[sdiy] MIDI + Ethernet

[Paul Higgins]

On Friday, July 9, 2004, at 05:59 AM, Glen wrote:

> Of course, M-Audio doesn't call this card a pro card, or even a 
> "semi-pro"
> card. I wouldn't expect a lot of pro features on a consumer card.
>
> You refer to it as "kind of a joke". Other than the lack of pro 
> features,
> what do you think of the Revolution's sound (or its specs, if you 
> haven't
> yet heard one). Do you think it sounds bad?

Sure it's a consumer-oriented card, which is okay with me for the 
applications I mentioned.  What is "kind of a joke" about the 
"Revolution" card is mostly the connectors and the fact that it has all 
converters internal to the computer.  It's not the ideal card for 
critical audiophile and pro-audio tasks; otherwise it's a great deal.  
It's fantastic for virtual synths because you have eight outs.  PPG 
Wave 2.V takes up four, so it would be nice to have those extra 
outputs.  I haven't heard one personally, though.

> Also, did you know the "Revolution 7.1" uses the same AD/DA and mixer 
> chip
> as your "Media 7.1" card?

Wow, I didn't know that.  The s-DIY members really do their homework!  
I guess I'm not totally surprised, though; there were any number of 
video capture cards that used identical chipsets.  I bet that M-Audio's 
more pro-oriented stuff uses better analog components, however.   They 
definitely have better features/connectivity; after all, you (usually) 
get what you pay for.

> If I were you, and I wanted a modern inexpensive audio card, but didn't
> want to sacrifice MIDI connectivity, I would just add a separate MIDI
> interface.

Duhhhh...  I really felt like an idiot when I read your suggestion.  I 
guess that's what happens when you work with the big, expensive 
multi-cable MIDI interfaces all the time.  I never thought, "gee, I 
should just go get a little USB MIDI interface".  I just automatically 
think "MIDI interface = big, expensive rackmount box".

> You could also buy a used multi-port interface from eBay that
> interfaces to a serial port.

Well, I'm working on Macs, and we're pretty much just using USB now.  
Getting things to run on the old Mac serial ports using adapters isn't 
a lot of fun.  Especially with Linux.

> If your motherboard happens to have a built-in "soundcard" with a MIDI
> interface via the joystick port, did you know that you can usually 
> enable
> only the MIDI interface portion of the joystick port? Look at your BIOS
> settings.

Not possible; all my machines are Macs.  I've fooled around a bit with 
Open Firmware (our version of BIOS), but no Mac I've ever worked on has 
those kinds of ports.

Thanks!
-PRH

Paul Higgins
email: higg0008 at tc.umn.edu