Polaron VS Arduino-USBMIDI

See “2. LEDs” on the wiki: https://github.com/zueblin/Polaron/wiki/Building-the-Polaron

Hi! I found a project https://github.com/zueblin/Polaron that to me seems like the perfect start for ordering a PCB and getting some of the SMDs soldered from them. I have imported it to Kikad and tried to export the BOM and placement file and importing it in JLCPCB but it just says there is something wrong with the files. The PCB seems to be fine btw.

If you are into Drum Machines I can really recommend the Polaron: https://github.com/zueblin/Polaron

But generally speaking MIDI and USB MIDI are based on fundamentally different communication protocols and always require a MCU to do the conversion. An Arduino Micro can do the job well and there are even Libraries with example code that does exactly this. See here: https://github.com/lathoub/Arduino-USBMIDI/blob/master/examples/MIDI_DIN2USB/MIDI_DIN2USB.ino

Option 3 - Arduino USB MIDI

hmm..yes you would have to code a little bit. But, cool learning experience? The examples are pretty good. This simple one: https://github.com/lathoub/Arduino-USBMIDI/blob/master/examples/Basic_IO/Basic_IO.ino shows part of the code that would replace the serial code in your original sketch. Note the library itself is handling the code that advertises the controller to Linux as a MIDI device. That's an important benefit.