a common MIOS application. I read 2 ms :) 17 minutes ago, FantomXR said: BTW: this setting has just effect on the MIDI ports right? The USB-speed is not affected by that, correct? (every ms counts :-) ) I think it's only UART port... Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 On 21.12.2016 at 10:51 AM, TK. said: E.g. 10 times faster, which would mean that MIDI events are sent within 100 uS instead of 1 mS This is what I meant ;-) Alright... here is my result: I made a direct connection between two cores like @Zam suggested. PA2 to PA3. One core runs MB_KB, the second core runs MB_NG. The connection is in one direction only: Out from KB to in of NG. No optocoupler used here. I opened the mios32_config.h like @TK. suggested and added the lines. I compiled different versions like Zam with 312k, 625k, 1000k. Of course the applications in my test run the same baudrates. First test was with 312.5k. Didn't test yet under heavy circumstances. Just tested if notes come through. They do... works good for now. Than I went over to 625k. Here it stopped working. When pressing my keys, the NG receives random pitchbends and program changes. Also the console says: [765645.838] [MIOS32_MIDI_Receive_Handler] Timeout on port 0x20 Than I tried to modify both applications and add a buffer of 255. But this didn't change anything. I didn't test another baudrate yet because if this is not working I don't think that higher rates will work. So for now my conclusion is: 10x speed seems to work fine. Above that it get's unstable in my environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just now, FantomXR said: On 21/12/2016 at 10:51 AM, TK. said: E.g. 10 times faster, which would mean that MIDI events are sent within 100 uS instead of 1 mS This is what I meant ;-) mmm...ok :) maybe this is transfer speed, without buffer consideration and MIOS data analysis ? Your test is interesting, I think I run a way more heavy stream than you, 8 PB constantly changing, bidirectional, 4 port used, acting button and led, with sysex stream etc... and I can use trice the speed ? What is your cable length between cores ? Here midi In (master core) come with 1k to 3V3 pull up, and midi out (master core) is after a line buffer(74HC244) and 220R (series), ribbon about 30 cm Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) There is only one cable that connects both cores. This goes from PA2 to PA3. It's about 10cm. But I didn't use a pullup. Just a straight connection. I will try with using the pullup (as the MIDI standard dictates ;-) ). Maybe it's a problem with combining different apps... we should check with TK. Edited January 5, 2017 by FantomXR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Just now, FantomXR said: Maybe it's a problem with combining different apps... we should check with TK. Yes we have a difference here, I don't mention it but I use MB_NG (1.036) at both core. Let's wait advise from TK. Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 I just noticed, that the cable that goes from PA2 to PA3 is equipped with a 220Ohm resistor. I do not use a buffer. So the only differences we have are the applications and the 1k pullup to 5V. I don't have the tools to build this small setup here. But I'll try to test as soon as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tago Posted March 2, 2017 Report Share Posted March 2, 2017 I'm worried about keyboard scan resolution/speed for my project too. What about adding a Doepfer MKE instead of a second core? That should work in the same way, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 @Zam: I followed up on this today and I can confirm, that 20x speed (625k) seem to work okay. I didn't test any other baudrates yet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted April 5, 2017 Report Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hi Fantom I reduce at 10x now, I have debug message "time out" showing sometime at 20x, don't notice problem with it (maybe some intermediate data in a fast pitchbend change?), but it don't feel slower at 10x so for moment it's my daily use setup. Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted April 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 Hm, okay! I received this message only if two MIDIbox try to communicate with different baudrates... but I'll need to investigate more into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zam Posted April 6, 2017 Report Share Posted April 6, 2017 30 minutes ago, FantomXR said: Hm, okay! I received this message only if two MIDIbox try to communicate with different baudrates... but I'll need to investigate more into that. Hello That's for sure, I report the same observation with different baudrate, it's massive, like every packet/data At 20x it's just sometimes, apparently not affecting the system to work, so... I don't investigate more at my side for the moment, if you do, feedback welcome :) Best Zam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weasel Posted July 3, 2019 Report Share Posted July 3, 2019 (edited) Hey, i also need to work on higher midi baudrates, was this somehow implemented in NG by now or do i have to compile wih my own adapted settings? @Zam would you mind shedding some light on your midi router/merger thing? i see you keep calling it USB midi, but if i just hijack the J11 pins to connect boards directly, it still is UART midi right? i would enable the second set of 4 midi ports in NG events? tried connecting PA2 or the j11 pins directly (and with pull up R) to the rx pin of my arduino, no signal. same connection works with optocoppler shields on bot sides of the cable.. Edited July 3, 2019 by weasel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FantomXR Posted July 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2019 It's just one line of code in the firmware. So you have to compile the firmware by yourself. Please note that both devices need to be powered from the same power source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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