Mega Drive Midi Interface

Steps to get Mega Drive Midi Interface (MDMI) running on a Genesis/Mega Drive via OS X to play FM instruments.

Hardware/Software Needed

• A Genesis or Mega Drive (duh)
• Everdrive x7 or Pro
• A midi keyboard
• USB cables
• Mega Drive Midi Interface (MDMI)
• genMDM Editor 2.2.0+ (download)
• SerialMidiBridge (download)

Setup

• Put MDMI onto your Everdrive
• Connect your Everdrive to your Mac via USB
• Connect your Midi Keybaord to your Mac via USB
• Open Audio Midi Setup from your Utilities folder on Mac OS. Select Midi Studio from the Window menu and then double click the IAC Driver. Make sure "Device is Online" is checked.
• Turn on your Mikdi Keyboard and your Genesis/MD and load MDMI
• Start up SerialMidiBridge (will take a bit to get the GUI), hit ScanPorts and enter these settings:
  • Serial Port:
  • baudrate: 115200
  • Serial to Midi: IAC Driver Bus 1
  • Midi to Serial: IAC DRiver Bus 1
• Once entered hit the Start button in SerialMidiBridge
• Start genMDM Editor. Set Midi Input to your Midi Keyboard and Midi Output to IAC Driver Bus 1. Turn on MDMI Mode. If it's already on, toggle it off then on again.

Everything should now be connected. You can load instrument files (like from my library of game instrument patches) and play as well as edit the FM instruments in real time.

Note you select the midi channel on your keyboard to play a note on that channel. The MDMI UI only shows the settings for one channel at a time but you can play any of the 10 channels. Channels 7-10 are PCM channels and can't be edited from genMDM. Changes in genMDM will be live updated on MDMI.

Also note that this only works with genMDM Editor v2.2.0 or greater. For some reason the online version is v2.1.2 which won't work. As such I've compiled v2.2.0 from the repo for download here as a standalone Mac app.