Midi Merger

Testing/Troubleshooting
1

I built the midi box with 16 pots, and added the midi merger.

When I burned the midimerger_v1004.hex into the pic and hooked my keyboard thru the mbox the keyboad was working.

But when I burne midibox_plus_v1909_16pots.hex into the pic I get no midi from the keyboard, only from the mbox.

( I switched merger on in menu)

Can anyone pleas help me?

2

Hi Jurie,

I’ve no idea, why the integrated merger of MBPlus shouldn’t work with the same hardware. It would be interesting if the interaction with Serge’s editor works correctly: connect the MIDI Out of your PC with the MIDI In of the MIDIbox, start the editor (http://serge.ucapps.de), and click on the “Request Dump” button. Does the program receive any data from the box?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

3

Hi Thorsten, thanks for answering!!!

My soundcard is connected to Midi in 2, my keyboard to midi in 1.

When I click on “Request Dump” nothing happens, but when I Switch de midi out from my soundcard to Midi in 1, I’m able to “Request Dump”. Also I discovered that my keyboard only works thru midi in 1, and not thru midi in 2. Can I conclude that midi in 1 is not working properly and I have to test it with various resistors?: http://www.ucapps.de/howtodebug.html

Best Regards, Jurie

4

Ok, this explains everything. Before trying various resistors, you should check if the optocoupler circuit is really correctly connected to the Rx pin. You could also try the second optocoupler which is currently connected with RA4.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

5

I switched the 2 circuits (the RA4 pin and the RX pin), so now midi in 1 is midi in 2. I tested it and now Midi in 1 is working, 2 is not receiving any data from “Request Dump” button.

My conclusion is dat both circuits work, but the Rx pin is not able to receive any data. So maybe there’s an error somewhere else. Please tell me I’m wrong!!

Best Regards, Jurie

6

Also, when I messure the voltage at the RA4 pin I get 0.10 V and when I messure the voltage at the Rx pin I get 5 V. That is not good is it?

hope someone can help??!!

Best Regards, Jurie

7

Hi Jurie,

something in your descriptions makes no sense (this isn’t a reproach, I know that the docs should be better ;-)) - are you trying the MIDIbox Plus firmware with 2 MIDI Ins?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

8

Hi Thorsten,

First of all: I think that your website is really good and that all the info is there!

Yes, I’m trying the midibox plus firmware with 2 MIDI Ins.

I’ve subsituded the “CNY17-2” circuit for midi in for 2  “6N138” circuits, connected to the Rx pin and the RA4 pin.

Only the circuit connected to the RA4 pin of the pic seems to work ???

Best Regards, Jurie

9

Hi Jurie,

ok, now it’s clear. It doesn’t work due to a misunderstanding. All MIDIbox firmwares with integrated merger don’t support a second MIDI In. Only the data stream from the common MIDI In is merged with the internal controller data stream. If you need a second MIDI In, an additional merger is required (see also the diagrams under http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64_tutorial_en.html).

You also mixed up the pin names, which confused me. RA4 is pin #6, Rx is pin #26. The MIDIbox Plus firmware doesn’t use pin #6

Best Regards, Thorsten.