MIDI boards MIDI hardware - MIDI boards overview

Below is a list of MIDI boards available. They can be used to create DIY MIDI controller of any kind by adding keyboard or switches and potentiometers or sockets for control voltages. Except few older ones, most of the boards are like MIDI building blocks, that user can connect together to build preffered setup. Typical set of blocks consists of one CONTROLLER and a few additional SCANNERS, up to 6 in some cases. Main difference between those 2 types of blocks is the output. MIDI is only available in CONTROLLER boards, while SCANNER boards use proprietary 4-wire connection to expand Controller capabilities. Scanners cannot work on their own, they are always used together with one of the Controllers. On the other hand a Controller is fully independent and apart from its onboard capabilities it converts all events in entire setup into single MIDI stream.

CONTROLLERS
PEDSCAN AMTX64 BBS64 MIDI128 MIDI6 MRG1 POT32
onboard keys 32 64 64 128 165 - -
expandable to... N/A 192 192 384 N/A 512 128
keys arrangement 8x4 8x8 1x64 8x8 4x16 N/A N/A
keyboards 1 1-3 1-3 2-6 3 1-8 1-2
expander inputs - 1 1 2 - 4 1
onboard diode matrix - yes N/A - yes N/A N/A
analog inputs 1 - - 7-8 3 7 31
transposition yes yes* yes* yes yes yes yes
channel change yes yes* yes* yes - yes yes
program change yes - - yes - yes yes
price (EUR) 40 80 60 50 100 40 50
* feature added at the expense of loosing 1-2 keys from total number
ADDITIONAL SCANNERS
MIDI4D AMTX64X BBS-1K BBS64X MIDI128X POT32X keypad LITSW
onboard keys 32 64 64 64 128 - 12 24
analog inputs - - - - 8 32 - -
keys arrangement 8x4 8x8 1x64 1x64 8x8 N/A 3x4 1x24
keyboards 1 1 1 1 2 - 1 1
onboard diode matrix - yes N/A N/A - N/A N/A N/A
outputs (LEDs) - - - - - - - 24
daisy-chain - - yes yes - -
price (EUR) 25 70 50 45 40 40 20 40

Definitions and additional info:

analog inputs
Number of inputs for Continuous Controller, or other MIDI messages usually associated with a knob or slider. Just connect potentiometers to generate CCs like volume, modulation, etc. Some boards work with expanders adding 32 or 64 potentiometers
channel change
1 or 2 inputs/buttons for changing MIDI channel used by keyboards and continuous controllers. Feature available as separate input/buton, or at 2 keys "stolen" from full keyboard range, depending on controller model.
daisy-chain
board can be chained together with another expander/scanner, all connected to one input of the main controller. Only 2 keyboard scanners can be chained together, and up to 64 analog (pot) inputs, regardless of their size and location in the chain
"expandable to"
total number of keys covered by the controller board together with additional scanners in most expanded version
expander input
connector used by additional board for increased keys range. Keys scanned by external boards are groupped in 1 or 2 MIDI channels depending on expander type.
keyboards
this is number of keyboards, or groups of keys that send messages in same channel.
keys arrangement
this is the way key contacts should be organized. Usually they are connected in array consisting of groups of adjacent keys with one common pole of the contacts. First number tells about groups quantity while the second specifies number of keys in each group. In multikeyboard controllers this applies to each keyboard.
onboard diode matrix
that means bare contacts can be connected directly to the board. Without it keyboard needs to have it's own diode matrix, which is present in most keyboards. For those keyboards without diode matrix there are available 2 sizes of matrix boards. See expanders page for details.
BBS64 use different way of scanning keys, and diode matrix is not needed there.
onboard keys
this is maximum number of keys scanned by single board.
program change
ability to send MIDI "Program Change" messages to change patches played on given keyboard
transposition
possibility to assign the keyboard range (or in another words - starting note) anywhere in MIDI range. Feature available as separate input/buton, or at 2 keys "stolen" from full keyboard range, depending on controller model.

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© 2008 Roman Sowa
Last revised June 20, 2008