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Topics by ZAIUSZ
Posts found: 1-16 of 20
Avrilcadabra wrote:I don't have an SMS one as yet, I do have little scales genmdm for megadrive (the catskull one) , Genajam was another hardware device that made genmdm simple to use without max or a pc etc. It's been a couple years but on the megadrive I think the next note wouldnt play unless the first one was released or it might have been like you described, either way it was not really able to played like you would expect from a synth. I was able to change the code in Genajam (as genmdm is not open source) so you can hold down one note and press another note, it will switch to the new note then if you let go of the new note, it knows the other note still being held as it's not recieved a note off midi packet. so it starts playing that one. I tried not to use much RAM so it only handles like 6 notes at a time I think and isn't perfect (I should have made it keep track of 128 notes of whats on and whats off) but then you get into note prioritys , high note, low note, last note etc.
It did make it enjoyable to play on a keyboard. I am NOT very good at C++, I am more this is bugging me so much I will figure out how to fix it as best I can. I had a quick look at the midi note on note off in the SMS one and it's a bit more intimidating code.
Anyway I will try and get one of the SMS setups going this year and I don't want to speak for little scale at all but appreciate its now on github and the codes updated to complile on modern arduino IDE.
are you using it with an FM equipped sms?
That sounds like the same problem actually, it wasn't really possible to play like a normal keyboard unless you held every note down as you play, then if any were released it would cancel any currently held and playing note. Anyway, I certainly look forward to any progress you may make on the code!
So I am using it with the original sound chip, not the FM chip. I am all about the lofi beeps and sample playback 
Avrilcadabra wrote:Just updating this thread, the files are now available on little scales github https://github.com/little-scale/smsm
Including an updated midi in ino that compiles on current versions of arduino.
To ZAIUSZ, I was able to add some legato support to Genajam so would certainly be possible to get it working on the sms interface. When I get one of these setup I will look into it or maybe little scale will be able to
So one thing—the Max patch also needed updating in order to work with new versions. I was able to download a trial of max that allowed me to do the saving but it wasn’t so straightforward.
When you say add legato support, are you talking about the “any note off” issue where all note offs turn off the note including ones that are still held? If that can be fixed that would be amazing!
It surprises me that more people aren’t into this, the sega sound chip sounds really unique and that amp modulation creates some crazy sound fx.
Does anyone know if the maker of this is still around? I've tried to get in touch multiple times through the years and nothing.
I wanted to report a bug that ANY midi note off message will cancel any currently playing note on a channel. Very annoying. Basically if you start playing one note and then another, it will transition like you hope, but when releasing the first note the new note will stop too. Makes it very difficult to actually play because if you want notes to continue you have to keep holding all the notes you've played. The only way around this is to actually program the notes and make the note offs slightly before the new notes sound.
I don't know much of anything about programming but there's probably just some logic that needs to be done and assigning note offs to the note numbers they belong to and ignore them if playing legato until all notes have been released.
Does anyone know if the maker of this is still around? I've tried to get in touch multiple times through the years and nothing.
I wanted to report a bug that ANY midi note off message will cancel any currently playing note on a channel. Very annoying. Basically if you start playing one note and then another, it will transition like you hope, but when releasing the first note the new note will stop too. Makes it very difficult to actually play because if you want notes to continue you have to keep holding all the notes you've played. The only way around this is to actually program the notes and make the note offs slightly before the new notes sound.
I don't know much of anything about programming but there's probably just some logic that needs to be done and assigning note offs to the note numbers they belong to and ignore them if playing legato until all notes have been released.
Yea, I think it's probably something to do with the revision of the console or something like that... It's still fairly quirky but will work. You really have to edit note duration values so they don't overlap or it cuts out.
Is it possible to use the RCA jack on the back of the master system to just plug the sound into the audio interface? Or does it always need to be connected to the RF cable then coax out?
Yea, midi cc's work. It's a little temperamental upon each start up, you need to plug in the db9 just right or it will hang notes. I only heard the startup sound the one time too, but it will work. I suppose I can say it works enough that I'm happy anyways!
Thanks to everyone for their help.
OK, SO I GOT IT. Apparently you need to plug the db9 into the system once it hangs at the splash screen, then you hear the startup sound. It stays at the splash screen though, and I'm not sure if it fully works but I'll test the midi commands and see where it takes me.
I'm getting to the point where I wonder if I should just track down a different sega revision.
I've triple checked my pinouts to the 'duino and they are all correct too. Not sure how much I want to do the bios mod again, since if I bend pin 20 one more time it'll probably fall off 
It's been socketed anyway but I feel like the sega I have and the sega in the bios mk1 instructions are different somehow. I'm pretty sure it was all done according to the instructions so I don't know what was wrong, maybe I have all western carts or something.
catskull wrote:Funny, I've run into similar crashes when programming an arduino from my mac. The screen you saw was a kernel panic right?
