Just built wireless MIDI into my AX Synth
Posted: 22:07, 9 June 2011
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS MODIFICATION IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. IT IS POSSIBLE TO DAMAGE YOUR AX SYNTH AND YOU WILL CERTAINLY VOID YOUR WARRANTY. IF YOU DO THIS YOU DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK ENTIRELY. NO GUARANTEES ARE GIVEN THAT THE MODIFICATION DESCRIBED BELOW IS SAFE TO DO OR THAT IT WILL NOT HARM YOUR AX SYNTH, EVEN IF YOU PERFORM THE MODIFICATION EXACTLY AS DESCRIBED.
Hi everybody,
I just finished a fun little project: I built a CME WIDI-X8 wireless MIDI sender/transmitter into my AX Synth.
Being a keyboard guy I'm not used to walk around on stage, especially not with some cords trailing behind me. I also didn't like having to deal with the CME as a bodypack, the MIDI OUT on the AX Synth is located in an inconvenient location imho. So after noticing how much empty space there is inside the AX Synth when I first opened it to install some straplocks I decided to check if it would be possible to build my WIDI-X8 unit into the AX Synth.
As it turns out that is relatively easy to do. THE WIDI-X8 is perfect for this mod because the MIDI, USB and power sockets are on a separate PCB that connects to it's 'main' PCB through a simple connector which can be conveniently used to connect the AX power and MIDI output to the Widi-X8 PCB.
Like I said there is plenty of space inside the AX SYnth and I was able to find out where to tap from the +5V power that the AX Synth generated for some of its digital circuitry. The best place for that is probably C177. That's on the same PCB that also has the MIDI sockets.
Originally I had hoped to be able to use a neat little trick to allow the regular MIDI IN/OUT ports to continue to be used with no side effects whatsoever if for some reason there's a problem with the wireless reception. Basically I wanted to make some special MIDI plugs that would simply loop back pins 1 & 3 to pins 4 & 5 respectively and connect pins 4 & 5 internally to the WIDI-X8 MIDI ports. However Roland managed to find a MIDI chassis part that has litereally no metal whatsoever in the holes for pin 4 & 5. So much for that brilliant idea.
In the end I decided to just hardware the AX MIDI ports to the Widi-X8 MIDI ports with the idea that if I can't go wireless I'll just play those songs from behind my keyboards. If you really want a backup you could abuse the ATT switch to switch the connection between the AX MIDI OUT and the Widi X8 IN so you could still use the AX Synth's regular MIDI OUT in a pinch.
Actually it might be possible that the AX Synth MIDI OUT can drive both the internal Widi-X8 and the external MIDI OUT but that's not according to MIDI specs. It might work but I haven't tried it yet.
Another bonus is that since the WIDI-X8 is now powered off of the AX Synth's batteries I only have one set of batteries to worry about and I can see their charge level (the WIDI-X8 has no charge level indicators). NOTE: I HAVE SIMPLY ASSUMED THAT THE CIRCUITRY AND COMPONENT IN THE AX SYNTH ARE CAPABLE OF HANDLING THE ADDITIONAL POWER DRAWN OF THE WIDI-X8. THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE.
Without further ado here are some pictures:
So now I'm the lucky owner of an AX Synth with completely built-in wireless MIDI :-) I have the Widi-X8 set to 'Auto' so that it will scan for the frequency of my other unit. Seems to work quite well so far.
Hi everybody,
I just finished a fun little project: I built a CME WIDI-X8 wireless MIDI sender/transmitter into my AX Synth.
Being a keyboard guy I'm not used to walk around on stage, especially not with some cords trailing behind me. I also didn't like having to deal with the CME as a bodypack, the MIDI OUT on the AX Synth is located in an inconvenient location imho. So after noticing how much empty space there is inside the AX Synth when I first opened it to install some straplocks I decided to check if it would be possible to build my WIDI-X8 unit into the AX Synth.
As it turns out that is relatively easy to do. THE WIDI-X8 is perfect for this mod because the MIDI, USB and power sockets are on a separate PCB that connects to it's 'main' PCB through a simple connector which can be conveniently used to connect the AX power and MIDI output to the Widi-X8 PCB.
Like I said there is plenty of space inside the AX SYnth and I was able to find out where to tap from the +5V power that the AX Synth generated for some of its digital circuitry. The best place for that is probably C177. That's on the same PCB that also has the MIDI sockets.
Originally I had hoped to be able to use a neat little trick to allow the regular MIDI IN/OUT ports to continue to be used with no side effects whatsoever if for some reason there's a problem with the wireless reception. Basically I wanted to make some special MIDI plugs that would simply loop back pins 1 & 3 to pins 4 & 5 respectively and connect pins 4 & 5 internally to the WIDI-X8 MIDI ports. However Roland managed to find a MIDI chassis part that has litereally no metal whatsoever in the holes for pin 4 & 5. So much for that brilliant idea.
In the end I decided to just hardware the AX MIDI ports to the Widi-X8 MIDI ports with the idea that if I can't go wireless I'll just play those songs from behind my keyboards. If you really want a backup you could abuse the ATT switch to switch the connection between the AX MIDI OUT and the Widi X8 IN so you could still use the AX Synth's regular MIDI OUT in a pinch.
Actually it might be possible that the AX Synth MIDI OUT can drive both the internal Widi-X8 and the external MIDI OUT but that's not according to MIDI specs. It might work but I haven't tried it yet.
Another bonus is that since the WIDI-X8 is now powered off of the AX Synth's batteries I only have one set of batteries to worry about and I can see their charge level (the WIDI-X8 has no charge level indicators). NOTE: I HAVE SIMPLY ASSUMED THAT THE CIRCUITRY AND COMPONENT IN THE AX SYNTH ARE CAPABLE OF HANDLING THE ADDITIONAL POWER DRAWN OF THE WIDI-X8. THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE.
Without further ado here are some pictures:
So now I'm the lucky owner of an AX Synth with completely built-in wireless MIDI :-) I have the Widi-X8 set to 'Auto' so that it will scan for the frequency of my other unit. Seems to work quite well so far.