To be used for:

MIDI Interface

Selection of different MIDI channels and modes of operation is performed by a rotary switch at the front panel:

• At positions 0 to 7 and F the box is operated as a DMX transmitter, receiver and merger.

• As an alternative, the MIDI / DMX512 Box can be controlled by a simple ASCII text based syntax, which is embedded into SysEx frames. These commands are independent of the selected MIDI channel

• Positions 8 to C activate different possibilities to generate MIDI NOTE ON, CONTROL CHANGE, PROGRAM CHANGE, CHANNEL PRESSURE and PITCH CHANGE messages from the received signal at DMX IN. Up to 104 user programmed strings to be transmitted from MIDI OUT can be triggered by specific signals at DMX IN.

• When the rotary switch is in position D, the box bidirectionally converts the MIDI signals to RS-422 and vice versa. With 2 MIDI/DMX Control Boxes MIDI signals can be transferred safely up to 1000 m. Wiring is done with standard DMX cables. For exclusive use of this mode, we recommend the MIDI/RS-422 Expander instead.

• In switch position E the box has the same functions as in positions 0 to 7 and F. But now the command interface is set to plain ASCII commands without SysEx frame. At delivery/default the baud rate is adjusted to 19200 baud. Semi-automatic readjustment to any PC standard baud rate plus MIDI Standard (31250) is provided. With aid of a simple adaptor MIDI to RS-232 this can simplify some work of programming and configuration.

Activity and mode of operation is monitored with a red/green dual colour LED.

The most essential features of control:

• Any DMX channel 1 to 512 can be set to any level with resolution of 8 bit by sending a single CONTROL CHANGE or NOTE ON message. Up to 4 MIDI channels have to be reserved. By use of a pair of 2 MIDI messages, it takes only one MIDI channel to control any DMX channel with 8 bit resolution.

• For any DMX channel a fade ramp can be executed automatically, duration programmable up to 31.9 seconds. This diminuishes the expense of control considerably. Any number of fade processes can be active simultaneously on all DMX channels. When a new preset (=lighting scene) is loaded, a soft fade may be performed from the actual scene into the new one.

• The cycle of DMX data packets can be set by command between 24 and 512 byte slots. If a DMX channel out of the active DMX cycle is adressed, the cycle length is readjusted automatically.

• By means of the flexibly configurable chaser feature sequences of presets (=permanently stored lighting scenes) are sent to DMX OUT in a cyclic manner. Soft transitions between sceenes are possible.

• The MIDI / DMX Control Box is able to simultaneously receive a signal at DMX IN and transmit a different signal via DMX OUT. The signal transmitted at DMX OUT can be set to several modes of operation:
  --- transmission with DMX clock generated inside the box,
  --- transmission externally snychronized with the received DMX signal and
  --- receive operation while the signal received at DMX IN is looped to the DMX OUT connector. DMX levels may be read out via MIDI for analysis etc.

• The merge method can be set individually for each DMX channel. Following options are available:
  --- user settings loaded via MIDI are transmitted at DMX OUT,
  --- the sigal received at DMX IN is retransmitted at DMX OUT,
  --- the less one , the greater one
  --- or the last changed one of both is transmitted.
  Please note that "merge" means slot-by-slot switching between both signal sources, not linear superposition.

• One MIDI message can poll the levels of 1 to 128 DMX slots of the recently received DMX packet via MIDI interface.

• Automatic state messages can be programmed individually for each DMX channel: If the received DMX signal on a sensitized channel has changed more than a programmable threshold, the present DMX level is reported automatically via MIDI interface.
  Messages are given in the same format, as they can be transmitted at later time. So, this feature is useful as a simple DMX recorder (but is quite limited due to the low data capacity of the MIDI channel).

• Messages of free programmable strings: If DMX channels 500 to 512 receive specific levels at DMX IN, user programmed strings are transmitted automatically via MIDI OUT (MIDI messages, any binary else, ASCII text, or all mixed).
  
  Up to 104 different strings with each up to 255 bytes may be stored permanently and are held available to be triggered by specific levels at DMX IN.
  These can be used for control of MIDI equipment or PC-based installations with MIDI input.
  In rotary switch position "E" the baudrate is 19200 by default, but may be adjusted to any PC specific baud rate. Then with a simple adaptor it is possible to control or configure external devices with RS-232 interface.

• The present setting of the MIDI / DMX Control Box can be saved permanently as a preset (including transmit buffer, merge profile, thresholds for automatic messages and mode of operation). Up to 384 presets can be stored.
  At power-on always preset no.0 is loaded. During operation, every preset can be loaded and activated with a POLY KEY PRESSURE, CONTROL CHANGE, a NOTE ON message or with a System-Exclusive command.

• Video jockey support: At rotary switch settings 8 to C the MIDI / DMX Control Box works completely different as a special DMX receiver. Rotary switch positions 8 and 9 are optimized to control the most essential VJ software by DMX input: 162 DMX channels at a time are permanently scanned and analysed.
  The first 128 channels are interpreted digitally: pulling up a DMX channel causes a NOTE ON message, pulling it down releases a NOTE OFF message. The next 32 slots are evaluated as analog 7 bit CONTROL CHANGE messages, finally there is one slot for PROGRAM CHANGE and one slot for PITCH CHANGE (7 bit mode). This way effectively the complete operation of the most essential VJ software is possible via DMX input.
  When the rotary switch is in positions A to C the box works similarily, but a broader spectrum of MIDI messages is extracted for more general applications.

DMX interface:

DMX transmitter and DMX receiver both are galvanically isolated from the control processor. If the application demands a ground referenced DMX transmitter, the optoisolation can be bridged with an internal jumper.

Power supply:

Electromechanical Features:

Similar products made by Cinetix:

• For applications of computer based lighting control, which don't need the DMX receive and merge features, we offer the MIDI / DMX512 Generator, the RS-232 / DMX512 Generator and the USB / DMX512 Generator as low cost solutions.
• To control and read out a DMX bus with a conventional RS-232 interface, we supply the RS-232 / DMX512 Control Box. This model can be operated easily with Linux computers, handheld devices and industrial controls.

Manual of the MIDI / DMX Control Box  (PDF Format)