Cheap Midi to CV converter?

[gusjdt]

Hey guys,

I've been looking around for a good and bargain priced Midi to CV converter and so far the best looking one is Paia's unit. I've looked at Kenton but its more expensive, and I've looked at a few others but the Paia is still the cheapest. I don't think I would like to build one myself without a printed circuit board since it would save me a lot of time and "accidents".

Does anyone know of a good MIDI - CV? Unfortunately Oakley's MidiDac is out of production...

[Pehr]

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/midi2cv.htm
http://www.doepfer.de/mcv4.htm
http://www.doepfer.de/mcv24.htm

[gusjdt]

Yup, I've already looked at these too. MFOS expects you to breadboard it or etch and drill the board yourself and Doepfer is much more expensive than Paia not including shipping.

Perhaps there is another place?

I've looked at:

Oakley which is sold out
Doepfer, expensive plus shipping international
Kenton, even more expensive plus shipping
Paia
Philip Rees which doesnt even show a price.

So far I think Paia is the best choice but I'm still trying to see if there is a cheaper unit.

[State Machine]

I own and use the PAIA unit and it works fine and it is a bargain! It goes together fairly quickly. The most time consuming portion of the building process is the front panel wiring.

I would suggest using this unit. Just take a look at the user manual on the PAIA web site to make sure all the modes supported are exactly what you are looking for. Why pay more than you should if this unit will fit your application?

Bill

[bugbrand]

Well, there's maybe 2nd hand options - I got one of these GrooveElectronics boxes a year or so ago and its got a lot of features for the low low price I paid (something like £30):

(obviously it'd be a bit of work to rack mount it..)

But last week I ordered a PAIA unit and it should be delivered very shortly..

[sneakthief]

i'm a staunch uCapps Midibox advocate, especially the Midibox CV!

Main features:

8 cv's + 8 gates + midi-clock to pulse output. lots of nice features, works great!

...more info here: http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_cv.html


My experiences:

It cost me about $80 US to build, including the boards from Mike's Elektronikseite: http://www.mikes-elektronikseite.de/shop_englisch/index.htm
(he ships internationally)

There are 2 PCB's - one for the midibox core, and one for the 2 DAC's. They're quite small and easy to build. When you're finished assembling it, you program the PIC by simply sending a midi SYSEX dump of the Midibox CV program. Voila!

What you need:

12,20 euro - Midibox Core kit
7,00 euro - 16x2 backlit LCD
5,50 euro - AOUT V1. PCB
11,00 euro - jacks, buttons, IC's, resistors
10,00 euro - power supply parts
5,00 euro - case
10,50 euro - preprogrammed PIC chip

Total: 61,20 euro

Note: The DACS for the Midibox AOUT PCB are expensive - the AOUT PCB uses MAX525ACPP chips which cost ~$66 US; however, you can instead procure f-r-e-e s-a-m-p-l-e-s from M-a-x-i-m





regards,
michel

[deknow]

also, kyle jarger makes some really good ones worth checking out.

http://www.jkjelectronics.com/index.htm

deknow

[State Machine]

[kkissinger]

I built and use the Paia MIDI to CV converter and it works well.

The only issues are:

1) the supplied wall-wart power supply is not filtered sufficiently to prevent some AC ripple in the output voltages. I am using my Aries synthesizer power supply instead of the wall-wart thus, there is no ripple problem.

2) the trigger output is a little weak to drive my Aries EGs. I have to boost the signal with one of my mixers (a real hassle). My plan is to build a non-inverting (buffer) amp that has enough gain to drive all my eg's. Incidentally, the gate signal is fine.

[State Machine]

[State Machine]

[kkissinger]

[deknow]

here are the specs for one of kyles creations. he showed me these at the analog heaven northeast event, and they are super killer, and i think pretty cheap. kyle was an engineer at kurzweil when they were doing cool things, and has performed with us on his 4 pannel serge

[The Alison Project]

Elby Design offers the Oakley/Modulus Polydac as kits or built.

http://www.elby-designs.com/

[synth_ollie]

I have one of these :

http://goto.glocalnet.net/mcx16/mcx16.htm

cheers

OLLIE

[gusjdt]

Whoa, thanks for all the replies! I'll have to see which of these will fit in my synth project. The MidiBox looks sweet for its price, maybe I can get it to fit.

Thanks again for the help!

[fonik]

i built two of toms midiports when he sold them as kits, now he offers them as assembled and tested boards:
http://www.ele4music.com/kits.html

cheers,
matthias

[gusjdt]

I heard that some EFM circuits were poorly designed. A friend of mine ordered a few designs from him and he had to modify them in order to get them to work. Did you have any problems like that?

[fonik]

i built two midi2cv from tom.
first i built the RXCV which works great with +/-15V (had some problems with 12V).
the 2nd one i built was the successor, the MidiPort 3503, it generally works, but with some problems, i didn't troubleshoot it yet. i built it from a kit, i didn't buy the assembled and tested board tom now offers.

in the past i built several of toms designs (VCO, VCA, VCF, LFO, ADSR, MIDI2CV). you get what you pay for. and the designs are "slimmed". tom simplifies classic designs which makes them less "stable" and you may will have to modify them (one or another resistor value), but not necessary. but if the board you buy is assembled and tested...

[zipzap]

Hi. I have a question about the midibox cv. I read through the page but didn´t get everything.
(BTW Maxim has been very generous)
Do i understand right it´s possible to use this in a configuration like this:
cv+gate on two cv outs, controlled by two midi chanells for duophonic play
plus
use the other cv/gate outs for a drumbox. 6 notes on a third midi chanell + velocity on each note to trigger drum modules/ controll vcas?

If that is so than this is the perfect project for me.

Also the way i read the text you get 10 gates. 2 on the A_Out + 8 on the core.

[bugbrand]

Slightly off topic, but I tell you what ----- sequencing (or triggers or lfos or envs inc tempo syncing etc) on the G2 modular feeding 8 midi message channels to the PAIA Midi2CV = amazing power. Then add a MIDI controller keyboard (I'm using remote25 = lots of different knobs and sliders) and you've got a mighty driver for your modular setup.

[kkissinger]

Bugbrand,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. The original keyboards on my Aries synth were non-touch sensitive and the support for velocity, aftertouch, PB, mod-wheels, etc... give my vintage synth capabilities beyond what it could do originally.

Problem is... I don't know what to do with my two original Aries keyboards now.

The only disadvantage to the Aries/Paia combination is that the Paia unit doesn't support portamento. While the Aries has a "Lag" (slewing) module, it is not voltage-controllable and the response curve isn't variable between linear and logarithmic (as the original keyboards are).

What I'd like would be a kit or schematic that would allow a lag with the following features:

1) switched on and off via a gate signal
2) voltage-controlled lag time
3) linear and logarithmic response continuously variable, voltage-controlled

Any suggestions?

[gusjdt]

Kkissinger, how about this?

http://www.wiseguysynth.com/larry/schematics/Morph-Lag/Morph-Lag.gif

From what I can see, it has the CV in, CV out, inverted CV out, attack and decay controls, and shape control for lin/log variables. This is the one I'm going to build soon for my project.

[sneakthief]

[The Alison Project]