DIY MIDI Cable

http://neophytte.mine.nu/forum/simpleforum_files/attachments/IMG_2763.JPG
Made my own MIDI cable, using an old PS/2 style cable, then cutting it and adding a 5 pin DIN at the other end.

Cheers

Richard

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Does it work? Can you explain how you made[SIZE=4] one of these? [/SIZE]

Yes, it works well. As I only need MIDI out, I used the original cable supplied b7y Singular Sounds to trace back the pinouts - then ordered a PS/2 cable (male to male) and 2 x 5 pin 180 degree DIN plugs. When they arrived, cut one end of the PS/2 cable to a short length (as you can see in the picture, my BB and looper are quite close) then traced the pins to the cables and soldered to the DIN plug.


From memory, 2 and 4 are used for MIDI in and 1 and 3 are used for MIDI out. If you’re interested I can dig up my notes and draw a proper diagram?

Cheers

Richard

Wow! That’s cool :slight_smile:
What really interests me - if I put a mouse driver into the BB firmware and plug my old PS/2 mouse, will it really be worth it? :slight_smile:

http://neophytte.mine.nu/forum/simpleforum_files/attachments/BeatBuddyMidiPinout.jpg

Thanks for the info, neophytte!

Big thank you for this!

Hey neophyte- I built my own cable based on your schematic above, but am not getting sync. Then, I notice the post (#3) before that where you mention different pins for in/out… just wondering if you could confirm your schematic?

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Thx for sharing Richard. Works great and the schematic is correct if viewed from the plug side and not the solder side.

I was making up a midi out plug from 6 pin mini plug to normal 5 Pin plug as in Richards diagram above but was having trouble with it. I was plugging into a midi to usb plug and monitoring with midiox but could get no out put. I eventually worked it out and it needs the sheid or ground included not just the two cables. Here is my diagram.

I know this is probably a long shot as this thread is 3 years old, but Guitar Stu, do you still have the cable diagram available? Isn’t it typical that the one most single piece of information from this thread is missing!

Haven’t got the photo and memory is bit hazy but I think the sheild goes from the middle terminal on the five pin plug to either 5 or 6 on the 6 pin plug. Without the sheild wire connected it wouldn’t work

Thanks Stu. You did well there. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast!

H

So, Chris… I’m having the same issue and Stu’s missing pic is giving me a hard time. Did you try it out? Did it work?

Hi LF. I’ve got all the bits, and created a wiring diagram of what I think needs to be done, and have sent this to Beatbuddy support for them to give it the once over before I get the soldering iron out. They sent a diagram that might have been created in Paint, but as it had no pin numbers on it, I couldn’t be 100% sure if you were looking at the front or back of the cable plugs, or the connections on the devices. I’m hoping they get back to me this week. When I get a working cable together I’ll post the outcome here.

Hi, any news on this?
Thanks

Sorry for the long time taken to get on top of this. I bought the bits and had a go, but it didn’t work. I ended up buying a Beatbuddy cable and a MIDI cable, as I knew I wouldn’t have time over Christmas to work it out, and I needed to get my rig working. I buzzed out the cable combination at the weekend and came up with the wiring shown in the attached PDF. I’ll have another go at some point with the bits at soem point as I need a more compact solution that the off the shelf cable. I hope this helps.

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A question, could you do a schematic of the original midi sync cable pins? I have a ps / 2 connector from an old mouse and a 5-pin male midi connector but I don’t know how to solder them, I would appreciate it infinitely.

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Thank you very much brother, here where I live I would have to wait an eternity for that accessory to arrive. :+1: