MIDI SWITCH.

I have been thinking about developing 'simple' hardware for MIDI network management for years. In fact, I have been thinking about this for decades now!

I remember starting to develop a prototype based on a 68000 processor and two large communication circuits equipped with four serial ports each. That was in 1994, exactly thirty years ago!

I never got anywhere because, I don't know, subconsciously I found that there was something wrong.

In fact, I always started from the same paradigm, namely, a centralized element for the management of all MIDI communications.

And precisely, in the last few days, while I am currently rethinking all the wiring of my hardware in MIDI, a kind of evidence presented itself to me. Not an evidence on what to do, but only an evidence on what not to do. Exactly what I have always done, always starting from the same concept.

As you can imagine, the result I arrived at does not correspond at all to what I was doing until now.

So I present to you just a small piece of the printed circuit of what will be my MIDI network flexibility device :

Simple, right?

Of course, the hardware aspect is not everything. It will also be necessary to develop the right software, because the information management will be a little more complicated than with the standard MIDI network. But nothing too esoteric nevertheless.

I am hopeful that with this solution, I will finally be able to use all my MIDI machines without having to rack my brains every time I want to do something, nor having to unplug and replug inaccessible cables, equipped with this 'crappy' DIN plug!