MERIS MIDI box, DIY version

MERIS produces incredible pedals for guitars (but not only). They really sound great. In my opinion, they are the holy grail of any sound seeker/modeler. I am a very happy owner of their guitar synth pedal named ENZO.

I really wanted to control my Enzo pedal using my main MIDI controller : the Behringer FCB1010. For this, I needed a MIDI Box to convert a 5-pin MIDI plug into a MIDI jack. Indeed, all Meris pedals are equipped with a TRS jack to use either a MIDI box or an expression pedal.

On their online shop, Meris are selling their MIDI I/O 89$ : way too much in my humble opinion... I decided to create my own DIY MIDI box.

First of all, here is how the MIDI jack is used by any Meris pedal:

Based on this, I created a MIDI interface with diagrams found on the Internet. Three main parts:

1. The voltage regulator based on LM7805
2. The MIDI in buffered by an optocoupler 6N138
3. The MIDI out

To make things faster (and better done...), I purchased a MIDI shield for Arduino plates where the MIDI in and out are already done. It costs around 3$ on every online store. Only the voltage regulator is missing.

Adding a aluminium housing, all parts cost less than 12$. It was worth the try ! And moreover it works well !

Here is a picture of the final result

Now that I can control my Enzo pedal over MIDI, here is the MIDI CC table used by Meris :

LET'S PLAY !