Tom 1501 MIDI kit retrofit Installation manual
This retrofit controlling only the keyboard and you still can play on it at same time.
Welcome to the metric system zone. Here we work with precision things and all dimensions are metric. 1" = 25.4mm. And yes, you need schematic reading skills.
Installation:
To your good usability select the friendly place to mount the LED, MIDI connector, button and PCB.
Drill all holes that required and mount connector, LED and button before soldering wires of course.
Drill dimensions:
MIDI jack (DIN5) = 18mm.
LED holder = 6mm.
Push button = 12.5-13mm.
Be careful with drilling hole for button, it have so small range to get hole too big.
Board dimensions and distance between screws:
Dimensions 102x50mm. Height 14mm with inserted connectors.
Holes diameter 3.5mm.
Mounting outline and hole drills draft for board example sticker paper included.
Do not allow the board to bend, it can break the board.
All ribbon cables are 90cm. long, enough for placing all connections and you can cut extra length.
Panic button is not included in the kit. In case of panic - enough stop traffic and turn off and turn on the synth. If you prefer to install it part number is E-Switch RP3502MABLK
This picture shown:
First (1) pin/wire on all connectors. First wire counts from down side when board facing to you as shown on photo below.
J1, J2, J3, J4 jumpers that divide common rails for every octave separate or split.
For Том1501 they should be close
Bottom side jumper J5 should be close for Том1501
The next picture shows the pinout for X6 connector ribbon cable and pin number of wires:
Same you can see on bottom side of PCB for more convenience.
Board pinout and MIDI note:
Solder wires to key contacts springs and common bus. Find key contacts for note F (Fa) on the first octave and solder wires from the (Yellow) connector. Starting from wire 1. When you finish it, your last wire will be 12 and note E (Mi) on this octave. Repeat all this on every octave.
On octave 4 (PURPLE), also start from wire 1 - F (Fa). Skip others that marked "skip" on table. Wire 13 from last connector should be soldered to key contact common bus.
One small important thing - use hot glue to fix inserted connectors to protect from disconnecting them during vibration when you ride on tour. Also fix wires strong. Do not leave them holding only on soldering joints.
Process for set MIDI channel: User operations
Stop all MIDI traffic.
To teach with which MIDI channel synth will work - push the black button (LEARN) LED will blink two times and stay ON to wait for MIDI messages at one of 16 channels. He will in OMNY mode.
Send any note on the MIDI channel which you want for this synth.
When the synth receives MIDI messages, LED will blink five times and turn OFF. It indicates that channel was received and saved. Then will ON with every NOTE ON messages on the selected channel.
Now the channel saved to memory and will never change before you push LEARN button again and starts settings process again.
At moment when synth power on, all keys will be sound less a half second. If on this moment MIDI commands will received on saved channel it can be cause of panic.
Last update: 10 January 2026.
