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Simple DIY MIDI-to-CV Translator Box Another DIY project blog by M.J. Bauer |
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Thanks for taking an interest in this project. I hope the design suits your requirements. Otherwise, perhaps you will get some ideas for your own design. Feel free to send comments and queries, either post on the Synth-DIY Facebook group (search for my posts), or email direct to me. There are other DIY MIDI-CV designs to be found and commercial products available at reasonable prices, so why would I design and build my own? The primary reason is that I want a device which is compatible with my EWI MIDI controller (REMI 2) which plugs into a MIDI IN socket (DIN-5) modified to supply 5V DC power to the EWI controller. This arrangement is called "Power-over-MIDI". There are other features I want in the device as well, not all of which are provided in other designs. But most of all, I like tinkering and making things. I don't care if I'm "reinventing the wheel". Here is my list of requirements (preliminary specification) for the device:
Provision of USB-MIDI comm's capability will allow the device to connect directly to a computer, enabling software app's (e.g. DAW or MIDI sequencer) to control modular analog synth's. Provision of a classic MIDI IN (DIN-5) connector allows any old MIDI keyboard or EWI MIDI controller to be plugged in.
These sketches show what I have in mind for the front and rear panels...
The front panel (above) has 3 mini toggle switches to select modes of operation. The firmware can be customized to suit any particular requirements, of course, but this arrangement functions as follows: Switch #1 selects the "base note", i.e. the MIDI note number corresponding to 0.0V on the Pitch CV output. The 2 options are note 36 (C2) or note 48 (C3) to suit instruments covering the Tenor, Alto (Treble) and Soprano ranges. Switch #2 selects either 1 volt/octave or 0.5 volt/octave for the Pitch CV output. When 0.5 V/octave is selected, switch #1 setting is ignored and the "base note" is set to 12 (C0) or whatever else may be hard-coded in the firmware. The maximum CV output level is 5 volts, so the range is limited to 5 octaves when 1V/oct is selected. Switch #3 selects the MIDI message type associated with CV output #4 to suit the type of MIDI controller plugged in. An EWI controller (e.g. Akai 4000s, REMI 2, etc) sends Breath Pressure messages (CC2), whereas a MIDI keyboard may send Expression (CC11) or Channel Volume (CC07) messages. In any case, output CV4 would most likely be patched to a VCA control input on the synth to control the audio amplitude. Also on the front panel is a push-button switch. Its main function is to initiate a self-test/calibrate routine to check and adjust the CV outputs' volts-per-octave transfer characteristic. Another button function sets the MIDI channel number and Omni On/Off mode. If the button is pressed within 3 seconds following power-on, the toggle switches select 1 of 8 options encoded as a 3-bit binary number; i.e. 000 = Omni On, 001 = channel 1 (Omni Off), 010 = channel 2 (Omni Off), 011 = channel 3, etc. The 2 LEDs indicate the device status in the current mode of operation. (Details TBA.)
The rear panel has a 5-pin DIN socket which can function either as 'MIDI THRU' or 'MIDI OUT', selected by a hardware jumper. In 'MIDI OUT' mode, the transmitter is driven from the MCU (UART TX pin), so the firmware gets to decide what messages are sent, on what channel and when. (Details TBA.) A 'Gate' output (5V logic) and four CV outputs are provided on the rear panel using 3.5mm TS (mono) phone sockets. If you're patching into a Moog 'System 55' modular synth (for example), you'll need adapter cables with a 3.5mm plug at one end and a 1/4 inch phone plug at the other end. The four CV outputs are nominally 'Pitch', 'Velocity', 'Modulation' and 'Expression' to suit MIDI messages commonly implemented by MIDI controllers, including EWI's of course. You might want to substitute After-Touch for Expression on CV4, if you are using a keyboard which supports After-Touch. The yellow 'GATE' LED illuminates while the Gate output is asserted (High). I'm not sure yet how to handle Pitch Bend messages. What do commercial MIDI-to-CV devices do with Pitch Bend data? Do they provide a separate CV output, or is the Pitch CV output level adjusted according to the amount of bend (data in the Pitch Bend message)? For my purposes, I would choose the latter. Instalment 2 In this instalment I begin with a look at MCU I/O pin allocation. Does the Pro Micro have enough I/O for the application? Next I explain the trade-offs between PWM resolution, carrier frequency and filter response time. We'll see if the ATmega32U4 can meet the specified performance requirements. This image shows the MCU pin allocation. All required signals are catered for, without a single spare I/O pin!
