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Arduino...Check it out.


henrygr

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Hi,

I know about Arduino for some time now, I never tested it, but I think it's quite nice; prices for kits and assembled boards are very good (~20 EUR). The tiny arduino board may be also quite useful.

The downside is, that it has no origin MIDI-support and uses its own language and software (based on processing). I don't know if it's possible to develop more complex programs on this thing... and somehow I got mixed feelings about it; maybe it's because I started programming with Macromedia Director/LINGO and I learned some years ago, that it makes no sense for me to put all my effords into such a specialized custom language and software environment. Just my 2c though...

I haven't found no advantage until now, that would have made me think about switching from MBHP to Arduino  :)

best regards,

Michael

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I posted the links as I think it is always necessary to keep an open mind to what is available as alternatives- I guess that is the basis of any business or intellectual model; to be forever striding for the perfection that doesn't exit by learning from others successes and mistakes.

Trust me when I saythat I was relieved when I saw all of your replies- I thought you might shoot the messanger boy!!

The board is €15, and then the additional USB interface board is that price again. I think it is quite limited in its amount of physical inputs, which would make it impractical for the gear that most midiboxers (once they get addicted) build. (Off topic- www.midiboxers-anonymous.org- for those of us needing to get off of our asses and tell our family and friends that we still exist!!!! he he he)

My final thought on it is that it would make a good quick fix to a problem, but would not not make a permanant solution.

Long live MBHP ;D

Happy new year all.

Mark.

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I ran into this some time ago when I was experimenting with processing...

(btw processing was fun to get experiment with java, you get instant gratification  ;D)

the thing I really like about Arduino/Processing is the simple concept

It seems a lot simpler to get going and understanding the principles then

with midibox stuff. The Arduino manual is a piece of art on it's own  :)

The arduino project seems to be very suited to get into micros,

but I still like midibox better for the real geeky stuff...

it's a little harder to grasp the concepts but you can get a lot more out of it

Michaël

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It is good that alternative solutions do exist with a different focus. The documentation of Arduino is really superb, the software concept is nice, and I think that the platform is sufficient for many experiments. You will run into problems once performance does matter, but this is only a "driver" issue (e.g. converting analog inputs & scanning shift registers via interrupt).

Only thing that I don't understand is, why they selected a microcontroller with a low pin-count. Normaly you can never get enough IO pins (especially when a LCD should be connected for debugging), and the price is the same...

Btw.: I like the idea that they use the FT232 as a USB interface which makes the adaption to PCs much easier; if a USB driver for COM->MIDI (multiclient capable of course!) would exist, I would use this chip in the MBHP as well.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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Yes, but as mentioned above, the problem is that the port appears as COM interface under Windows, and not as MIDI interface. So, somebody would have to program a driver which redirects COM to MIDI, and (something I find really important), which allows multiple clients (e.g. MIOS Studio and your favourite MIDI sequencer) to access the MIDI interface the same time.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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So, somebody would have to program a driver which redirects COM to MIDI, and (something I find really important), which allows multiple clients

I think the MIDI support/focus is one of the great advantages of MBHP!

Why? Because the need for device drivers sucks – regarding the "problem" of different operating systems. This way you just need a midi-device (which most of us have anyway!) and you're done!

There are much more *nix-Systems around here than one would expect at the first sight :)

Cheers,

Michael

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  • 1 year later...

Yes, old link... but this solution isn't multi client capable.

However, since so many people asked for a FT232 based solution in the past, and refered to documentation which exactly explains how it works, but nobody ever did the step to try it for MBHP, I will do the work for you... in ca. 1..2 weeks

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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