[net.music.synth] MIDI, MIDI specs, six trak

csz@well.UUCP (02/04/86)

Some people have been asking about MIDI hardware and software specs.
And Ward Christiansen was asking how to get his six-trak to perform
with Roland's MPS software.  I can offer a lead, if not a solution: 
Sequential Circuits (SCI) sells the MIDI 1.0 spec for $10, including
the implementation of all their instruments -- 14 pages of generic MIDI,
10 pages on the six-trak, about 50 pages in all.  This includes the
hardware schematic, which is a trivial 1.5-ma current-loop opto-
isolated attachment to a 31.25 kbaud serial port (asynchronous, start
bit, 8 data bits, stop bit).
      Write to: SCI, 3051 North First Str., San Jose CA 95134-2093.
Phone: (408) 946-5240.  I have no connection with SCI, not even as a
user of their equipment; but this spec has proved invaluable to me.
    There is something weird about buying information which, like the
MIDI spec, is in the public domain, but what can you do?
     I haven't tried the MPS software, so I don't know how it talks to
the six-trak, but knowing the codes can't hurt, yes?
     Good luck, all ......