Sections

Midi programs for the Pilot

Do I need to purchase a midi interface?

Midi interface for the Pilot

Writing midi programs for my Pilot

Midi programs for the Pilot

• MidiMonitor DownLoad

This app, written by me,  allows midi messages to be monitored on your Palm Pilot. You can select the messages you wish to recieve and filter on the midi channels. Display in hex or decimal. It is shareware, and there is a small fee for non-evaluation use.
It requires a midi interface similar to the one described below or the device must have a computer interface for connection to Mac/PC

Do I need to purchase a midi interface?

If the midi device you want to connect to your Pilot has a connection for a Mac/PC serial lead  then you do not need an interface. You will require the appropriate cable from either your cradle or serial lead. This depends on the device to which you are connecting. I cannot give any advice on this except to state that I have used this method to connect to a Yamaha VL70 synth that has a Mac style connector. I used the cradle and the adaptor I got with my Mac hot sync cable.

 

Midi interface for the Pilot - PalMidi

The following section details the necessary hardware for recieving/sending midi from your Palm Pilot ,Midi is a serially based communication protocol running at 31250 baud. This interface connects to either your Palm Pilot stand or a hot sync cable. I supplies 1 midi in and one midi out.

This circuit was designed by me and is a simple midi in/out interface. The schematic and the list of components.. I have a PCB, printed circuit board, to allow construction of the circuit - the board is approximately 1.5" X 3.5" ( contact me if you want to buy one ). You have to solder the components on yourself. Remember that is an adaptor and requires either a Palm Pilot stand or hot sync cable. Price list for PCB, board and components
Simple assembly instructions for my PCB. (More complete assembly pdf).

If there are any programmers who produce code to utilise this interface, then let me know and a will try to link to you from this page. Programming the interface is very simple, open the serial port and set it to 31250. Then write to the midi port using the Midi protocol -  Harmony Central or  midifarm have  protocol information. You should also be able to use  basic to write to this interface.
 

Writing midi programs on the Pilot

The midi protocol is very simple,  most programing languages can be used to write midi programs. For example Cbas - the basic interpretator for the Pilot can be used. The main "trick" is to set the serial speed to 31250 - the Pilot can work at this speed, many computers will only work at certain preset speeds.
Below is a program written by Shifty@sidehack.com.
 
Here is the basic program I used to send MIDI data.  It plays a four-octave
chromatic scale on Channel 1.

#midi test prg

10 sersend 0,1,31250
20 for n=24 to 96
30 a$=chr$(144)+chr$(n)+chr$(127)
40 c=varptr(a$)
50 b$=chr$(128)+chr$(n)+chr$(64)
60 d=varptr(b$)
70 sersend  c,3,31250
80 for t=1 to 100:next
90 sersend  d,3,31250
100 next
run

Modified 10/3/98 Geoff Smith