I've had a few comments on videos recently to the effect that 'TRS MIDI is for toys', 'not for serious instruments', etc. While I am no fan of Minijack MIDI, that seems err, rather. Off piste. I put together some thoughts on it in the upload below, but effectively the jist is that while I'd prefer DIN, TRS has opened up a bunch of possibilities that weren't available before - and I'd still rather have TRS MIDI than only USB. It's just a shame it took them so long to agree on a standard. What about you lot?

I certainly prefer it to mini-jack for audio. All the Roland boutiques are an immediate fail for me because no quarter inch jacks.

Not a fan of trs midi at all. I definitely think twice about a piece of gear if it has it. Not saying that I would never purchase something with trs midi, but the value proposition has to be high.

I prefer it, it’s far more sensible than five-pin DIN plugs

When the Volcas came out I never bought one (I still have never bought one) because they were tiny little boxes (nice) with a whacking great 5-pin DIN 180 on them taking up about 87% of the room on the panel (roughly) and making them look ugly, I didn’t think it was a good design decision to miniaturise a synth but retain the daft giant DIN 180 5-pin hack [1], there must be a better way by now

Soon the better way by now came along, although given a three-conductor 3.5mm jack, they managed to settle on two of the three combinations of wiring configuration, at least nobody used sleeve for a signal connection

I also thought it might be a good opportunity to get rid of the optoisolator in this situation because you’re only ever going to be dealing with a desk top full of tiny battery or low voltage devices – although if an exception can happen then one day it might just do so

I wouldn’t have been bothered if the concentric jack format for midi was even 2.5mm 3-conductor – I’d still be happy

[1] it’s a hack because only two pins are used for the current loop connection, but they’re the two pins that the existing DIN sync didn’t use - if it were designed afresh and ignoring DIN sync, it needn’t have required five pins, although given the day and age, they might have used something like a Centronics or D-sub connector so it looked like a printer or modem or DCB thing

There’s a certain thinness of cable that somehow always seems to make them messier and less controllable. Mini-jack cables nearly always fall into this category. The connectors just don’t give me confidence either and with TRS MIDI you invariably end up using an adaptor somewhere or other. It’s more a cable management and adaptor issue for me, than anything else.

Yeah TRS MIDI sucks.

Given that DIN MIDI only uses three of the five pins, I don't know why bulky DIN connectors ever became the standard over TRS.

I often prefer USB MIDI to either DIN or TRS, but that requires an interface for using many devices together.

Apart from the Type A/B fiasco, I prefer it when it comes to desktop stuff and eurorack. However, I think for actual keyboards, and larger gear, DIN cables are far more robust. I feel like trs cables would break much easier over a longer distance.

exper wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 11:29 am Apart from the Type A/B fiasco, I prefer it when it comes to desktop stuff and eurorack. However, I think for actual keyboards, and larger gear, DIN cables are far more robust. I feel like trs cables would break much easier over a longer distance.

Isn't there even a third type (ts) briefly used by Arturia?
Anyway, I agree. Din midi on larger gear, trs on smaller stuff seems sensible.
I don't like the trs to din adapters dangling on some of my modules, but it is what it is.

I'm sure a decent trs cable will last as good as a decent din cable, but there seem to be much more cheaply made 1/8" jack cables available, midi din cables are usually decent.

Personally i like the din midi, unless the unit is so small its impractical. Its just one more adapter and connecter to loose in the piles if cables in the studio. That and ofc the a/b types is a pain in the arse.

I blacklist anything that uses 3.5mm jacks for midi (or for that matter 3.5 jacks for audio.) The only exceptions I make the that is for devices that are explicitly intended for portable use (i.e. the M8) since I get that the physically smaller jack allows them to make the device smaller overall.

The type AB thing really annoys me, because it’s impossible to know which type you have or need.

This is what bugs me about trs midi. Two modules super close to each other. Two different trs midi types. This is the best I could do. Wish it could just be a short 5 inch trs cable.
I bought a male to female midi type inverter, paired with the shortest trs cable I could find.

MIDI only uses DIN AFAIAC. The MIDI Assoc. should never have officially approved TRS as a standard.
Though I will let TRS go in very tight spaces eg. on modules. Any stand alone device should use DIN sockets IMO, it’s probably a 10mm difference in device thickness.

Its fine until I have to interface two things with jacks 5+ feet apart and can't find the right DIN socket to type-A trs adapter, even though I had like 10 at some point since every minijack midi device seems to come with one.

unclebastard wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 2:26 pm The type AB thing really annoys me, because it’s impossible to know which type you have or need.

This is a good site to check if unsure:
https://minimidi.world

Wish we'd gone with USB-C instead tbh

Not a fan of USB midi, because there would have to be hosts between certain things. One of the things I kind of hate about the Modbap Trinity. Sounds great but I wish I could just plug a TRS into it from my 512 Vector. vector has usb but you can’t use a hub with it, and for me, the port is tied up with a launchpad.

We should re-standardise on those DuPont jumper pin patch things like you see on the Volca Modular and AE Modular and some others – that should present no problems whatsoever at all

5 DIN just works.

mini-jack MIDI is a crapshoot that requires a manual. Did you know type C exists for instance?

No TRS MIDI, no USB power/midi, no mini-jacks. Get off my lawn.

exper wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 5:06 pm Not a fan of USB midi, because there would have to be hosts between certain things.

Well ideally I'd also like USB midi not to have such a shitshow, but here we are.

dumbledog wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 7:53 pm

exper wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 5:06 pm Not a fan of USB midi, because there would have to be hosts between certain things.

Well ideally I'd also like USB midi not to have such a shitshow, but here we are.

lol. fair enough.

I guess I just need to research the cheapest/smallest USB host box/module so that I can send midi to that and convert it to USB for my Modbap Trinity.

The A/B format annoys me. Then there's the Chase Bliss pedals which even more annoyingly need their DIN - 3.5mm proprietary cable!

MoltenReplica wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 11:17 am Given that DIN MIDI only uses three of the five pins, I don't know why bulky DIN connectors ever became the standard over TRS.

Early on, some synths like the Voyetra used XLR, which I think would've been neat. Solid connector with satisfying clicky action.

exper wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 11:29 am Apart from the Type A/B fiasco, I prefer it when it comes to desktop stuff and eurorack. However, I think for actual keyboards, and larger gear, DIN cables are far more robust. I feel like trs cables would break much easier over a longer distance.

USB MIDI sucks!