Dreamcast midi cable

Hey there,

My memory may be playing tricks on me,but i remember there was a MIDI cable released for dreamcast by sega.

1)Can anyone confirm this?
2)Does anyone know where i can find one if it really exists?

Thanks

 

Yes the midi cable does exist and yes it was available to buy in Japan. I bought one for somebody and took a few pictures of it that can be seen on http://www.dreamcastgallery.com. The midi cable was to be used with O.TO.I.RE. Dreamcast sequencer. I have the software but not the midi cable since I prefear using the PC for midis.
The cable can't be bought anymore and even when it was available it wasn't that easy to get therefore making it one of the most rare accessories for the Dreamcast.

Yakumo

 

damn it...

 

Nice pictures. I remember asking about having Yakumo purchase one a few months back, but I don't think he ever got a hold of one. I've always wondered what the box/cable would look like. Too bad there are so few of them.

 

Dreamcast midi cable internal photos

I can provide photos of the internal parts of the dreamcast midi cable if anyone needs the to possibly construct a cable for themselves. I hope this helps anyone.

 

please post them!

 

there is also a midi cable for the sega saturn by the same company iirc. I got this.

 

I have the saturn one and HAD that Dreamcast one. I tooka few pictures of the Dreamcast one that you can see upon dreamcastgallery.

Yakumo

 

Despite the rarity, they often sell for almost nothing. The last one on eBay was boxed and under $20 (2100 Yen / 10 GBP) shipped.

 

x

 

Video about the MIDI cable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwRtKknjqg

 

A MIDI keyboard isn't even really necessary. If you have a sound card that has a 15-pin joystick / MIDI interface, you can get a 15-pin to 5-pin in / out DIN conversion cable (there are USB options as well). Using that with a PC application like Virtual MIDI Keyboard, you can use the PC's keyboard as a MIDI keyboard.

 

I've been looking* for one for several years now. If anyone finds a boxed cable for $20, buy it and I'll double your money.

* For definitions of "looking" that involve setting up ebay alerts.

 

Hm ... with the Dreamcast schematics I posted here a while ago it's possible to make an "homebrewn" cable out of a Dreamcast MODEM as there's the pinout for the G2BUS port (expansion connector) there.

 

It will be interesting to test this connecting Dreamcast to a PC and play some MIDI files with a sequencer to hear how the dreamcats soundfont (provided by the software) is sounding.

 

You don't have to. There are already Dreamcast games with midi data on the discs. One that springs to mind is a puzzle game by xl45 that begins with the letter D. Sorry but I can't remember the name off the top of my head. Anyway playing the midi files found on the disc on a PC results in some awful sound if you don't use the yamaha radio XG player