Raspberry Pi to output midi

[iCantThinkOfAName]

I have a Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2 and I would like to be able to take a midi out from it. Also would it be possible to take midi signal through USB rather than a MIDI cable, like my MIDI keyboard. Or if this is not possible could I take a keystroke out instead? 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Have you looked into USB to MIDI cables, like https://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-Cable-Converter-Keyboard-Window/dp/B0017H4EBG?

 

I'm not sure if these are plug and play or not though.

 

EDIT: Here's another one that claims to have a "built-in" driver, meaning it should be plug-and play https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Synthesizer-Microphone-Instrument-Converter/dp/B00D3QFHN8

 

A user review commented they got it working on Garage Band, so it works on macOS at least without issue. So that raises the chances of plug and play.

[iCantThinkOfAName]

7 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Have you looked into USB to MIDI cables, like https://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-Cable-Converter-Keyboard-Window/dp/B0017H4EBG?

 

I'm not sure if these are plug and play or not though.

 

EDIT: Here's another one that claims to have a "built-in" driver, meaning it should be plug-and play https://www.amazon.com/HDE-Synthesizer-Microphone-Instrument-Converter/dp/B00D3QFHN8

 

A user review commented they got it working on Garage Band, so it works on macOS at least without issue. So that raises the chances of plug and play.

Im confused on how this would work, I'm trying to plug the USB to a computer but how would I connect the midi to the pi?

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 minutes ago, iCantThinkOfAName said:

Im confused on how this would work, I'm trying to plug the USB to a computer but how would I connect the midi to the pi?

Buy two of the connectors and a MIDI cable, plug the output of one into the input of the other.

 

However if I'm re-reading it correctly, you want to turn the Raspberry Pi into a MIDI device? There's a few projects on the web that go over this but the problem is that you normally can't connect two USB hosts directly together, because they won't talk to each other. If you want the Pi to output MIDI, it's best to do it on the actual connector with the actual signaling.

 

[iCantThinkOfAName]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

However if I'm re-reading it correctly, you want to turn the Raspberry Pi into a MIDI device?

 

Yeah, that's it. What do you mean by "it's best to do it on the actual connector with the actual signaling."

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, iCantThinkOfAName said:

Yeah, that's it. What do you mean by "it's best to do it on the actual connector with the actual signaling."

The Pi should be generating a MIDI formatted signal over a MIDI port, to make it so you can connect it to any MIDI device. Like what this person did: http://www.instructables.com/id/PiMiDi-A-Raspberry-Pi-Midi-Box-or-How-I-Learned-to/

 

Or you can cheat and buy one of these: https://blokas.io/

[iCantThinkOfAName]

6 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Or you can cheat and buy one of these: https://blokas.io/

Looks good. But a bit out my price range. That's why I decided to use a pi in the first place.

 

Would it be easier to have it send keystroke rather than midi or would it not make a difference?

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, iCantThinkOfAName said:

Looks good. But a bit out my price range. That's why I decided to use a pi in the first place.

 

Would it be easier to have it send keystroke rather than midi or would it not make a difference?

If you're trying to have the Raspberry Pi play on any MIDI software or hardware, it must be in the MIDI protocol.

 

Anything else and you're not doing MIDI.

[iCantThinkOfAName]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If you're trying to have the Raspberry Pi play on any MIDI software or hardware, it must be in the MIDI protocol.

 

Anything else and you're not doing MIDI.

I could use either. Midi would be preferable but if I wanted I could use a keystroke to control what I'm doing. So it's not strictly midi software. It can be controlled through both

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, iCantThinkOfAName said:

I could use either. Midi would be preferable but if I wanted I could use a keystroke to control what I'm doing. So it's not strictly midi software. It can be controlled through both

Either way, to answer your question about doing MIDI over USB, there are USB to MIDI converters as I linked. However, unless you want to dive deep in the USB protocol and hack your own drivers, attaching a USB-A to USB-A cable between the Raspberry Pi and PC isn't going to work.

 

If you want some cheap way to send data between computers over USB without much programming involved, you can also use a USB to serial port converter.

[iCantThinkOfAName]

25 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Either way, to answer your question about doing MIDI over USB, there are USB to MIDI converters as I linked. However, unless you want to dive deep in the USB protocol and hack your own drivers, attaching a USB-A to USB-A cable between the Raspberry Pi and PC isn't going to work.

 

If you want some cheap way to send data between computers over USB without much programming involved, you can also use a USB to serial port converter.

Right okay - I should be able to figure the rest out from here. Thanks for the help