Are these rare? Would it be possible to make one of those? I'm quite handy with a soldering iron!

I don't see why not.

They shouldn't be expensive though. I think mine was 15 or 20 bucks.

rug wrote:

Are these rare? Would it be possible to make one of those? I'm quite handy with a soldering iron!

You can find some schematics for a do-it-yourself cable here:

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/electrispec.php

batracio wrote:

rug wrote:

Are these rare? Would it be possible to make one of those? I'm quite handy with a soldering iron!

You can find some schematics for a do-it-yourself cable here:

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/electrispec.php

This seems a bit more complicated than what I was expecting. 🙁

In fact, I was hoping for a kind of Y cable, with a DB15 male, to connect to the sound card, and a Din-5 + DB15 female (to connect to the SC-55 and joystick, respectively).

I can't quite understand those 2 schematics in your link...

10 bucks shipped:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Music-Instrument-E … =item2310b8703b

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

10 bucks shipped:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Music-Instrument-E … =item2310b8703b

That's brilliant!

Thanks, Mau1wurf1977.

Would it be possible to connect 2 sound cards: one for the SC-55 and the other for the joystick?

Can you be more specific please? If you mean the cable I linked, no it's meant to connect 1 joystick + MIDI In and out into a single joystick port (Sound Blaster).

rug wrote:

This seems a bit more complicated than what I was expecting. 🙁

In fact, I was hoping for a kind of Y cable, with a DB15 male, to connect to the sound card, and a Din-5 + DB15 female (to connect to the SC-55 and joystick, respectively).

I can't quite understand those 2 schematics in your link...

The schematics are not that complicated, it's just that soldering the wires is not enough; you will also need some resistors, diodes, inverters and opto-isolator if you want to build a good quality adapter.

rug wrote:

Would it be possible to connect 2 sound cards: one for the SC-55 and the other for the joystick?

Yes, but most times a single sound card with both joystick and Sound Canvas connected to the same gameport will do the trick. Only if you want to play a game with the joystick and hear the music on the Sound Canvas simultaneously, you would need a second gameport to separate them.

batracio wrote:

Yes, but most times a single sound card with both joystick and Sound Canvas connected to the same gameport will do the trick. Only if you want to play a game with the joystick and hear the music on the Sound Canvas simultaneously, you would need a second gameport to separate them.

That's precisely what I want: play a game, hear its music on the SC-55, and its sound effects on the Soundblaster.

So, if I use a Y cable, I can't do that? I need 2 sound cards, right?

rug wrote:

That's precisely what I want: play a game, hear its music on the SC-55, and its sound effects on the Soundblaster.

So, if I use a Y cable, I can't do that? I need 2 sound cards, right?

Yes, but if you mean a Sound Blaster 16 or 32, you would need two sound cards anyway. If you try to use both MPU-401 UART and digital sound on the same SB16, the infamous hanging notes bug will probably arise.

batracio wrote:

rug wrote:

That's precisely what I want: play a game, hear its music on the SC-55, and its sound effects on the Soundblaster.

So, if I use a Y cable, I can't do that? I need 2 sound cards, right?

Yes, but if you mean a Sound Blaster 16 or 32, you would need two sound cards anyway. If you try to use both MPU-401 UART and digital sound on the same SB16, the infamous hanging notes bug will probably arise.

I have an AWE64. My plan is to use it for sound effects and the SC-55. Then use an ISA I/O card to connect the joystick. What do you think?

Other thing, what's so special about the Yamaha YMF-719?

batracio wrote:

Only if you want to play a game with the joystick and hear the music on the Sound Canvas simultaneously, you would need a second gameport to separate them.

Are you sure about that?

I'm 99% sure that you can use your joystick while having MIDI music. That's the whole point of getting this cable.

AWE64 is perfect for the SC-55.

@rug

Just buy that $10 cable and don't overthink the issue 🤣

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Are you sure about that? […]
Show full quote

batracio wrote:

Only if you want to play a game with the joystick and hear the music on the Sound Canvas simultaneously, you would need a second gameport to separate them.

Are you sure about that?

I'm 99% sure that you can use your joystick while having MIDI music. That's the whole point of getting this cable.

AWE64 is perfect for the SC-55.

@rug

Just buy that $10 cable and don't overthink the issue 🤣

Thanks Mau. That was what I thought but me being a newbie, I like to listen to what others have to say. 😉

Do you think I could try successfully the setup I described above, with the IO card?

Yes!

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I'm 99% sure that you can use your joystick while having MIDI music. That's the whole point of getting this cable.

The potential issue I was talking about is the usage of pin 12 as MIDI OUT and pin 15 as MIDI IN being itself a non-standard implementation of the gameport interface that some standard devices may be unaware of. Those pins were originally intended for grounding buttons 3 and 4 and +5V DC respectively. Nothing prevents a joystick manufacturer from building a device that conforms to the standard gameport specification, and use those pins to handle additional buttons. Are you sure that 99 out of 100 joysticks follow the non-standard implementation with MIDI IN/OUT, instead of the original specification with +5V/GND? Well, I'm not that sure, so I thought it would be useful to warn about this potential issue. More info here:
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/p … .html#connector
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/p … #ycableproblems

Time for someone to test this 🤣

batracio wrote:

The potential issue I was talking about is the usage of pin 12 as MIDI OUT and pin 15 as MIDI IN being itself a non-standard imp […]
Show full quote

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I'm 99% sure that you can use your joystick while having MIDI music. That's the whole point of getting this cable.

The potential issue I was talking about is the usage of pin 12 as MIDI OUT and pin 15 as MIDI IN being itself a non-standard implementation of the gameport interface that some standard devices may be unaware of. Those pins were originally intended for grounding buttons 3 and 4 and +5V DC respectively. Nothing prevents a joystick manufacturer from building a device that conforms to the standard gameport specification, and use those pins to handle additional buttons. Are you sure that 99 out of 100 joysticks follow the non-standard implementation with MIDI IN/OUT, instead of the original specification with +5V/GND? Well, I'm not that sure, so I thought it would be useful to warn about this potential issue. More info here:
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/p … .html#connector
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/p … #ycableproblems

In that case, wouldn't the IO Card\Sound Card solution be a good solution?

I would first try a single gameport setup with the AWE64. If that works, it will keep things simple. But since your HOTAS system (Flight Control System + Throttle Quadrant System + rudder pedals) is old stuff with lots of extra features, there are some chances of hitting the MIDI IN/OUT issue when using it along with the Sound Canvas. If so, I would connect the Sound Canvas to the sound card, and the HOTAS system to the I/O card. The former card is guaranteed to have a gameport with MIDI IN/OUT, while the latter card should have a standard gameport with +5V/GND if needed.

I have attached some files for a Thrustmaster FLCS + TQS + Elite DOS setup. You will find more info, drivers, patches and utilities for Windows 9x here: http://www.stickworks.com/

batracio wrote:

I would first try a single gameport setup with the AWE64. If that works, it will keep things simple. But since your HOTAS system (Flight Control System + Throttle Quadrant System + rudder pedals) is old stuff with lots of extra features, there are some chances of hitting the MIDI IN/OUT issue when using it along with the Sound Canvas. If so, I would connect the Sound Canvas to the sound card, and the HOTAS system to the I/O card. The former card is guaranteed to have a gameport with MIDI IN/OUT, while the latter card should have a standard gameport with +5V/GND if needed.

I have attached some files for a Thrustmaster FLCS + TQS + Elite DOS setup. You will find more info, drivers, patches and utilities for Windows 9x here: http://www.stickworks.com/

That's brilliant! Although I plan to use DOS only, not windows.

Thanks batracio.