Sound Card for Midi interface

E

equinox654

Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
890
I need sound card with a midi interface.
I picked up a used Johnson JM150 Guitar Amp and need to upgrade the firmware and copy new presets to it a midi interface.

I haven't ever hooked anything up to the computer with a midi cable before. I was hoping you guys could steer me in the right direction.

Keep in mind. I already have an xfi... I just need something cheap that will let me update this amp and ocassionally backup presets.
 
I use a mixer into an Alesis IO2 interface VIA USB and find it amazingly good for £120. Never looked into midi -> soundcard to be honest as id rather an external anolog to digital conversion.
 
MIDI isn't an analog signal, its a digital control signal

as far as what you could do right now, depending on which X-Fi you have, it should support MIDI, if you've got the breakout "gameport" thing or the breakout "live drive" thing

alternately, your mobo may have MIDI via a "gameport" as well, so check that out

honestly I'd probably put the money into the livedrive for the X-Fi (NOT the titanium thing) if you gotta buy something new, to get MIDI (you could also buy the EP's breakout box if you want all sorts of connections)
 
usb > midi cables are like $10 on ebay. If all you're doing is a midi dump, I think I try that route.
(though...honestly - I've not used one of the cheap cables - my interface has midi).
 
You should be able to pick up an E-MU 0404 for $50.

EDIT: I have a question: if you had a soundcard that did audio processing and had a MIDI port, would it make sense to use MIDI over USB if the input device natively supported both? Would connecting the input device via the soundcard reduce CPU stress?
 
Last edited:
doctah said:
usb > midi cables are like $10 on ebay. If all you're doing is a midi dump, I think I try that route.
(though...honestly - I've not used one of the cheap cables - my interface has midi).
Click to expand...

I'd do this, if for some reason you can't use the MIDI abilities of the X-Fi (like if you don't have the cables/wiring to do it, or the time/patience to hunt them down/make them)

450 said:
You should be able to pick up an E-MU 0404 for $50.

EDIT: I have a question: if you had a soundcard that did audio processing and had a MIDI port, would it make sense to use MIDI over USB if the input device natively supported both? Would connecting the input device via the soundcard reduce CPU stress?
Click to expand...

at this level I doubt if you'd notice, really high end solutions that need to run dozens or hundreds of MIDI lines will have dedicated DSPs for that task so that it'll actually run, but in context of MIDI via X-Fi/Audigy/Envy24 vs some USB based controller, I'm doubting you'd see any real advantages because the device drivers are probably heavier than any workload the CPU may or may not see
 
MIDI is a 30-odd kbps serial signal, and it's often simplex. It's slower than a 56K modem. I wouldn't worry about CPU strain...

Just be careful that some of those el-cheapo MIDI controllers use repurposed USB->serial ICs with a nonstandard configuration to make it work. They can have issues with some gear, and can introduce noticeable lag. If all you want to do is load data in/out of your device it'd probably be fine, but if you're using it for anything more you *might* have issues.
 
Id pick up a usb to midi cable if I thought it would work. That amp is old as hell (10 years) and I would hate mess up the firmware flashing it. I found a old sound blaster 32 in the closet that I forgot about and I know there is a pentium 75 in my grandparents closet. Ill flash with that.
 
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