HOWTO: Making an RS-232 cable for a Sound Canvas MIDI synthesizer

Started by TheRogue, December 09, 2009, 09:18:03 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

TheRogue

I'm not entirely sure if there is any use for this on the X68000, however I notice that Sound Canvas RS-232 cables have been discussed on Japanese pages, so I assume there are some programs that take advantage of the RS-232 port on Sound Canvas synthesizers, so here's everything you need to connect the PC control port of your Sound Canvas to the RS-232 port of your X68000.

Supplies needed:

1. Male 8 pin MiniDIN connector (will come with it's own plastic housing) x 1
2. Male 25 pin D-Sub connector x 1
3. 25 Pin D-sub housing x 1
4. One of the following:
    a) 3 ft length of cable with 5 shielded conductors OR
    b) 3 ft length of shielded multi-strand wire x5 AND 3ft length of heat-shrink tube x 1 AND heat-gun/high power hair driver
5. Soldering iron

Step one is only for those using heat-shrink and individual wires, if you are using a pre-made 5 conductor cable, proceed to step 2.

Step 1: Place the heat-shrink tubing over the 5 wires now, leaving about 3-4 inches of the wires sticking out on each side of the heat-shrink. Heat the heat-shrink tubing with the hair dryer or heat gun to make it shrink over the wires.

Step 2: Slide the housing for the MiniDIN connector over the cable (if you forget this step you will have to take the cable apart to put the housing on)

Step 3: Solder the wires to the appropriate pins, following this diagram:



Step 4: Install the housings over the bare connectors

You're done! I haven't discovered fully what this is good for yet, but when I do, you guys will have the cable.
Go up to your brother, kill him with your gun. Leave him lying in his uniform dying in the sun. War, it's never been so much fun.