An excellent suggestion! I only suggested stuff I have direct experience with, and so far, I have not purchased or hooked up any instruments, or synthesizers via MIDI to an Amiga (not counting the mentioned Miracle Piano system), but would like to try your suggestions someday. I think I remember seeing one or two MIDI devices designed to connect to an Amiga in my collection of Amiga gear.
I understand completely. When I get my hands on an Amiga, the MIDI interface is the first thing added.
Just a bit of information if anyone is wondering:
Most PC serial ports can not do the "unusual" baud rate required for MIDI. (31250). But classic Amigas and the X1000 have a more flexible baud rate generator.. So making a MIDI interface is really quite simple.
for MIDI OUT only, you can do it with two resistors.. or one, but two is better form.
For MIDI In, a single, small chip (optocoupler) and a few resistors are all you need. So if anyone needs a MIDI interface and can't find one to buy, making it is a very reasonable "first project" in electronics.
And if you are on a AmigaOS PowerPC machine, we have a class compatible driver for USB to MIDI interfaces. These include single and multiple port devices, as well as many keyboards, synthesizers, and mixing consoles.
My own rig has an Edirol UM-880, which offers 8 MIDI IN and 8 MIDI OUT, along with a BCR2000 contrrol deck, which offers 1 in and 2 outs in addition to it's own controls.
MIDI gear is getting harder to find though.. as the sound cards of modern PCs improve, people are finding less demand for external synthesizers. On the bright side, used equipment can be found at very good prices at music stores like Guitar Center. I am VERY happy with my Yamaha MU90, and I have suggested it to a few others as well. It presents 32 instrument channels at once (2 MIDI outs). It does NOT have a built-in USB interface though.
I miss my old Roland D-110 though.. it had a classic sound to it.
