More soldering; MIDI proof-of-concept WIN!

I continued working on the MIDI encoder scanmatrix circuit. It's almost done; I just have to finish collecting the different traces together to wire them into the encoder's 16-pin IDC connector. I didn't realize the ribbon cable conductors would be stranded, that makes things a little more interesting. Throughout the project I've been trying to avoid rat's-nest wiring, but it had to come in somewhere. So here it is:

In other news, I finished doing a factory restore of my Toshiba Windows 7 laptop. The awesome news: my M-Audio Keystation now works! And the bonus news, my mother-in-law, God bless her, gave us her ancient, '80s-era behemoth electric piano, a GEM Novopiano DP-20, weighing in at somewhere in the 40-50 kilo range.

I got a few cheapo Felipo USB/MIDI interfaces on eBay, and it all now works! I fired up Miditzer and was able to play two different channels via the two keyboards. It's off the base, so it's just a matter of building a console frame to accomodate both units. Today: two manuals. Tomorrow: the world! Or maybe at least a pedalboard.