anyone interested in building your own 1->5 MIDI out splitters?

[jibberish]

I will make 2 of these and document the adventure if someone else wants to see. otherwise I wont waste the effort.

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I looked through all my electrical crap and I have everything except the optocouplers to build a pair of 1->5 MIDI splitters.

these are good for running a pile of modules from one control source without the horrors of daisy-chain propagation delay and the resulting out-of-timing bullshit.

these are active, not power scavenging off the MIDI line.
(old serial port TTL had 5v just like today's USB, which is why USB was such a nice fit as a MIDI cable.2 lines for signal, 2 heavy lines for 5v power
MIDI out of a DIN connector is also power and signal, and those are the same DIN connectors that were used for old keyboards etc.
I have used a keyboard extension cable as a MIDI extension cable already, so they really are interchangeable

caveat* if you are thinking about boning together your own cables from , let's say 2 keyboard cables, you have to make what is known as a "Null Modem" cable
ie, the signal wires must be crossed.



OK, so , the component count is minimal now that we have USB wall warts for instant 5V. this eliminates a 9v input(or 12 I guess), a buck-puck or some kind of stepdown rig to provide a 5v rail for the circuit.

need optocoupler to isolate the input and prevent any possible ground loops$1-$3
need one hex inverter (14 pin chip 2 for power, other 12 pins are the 6 pairs of inverter leads) $0.75
need one usb wall wart $5
need some 220ohm impedance matching resistors. I think 6.  <$1

need some kind of case and the 6 din connectors. DIN's are probably <$1 each so $5

so i'm thinking well <$20 and for me it will be more like <$10 each since I have some of the stuff already.


I will start after the holidays when my nephew and I place a huge Mauser pieces-parts order for all the shit we are cooking up.

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[Submarine]

I think there might only be about 3 of us in this forum that use MIDI.