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Author Topic: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface  (Read 6014 times)

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Offline chrisNova777

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steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« on: August 13, 2016, 09:43:22 PM »
http://cd.textfiles.com/cubase/INFORMAT.ION/PC_MIDI3.TXT
ftp://ftp.steinberg.net/Archives/Hardware/pcmidi3/PC/



Quote
                   PC-MIDI 3
                     Professional MIDI-Interface for PCs

Hamburg -  Steinberg Soft- & Hardware GmbH announce a totally new
type of MIDI interface for the PC with hi-speed performance. The
interface is connected directly to the PC's parallel / printer
port with a supplied cable.

The  PC-MIDI 3  has one MIDI in and three MIDI outs for a total of
48 MIDI channels. The device's active electronics ensure high
speed data-transmission, eliminating troublesome time delays or
glitches.
The power supply is derived from the parallel port of the PC
itself. Just in case some PCs cannot supply enough power, an
external power supply is included as well.

An intelligent  installation program installs the MME-compatible
driver into the Windows operating system automatically. The
 PC-MIDI 3  also functions with all Windows-compatible sound
cards. Altogether the PC, with a professional sequencer software
package like Cubase, becomes a high-performance musical
instrument.

The  PC-MIDI 3  is an excellent solution for  PC-Notebook owners
with musical ambitions.


 Technical Details:

  ú 1 MIDI IN / 3 MIDI-OUT
 ú 3 separate (independent) MIDI-Outs
 ú Connection to Parallel-Port  (Printer port)
 ú Cable (50 cm)
 ú Hi-Speed Performance
 ú Small & compact
 ú Power derived from PC
ú External power supply possible
 ú MME compatible
ú Intelligent Installation Software
 ú Demo Disk Cubasis/MusicStation



Further information is available from:

Steinberg Soft & Hardware GmbH
f.a.o. Thomas Wendt
Eiffestr. 596
20537 Hamburg
Tel:      040 - 210 330
Fax: 040 - 211 598
½ Steinberg Soft- & Hardware GmbH 1995.

Offline chrisNova777

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2017, 04:48:54 PM »

apparently this is named the pc-midi 3 because it looks visually similar and was released AFTER the midi-3 midi expander device that was for ATARI ST which connected via a db-25 connection (serial? parallel? scsi?) to the atari st and also required its own power supply be connected.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atari-ST-Steinberg-midi-3-expander-for-Cubase-mini-Midex-1-in-3-out-/152643751039?hash=item238a46cc7f%3Ag%3A~4gAAOSwLKpZgP6v&nma=true&si=Bfxx0coBffNGgxxGsvVT4tTHVVI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

TheKernal

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2018, 12:45:49 PM »
Chris, the MIDI3 and the PC MIDI3 are the same thing. There is a jumper inside to switch from Atari to PC and vice versa. P.S. 

The timing of the MIDI3 is not as good as the internal Atari ports. They are prone to jitter and latency, regardless of which version of cubase you use. The Midex and Midex+ have similar issues, though they'e not as bad as the MIDI3.

Offline chrisNova777

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2018, 07:03:27 PM »
i assumed that they werent the same thing because:

 one is for PC (sporting the MPC logo which stood for Multimedia pc, an initiative that kicked off around the time that pc's first got introduced to optical media cd drives circa 1990/1991) 

and one is for ATARI ST

surely the MIDI 3 is for atari and
PC MIDI 3 is for pc

but you are saying that the PC MIDI 3 is compatible with Atari ST?
im a bit skeptical

TheKernal

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2018, 11:41:14 AM »
See those photos above? That's my MIDI3. It was sold to me as Atari compatible, but when I received it, it didn't work. After scouting round the net, I read that there was a jumper setting inside: one for PC and one for Atari, labelled as such on the circuit board.

Sure enough, when I cracked it open (which wasn't easy), there was the rumoured jumper for setting Atari or PC.
I switched to the Atari setting and hooked it up to my 1040...

It didn't work straight away however as the MIDI3 requires external power and the driver to be activated. Once powered (which you have to do before powering the Atari) and with the driver setting changed to .DRV - success!

They're kind of handy if you require an extra midi in (cubase 3 and above only), but not great for sequencing. The timing is noticeably worse than with the on board Atari midi port.

TheKernal

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2018, 11:49:17 AM »
P.S. The MIDI3 does connect to the printer/parallel port on the Atari, but you must use a db-25 cable as opposed to a standard printer cable. The db-25 and printer cable look identical, so it's impossible to tell the difference. Best best is to make sure you buy a db-25 and one that is sold as such. (db-25 means all pins are connected).

The db-25 cable is also relevant if you intend to hook up a Musicquest 2port/se to a PC. Again a standard printer cable won't work.

TheKernal

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2018, 12:05:45 PM »
Further info from the net:

The MROS driver is STMI3_5.DR. It needs to be renamed to .DRV

The jumpers inside need to be moved towards the printer port to be ST mode.

In Cubase lite (1.0) you can't use it. In Cubase 2.0 You can use all 3 outs but not the input. In Cubase 3, all 3 outs and the input can all be used.

Power supply rating is 9 Volt DC / 150 mA / 1,35 VA.


Offline chrisNova777

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2018, 03:07:15 PM »
thanks for sharing your additional info Kernal! ;)

Offline thekernel1

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Re: steinberg pc-midi 3 (1995?) 48 channel midi interface
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2021, 09:40:43 AM »
Hello again, here's another update that you may find interesting....

Apparently the poor timing that I talked about earlier improves significantly when using an Atari Mega STE, TT or Falcon. This only works when the Mega & TT are running in 16mhz mode however. Unfortunately, I don't have any of these computers to test this.

Also, I've just taken delivery of another PC-MIDI3 and the jumpers to change from PC to Atari are soldered in on this version! - previous one's that I've had featured traditional plastic jumpers that were easy to move. Looks like I'm going to have to fire up the soldering iron to make this one Atari compatible.