Here's yet another mail-order catalog, but this company has a lot of
Midi devices which aren't in computer catalogs and magazines:

        Musician's Friend
        P.O. Box 4520
        Medford, OR 97501
        tel: 800-776-5173
        tel: 541-772-5173
        fax: 541-776-1370

Examples:

    1. I'm watching the price of the Roland SC-88 Super Canvas; their
       price is $849.  Not bad, but I'll wait a while longer.  This is
       the 32-channel synth which I hope can sound like a band organ.
       It has all the capabilities which George Bogatko says are
       needed.

    2. Music Quest Midi Strip $49 (for Macintosh).  Just about the
       lowest price I've seen for a Mac Midi-adaptor. The mini-DIN
       connector plugs into either the modem or printer port on later
       Macs.  I use a very similar box, the Opcode "Professional Plus
       Midi Interface", for which I paid $79.

    3. Roland SCP-55B Sound Canvas on PCMCIA card $359, for your new
       laptop.  If the size of the hardware keeps shrinking, someday
       we'll have an Electronic Player Harmonica!

    4. MIDI Solutions Merger $60;  this little box mixes two Midi
       sources to one output line.  David Wasson uses it while editing
       music for Mike Ames' 97-key Mortier, so that a simple keyboard
       and the computer can send data simultaneously to the organ.  Why
       is that needed?  So that David can alter the registration
       (stops) while the music is playing.  Otherwise he has to stop
       the computer.  Very convenient!

Regarding devices for long-distance Midi cables --

The Anatek line driver (reported by Mike Ames) is a simple, no-frills
box which accepts Midi wireline current data and outputs differential
bi-polar voltage using a relatively high-power integrated circuit
amplifier.  No data processing is performed: it only amplifies the
signal. It's power consumption exceeds the power which can be derived
from the Midi input source, so it comes with its own external power
supply.  Both ends of the cable have the same style boxes.  The system
closely resembles the hardware used for computer terminals located far
away from the "mainframe".  (Remember those days? ;-)

The Aquila and MidiMan wireless devices (reported by Will Dahlgren) are
used by performers who would otherwise trip on their cables!  The
"filtering algorithms" may be needed by Midi-guitarists (!), but I
can't imagine much use for organ or piano performances. ... The "Midi
Match extender" device sounds similar to the Anatek line driver.

-- Robbie Rhodes