allan_evett Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Looking for the simplest, cheapest way to have a Casio CT-S500 control an Arturia MicroFreak. I have a pair of MIDI adapter cables - 5-pin to 1/8" - that work fine getting MIDI to the MicroFreak, but only from a keyboard with an actual 5-pin MIDI Out. Meanwhile I've been using the MicroFreak as a teaching tool, and my students and I would like the flexibility of sometimes being able to play the instrument from a synth-style keybed. My MicroFreak was purchased used, and I don't feel that the cost of a Kenton, iConnectMIDI or similar USB MIDI host box would be justified. However I do have an older 2X M-Audio MIDISport box with a USB B connection. If I purchased a USB B Male Mini to USB A Female adapter (For the Casio's USB Mini Out), would connecting a USB A Male to USB B Male cord from that to the MIDI Sport pass MIDI info through to the MicroFreak? Quote 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 15 minutes ago, allan_evett said: If I purchased a USB B Male Mini to USB A Female adapter (For the Casio's USB Mini Out), would connecting a USB A Male to USB B Male cord from that to the MIDI Sport pass MIDI info through to the MicroFreak? Nope. Unlike 5-pin MIDI, USB always needs a host device of some sort. You could use a computer, an iPhone/iPad, or a USB host box of the type you mentioned. The least expensive standalone host is probably the Camola USB MIDI Host Box. I think the $50 one is probably fine, but if the Casio uses USB 2.0, you would need the $60 one. You'd still need a USB cable (micro-b on the Casio side) to go from the Casio to the box, and MIDI cabling (which you probably already have) between the box and the Arturia. The other possibility is to put a CME WIDI device on the Arturia, and then it would probably work with the bluetooth adapter that came with the Casio. Again, it's close to $60, but you shouldn't need any other cables. If you happen to have an iPhone or iPad, that would be cheaper. Casio could connect to it via Bluetooth, the Arturia could connect to it using your MIDI Sport and something to adapt that to either the lightning or USB-C connector depending on which iOS device you have... even worst case, that's under $40 for a "camera connection kit" though you may have to buy an app to do the routing. Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 Thanks, Scott. That's super helpful! 1 Quote 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoken6 Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 As Scott posted, you'll need a USB host box. Neither the Casio nor the MicroFreak are USB hosts, both are devices, and so they need a host between them. As well as Scott's suggestion, I'll throw in Mumidi's hublink, which allows you to connect two devices via USB (rather than one side requiring DIN/3.5mm MIDI). It's a bit pricey, but may be of interest. 15 hours ago, allan_evett said: a USB A Male to USB B Male cord (A useful rule of thumb is: if the answer is a USB male-male cable, you're probably asking the wrong question). Cheers, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 8 minutes ago, stoken6 said: (A useful rule of thumb is: if the answer is a USB male-male cable, you're probably asking the wrong question). Indeed! Originally they made the A and B sides different, not to make things difficult for people, but to stop people from trying to do things that couldn't possibly work. Changing one "end" to a different shape defeats that purpose, but still won't work. Things did subsequently get more complicated, though, with all the mini/micro/usb3 variants (yielding a plethora of adapters), USB-OTG, the different uses of the USB-C connector (i.e. thunderbolt). Back to my earlier post, if you need an iPhone/iPad routing program between bluetooth MIDI and USB (or USB->5-pin) MIDI, I think MidiMittr does it, and it's free. That should allow you to use the Casio's bluetooth adapter while hard-wiring the connection to the Arturia. You could also hard-wire both keyboards into the iOS device's USB/lightning connector, but that could get a little clumsier, requiring a USB hub, which can be an additional dangling piece and possible one that may also require power. Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjd Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 If you need a quick solution and have a Raspberry Pi: http://sandsoftwaresound.net/send-midi-from-usb-b-to-5-pin/ I picked up a DoReMIDI UMH-20 and it seems to be working good. I don't think I could build one for its selling price! Scott is correct. USB started out as an addressable peripheral bus and the functional asymmetry is intentional, HOST vs. DEVICE. The problem with USB for MIDI is replacing a symmetric 5-conductor cable/connector with a physical and electrically asymmetry link. USB-C and MIDI 2.0 may finally alleviate that problem. All the best -- pj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazKeys Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Thanks for this post!!! It made me realise that there was a way I could play the Nord Electro 6D from the Yamaha P121. As some of you will know there is no 5pin MIDI on the P121/125 but by connecting a Raspberry Pi between them with 2 USB cables the Pi can act as a MIDI host. Took about an hour of Googling and with a couple of tweaks I am now running the Pi headless and playing my Nord Electro Pianos and EPs from the P121. It just requires the ALSA Midi library installing then use this command in a terminal window: aconnect -l to get list the names of your MIDI devices - here is the command for my system: aconnect 'Digital Piano' 'Nord Electro 6' Bingo! Midi data is sent from the P121 to the Electro. I edited the local file so when it boots it runs the command and so I don't need a monitor or keyboard attached. Brilliant. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggypants Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 If your using a p3 or better also check out https://zynthian.org It can automate what you are doing and also do a million other things. I used it to send midi from various things to my Korg NTS-1 Edit: you don't need to buy the kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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