Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Sorry if this question has already been answered but is that MIDI socket an input or an output?

Seems to be both. It comes with a dongle/adapter thing with an in and an out on the other end.

So if you lose the breakout cable you don't have MIDI? That's just brilliant...

commodorejohn wrote:So if you lose the breakout cable you don't have MIDI? That's just brilliant...

Yep. Weird choice on Yamaha's part but then I don't gig and I rarely lose anything.

I know when I got my tenori-on, which uses the same (or similar) cable, I just bought a back up right away.
Man I hate proprietary cables

That looks very much like the same socket they used on their SW1000XG card too (that's going back a bit). I wouldn't be too worried about finding replacements.

commodorejohn wrote:So if you lose the breakout cable you don't have MIDI? That's just brilliant...

So don't lose the cable. It's a little known fact that even synths with regular midi ports won't work if you lose the cable and don't have anything plugged into them.

Would you prefer that they didn't have midi at all? Or do you just like complaining?

Stab Frenzy wrote:So don't lose the cable. It's a little known fact that even synths with regular midi ports won't work if you lose the cable and don't have anything plugged into them.

Would you prefer that they didn't have midi at all? Or do you just like complaining?

I'd prefer that they provide normal MIDI ports like any sensible person would do, so that you can use any of dozens of absolutely standard and completely interchangeable MIDI cables instead of needing to special-order one.

But, you know, I can see how that would seem crazy and unreasonable.

Ummm... Korg uses the same adapter thingie for MIDI on the new Electribes and people got used to that just fine.

Yes. Just like what they did with the Tenori-On. Had to keep it small I accept that.
For the Reface - arggh, why could they not just use two standard MIDI ports??
Anyway, moot point. Not buying lest it be a DX at good secondhand price.

nathanscribe wrote:Seems to be both. It comes with a dongle/adapter thing with an in and an out on the other end.

My main gripe with breakout cables is the greater number of connection points at which something could fail. On the other hand, these are all standard connectors, so it would be easy to make custom cables once you have the pinout.

commodorejohn wrote:

Stab Frenzy wrote:So don't lose the cable. It's a little known fact that even synths with regular midi ports won't work if you lose the cable and don't have anything plugged into them.

Would you prefer that they didn't have midi at all? Or do you just like complaining?

I'd prefer that they provide normal MIDI ports like any sensible person would do, so that you can use any of dozens of absolutely standard and completely interchangeable MIDI cables instead of needing to special-order one.

But, you know, I can see how that would seem crazy and unreasonable.

The Refaces are too thin to fit full sized midi ports.

Then that's a design flaw.

That looks extremely easy to make. Wonder where you can buy the end connector?

It's pretty obvious that the demand for small, thin devices has caused problems with lots of connectors: MIDI, USB type A and B, 6.5mm phone jacks, SD card slots, etc.

The Yamaha dual breakout is unique but the 1/8" to MIDI adapters being used by a number of mfrs is becoming a defacto standard. The ones for my Vestax and Arturia controllers are interchangeable and I've seen third party replacements for sale on eBay and Amazon.

The subtext is that DIN MIDI is just not as important as it used to be. Breakout cables cater to the minority of users who need them instead of MIDI over USB.