Thank you,
Yep, SysEx is how it communicates. That was one thing that was kinda of a drawback considering Arduino would have USB, but in the end multi OS platforms and features seem to be more desirable. Oh, and the order of buttons was 'Up' 'Down' 'Left' 'Right' 'Select' 'Start' 'B' and 'A'. In my own setup I use a Cirklon to stay in perfect unison with my live setup. This way I don't even use a DAW or computer in my live rig.
145 Jun 28, 2014 11:37 pm
Re: Options to MIDI Sync the NES? (54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
146 Jun 28, 2014 10:20 pm
Re: Options to MIDI Sync the NES? (54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Sure. When I started the MCTRL project I started down the Arduino path, kinda like uXe and had some reasonable success. I am glad uXe has released his solution too! But I had worked with John at HighlyLiquid before with his Speak & Read midi kits and really liked the way he executed that, so I did more research into his PCB's and the software that was built for them. This is primarily the reason I went with them in the end. MAC & Windows platform support was great as I mostly use PC's, but I know a lot of people who use MAC's. Also he carries these in stock, so if anyone wanted to put their own together than they could by purchasing the pcb and build their own if they wanted to save money. So the software like I mentioned is the reason I went with the HighlyLiquid pcb. Here is a couple of screenshots.
You can see by the drop down that you can assign a wide variety of midi types, so if you wanted to use one midi channel and send various CC messages, you could.
Every MCTRL also has a label underneath that looks like this. You can easily open up the box and flip the dip switches to change the midi channel. You also can flip connector sides so you can have the cables coming out of the side that is most convenient with your setup.
I really tried to think of everything I could that would be the ultimate MIDI tool for the NES.
I know the MCTRL will seem expensive to some, but there is a lot of work in these boxes, and I do all of the fabrication myself, in house, to try and make them as affordable as possible. Please feel free to ask any questions. I love including PR8 into my sets 
147 Jun 28, 2014 8:08 pm
Re: Options to MIDI Sync the NES? (54 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
yogi wrote:
MCTRL is based on a Highly Liquid Midi board and is programmable but I think it responds to Note On/Off messages and not sure if it does Midi Clock messages.
So in your user case; you would have to use one of the tracks in your DAW to send the Note message timing, a Click trackThis may be more flexible to handle the issues; just come up with a note pattern that sends 150 'note ticks'
each Min of your song regardless of it's tempo. Does this sound more flexible to you? Because as I'm writing, it kind of seems like a really good way to control the NES, hummm.
Yep, this way when the NES wants to use its own clock and drift off, you can keep it exactly where you want it. This also allows for affects too as you can purposely slow and speed up timing when you want. Neil Baldwin has made a special version of PR8 just for MCTRL.
The other features he added using the second gamepad. By plugging in the MCTRL into the second port you can:
1)Send a midi note to advance the step's one at a time based on the midi note you send.
2)Advance to the next pattern immediately.
3)Advance to the next pattern, but wait till current pattern is finished.
4)Reset back to step one immediately.
5)Go back to the last pattern immediately.
6)Go back to the last pattern, but wait till current pattern is finished.
This makes it easy to sync and perform verbatim to your DAW. If Pulsar is more of interest, I imagine Neil could also make these features available.
149 Jun 21, 2014 6:25 pm
Re: [SEGA MD / GEN] GenMDM SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive MIDI Interface (1,383 replies, posted in Sega)
Have not seen mine yet.
150 Jun 21, 2014 2:52 am
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
QUICK Update. Pulsar carts are gone. Two PR8 carts are left.
Thank you to everyone here for supporting Neil's charity and my effort.
151 Jun 10, 2014 8:56 pm
Re: Flappy Bird ported to Gameboy, any interest in some carts? (45 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)
Damn this game is addictive. I have enough on hand to make about six of these if anyone is interested. I have to use the color shells and notch the corner to get the ROM's to fit, but I can make some if there is interest.
152 Jun 10, 2014 7:37 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Thanks Domu. Also had a chance to answer PM's so check your in-boxes.
153 Jun 9, 2014 3:26 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Thank you Neil for all of your work. I'm excited to hear and see what people think of some of the best NES music titles around!
Someone posted it somewhere on Facebook last night and I sold another Pulsar. I have ONLY ONE Pulsar left, so if you have been waiting, now is the time to act. I have been working hard customizing a few NES' so I hope to be somewhat back to normal this week. I will answer your PM's in the next couple of days, thank you for your patience.
154 Jun 7, 2014 5:39 am
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
I have 2 Pulsar and 3 PR8 left. I am excited to see the attention they are grabbing.
I can build a glitchNES cart for you, email me or PM me.
155 Jun 5, 2014 10:57 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Would be cool, but not sure if it can be done easily. I know there is a menu driven cart out there, by Krizz? I'm not sure about that, but I remember seeing one that had a menu system and allowed you to load several titles on one flash card. Seriously though if you use carts as often as I do, I like having dedicated carts. I must have 6 different PR8 carts running around here in my studio, so I can't imagine only using one or two to do what I want to do. I understand saving money, and if you are just goofing around then that's ok, but when it comes to your own art (or potential art) can you really not have a couple of backups 'just in case'. I have used carts to just do the visuals at shows and I always have a backup in case shit happens. This old technology is guaranteed to break down on you at some point, having extra helps with the worry, at least for me.
156 Jun 5, 2014 4:02 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Thank you katsumbhong. I do make other carts upon request of other titles, so feel free to contact me through my site if you need something else. PR8 and Pulsar are just about the most difficult cart you can recreate using original NES PCB's. I also can make droNES carts too with proof of license purchase off of Neil's site.
157 Jun 5, 2014 3:04 am
Re: pulsar sync with pulsar (9 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
This could be done with MCTRL. Link here:
http://www.ninstrument.com/?page_id=783
I imagine if you contacted Neil he could make a custom version that could be synced externally with a midi note pulse.
I have a custom version of PR8 that he created for me that does precisely this using MCTRL.
Neil installed great features in that custom version for me, 'next pattern', 'next pattern on last step', and 'immediate reset to step 1'
I imagine he can do the same for Pulsar. I think this would be key in order to not have the separate consoles drift in timing.
By occasionally resetting back to a known step, even if they do drift they can at least be managed.
158 Jun 3, 2014 8:04 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
Speaking of shipping, everybody that bought one, they have been shipped to you. Expect them in a couple days.
Just a couple left and they are gone. Went a lot faster than I expected.
159 Jun 3, 2014 7:27 pm
Re: where to start building a modular? (solved) (13 replies, posted in Other Hardware)
You say that now, they don't call it eurocrack for nothing he. he. he.
If you treasure your wallet, you will walk away now, just sayin'
160 Jun 3, 2014 7:25 pm
Re: Limited run of NES carts. (43 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)
stargazer wrote:
Not trying to be a bum here, but what exactly is the advantage of this versus one of InfiniteNESLives carts and flasher? You get the cart and a backup option for less than one of these.
These are great, but you have to make sure you get the right cart for the software. You will want an SXROM if you plan on using Pulsar or PR8 and a different configuration for other software. My carts make it easy. If you want to learn and dig deeper than the InfiniteNESLives are a great first option. I have several of his carts too.