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Hi there, I'd like to connect a mt32-pi to a "modern" laptop (and by modern I mean, no MIDI ports, just USB ports). Is my understanding correct? If so, are there any "end-to-end" USB-midi cables out there? Thanks! |
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Replies: 5 comments 3 replies
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A couple of things come to mind. The MT-32 Pi supports USB to Midi devices. e.g. it works perfectly with my Roland UM-ONE ver2. I can plug a UM-ONE into the MT-32 PI and cross connect another UM-ONE that is plugged into a USB port on my computer. Both the MT-32 Pi and the computer both believe they are talking to other Midi devices. There are also USB "Host" controllers that could do this too... check for YouTube videos on connecting a USB Instrument Controller to a USB modular Synth. |
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Thanks! Ok, so it is as I described. I think MIDI-over-network is probably the cleanest setup. Thanks again. |
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Re: End to End. You could always hard wire two USB - Midi interfaces together to create a single USB to USB midi cable.... effectively giving you what you want in what appears to be a single cable.... and it would have two micro-controllers. ;) Of course you can just get two interfaces, plug the midi cables together and have on USB end on your laptop and the other in the MT-32 Pi and call it a day. This works well. Re: Midi over network MT-32 PI doesn't have WiFi code in it nor do I think it would be a good idea to include it. On the PI WiFi is handled by the USB controller so it grabs part of the USB available bandwidth and resources. Likewise there is too much latency on WiFi for Midi over ethernet. |
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https://twitter.com/_d0pefish_/status/1380668489443205122?s=19 |
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mt32-pi does support WiFi.
This is untrue. On the Zero W, 3B/3B+, 4, and CM4 with WiFi, the WiFi chipset is connected over SDIO. In fact, on models with built-in Ethernet prior to the 4/CM4, the Ethernet chipset is connected through a USB hub.
For most people, for most uses, the additional latency and jitter of using WiFi instead of Ethernet won't matter. Try it out and see if it works for you. If it does, great. If it doesn't, you're only out a little of your time. RTP-MIDI is easy to setup and for most people who don't have other MIDI hardware, is perfectly sufficient for interfacing with modern computers. |
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Yup I was confusing the WiFi connection with the Ethernet interconnect and missed the 10.0 inclusion of WiFi. I do get a fairly noticeable amount of latency over Ethernet when I use the MT-32 PI in unison with an actual MT-32 or Sound Canvas device. The delay is about the length of a 32nd note or more. This is over a 1Gb Ethernet connection directly to a switch on both the computer and MT-32 Pi. I assume WiFi has larger delays. I don't think this is an issue with the PI itself nor the software, unless it is due to the rtpMidi program. With the Midi interface hooked up I don't see the same thing. For someone playing a game or using a single device this will not matter at all. |
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Awesome, thank you all! |
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It's pretty easy to use a small microcontroller to connect to the UART RX pin on the Pi, and 'speak' USB HID MIDI to interface to a pc.... I used this code: https://github.com/TheKikGen/USBMidiKliK4x4 on an STM32 'bluepill' board. There are other projects out there for pretty much any common USB-enabled microcontroller, like the atmega32u4 on the Arduino Micro and Leonardo; just look at the 'example' code in the various MIDI libraries out there. Most have examples for MIDI-to-USB converters It would be better still if Broadcom documented their USB controller better so that the mt32pi could operate in USB 'device' mode directly. |
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A couple of things come to mind.
The MT-32 Pi supports USB to Midi devices. e.g. it works perfectly with my Roland UM-ONE ver2.
I can plug a UM-ONE into the MT-32 PI and cross connect another UM-ONE that is plugged into a USB port on my computer.
Both the MT-32 Pi and the computer both believe they are talking to other Midi devices.
There are also USB "Host" controllers that could do this too... check for YouTube videos on connecting a USB Instrument Controller to a USB modular Synth.