[SEGA MD / GEN] GenMDM SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive MIDI Interface (Page 63 of 87)

You might run into difficulties in terms of current use? Not sure.

I would be hesitant to use Midi pin 4, it's part of the current loop and I would think you may see problems. Pulling Vcc off the game port into a 3.3V reg for the Teensy would be the best bet. The Teensy has to draw <500mA to be USB powered, best guess would be in the <100mA range. Gameport Vcc @ pin 5 will prob source more then enough.
EDIT= DOH! Just looked at the PJRC pg in the above link, worst case 60mA + Reg losses+ Midi current loop= 90-100 tops??  Could even use a LV 3.3V Reg,

Last edited by yogi (Mar 14, 2013 4:10 am)

Yeah, when I was building mine I kept thinking "there must be a way to power this from the genesis", but I never tried it for some reason... now I will. Thanks!

Oh duh yea the game portables more sense.

see:
http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/external_power.html and http://pinouts.ru/Game/genesiscontroller_pinout.shtml

pin 5 on gen controller = 5v.

Just to save anyone possibly blowing up any components on their teensy - you can supply 5v to the teensy EITHER via usb or externally, NOT BOTH!!!  with rev1 GenMDM boards if you are sure you will not forget this, you can solder a wire from the controller port to the header pin on the board.  But it is better practice to cut the trace between usb +v and external +v - see the above site, its easy.

Make the SEGA GENESIS Talk : CSM control
Finally I have made it
For the final stage of development of my sega genesis sound chip emulator F-MDRIVE 2612 Vsti, I was trying to give more usable control of this speech synthesis thing aka CSM mode.
Now we can :

    Control the 3 supplementary YM2612 CH3 frequencies and separate key on/off my different MIDI channels(MIDI channel 11,12,13). pitch bend included
    CSM on/off is internally controlled by key on/off to bypass the original behavior.
    Timer A speed can now be controlled by MIDI notes !(MIDI channel 14).pitch bend included

So it means that combining 4 MIDI channels of control we can change the formants and tone and keep control over the actual frequency with Timer A tied to MIDI notes. (in the limit of timer A speed, still there is a quite usable range!)
The CSM mode could now be used to make some robot vocal noise, talk or play notes with formant control over the sound...kind of virtual robot singing tone ^^

If the user find a way to make a word it is easily saved or reloaded just by saving the appropriate MIDI channels in the project. This way one could save some "words midi data" and use them again in another project.

I recorded a raw preview of this as i was testing it in ableton live...
(also a snippet of the DAC custom waveform..)
Next I will post the full specs of the F-MDRIVE 2612 Vsti.
It should be out in 10 Days more or less for people who already knows about the baby and a few weeks after for the rest of the world.
Keep watching the news. GENMDM Controller version will be available for free for customers as a download as soon as I received my GENMDM and make some testing
Best ++