Thread
MIDI interface?
Where can I find a MIDI interface that connects to the old Mini-DIN 8 Mac Serial port? I searched ebay and cant find anything!
Also, Where can I get Reason 2.0 for Mac?
Also, Where can I get Reason 2.0 for Mac?
They do turn up from time to time. Stick it in your saved searches and wait. There are schematics around the web for building them yourself if you search a bit.
This one is the serial-to-MIDI interface you're looking for.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FastLane/
Incidentally, I have an old MidiMan (now M-AUDIO) MiniMacman Mac serial-to-MIDI interface I bought years ago for use on my parents' Power Macintosh Performa 6220CD. I still use it with my old Quadra 650 from time to time along with Master Tracks Pro.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FastLane/
Incidentally, I have an old MidiMan (now M-AUDIO) MiniMacman Mac serial-to-MIDI interface I bought years ago for use on my parents' Power Macintosh Performa 6220CD. I still use it with my old Quadra 650 from time to time along with Master Tracks Pro.
Would you happen to have any links to the schematics?
Thanks
Did you happen to see my post above with a link to one that's on sale? Are you outside of the US? (I couldn't tell since there's no mention of your geographical location in your profile.)
Something to search for on eBay is "MIDI Edge for Mac". I have one of those interfaces and it is brilliant, such a compact wee box too. The seem to appear occasionally on eBay UK but are not very common.
The Fastlane above, while an excellent interface offering 3 MIDI outs, one in and a printer/modem port passthrough, is pretty overpriced. There are simple one in one out interfaces available which are pretty cheap. A Google or ebay search for macintosh midi -usb that's minus usb should find you what you want. The 1x1 interfaces are pretty easy to find, and to build.
Hell, I remember when I bought my miniMacMan new from Guitar Center years ago....that was about 80 bucks or so and it was only one port in and out. This is a bargain IMO for a brand new device for older serial-based Macs (at least what I could find so far with serial ports for the Mac). Remember that USB's commoditization brought down the price of USB devices down a lot.
BTW, great tip on the search procedures....I wasn't aware of that.
One thing to consider with the single in/out MIDI interfaces is that if you daisy-chain too many of them you'll eventually experience a MIDI delay. This is why you want to use interfaces with more than one set of ports.
I did build one myself, but it didnt work... checked everything 1000 times... dunno what went wrong. :/
I'm very worried about building something like that myself, because i'm not very tech-smart in that particular area. I'll keep looking...
Here's another with 4 ins and 6 outs, and internal patching, going cheap for what it is. Shipping to where you are could be a bit.
Fancy 15 ins and outs? Spend 5 Ben Franklins on this
The MacMan looks like a bargain.
Also, what machine and OS will you be using this with?
Fancy 15 ins and outs? Spend 5 Ben Franklins on this
The MacMan looks like a bargain.
Also, what machine and OS will you be using this with?
I don't need anything near fancy, so i think I will go with a MacMan.
My OS will be 8. 8.5, and 9
My OS will be 8. 8.5, and 9
Oh I was just wondering if you were using a machine with PCI slots. In OSes 8.6 and above, there is USB support, so you have the option of using a PCI card and a USB MIDI interface. If the interface has drivers for that OS. Overall, a serial interface is probably easier.
I don't think you want to try to run Reason 2 on any Mac without built-in USB...
reason 2 should work on a PCI powermac but dont expect too much... 
I once had it on my 9500 but under OSX. it was ok... not fast but ok
I once had it on my 9500 but under OSX. it was ok... not fast but ok
Will it work under Mac OS 9 on a Performa 6400? Thanks.
performa 6400 is definetly too slow for reason 2 or even reason 1...
Could you recommend a similar program with similar software layout/interface? Thanks.
Except for Rebirth, Reason's dad, so to speak, I don't think there is anything. It would run nicely on your 6400, though, but all it gives you is two synths and some drum samplers. It's great, I made my first beats with it 10 years ago, but it's not really something you can make full productions with without some clever layering.
The fact of the matter is that up until five years ago and even more so when your computer was new, people were still using external synths almost exclusively. They had to, because the computers weren't powerful enough to run a number of synths and samplers and effects and mix it all in software in real time. Ten years ago harddisk recording without extra hardware was still a new feature in most professional music software, and my old 8600 struggled with more than eight tracks, as far as I can remember.
Rebirth even ran adequately on my old 6100/66Mhz 601, so it should be no problem on a 6400. In fact there might be more capable and elaborate synth programs out there if someone's written one tight enough to run on that hardware. That's a big if, and I can't off the top of my head suggest one. I would go have a look at hitsquad.com's Shareware Music Machine and see what you can dig up.
If you can find the Koblo synths (Vibra, Stella, Multi) they might be good bets. I remember running the demo of one of them on my 8600.
They were among the first soft synths ever for personal computers, really quite ground breaking stuff when they came out in the mid-90's - and I'm not just saying that cos they were made by my second cousin
They were among the first soft synths ever for personal computers, really quite ground breaking stuff when they came out in the mid-90's - and I'm not just saying that cos they were made by my second cousin
ReBirth 2.0 even runs on my PPC upgraded Quadra...
meh... its basically the same as bunsens 6100.
meh... its basically the same as bunsens 6100.