Converting sinewave organ to a midi controller

[jacko]

I have an old 70's sinewave organ that I would like to (try) and convert into a midi controller. My goal at this point is strictly to use it to output midi to a rack style sound module(s), so USB to a computer is not required. I was checking out a few site for DIY midi controllers but they all seemed far to complex for my task. What I'm wondering is if anyone has any thoughts on the level of difficulty (and hardware availability) to somehow convert the sinewaves from the organ and convert them into a usable midi signal? The organ has a number of draw bars that would be cool if I could tap into as well. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. Trying to figure out where to start.

Thanks

[J M Fahey]

Short answer: you can't do that.
You are much better off straight building it from scratch.
Even better, buy a ready-made one.
Your organ is a great instrument as-is, in its class.
By the way, it isn't a Vox Continental?
If so, sell it for a good price and buy what you need, with some bucks to spare.

[Enzo]

MIDI has nothing at all to do with the sounds and frequencies. MIDI is only concerned with which key it is and when it closes and opens.

The only part of your synth that would be useful is the keybed and its contacts. and maybe the power supply. You would need to create a microprocessor based circuit to convert the key closures into note numbers, as well as the MIDI housekeeping data such as MIDI channel.

Like JM says, really you can't do it.

There are MIDI conversion kits fof organs and things. They consist of extra sets of key contacts and the circuitry I described.

An old Yamaha DX7 would be easy to find, and the keybed in it is still being made, many many Kirgs use the same bed. And the DX7 has not only the notes,but also velocity and even aftertouch, not to mention pitch bend wheel.

But really, ANY old MIDI synth will work as a controller. If you find one with no working sounds but functioning MIDI, someone might let it go cheap, after all you don't need the sound part.