Nekochan Net

yesterday i loaded up a new version of EOS onto an old EMU sampler i just got, and found a new addition to a menu: "SGI on SCSI bus". now these (or most at that time) were used with mac's that would share the SCSI bus with the sampler to make sample management easier. but i had never heard of an an SGI used like this. i found one mention of this feature:



still no idea what software might have been used.

anyone have a clue?

How does the Mac interaction work? Having only ever used Akais and Yamahas, I don't know. Might show up as a harddrive or summink? Akais and Yammies use a 'standard' SCSI sample dump standard (as do Kurzweils, I think), so you can interact with them from any software that supports that. EMUs might do something above and beyond that...

Plug it in and see what happens?

some info on why:

Surviving SCSI Hell http://www.tweakheadz.com/surviving_scsi_hell.html

so, i never heard of any IRIX software. probably hellishly expensive commercial sw.

Excuse me for going somewhat off-topic here, albeit on quite a similar note and still being about synthesizers `n' all. Finding a standard 5-pin MIDI to 9-pin (RS-4xx DB9) cables is also extremely hard. I did see a little, yet very professional and multi-functional, JL Cooper device (for $99, which would normally go for $400+) up at eBay that'll allow regular MIDI in (and out) and has a 9-pin interface. I'm not sure if that'll work though, it might just be for the VTR remote; which I presume is strictly for video timing.

The MIDI quality sure is amazing under IRIX, it certainly is on my system. It's just too bad I wouldn't be able to connect an ordinary `PeeCee'-style MIDI keyboard onto it (since most `PeeCee'-style MIDI keyboards come with those clumsy `gameport' cables).

Either way, skywriter, please keep us updated on any possible progress you make. I'm rather interested in this particular topic.

I thought a standard Mac MIDI interface would work, so the JLCooper one would probably work as well, as MIDI is pretty specified as a protocol.

I've been looking into that as well actually. Maybe I should concentrate on that, and it's a lot cheaper too for me.

which topic in particular?

i looked into the simple serial to midi convertors years (and years) ago when i was looking at rosegarden and those type of tools. at the time i only had a few synths. now, though i had so many i need a couple of 8x8 MOTU switches just to hook them all up with reasonable latency.

since there isn't any way to do this with SGI's i have to resort to pc's. in the end i'm only interested in the music - having to deal with a 'computer' is a necessary evil.

Hmm...I believe you need a RS-232 to RS-422 converter too (at least on the O2). Then you can use a regular DB9-minidin8 cable to hook up the mac MIDI interface. Something like this:


BTW, I compiled TiMidity++ a few weeks ago on my O2 to play some MIDI files...works great. I have an old Apple MIDI interface lying around from the olden days:



Going to try to use it with the serial converter to hook up some devices on the O2.

For a *serious* MIDI hack, check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf_7XNmpfxA
http://www.pillowsopher.com/blog/?p=20

Thanks for the extensive information (nice pictures also), very interesting. I think the Tezro's serial ports are actually RS-232, I could be wrong.

Anyway, I ordered a converter, which I hope to receive soon. Unfortunately, it was delayed, and they informed me it was out of stock and asked me if they could send me another one (though identical). So it'll take a while, since it has to come all the way from Hong Kong to the Netherlands. From there I can see if I need additional conversion hardware.

I'll keep you informed!

I don't know for RS-4xx as Octanes have RS-232 (and can use midi baud rate). I made a logic level converter between RS232 and MIDI, its power is drawn from other serial control lines, successfully tested with oscilloscope and pc with loopback midi cable and teraterm at higher baud rates.

silicium, thanks a lot for the diagram. My Tezro is also RS-232, so that's quite useful. I did buy a conversion cable a while ago, I should thoroughly test it still (and try to get it to work at all).

Update: drawing power from RS-232 was a bad idea. MIDI OUT did not have enough voltage to drive any external MIDI device. Use an external power supply, like Octane's +10V DC output 2.5mm jack (don't know if Tezro has it), to power the 78L05 and MAX232 (schematic edited in previous post). If anyone is interested, I can draw a new PCB, with through hole or SMD components.