Hi SIDsyndrome,
that’s actually exactly what I’m trying to do with a broken synth I found in a trash bin.
Does your synth have MIDI ports ? Mine have, but sadly they’re unusable because of some issue with the synth µcontrollers. However, would they work, I thought about two different solutions :
- sending synth MIDI out to your PIC Tx pin, via optocoupler and so on, then somehow programming your PIC for turning the incoming midi messages into something readable by the device you’re attempting to control … but this would assume a rather unusual connecting scheme, where your PIC would send midi to another device than the one it receives midi from, and I wouldn’t advice it (unless someone more reliable than me in this domain says the contrary …).
Clearlier (I hope …) :
basic scheme :
control surface -> DIN/AIN/… -> PIC) -> MIDI out -> (controlled device
) <- MIDI in <- (
modified scheme :
your synth ) -> MIDI out ----------> PIC) -> MIDI out ------------------------> (controlled device
) <- MIDI in left unused] ) <- no MIDI in from controlled device] (
DON’T TRY THIS unless someone-who-knows tells you to do, it might lead to your pic destruction. BTW, it will prevent you from doing the loopback tests if you’re not already sure your core is properly working.
Here comes the second solution :
first ensure that the MIDI messages are the ones you want, typically note on/off, by midi-plugging your synth directly on any device that can show you the messages actually sent, like a pc with miosstudio.
Then, go to the merger page to see how you can merge your midibox and your synth messages. AFAIK, this will probably be achieved by using a second PIC (well, if I understood well, you can use the same PIC for both merging and your application, depending on your programming skills, but this could dramatically slow down its performances.)
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OR you don’t have midi ports, or don’t want to use them. Time to play the screwpull and meter. You have to disassemble the keyboard from your synth, then see :
For instance, it appeared that mine basically works as a scan-matrix. What about yours ?
One more time, I precise that I have good basic electronics skills, but the world of PICs is still a step beyond that I haven’t reached yet. If you’re planning on using your keyboard as a standalone MIDI device for controlling your SID, then wait for wiser advices. If you’re hoping to use it only as a control surface directly talking to your PIC w/o any midi in-between, then you have to understand how the keyboard works. I’m only sharing my ideas because we’re on the same ship.
Hope that helps.
Peace, Dubs.
