Midi-fication

[i978]

Hi all,

Wonder if anyone can help me out. I want to connect a midi keyboard to my laptop. Problem is my USB ports don't work and there's no joystick or serial port. I'm using the PCMCIA slot for my soundcard (Echo io) so its not practical to use it to replace the USB. I know the ideal solution is to get a new soundcard w/midi capabilities (I'm thinking E-Mu 1616M) but I'm too poor at the moment

What I need is a cheap and cheerful work-around of some sort.

Correct me if I'm way off base but I'm thinking that all that midi amounts to is a series of 1's & 0's travelling down a cable. So theoretically it doesn't matter shit what port it travels into your computer by so long as there's a driver telling the computer what it should be doing with this info. So it should be possible to use a Printer-Port, a PS2 port (!)or a network adaptor. Problem is I don't have clue about the practicalities of this. (Do midi interfaces exist for "non-standard" ports?)

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thnx in advance

[secretagentgel]

there are old interfaces for a printer, which is an lpt as i recall. my first one was motu and went into the printer port. ebay?

corey

[twistedspirit]

Saw some serial interfaces on eBay, but they all look like they are for Mac's though... i'm guessing you are on PC?

Here are some plans for some DIY one, but it doesn't look like something I'd want to do:

http://www.maxmidi.com/diy/serial/

[i978]

Had a look on ebay and found an lpt interface (yep, its a MOTU). Real old skool

Def gonna put in a bid. I'm thinking there may be a few compatibility issues with XP but it's worth a shot.

Had a quick glance at the DIY interface. Interesting stuff. Not something to be taken on lightly! Got me wondering if it's possible to wire a midi cable directly to a port and emulate the circuitry with software? Just a thought.

Cheers guys, you've been v. helpful.