ChipMusic.org - WTB C64 Midi Interface

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-22T20:43:10Z

I haven't used the Ultimate64 personally, so I don't know much about it. As far as I have understood, the general idea should be that it should be fully compatible with the C64, but maybe it is more like 99% compatible in actual practice. However, in this case I guess it could also be the case that the Ultimate64 emulates a cartridge at the same time as you have the midi cart inserted. If so, there may be a conflict between the emulated cartridge and the MIDI cartridge. The DATEL cartridge uses the following addresses:

MIDIcontrol = $de04 ;write-only
MIDIstatus = $de06 ;read-only
MIDI_Tx = $de05 ;write-only
MIDI_Rx = $de07 ;read-only

If the emulated cartridge interferes with this in some way, the MIDI cart won't work. Then you would either need to disable the emulated cart, or your would need to use a cartridge ROM that doesn't interfere (I think the Retro Replay ROM may be worth a try for example).

(Cartridges such as Final Cartridge, Action Replay, Retro Replay, and so forth generally also use the $dexx adress range. I seem to remember that I used a cartridge port expander at some point, to get a MIDI cart working at the same time as an action replay/retro replay cartrdige, and the cartridge port expander allowed me to shift the MIDI interface to the $dfxx range instead. Then I also had to modify the software I used so that it used the $dfxx adresses to communicate with the MIDI interface, instead of $dexx.)

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-22T20:01:58Z

Hey thanks for trying

Do you know if these devices actually work with an ultimate 64 anyway? I borrowed a friends datel midi cart and ran cynthcart as a prg and it didnt work. Worked in my breadbin though running on an sd2iec.. perplexing.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-22T11:53:54Z

...aaaaaaand now I tried it with some other software that supports DATEL as well (King Fisher's "Midislave Manager") and the interface didn't work there either.

Conclusion: The interface doesn't work.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-22T11:26:21Z

...and, actually, after some more digging, I found out that the interface is a "Steinberg MIDI2" interface, and that it should be compatible with Datel / JMS / C-Lab / Siel. So I should definitely try it out with something else than M64. It is this one:

http://blog.nebulah.nl/posts/2013-03-02 … r-the-c64/

The sticker is ripped off on the one I have though, so that's why I didn't know at first which one it is.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-22T11:11:22Z

I finally got hold of the diskdrive and tried the interface, and I couldn't get it to work. The software I used was M64, and it has options for Sequential, DATEL, and Passport compatible interfaces. None of them seemed to work, although I could verify that M64 itself works great with another interface (that I use myself, so I'm not selling that one). There ARE other interfaces though, so it is possible that the one that I have is of yet another kind. A number of other interfaces are listed in the source code for SID Wizard, and all of them use the same type of chip for the MIDI communication, so they are similar in that sense. They just use different memory addresses.

https://sourceforge.net/p/sid-wizard/co … DI-C64.asm

* SEQUENTIAL/NAMESOFT
* PASSPORT/SYNTECH
* DATEL/SIEL/JMS/C-LAB (double-speed devices)
* MAPLIN
* MOOG SONG PRODUCER

So I guess it is possible that the interface I have actually works, but that it is of the MAPLIN or MOOG type instead. I also just noticed that the author of M64 stated that he was unsure whether DATEL actually worked in M64 even though the program itself says it is supported, so in fact it may be possible that it is of the DATEL type — only that M64 doesn't actually support it. I guess I should try the interface with SidWizard instead, since it seems to have better support for different interfaces, but I haven't used SidWizard for anything so I don't know how it works. It could of course also be the case that this interface is simply broken.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-10T15:45:50Z

Alright. I'll let you know when I've had the chance to pick up a diskdrive and try it out.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-10T09:48:51Z

Sure, theres no rush

If it's too much trouble to bother let me know

Thanks

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-08T19:43:01Z

Duh.. I made a really silly mistake. OBVIOUSLY I should have gotten a diskdrive as well (or a cartridge port expander) when I picked up the MIDI interface yesterday. I can't load any software to test the MIDI interface now, since the MIDI cartridge occupies the cartridge port, and in these days I always have a 1541U2 cart plugged in there to load software... Silly me. Also, it may take a week or so before I get back to the place where I've got the gear stored. Sorry for that. At least I plugged the cartridge in an turned on the computer, with no crash. Some faulty cartridges can cause crashes, so at least it wasn't obviously broken in that sense. Anyway, I'll get back once I've tried it out properly.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-08T13:57:59Z

Which type of interface did it turn out to be

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-07T17:51:16Z

I found the MIDI interface. Now I just need to verify its functionality, and I'll hopefully be able to do that tomorrow.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-03T11:45:04Z

I also wanted C64 MIDI interface, Cynthcart or Ultimate II+ developers should have included it on one cartridge, because i don't like to plug cartridge into another cartridge. Now i run on real C64 only defMON and on my Lenovo notebook i run emulator Vice x64 with Cynthcart 2.0 MIDI version and plugged MIDI keyboard to realtime playing, it works.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-03T10:16:01Z

Sure, thanks

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-03T09:30:35Z

Alright, that sounds reasonable. We can discuss the exact price later, when I've located+tested it. I looked around yesterday and it wasn't here in my home, which means it is in another place where I have some computer hardware stored. I will go to that place on Sunday, so after that I will know more.

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-03T09:25:18Z

I'm not sure what they're worth. I would be using it to run cynthcart which would have been included in a kerberos cart but I'm assuming I would be able to run cynthcart on an sd2iec, and the devices you listed are on the cynthcart compatibility list, so should be fine

Just a first suggestion but £100-£200? ($120-$250)

Re: WTB C64 Midi Interface

2020-06-02T19:59:49Z

I might actually have a MIDI cartridge that I could sell. I would just need to locate it first, and verify that it works. It is an old one of the standard kind (Datel, Passport, or Sequential compatible). They are all basically the same, using the same chip, only using slightly different memory addresses. Most software support all of them. What would you pay for it?