I thought this would be simple. I just want a board that is pretty much nothing but a 6N138(/6N137) and a 5 pin MIDI jack to be able to connect a MIDI signal into the UART of a micro but can I find such a thing cheaply?
Major suppliers like Sparkfun and Adafruit seem to have boards that are stupid prices like $20+ while I'm talking about something that has a $1 IC, a diode, a couple of resistors and and a 5 pin DIN socket. Sure I can find such things on ebay/Amazon/AliExpress/Banngood/etc (eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIDI-Shield-Breakout-Board-for-Arduino-UNO-R3-AVI-PIC-Digital-Interface-Adapter/322579032922 )but they are all for delivery from CN with delivery dates out in October. Surely someone somewhere does a nice little interface board for just a few bucks and with a reasonable delivery time?
BTW this is a ref circuit from the PJRC/Teensy site that kind of displays what I am looking for:
and because I only want "IN" not out that actually reduces to:
I mean, how hard can it be to find a little board with just 6 components on it? While it would be daylight robbery I figure such a thing could cost up to £10/$15 perhaps but beyond that they're having a laugh.
(actually that's one thing I've noticed - MIDI electronics appears to be a licence to print your own banknotes!)
PS and yeah I guess that in the limit I just buy the bits and make it up on a breadboard but I was kind of looking for the solidity/simplicity of a ready made up little board. Oh and if I was to do this is there any UK component supplier with small/no delivery costs? I don't want to pay £3 for some components then £6 to get them delivered or something!