What if there were not enough I/O pins? An easy solution would be to use an I2C I/O port expander, assuming only digital I/O's were needed. Adding analog inputs gets messy... that would involve a multiplexer. When a design crosses that line, it's often better to choose an MCU module with more I/O. Four analog inputs (A0..A3) will be used to measure the voltages on the CV outputs, in the self-test and calibration routine. The ADC can be configured to use the MCU's internal precision reference (1.1V) to measure the supply voltage (Vcc) on ADC8 (pin 4) via a 5:1 divider. PWM Resolution and Filter Response The CV output used to control synth oscillator frequency (pitch) needs to have high resolution. 16 bits would be ideal, but using a modest 8-bit MCU with a CPU clock frequency of 16MHz, a PWM resolution of 16 bits (1/64K) would allow a maximum PWM frequency of (16MHz / 64K) = 250Hz. This is way too low because the response time would be too long. Using PWM to make a D/A converter (DAC) requires the PWM "carrier" frequency to be eliminated. Practical (i.e. simple) low-pass filter circuits using a single op-amp are limited to 3rd-order designs, giving a roll-off slope of -60 decibels per decade. The attenuated PWM signal amplitude should be no greater than 1 LSb (least significant bit) of the DAC output at full scale. The PWM filter time-constant, i.e. reciprocal of the cut-off frequency,
is a fair measure of the response time, i.e. the time it takes for the
CV output voltage to respond to changes in the DAC digital value (PWM
duty). So let's try for 12-bit resolution, which would be quite acceptable for the intended end-user application. The DAC LSb is about 1/4000th of full-scale, corresponding to a filter attenuation of 52dB. This is achievable with a 3rd-order filter, but what about the response time? With MCU timer clock freq = 16MHz, the PWM frequency is (16MHz / 4000) = 4kHz. For a third-order low-pass filter, 60dB attenuation occurs about one decade higher than the cut-off frequency, so Fc = (4kHz / 10) = 400Hz. This corresponds to a time-constant of 2.5ms which is in the right ball park. It's time to design a filter. From the foregoing theory, we know that the filter should have a cut-off frequency of 400Hz or higher and an attenuation of at least 52 decibels at the PWM frequency, 4kHz. I chose a 3rd-order filter comprising a 1st-order stage cascaded with a 2nd-order Sallen-Key configuration. You can find more theory here: To verify the filter design, I ran a simulation in LT-spice. The circuit is shown below. Normally the first stage would consist of only a resistor (R1) and capacitor (C3). However, to obtain the desired Butterworth filter characteristic, the pass-band gain, Av = 1.6. At high values of PWM duty, the op-amp output would clip at the +5V supply. To allow the full 5V output range, the PWM signal input to the filter must be scaled by a factor of 1/1.6. This is achieved by adding a resistor (R7) to form a voltage divider. But placing a resistor in parallel with capacitor C3 alters the filter frequency response, reducing the roll-off slope from -60dB per decade to -52dB/decade. Fortunately, this still meets the design criteria, as can be seen from the Bode plot.
The composite 3rd-order filter frequency response is the solid magenta (pink) trace. The output amplitude at 4kHz is almost exactly -52dB, as required. The dotted trace is the phase shift curve which is of no great significance in this application. The green traces are for the first stage of the filter, taken from the high side of capacitor C3. Note that the pass-band amplitude is lower than that of the composite output due to the action of the voltage divider, R1 & R7 at the input.
Apart from verifying that it works as expected, another benefit of simulating a circuit before you build it is you can fiddle with component values to see how critical they are to the circuit's operation. For example, the filter pass-band gain is set by resistors R5 and R6. To obtain the optimal (flat) response, the gain (Av) should be 1.6 which means R6 should be 20k. I found that using the more common value of 22k made negligible difference to the filter response. Likewise, using 100nF for C3 made only a small change to the attenuation at 4kHz, i.e. 49dB instead of 52dB. The Pro Micro module provides 3 PWM pins capable of 12-bit resolution at 4kHz and another PWM pin giving 10-bit resolution at 16kHz. It would be possible to implement two more CV outputs with 12-bit resolution, but the other 3 CV outputs are not as critical as the Pitch output, CV1. Hence, in the interests of simplicity, I decided to make CV2, CV3 and CV4 all 10-bit resolution at 16kHz. Also, the response time of these 3 CV outputs is not as critical as CV1, so their filters can be a simple 1st-order RC circuit. Let's do the math again. A 10-bit DAC has LS bit = 1/1000th of full-scale. As noted earlier, the PWM filter attenuation should be a similar value. If we choose a CV response time of 5ms, the filter cut-off frequency is 200Hz. A 1st-order filter has a roll-off slope of -20dB per decade. Between 200Hz and 16kHz is roughly 2 decades, so we can expect an attenuation of about 40dB at 16kHz. 40dB represents 1/1000th of the pass-band output amplitude, so once again, conveniently, the design criteria have been met. Instalment 3 Contrary to an earlier decision to power the device from 5V via the USB port only, I have added an option to power it from an external DC supply in the range 6 to 9 volts. Using a supply voltage higher than 5V allows the Pro-Micro's on-board 5V LDO regulator IC to function, thereby providing a cleaner and more precise +5V line. For convenience, the box can still be powered from the USB port, but the LDO regulator will not function properly. The voltage at the regulator output (Vcc) will be USB_Vbus (typically 5.1V ±0.1V) less the drop across the Schottky diode, i.e. Vcc = 4.7V assuming Vbus = 5.1V. Part 1 of the schematic below comprises the Pro-Micro MCU module (A1), the DC supply jack (J1), and the PWM filters for the CV outputs (explained in the previous instalment)...
