[fa.info-mac] MIDI interface

info-mac@uw-beaver (12/22/84)

From: Rich Cower <COWER@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA>

Anyone know the name and number of the company doing the MIDI interface
for the MAC?

Thanks...Rich Cower
-------

info-mac@uw-beaver (12/31/84)

From: HAMMON%LLL@LLL-MFE.ARPA

From: Randy Hammon <HAMMON@LLL.MFE>
To: info-mac@LLL.MFE



I don't know of any companies that are just building a MIDI interface for 
the mac, that is, without planning on using it for their application. The
implementations of the MIDI interface for the apple-IIe, IBM-pc and the 
commodore-64 have been built independently by each music manufacturer to
support their software. Thus, there are at least 3 or 4 interfaces for these
different pcs available from 3 or 4 music companies.

I've been told that such an interface for the mac would be trivial, with the
programmable baud rate generator( set at 31.25k baud). One then just needs
some current loop hardware with the logic inverted with respect to how it
is normally used for asynch terminal xmissions. 

I've also been told that the music companies have a little extra hardware
on their interfaces to time-tag the information coming in. This allows the
MIDI info to be xmitted out with the time context information needed for
sequencing capabilities to be handled in hardware.

The companies I know of that are developing a MIDI interface are:


KURZWEIL ( The same ones who built the reading machine)
The people in Berkeley,CA that wrote MUSICALC

PROBABLY every other music software type of company like

YAMAHA
PASSPORT( in half moon bay, ca)
ROLAND
SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS
MARK OF THE UNICORN

-Randy Hammon-




-------