There are 2 standards of the traditional MIDI connector to TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) cable.
Both standards use pins 2, 5 & 4 of the DIN connector.
(female DIN to male TRS)
These are called Type A & Type B.
One extra connector type uses a mono minijack.
This is referred to as Non-TRS, TS, or sometimes Type C
TRS Midi A
Korg (Electribe 2 and SQ-1, SQ-64, NTs-1), Little Bits, Make Noise (O-coast), Moog Subharmonicon, Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer, AKAI (force, MPC Touch), Critter & Guitari Organelle M,
IK Multimedia (iRig), Roland T-8, J-6,E-4 , Twisted Electrons (Acid8 MKII,
TherapSid MKII), Westlicht Performer,
Dreadbox (
Lil’ Erebus), Intellijel (the MIDI breakout for their palette cases)
use TRS MIDI A.
The DIN schematic above is of a female type... like the pic on the right
tip to pin #5
ring to pin #4
sleeve (earth/ground/shield) to pin #2
This particular configuration makes it easy for connection between a Make-Noise O-Coast & the Korg SQ-1 for example.
You only need a 3.5mm stereo jack to connect them to each other.
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TRS MIDI B
Arturia (e.g. Beatstep Pro and Keystep, Microfreak) and early Novation (e.g. Circuit, Circuit MonoStation and Launchpad Pro) , Music1010 (MX4, blackbox, bitbox, synthbox), EOWAVE (
Quadrantid Swarm),
Analogue Solutions (Treadstone), Polyend's Tracker, Erica Synths Drum Sequencer & Future Retro (MIDI BUS), Malekko (SYNC), Faderfox SC4 & PC4, Five 12 Vector sequencer, Twisted Electrons (Crazy8) use the alternate ‘TRS MIDI B
tip to pin #4
ring to pin #5
sleeve (earth/ground/shield) to pin #2
This particular configuration makes it easy for connection between a Arturia BeatStep Pro & the Music 1010 Synthbox for example.
You only need a 3.5mm stereo jack to connect them to each other.
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To complicate things a bit more the Arturia beatstep pro uses another trs-din cable for the sync/clock adapter. It's got a black 3.5mm plug.
Don't mix this with the midi cable which is grey.
tip to pin #3
ring to pin #1
sleeve (earth/ground/sink) to pin #2
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Some modules such as
ALM/Busy Circuits, Shakmat Modular, Elektron (Samples) and Michigan Synth works (MSW)
support both A & B standards.
The 3.5mm jack can be switched between differing 3.5mm MIDI
configurations
by reversing the jack connector on the rear of the
module.”
On the MSW
mBrane for example,
“Rev1.1 of the device … features PSImidi which allows ANY type of TRS MIDI cable to
be used on the input.”
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Type C
Also referred to as TS and Non-TRS
Expert sleepers (DJ1000, ES-5, ESX-8GT), Beatstep (original), MFB (Nanozwerg pro & SEQ-01 Pro)
This connects using just two points: Tip & Sleeve.
The tip connects to pin 4 of the midi DIN
The Sleeve connects to pin 5 of the DIN. (sink or earth)
Links
+
Midi association