Provision of a reset button is highly recommended because the MCU bootloader firmware can execute differently depending on whether a power-on reset occurs or the reset button is pressed. The numbers in brackets beside MCU signal names are pin designators printed on the Pro-Micro module. These designators are a legacy from the Arduino pin labeling scheme which makes little sense in any other context. However, the Arduino pin labels may assist in wiring up the circuit board. Part 2 of the schematic follows...
Resistors R11 and R12 form a precision 5:2 voltage divider to measure Vcc using the MCU internal precision reference (Vref = 2.56V). These resistors should be within 0.1% of their rated value, but it is not necessary to buy resistors with a 0.1% tolerance. It's OK to use ordinary 1% metal film resistors and check their values with a multimeter. It's not the actual values, it's the ratio (3/2) that needs to be accurate. Pin PE6 of the MCU drives the GATE logic output. The pin is set Low to turn on transistor Q1 which asserts the GATE signal (High = +5V). R14 ensures Q1 is off when pin PE6 is high-Z, i.e. when the MCU is reset. The MIDI IN (receiver) circuit shown above is unusual. It was designed primarily to accept a REMI 2 EWI (MIDI wind controller). Thus, the circuit differs from a normal MIDI IN receiver in a couple of ways... 1. There is no opto-isolator! This means that a common (GND) connection is required between the attached MIDI controller and the MIDI-CV box. Pin 2 of the DIN5 socket is wired to GND for this purpose. (Pin 2 of a MIDI IN socket is normally not connected.) 2. The MIDI IN socket provides 5V power to the attached MIDI controller. This was implemented to power a REMI 2, but may also be used to power any MIDI device compatible with the Arduino "Power-over-MIDI" scheme (where DIN-5 socket pin1 = +5V, pin3 = GND). If you prefer to have a standard MIDI IN connection, use the circuit shown below, without +5V and GND wired to the DIN socket (pins 1 & 3). Alternatively, the 6N138 opto (U3) may be omitted, in which case bridge U3 pads 3 & 6, use 2k2 for R26 and wire DIN socket pin 2 to GND. R25, D1 and R27 can be omitted also. If a PCB design is produced, it will accommodate the "preferred" MIDI IN circuit shown here.
Preferred MIDI IN receiver circuit using opto-coupler The MIDI THRU/OUT transmitter circuit is unremarkable. Jumper P2 selects between MIDI THRU and MIDI OUT operation. I have not yet contemplated any specific function for the firmware-driven MIDI OUT option. Instalment 4 I am excited to announce that a fellow synth tech enthusiast and regular correspondent, Jean-Pierre Meyer (in France), is doing a PCB design for the MIDI-CV project. The board will have all thru-hole components to make it easier for those not skilled in SMT assembly. Here is a picture of the preliminary layout...
When the PCB design is finalized, I will get a batch of bare boards fabricated (in China, of course) and make these available for purchase. Be sure to notify me if you are interested in obtaining a board. The PCB is designed to fit into a plastic "Jiffy Box", size 130 x 68 x 44 mm, sold by Jaycar (in Australia at least) in light-grey or black, priced at AU$5.50.
I found another suitable box on AliExpress. This type is available in black, grey or (cool) blue.
Below is a rough sketch of the proposed internal layout of the box, viewed from the under-side. The lid attaches to the bottom. The PCB is mounted on the top panel of the box on 6mm long spacers, held in place with machine screws. The board can be easily removed and replaced for rework, if required. The DIN connectors, toggle switches, LEDs and push-button are mounted on the box panels, wired to the board via SIL headers. This arrangement, contrary to using PCB-mounted parts, allows various alternative enclosures. It also allows more flexiblity for makers to rearrange the front panel layout as desired.
Download the Parts List so you can start sourcing parts, pending availability of the PCB. ... ... to be continued ... (Next instalment: Assembly, Firmware installation, User Guide, etc.) Other projects by MJB that you might be interested in: 'Rifficator' - MIDI Melody & Riff Creator 'REMI 2' - EWI MIDI Controller 'REMI Synth' - Monophonic digital synth (based on PIC32 MCU) |
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Last update: 13-JUN-2024 ___ |
