One more #RolandMT32 song, as a treat. The intro to #Sierra's Space Quest 3.

MPU-401AT, MT-32, and an AWE64, all direct capture.

I'm super happy with my new setup!

Also, this song absolutely slaps.

#retrocomputing #mt32

Good morning. I am waking up to find some MIDI issue in one of my 86Box machines. It seems 86Box broke or changed something with a recent code update.

Took me a few minutes to figure this out. The Soundblaster 16 is now set to an MPU-401 address of 0x300, while 0x330 is still being used by the Roland MT-32 emulation. Windows 3.1 is satisfied using the 0x300 address after I changed its settings to use it, while DOS games like "The Secret of Monkey Island" are still working fine with the MT-32 music emulation. Before that, I had simply turned off the SB16's MIDI address altogether. Oh, well... maybe this new setting really does make more sense. 😉

Happy retro gaming, everybody!

#MIDI #86Box #Emulation #MT32 #SoundBlaster #SB16 #DOSGaming #RetroGaming #RetroComputing #Retro #90s #80s #Oldschool

Experience the DOS floppy disk version introduction of Simon the Sorcerer on real Roland MT-32 hardware. Simon the Sorcerer is a classic point and click adventure game by Adventure Soft.

https://youtube.com/shorts/hi9PWAqMxI0?si=zzrLVVki65Orr6Sz

#retrogaming #mt32 #simonthesorcerer

Experience the DOS floppy disk version introduction of Monkey Island 1 on real Roland MT-32 hardware. The Secret of Monkey Island is a classic point and click adventure game by Lucas Arts.

https://youtube.com/shorts/QWbBxzsB280

#monkeyisland #mt32 #retrogaming

Just for fun: I mixed the MT-32 and Adlib versions of the intro music from the MS-DOS port of Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone.

I call it the Double DAC'n remix: https://youtu.be/XF01L4GBIos

#MT32 #Adlib #dosgaming #gamemusic

Holy cow! ... I never realized STUNTS had an MT-32 soundtrack! This is quite a different beast compared to the old IBM PC Speaker. Of course, I knew about Adlib and Soundblaster. But not this!  

#STUNTS #MSDOS #RetroGaming #RetroGames #DOSGames #DOSGaming #Broderbund #Diskette #FloppyDisk #PCGame #PCGaming #90s #MT32

XIAO ESP32-C3 MIDI Synthesizer – Part 3

So, now that the basics are out of the way I’m going to dive into the specifics of the Dream SAM2695 chip itself.

• Part 1 – Getting started and getting code running.
• Part 2 – Swapping the ESP32-C3 for a SAMD21 to get USB MIDI.
• Part 3 – Taking a deeper look at the SAM2695 itself.
• Part 4 – A USB MIDI Synth Module using the SAMD21 again as a USB MIDI Host.
• Part 5 – A Serial MIDI Synth Module using the original ESP32-C3.
• Part 6 – Pairs the Synth with a XIAO Expansion board to add display and potentiometers.

Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments!

These are the key tutorials for the main concepts used in this project:

• Getting Started with the XIAO MIDI Synthesizer
• XIAO SAMD21, Arduino and MIDI
• CircuitPython USB to Serial MIDI Router
• XIAO USB Device to Serial MIDI Converter

If you are new to microcontrollers, see the Getting Started pages.

The Dream SAM2695

I first encountered this device on a breakout board several years ago, called a “GM Mini Module”. Various tutorials at the time showed how to hook this up to an Arduino. For example, my specific module had the following suggested application:

The breakout was essentially just the SAM2695 with an additional MIDI IN circuit and DIN socket.

At the time it was a component of the “fluxamasynth” – an Arduino shield containing the chip. Whilst the shield is now discontinued, a number of resources still remain online about it: https://github.com/fluxly/Fluxamasynth

Since then there have been a number of modules released that use this neat synth chip, probably the most recognisable of which is perhaps the M5 MDI Synth: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/midi-synthesizer-unit-sam2695

There is also a M5 module with built-in MIDI DIN socket too.

This latest XIAO device follows in the footsteps of all these other variations but adds the microcontroller, and ESP32-C3, to make a complete “system”.

I happen to have three of these devices – the original Dream “GM mini module”, M5 synth and the XIAO, so I’ll do a post about them together at some point, but the all work in essentially the same way.

This series of posts is mostly taking a detailed look at the XIAO MIDI Synthesizer, but the following post shows how to use a XIAO SAMD21 to talk to the M5 Stack Synth: XIAO USB Device to Serial MIDI Converter.

The datasheet for the SAM2695 describes its capabilities:

• MIDI control processor, serial and parallel interface
• Synthesis, General MIDI wavetable implementation
• General MIDI compatible effects: reverb + chorus
• Spatial Effect
• 4-band stereo equalizer
• Stereo DAC. DR: 86dB typ, THD+N: -75dB typ
• Mike input. DR: 86dB typ, THD+N: -75dB typ
• Mike echo
• 64-voice polyphony (without effects)
• 38-voice polyphony + effects
• On-chip CleanWave™ wavetable data, firmware, RAM delay lines
• Audio stereo line output

Interestingly it supports a parallel or serial MIDI access. But using serial is by far the easiest as it can link up directly to another microcontroller’s UART or an opto-isolator of a standard MIDI IN circuit.

The GM Sound Engine

The SAM2695 has two complete instrument banks and a drum set. The banks are as follows:

• CH1-9,11-16: BANKSEL 0: Full General MIDI Sound set
• CH1-9,11-16: BANKSEL 127: MT-32 Compatible Sound set
• CH10: General MIDI Drum Sound set:
  • Program 1: Normal kit, notes 35-81
  • Program 17: “Power Set”, Normal set + note 38 only
  • Program 41: “Brush”, Normal set + notes 35-40 changed
  • Program 49: “Orchestra”, Normal set + notes 27-30, 38-53, 88 changed
  • Program 128: “CM 64/32 Partial”, range of effects and things – MT-32 like

The device also supports effects and an equaliser. All additional controls are configured using either MIDI NRPN or SysEx message. And there are a lot of messages defined in the datasheet!

There are also a number of control messages which apparently have to be sent over the parallel data interface.

But what I am most interested in is the MIDI implementation for the common range of MIDI messages, the most useful of which (to me) are listed below.

MIDI Control Change Messages

To be honest, I’m not sure I quite understand those last two, but that seems to be what it is saying in the datasheet…

There are a /lot/ of parameters accessible over NRPN or SysEx relating to the routing of signals in the device, the effects and the equaliser. At this point I’m just experimenting with the basics above.

Any of the MIDI interfaces allows me to test it out, but using a XIAO SAMD21 in USB MIDI device mode is the easiest as I can just plug it into a computer and fire up MIDIOx and start messing around with some of the above.

Closing Thoughts

There is a lot to the SAM2695, so I can see why it has captured interest once again after a few years seeming almost forgotten.

It would be nice to build some kind of knob-based interface that supports many of the parameters in the synth, but I guess the major application is meant to be for when some kind of “compatible” sound card is required “off the shelf”. For that, it would appear that the SAM2695 can be a General MIDI Synth, a Roland “General Sound” (GS) Synth or even a Roland MT-32.

Not bad for a small, relatively easily integrated component!

Kevin

#generalMidi #midi #mt32 #rolandGs #SAM2695