By two usb ports, do you mean two serial ports showed up? TTY.usbport and CU.usbport? You should use TTY always though. This page offers more info: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/MacOSX
AFAIK, the arduino IDE will verify itself when you program it.
How are you sending midi data to the arduino?
What model of arduino are you using? Can you post a picture of all of your hardware?
I can say, I've had a rough time getting midi data out of an arduino with my midi gear. I've tried several models and I get absolutely nothing on my FB-01 and a cheap usb midi cable. I also connected it to an analyzer and verified that data was coming out of the arduino's tx line, but I still got nothing on my synth. So really I need as much help as you do hahaha. Like you, I'm at my wit's end. I don't have a master system to try, but I do have a game gear. I'll see if I can get the hardware together to give it a shot.
1. I believe it was some sort of kernel panic but the screen went black like it just shut off
2. Sending midi to the arduino by the max patch app midi to serial highlighted in Little Scale's original blog. I believe it is only accepting midi data and converting it to something the master system recognizes
3. Using the arduino uno with usb connection
... boy I long to have the sound of the master system at my disposal, I hope I can get this to work. Seems everyone is using the GG for this project, find it hard to believe nobody in the US or Canada has tried this on a SMS?
....and just finished removing the mod and changed it back to original. Well, one thing I've noticed now, with the cover off the db9 connector fits much better in there and stays. Now if I power it on with the arduino it just powers on with a black screen. Games appear to work so nothing got fried in the process. If I unplug the db9 connector it does the whole stick at the splash screen thing.
I wonder if there is more about the arduino that needs attention. As I mentioned in my first post, the newest IDE finds multiple errors and they are all where it names the samples out as "not declared in this scope". Then I went back and tried reprogramming it with version 1 of the IDE and it seemed to work ok-- since it didn't have errors. Earlier today I tried reprogramming the arduino again in version 1, and i noticed it had 2 usb ports, tried the second one this time and it immediately crashed my computer in a way I've never seen-- black screen and some strange mac warning screen. Anyway, since i'm also a newby at the arduino, it is as simple as opening the sketch and hitting send right? Is there any way to verify the contents of the flash memory on the arduino?
Well, I pulled pin 20 on the bios, ran jumpers from pin 1 of the 315-5216 to pin 13 of both cartridge and card, cut the traces to both pins 13, popped it in and it still didn't work. Once in a while i get i high pitch whine on power on... just tried a game in there and it didn't work either. I'm pretty sure is is done correctly, so dunno whats up.
well, i can do the bios mod(in the middle of it right now, thank you) but the header code stuff is over my head..
Hey Yogi, mine is the base model version 3010 with hang on/safari hunt built in, and it does go right to the game screen.
The guy who burned the eproms said he used his "best ones" to make sure it worked this time.
I've just finished trying a new cart pcb 171-5519(no letter suffix) with no luck also.
On another note, my arduino shows blinking lights whenever I send midi data too.
Dunno what to do next.
Well, I got my new eprom in the mail today, and unfortunately the same problem. I wonder if its my master system itself.. maybe it needs to be a different revision I wonder. Maybe I'll try a different cart in the mean time...
yogi wrote:ZAIUSZ wrote:Excellent information thank you. I read about "padding" earlier, from what I understand is this used to terminate then end of the block if the size of the EPROM is too large? Is it necessary on the 27C256 (this is what it was written to) with this code?
Padding fills out the binary file with some code or a selected byte. Sometimes its mentioned when talking about preparing a .bin image to be burned to a EPROM. The SMSM_100_ROM.sms bin file is padded to 32K by LittleScale already so no worries.
Say for instance you have a bit of code 100 bytes long (about as much as the SMSM code) to put into a 32K EPROM; as long as the running code loops and will never go passed the last op code, the rest of the EPROM doesn't matter to the host system. But the programming tool may need the .bin file to be the exact size of the device you are burning, in which case the .bin file would be filled up with anything to create a file 32K in size for a 27C256. Some programmers do this for you, so as long as your file is equal to or smaller then the selected device, it will work.
In other cases, like for a EPROM that is larger then the original PROM on a board, the term is slightly different. For example, in our case, you could used a 64K device instead of a 32K EPROM. You would have to deal with the extra address pin, A15. You could tie it to GND or Vcc or leave it floating. Depending on what you do, determines which half of the 64K is active at run time. To be flexible you may want to copy the same 32K bin image to both half's so regardless of how you do the wiring, the same code will boot.
Hi Jazz just saw your reply. There shouldn't be any floating pins on the 171-5519 board it's a one to one fit 
Yogi
Ohhh ok just read this post, it all makes sense. Thanks for helping me understand more about this, great explanation!
Jazzmarazz wrote:I don't know what yogi has said thus far, but padding is an alternative to pulling your unused address pins either high or low. Are there any address pins left hanging on your 256?
Hi, you mean pins not connected? I actually wouldn't know enough about this part yet, but right now they are all soldered in with the socket.
Posts found: 1-16 of 20
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Posts by ZAIUSZ