Hello all.
I have been fighting with a Pi2B, a Pi4B and a Pi5B over the last month.
granted USB Midi works on all three models, none works with Uart Midi.
Overlay updates, Raspbian OS updates, new RP1 chip in the Pi5...
I tried to follow many guides and I couldn't make one Pi work with DIN MIDI.
What I would like to do, is to make a complete guide, for everybody to easy follow, from a scratch install, to
a working DIN MIDI IN and OUT.
I started with my own Octocoupler circuit, but then, I bought a SLIM MIDI Hat, just to rule out any possibility of some errors in my
circuit (and it came with an mcp23017 chip, useful for 4 encoders plus 4 switches) AND the guy making this hat, also maintain
ttymidi-sysex on github, and a very nice guy, which has tried to help me a lot. So I bought it.
My Pi5 could work with DIN MIDI under Zynthian OS circumstances, but that is everything already set up.
If I start from Raspbian bookworm 64 bit, things changes. Suddenly there are no updated guides.
Most guides also don't do any distinction between Pi versions, or Raspbian OS versions.
Idrolez ttymidi guide don't explain the install methodology of it's packages.
It's not a git clone, just a deb download.
Then there is the Raspian OS setup itself...
Clock uart that cannot be set to the DIN MIDI baud rate...
Even if I install Cadence-Jack via synaptic, ALSA-Jack libs, etc, all of this don't have a guide to do it.
I don't know if ttymidi is needed if you have already Cadence or Qjackctl running in the background.
If I try to install Pipewire Alsa sometime disappears...
Pi4B can run Bullseye 64 bit and 32 bit, but Ardour is only 64 bit...
Cardinal has a Midi Connect but doesn't let you choose drivers...
So I use Cadence or Jack patchbay...
I can see Midi in and ttymidi in but if I check with pigpio the baud rate of GPIO 14-15 I get the clock rate is still equal to the system clock...
and I have tried to set it to 38400... done everything possible with the guides available...
But got no luck.
Every DIN MIDI guide out there is too minimalistic, it doesn't take into consideration the whole
process to even get to a minimal, working baseline to start with...
It doesn't take into consideration that we need to be able to monitor the Uart pins if it's effectively working
at the right baud rate...
And for every Pi, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, the process is different... different OS... different Overlays...
Archive depos or official depos??? Github or Synaptic??? Or Package installer???
There are no MUsical Distros for Raspberry outside patchbox and Zynthian. Patchbox (or Patchblock) has a Desktop mode.
Zynthian do not. And both are two completely separate beasts that needs a lot of in depth knowledge to be able
to work with them...
Can anyone help me compile a set of useful links and guides, that can get this mess fixed a little bit at least???
PS: On the Pi forum, there is people, that lose access to DIN MIDI after an update, because some Overlay or some OS stuff has changed
how things worked, so many guides made even two years ago for the PI4B, no longer works today... unless you have access to
archived OS versions and Overlays... a single sudo update can break everything apart...
like installing Full Bookworm on 4PiB, you'd better install synaptic immediately, and search for nvidia and Intel keywords...
there might be nvidia or Intel drivers lurking beneath the OS... completely unnecessary garbage that can break your
OS at any time... so making a comprehensive guide from scratch for every Pi version is not going to be an easy task... 
Statistics: Posted by Bambalaya — Mon Jun 23, 2025 9:28 am