John's Port-Powered Midi Interface for Older Macintosh Computers with RS422 Ports
(and maybe SGI Octane Computers)

I have built two of these myself, exactly as described, so I know this design works. However, I make no promises that you will be able to do likewise, or that I will be able to help you if yours doesn't work. I don't mind trying to help if you contact me, and most people who have done so have managed to get their interface going.

I also take absolutely no responsibility for computer or midi equipment which might be damaged during your efforts to build this device and get it working. It is theoretically possible for this to occur, especially if you connect the wires to the computer incorrectly, although it appears to be unlikely as none of the many people who have contacted me have run into any problems so far.

Midi interfaces for the older Macs with RS422 serial ports probably are no longer available (except second hand) as Macs no longer have those ports. The ones Apple used to sell were not only pricey but they only had one Out as well. If you're handy with a soldering iron you can build one for yourself for a fraction of the price of a commercial unit (mine cost me about AUD$30 including the box, but I did re-use the end off a broken mini-din 8 cable, plug included of course, so that bit was very cheap) and this one doesn't need a power supply and has three Outs (could be four if you wanted).

I used four board mounted midi sockets and strip-board to build mine but there's no reason you couldn't do otherwise. The whole thing is very compact and portable and designing a printed circuit board is probably a waste of time given it's already so small.

The circuit is based on Dale King's Midi to Mac interface. His uses a 6N139 optocoupler which isn't so readily available in Australia (his internal diagram of the 6N139 is actually incorrect, the 6N139 being, like the 6N138 I used, a photodiode and two transistor job as opposed to some of the six pin ones which only have one phototransistor). A 6N139, if that's what you can get, will also work in this circuit without modification as the pinouts are the same. If anything, the specs of the 6N139 are a bit better.

The differences:

• I had to modify the circuitry around the 6N138 a bit, mostly by trial and error since I'm very much an electronic amateur, but I finally got it working perfectly. I think the problem was that Dale's circuit was designed for a powerbook 100 which only has a 24V supply and the modem port therefore has trouble generating enough power for the interface. My 280c on the other hand, with its 36V supply, generates about 6.7V between V+ and V- and the value of the pullup resistor (R4 - 4K7) needed to be increased to make the interface work on my machine (if you think I've got the reasons wrong please let me know). If yours doesn't work reliably then try varying the value of this resistor. Somewhere between 500R and 5K should work, but I would start at the high end and work down.
  
  
• I added the 10K resistor between pin 7 of the optocoupler and ground. The author of a book I read reckoned this made the thing more reliable but it may not be necessary. Mine works just fine with it there so I'm not about to take it out! [note added October, 2002: I now have reason to think this resistor is definitely necessary - see my PC version to see why].
  
  
• I couldn't get any 62pF capacitors (clock section) so I used 56pF and it works fine.

The rest of the circuit is the same as Dale's except I didn't bother with the Thru switches Dale used. I think they complicate the circuit unnecessarily, especially since you can't use this interface without the software enabling the port. If you want to include them you can get the idea from Dale's diagrams.

If you want a fourth Out, take the link from pin 5 of the 4049 to pin 7 instead of pin 8 and connect pin 4 to a socket in the same way as the other Outs via a 470R resistor. Also, if you use chassis mounted midi sockets, you can mount all the 470R and 220R resistors on the sockets and make the board 7 strips narrower. The board I used was 19 strips wide and 31 holes long.

The length of the cable to the mac seems to be critically important to the carriage of the signal down the RxD- line, probably due to the combined resistance and capacitance of the cable. You should keep it as short as possible, like less than a metre or so. The quality of the cable is also important. You might get two metres to work if it's very good quality but a poor one might only work if it's less than 50cm. If the Outs all work but the In doesn't then try reducing the length.

If you can't get hold of a 1MHz crystal (Xtal) I have now included a method of using a 2 or 4MHz one (as of Feb 1999 I can confirm this method works as I have built a 4MHz version myself). See page 2.

Strictly speaking, all the midi out and thru ports (not the in port!) should have both the shield and pin 2 connected to ground. This does not appear to be absolutely necessary and I haven't really made provision in the design to do so but you can if you want.

I have also recently added a 4PDT switch and a mini-DIN 8 socket to my own interface to allow me to switch between my printer and my midi interface without plugging and unplugging all the time. If you want to do this too you can get the details from Michael O'Hara's Macdelux design available here. This option is not included in the design below. If you do use Michael's idea, be very careful about the colour coding of the wires he has included and don't assume they are correct. As far as I can tell a standard Mac printer cable is wired as null modem, ie the TXD+/RXD+, TXD-/RXD- and HSKi/HSKo pairs are swapped from one end to the other so it depends which end of the cable you use. Check each pin/wire pair with a multimeter!

Enough chit-chat. Here's the good stuff:

Schematic

Click on the diagram to get a better resolution copy downloaded as a pict file (open it with Simpletext and print it out).

Board Layout (component side)

A = HSKi, Pin 2
B = TXD-, Pin 3
C = GND, Pin 4
D = RXD-, Pin 5
E = TXD+, Pin 6
F = RXD+, Pin 8
Note: Pins 7, 9 and 11 of the 4049 are linked by bridging the copper tracks under the board.

Parts List

R1: 220R
R2: 470R
R3: 10K
R4: 4K7
R5, 7, 9-11: 470R
R6: 10M
R8: 2K

C1,2: 10uF 10V tantalum
C3,4: 56pF (or 62pF?)

D1-5: 1N914 (or 1N4148)

U1: 4049 hex inverting buffer
U2: 6N138 or 6N139 optoisolator

Xtal1: 1.0MHz (you'll need some extra circuitry if you want to use a 2 or 4MHz Xtal)

J1-4: 5 pin DIN PCmount

Misc: box, cable and Mini-Din 8 plug

Board (copper side)

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Mini-Din 8 Pinout

Note: this is looking at the back of the plug (into the socket)