sso@harpo.UUCP (Steven S. O'Connell) (12/27/84)
In response to some letters on the net asking people to offer what they are doing with MIDI: I have a Yamaha DX7 - it sounds and feels great. I am primarily a sax player who also has a lyricon wind synthesizer driver. I use the lyricon to generate the control voltages necessary to drive an Oberheim Expander Module (remember the Oberheim Four-Voices?). What I have also done is bulild an interface box that converts the control voltages into digital information and then message them into the MIDI format. Thus, I can play all the sounds on the DX7 (plus a lot of new sounds that utilize the additional control I have). The fingering on the lyricon corresponds to the key pressed. I can bend notes with my lip by sending that information to the pitch bend wheel modulation input. Thirdly, I can use how hard I am blowing to control the EG bias. Thus, I can control the DX7 (or any MIDI synth) like an older synth with analog control voltage inputs. My hardware consists of an Intel microcontroller 8751 with a TI TLC540, along with some op amps for buffering and filtering and an open collecotor 7407 to drive the MIDI line. I also have a membrane keypad and 16 character LCD display. It is all nothing special, but it works great. I don't see anything on the market (Cooper, etc) that does exactly the same thing. Most other analog CV to MIDI boxes don't allow you the flexibility in assigning to modulation channels. I can also use it as a metronome for laying down click tracks for multitrack recording. To echo what others have been saying on the net - I'd love to hear other people's experiences with MIDI. Has anyone out there heard the new rack mounted synths (i.e. without keyboards)? I know Roland has a couple out, as well as Korg.