simple free midi app i can install on pc to test controller?

[daz]

I have this midi controller someone asked me to look at which apparently won't send midi signals out. I can't test it tho without a midi app. Is there anything that is a small free app that i can put on my pc so i can check when it's sending midi signals thru the usb connection? (which is the sole connection for power and midi signals) I know next to nothing about midi by the way.

[Enzo]

Midi has a 5-pin connector but only uses two. Look at any MIDI schematic.


MIDI is nothing more than a transistor or something driving an LED. The LED is just somewhere else. So behind your MIDI send jack is a current limit resistor to +5v and connected to one of the pins. Then there is a circuit - transistor, IC whatever - from the other pin to ground.

At the other end of your MIDI cord is an LED completing the circuit.

That remote LED is really inside of an optocouple, but who cares? You want to know if your device is sending MIDI, stick a LED across pins 2 and 4, and see if it blinks when you play. Which polarity? Beats me.


Ensoniq used to make a little test item called the MIDI Bug. It was a rubber bug with LED eyes, on the end of a MIDI cord. I still use mine.

http://www.matrixsynth.com/2007/11/e...-midi-bug.html

[daz]

Thanks Enzo. I'll give that a shot.

Midi has a 5-pin connector but only uses two. Look at any MIDI schematic.


MIDI is nothing more than a transistor or something driving an LED. The LED is just somewhere else. So behind your MIDI send jack is a current limit resistor to +5v and connected to one of the pins. Then there is a circuit - transistor, IC whatever - from the other pin to ground.

At the other end of your MIDI cord is an LED completing the circuit.

That remote LED is really inside of an optocouple, but who cares? You want to know if your device is sending MIDI, stick a LED across pins 2 and 4, and see if it blinks when you play. Which polarity? Beats me.


Ensoniq used to make a little test item called the MIDI Bug. It was a rubber bug with LED eyes, on the end of a MIDI cord. I still use mine.

MATRIXSYNTH: Ensoniq MIDI Bug

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28961[/ATTACH]

[Enzo]

And another:


I used to have this cheap little Yamaha keyboard, not much larger than a large sandwich at Subways. But it did have MIDI in and out. I could trigger its demo tune and have an ongoing MIDI output. ANd of course it could receive as well. REAL cheap at a yard sale. Plus the audio out could be fed to an amp and let run.

[The Dude]

I'm not 100% sure what we are talking about here. Is the MIDI controller you have one that connects to a PC via USB? If so, what I would look at would be a simple MIDI song file. Just Google MIDI song file and you'll find them all over the web. You can then just play the file and it will leave you hands free to test the unit. Unless, of course we are talking about something completely different.

[Enzo]

Maybe I am not sure either then. To me a MIDI controller puts out MIDI signals. If your ONLY conection is a USB, then it cannot put out MIDI commands. MIDI is a communication protocol. I am not sure how you could send MIDI out USB any more than I could speak Spanish in French.


If you have some MIDI control software or hardware, but it has no MIDI connections on it, then the USB computer would have to have a MIDI port on it.

[The Dude]

The way I read it, and certainly could be wrong (there's little detail in the initial post), there are machines that hook to a PC via USB that output MIDI to control MIDI devices from software. I'm maybe incorrectly thinking this is what we're talking about.

[Enzo]

We probably agree on the could be's.


For something to output MIDI, wouldn't there have to be a MIDI connector?

[The Dude]

Yes, Enzo. The device I'm talking about connects to the computer via USB. It then has MIDI ins and outs to create connections from the computer to various MIDI devices............Although we could be talking about something completely different.

[Enzo]

We need to hear from the OP. I am probably trying to make too fine a point. To me, if it doesn't have MIDI jacks on it, it can;t put out MIDI. Now I'm not denying that MIDI information might pass through the USB, but then we also don;t say that MIDI notes passing along are audio signals. But I am old fashioned, and maybe people don't think that way anymore.


In any case to test it, the computer still must have MIDI out jacks somewhere, otherwise how would we use the thing? So I suspect my LED might work. Otherwise don't MIDI apps and any receiving hear have MIDI activity lights on the ports?

[The Dude]

Yes, we need to hear from the OP and find out the model of the interface. Like I said in my previous post, the box I'm thinking of does have MIDI jacks. Here's an example of one.

iConnectivity iConnectMIDI4+ | Sweetwater.com

[The Dude]

While we're on the subject, here's a link to a simple MIDI tester you can build. May or may not be useful in this case, but someone may find it useful down the road.

MIDI TESTER

[oc disorder]

Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick but I'm assuming you want to test out what a midi controller is putting out ie patch/program change/ volume? etc even what midi channel its assigned to.
The link the Dude posted is hardware that will tell you if there are signals there but not any details.
I'm also assuming you have a usb to midi adapter but no software .
Some sequencer programs will record midi controller data for analysis but I gather this is all new to you so perhaps Midi Ox or similar
will capture the stream and produce text of exactly what the controller is putting out.
Years ago remember wading through data to find some glitch.
Here's some free Software which may be helpful
http://cnx.org/content/m14879/latest/
... an old pc may be more useful to construct a midi in port.. used to be heaps of circuits online
to make basic interfaces .
Often midi gear didn't work in my experience due to "transmitter" and "receiver" being set to different channels
so didn't have a hope in hell of communicating... operator error...

[daz]

Sorry i didn't get back, forgot about this. It was a controller keyboard with USB out, nothing else. So i needed a app that i could open to use the controller to trigger midi sounds in a computer app to see if it's working. For an example, the person who's controller it was used it on a mac with a app called "garageband". You plug the usb cable from the controller to the computer and open garageband and you can play the controller and hear the notes via midi in the app. Problem is, while a free app, garageband is for mac only and i couldn't seem to find anything similar for pc. I'm sure there are plenty but i didn't see anything in thier descriptions that told me i could use them like this, and i installed 2 of them that didn't. So i wasn't about to install 50 freakin apps and dirty up my pc with a tone of remaining junk files and reg entries just to fix the damn thing. Anyways, drove over to her place to test it and hooked it up after i figured out what it probably was and doing what i hoped was the fix. It worked. It was the usb jack. The power contacts were good since it lit up, but i think the contacts that send the midi signal were screwed. I tried to re-tension the contacts but i ended up just throwing a new jack in it. i'd still like to find a midi app for that tho in case i ever need or want to trigger midi sounds on pc with a controller. So if anyone knows of a freeware one (not a free trial) lemmie know.

[bkahuna]

So if anyone knows of a freeware one (not a free trial) lemmie know.

I think this is what you're looking for...
MIDIOX