Casio Privia - No 5 pin MIDI I/O - Have I Made A Big Mistake?

Started by dead_lizard, April 06, 2008, 08:15:30 PM

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dead_lizard

Just bought a big expensive Casio Privia piano. The only thing is it only has USB out. It didn't occur to me that I might need the old style MIDI in/out jacks. Would it be possible to get a USB adaptor to go from square to square? (ie, not square to rectangle)

Does any of this make any sense?

Had a big weekend and am struggling to construct sentences ;)


Kevin M

Are you asking this with the intent of directly connecting a VG-99 to the Casio?  If so, I don't think this will work at all. 

mech

I think that's going to be fairly tough.  As a rule, USB jacks in hardware tend to be tied to client interfaces.  MIDI hardware (in this instance) also tends to act as a client interface.  There's no host.  Even if you can find something that's going to give you the right wiring/pinouts, you've still got a client <--> client sort of relationship.  What you really need is a client <--> host handshake, or a client <--> host <--> client relationship.

Most likely, you're going to need to insert something in between the USB jack on the Privia and the MIDI hardware you're using with it.  That's probably going to be the USB interface on a computer, which will then act as the intermidiary (host) between the two devices you're trying to connect and will take care of all the traffic negotiation.

Now, all that said, there's a slim possibility that the Privia's USB *could* act as a MIDI jack.  There's nothing in the wiring and transmission spec that says it absolutely can't be used that way.  The big gotcha is the whether the manufacturer actually codes the device to receive and interpret the data coming into the USB jack as MIDI.  I've never seen any company actually implement USB with that exact application in mind (although there have been some hints with the Yamaha MagicStomp) but that doesn't mean that it can't/hasn't been done.

BTW, I was looking at the Privia as a cheap(ish) master controller not too long ago.  I thought that it had standard MIDI I/O.  Was that a different model, or am I just completely mis-remembering that?

--m.
_____
GK Guitars: Frankenvox (fretless Vox 11-string GK Oud); Switch Innovo III MIDI; Line 6 Variax 300
VG Tech: VG-99 (x2); VG-8EX; WP-20g
Control: FC-300, EV-5, FS-6
Outboard: Macbook (Live, Bidule, Reaktor, etc), Looperlative LP-1, various boutique FX

dead_lizard

Ironically enough the model BELOW the one I got has standard MIDI in/out.

Was really just thinking out loud with the client/host adapter, though there was an element of wishful thinking. I have a cord that converts MIDI to USB, perhaps i will employ that somewhere. Anyway, using the computer as a midi hub is a fine plan too. the only thing that that bothered me was the thought of the potential latency. but i've not even explored that yet.

In other news, it looks like i just scored me a TD-12, which would bring my total yield to: VG99, TD12, RC-20 and Privia. Not a bad stable if I do say so myself hahaha...

Elantric

Last year I grabbed a blowout Casio WK-3700 for $199 from Music 123, because it was final model in that range to still have 5 pin MIDI I/O.
http://www.casio.com/products/archive/Digital_Pianos_%26_Keyboards/Workstation_Keyboards/WK-3700/


The newer WK3800 replaced the MIDI I/O with USB only. Not nearly as useful for me.

With the USB  - you will need a laptop with multiple USB Ports and a program like  "MIDI Yoke"  to interface your Casio Privia with the VG-99

http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm



dead_lizard

And i'm guessing this is gonna add to the latency.

Lucky i didn't throw out my old $200 yamaha. Low-tech triggered sound for me then for the time being. Oh well. No biggie. I'm stoked with the piano even though it can't do all the things i wanted it to.

BTW the Roland drums fell through. The lister got himself removed from ebay. I have 'won' three or four TD's that have all been too good to be true. Ebay is going to the dogs!!!!