TRS-A VS TRS-B for MIDI

[Rick Vestuto]

Few Question here, please.

is there any reason why you decided to use TRS-A for MIDI instead of the recently instituted industry-standard of TSR-B?
Does the BB ship with a TRS-A to TRS-B twisted wire?
Do you sell a TRS-A to TRS-B wire?

Regards, Rick

[MFischer]

I keep wondering if there could be a software “switch” that lets you select the Korg or Arturia standard

[pieter3d]

I was wondering the same. It's not a big issue (I've got it hooked up to a midi thru box anyway), but it seems strange to deviate from the industry standard.

It doesn't ship with a twisted wired, but making your own is relatively simple with some (very) basic DIY.

[Aaron]

When we decided on TRS-B, the industry standard did not exist. Please also realize that the standard calls for 2.5mm jacks and the bulk of the industry is using 3.5mm jacks. In other words, it continues to be a poorly defined mess.

The blackbox and all our modules ship with a TRS-B to MIDI 5-pin DIN adapter. You can use the adapter plus a 5-pin DIN cable to connect to whatever you like. If you have other gear with TRS-B, like the Novation Circuit, any 3.5mm TRS cable will connect them directly.

[pieter3d]

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. Didn't know about 2.5mm jacks being the standard, weird choice.

[adam.wise]

When we decided on TRS-B, the industry standard did not exist. Please also realize that the standard calls for 2.5mm jacks and the bulk of the industry is using 3.5mm jacks. In other words, it continues to be a poorly defined mess.

The blackbox and all our modules ship with a TRS-B to MIDI 5-pin DIN adapter. You can use the adapter plus a 5-pin DIN cable to connect to whatever you like. If you have other gear with TRS-B, like the Novation Circuit, any 3.5mm TRS cable will connect them directly.

I can confirm that the Circuit works (almost) perfectly with a simple patch cable, so the clock, start/stop and program changes are sent. But I have an issue with the MIDI in/out for pads sequences, Aaron : they don't seem to send different "notes" for the different pads set as MIDI out. I tried recording a MIDI sequence from BB to Circuit for example on channel 10, and all I get is note C for all of them. Should be C1, D1, E1, F1 and so on.

[peachnoise]

could someone kindly link me to a place to buy cables that are TRS-B directly to midi male. cannot locate.

[Chris Moon]

Is it this you are looking for ? https://www.thomann.de/intl/befaco_trs_midi_cable_b.htm

[pieter3d]

could someone kindly link me to a place to buy cables that are TRS-B directly to midi male. cannot locate.

Haven't seen them anywhere. If you know how to solder, making your own is quite easy.

[underwood]

Best way to have the length you need!

[fbolton]

peachnoise Looks like this connector from Retrokits would do the trick (when combined with an ordinary 3.5mm mini jack stereo audio cable):

https://www.retrokits.com/shop/rk-minimidi/

Unfortunately, however, it appears to be out of stock at the moment.

[walkie]

I've looked for this in the past too... There are several supposed "TRS to MIDI" cables with male DIN connections on Amazon, but *none* of them specify whether they're TRS-A or TRS-B, or even what products they're compatible with, which you could use to infer the standard.

Moreover, many of them talk about the quality of the audio over a supposed MIDI cable, so I have no faith that the people that made the product even know what they made! I guess they just connected wires to pins and hoped for the best!

[underwood]

Friend has bought some 3,5 to DIN cables on ebay that didn't work. After checking them with a multimeter I think they are for connecting MP3 players and stuff to old HiFi-Devices that use DIN-Audio-Inputs and not for MIDI.

[walkie]

Interesting. That makes sense why they're talking about audio quality. Although they still describe their cables as "TRS to MIDI", so maybe they think MIDI is just a synonym for a DIN connection?

[underwood]

I think so. The 5pole MIDI DIN connector uses only pin 4+5 (2 for shield/gnd). 5pol Audio DIN 3+5 for audio out and 1+4 for audio in. 2 is common ground. So they still had to define if the cable is for input or output if they go on a TRS. The DIN connectors are molded on the cable, so no chance to solder them the right way. In most cases I solder all my audio and midi cable myself now. Had so many trouble with crappy audio cables in the past that I decided to do all myself.

[Steve]

BOSS makes one but they do not publish if it is A or B spec.

[mineral]

I would appreciate if the supplied trs-midi adapters were wired the way as they are specified. MIDI shield is not connected at all and according to specification it supposed to be connected to the sleeve of the trs.

[underwood]

It is not necessary to connect the shielding on both sides.

[dycedot]

underwood - sometimes it is: https://forum.1010music.com/forum/pr...v2-not-powered

[underwood]

power over midi is a problematic topic, because there is no official standard for this.

[dycedot]

I would appreciate if the supplied trs-midi adapters were wired the way as they are specified. MIDI shield is not connected at all and according to specification it supposed to be connected to the sleeve of the trs.

+1 to this.

[dycedot]

I keep wondering if there could be a software “switch” that lets you select the Korg or Arturia standard

The Elektron Model:Cycles does this.

[RPisces]

I was confused with this too when I got my Blackbox. Their help page was a good start:

https://1010music.com/stereo-minijac...tibility-guide

I'm a bit vexed as to why so little vendors offer adapters, but if you can't find them online (looks like Retrokits is out of stock at the moment) have some time to learn soldering (it's easier thank you think!), below is a great guide:

https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/downl...-soldering.pdf

Basically you have to swap the 'tip' and 'ring' conductors in the cable if you want to talk to Type A devices (in my case, it was my Korg NTS-1). If you have a TRRS cable (most common), that's okay too, just swap those two conductors.

[underwood]

I've made a complete cable myself. Including a custom length audio cable to connect the blackbox to the deluge with audio and midi. And as RPisces wrote, I recommend to, to learn to solder. Nothing is worst than try something new and some adapter or cable is missing. I always have a bunch of spare cables and different connectors to solder something I need. The tools needed aren't that expensive. I'm soldering for over 30 years now and I've never owned or needed a fancy soldering station. A good temperature controlled soldering Iron will do it.