17 Reply by untilzero

(25 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Okay...

(MC-500 Sequencer) -> (Computer / Creative Audigy Front Panel) -> (MIDINES)  works great!

What is the difference here?  Plugging straight from my sequencer into MIDINES as I sit here results in mostly choking notes and the ones that do play will hang in the end.... Plugging as stated above results in perfection, and no matter how hard I try I can't get a note to skip or hang... the thing smokes!

So I guess I am hoping for some insight as to why this is happening, so I can correct it at my studio somehow.  I do have a Raspberry Pi I'd be willing to use for this purpose, but outside of that, I'm not bringing my desktop computer into my studio or buying a dedicated one just to play MIDINES... I need other options that don't involve using my computer as a middle man...

If it's really some kind of 'grounding' issue, there has to be a way to build a cheapo MIDI thru box to replicate the fix that is occuring by using the computer as a thru box... if that makes sense.  (though is sure doesn't make sense to me that a shitty soundcard interface from 2003 on my desktop computer somehow works better than dedicated midi hardware!! sigh...)

ANY help is super insanely appreciated... I'm going crazy.

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18 Reply by untilzero

(25 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Yea, I still have no clue.  I've been pushing the MIDINES pretty hard using MIDI-OX this morning, seems to be rocking like a little champ, but that just kind of pisses me off even more, considering the last thing I'm going to swap out of my setup is my sequencer, which seems like it must be part of the problem (though BOTH of my controllers act the same way in regards to making notes hang if I hit the keys the right way, but MIDI-OX doesn't at all, ever, unless I change MIDI channels while holding a note down, so I have no idea WTF is going on here...)...

Gonna bring my sequencer home from my studio tonight and plug it into my computer, run it through MIDI-OX -> MIDINES and see what the hell is happening.  I'll post updates later.

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19 Reply by untilzero

(25 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Okay, since you're all awesome and giving a shit I'll try to respond to everyone quickly...

e.s.c. wrote:

i'm guessing you've tried a different NES?

Yup, I have a few, they all perform the same.  Top loader and toasters alike, though I will put a pin in your suggestion about trying a known working NES if all else fails (thanks!).

lain2097 wrote:

Contrary to the above posts, I've never encountered any stuck notes with my MIDINES. In fact I find it to have the best response of any synth I own.

I sooo want this to be the case, but alas...  my DMG/ArduinoBoy works wonders, if ONLY the MIDINES were doing the same for me!  Checked out that AMT-8 you mentioned, I don't use soft sequencers but I did use a couple of different midi thru boxes (an MM-4 by Roland, and a MOTU express) and both had the same issue, unfortunately...

lain2097 wrote:

Sounds like you could have a midi loop or something like that?

I don't know what that is...?

PROTODOME wrote:

I've found it only hangs when there's a long sequence of overlapping notes..

True for sure but no overlap on this end, plenty of clock pulses in between notes (figured this out ages ago with DMG setup).

TylerBarnes wrote:

also what did your pcb look like? I have two different revisions of the midines and my earlier one is far better at recovering from sticky notes than the later revision [...] Considering you said that you'd seen a actual GND connection on the PCB, I'm assuming you have the Squeedo version..

Yup, I've definitely got the latter (Squeedo flash cart) version you posted.  Same connections, good to know the ground isn't necessary!  Reset (or even a quick channel offset change up and down again) does indeed fix the issue, but man... all I keep thinking is how badass my DMG is in comparison, and how that shouldn't be the case haha.

-

Thanks for all of your input! I messed around a bit more tonight and found that just pushing out raw note on/note offs via MIDI-OX on my computer didn't seem to ever make anything hang, as hard as I tried.  I even pumped a ton of raw MIDI files ripped straight out of my favorite NES games and they all seemed to work (despite choking or missed notes here and there)...  so I guess it must be my sequencer and controller... which really bites.

On top of that, I noticed that (while the hanging notes are awful and ubiquitous no matter what) my sequencer does end up being able to play extremely fast / complex compositions every, say, 20 tries (haha)... as in, if i notice notes start choking (clicking / missing) and I quickly hit stop/rewind/start again or muting/unmuting tracks a ton... it'll *eventually* play everything flawlessly... which leads me to wonder (after having messed around with MIDI-OX just now) whether or not my sequencers ticks per quarter note rate may have something to do with this issue... like perhaps the VBlank reads on the MIDINES cart just get out of sync in some oddball way with the signals sent from my sequencer (though it seems like that would be fixed just altering tempo... or something... I dunno... ugh).

Is this crazy?  I scarcely know what I'm talking about here so please chime in if I'm stupidly off base.

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20 Reply by untilzero

(25 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

The One Electronic wrote:

I had the same issue.  Mine would hang on notes, skip notes, ignore CC automations, and what have you.   I ended up just selling it off ;/

Bummer, seems like most people I've found having the same issue did the same thing hmm

TylerBarnes wrote:

Mine would only stick when I would interrupt the normal flow of things. For example if I hit stop on my daw as it's triggering a new note, things will stick. Other than that, things are fine when I use it in Ableton.

Yea, I've also noticed a lot of people who posted demos mentioned using Ableton or some other software sequencer.  The irony of a DIY hack built to allow use of the original OTB hardware being better compatible with new age soft sequencers than with hardware sequencers from the same era does not go unnoticed though, heh.  I'm not necessarily against the software route, I just don't use it (if I did I'd have likely just found some NES / C64 / Every-other-chip emulator 'plug-in' or something and just used that instead).


Honestly, I'm still holding out hope that someone around here may have actually managed to correct this issue as opposed to just not ever having it or just giving up altogether. 

I did open up the cart too, noticing that only two of the MIDI cable wires are actually connected to the board (neither is ground/shield either).  Curious, because on wayfar the only real 'solution' addressing this issue is a 'grounding issue / bad ac adaptor' or something.  I'm not an engineer, but it did make me wonder why then the MIDI ground wasn't connected to the clearly labelled ground on the MIDINES pcb in the cart...

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21 Topic by untilzero

(25 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

I've been searching for awhile for other people with similar issues using MIDINES (1.1.0) and came up with only a few instances (and really no solutions).  Also maybe this shit is like 5 years ago by now, but I could never find any of the stuff Batsly Adams put together (cause believe me I'd have much rather used Family MIDI, I don't really care about the DMC samples), so if NES is what I wanna use, MIDINES was about the only OTB option I knew/know of.

Anyhow so yea, STUCK FUCKING NOTES holy hell.  I sequence out a simple tune with alternating A minor / F Minor arpeggio's (a la Simon's Quest / Dracula's Castle), maybe like 120 bpm quarter notes to start, and fucking hell does this thing have stuck notes.  First off I have to mute / unmute the Pulse tracks on the sequencer before they'll even start, but letting the sequence run and end naturally still ends up with hanging notes on most if not all channels in the end.  It's maddening.

I've got a DMG / ArduinoBoy setup that handles anything I throw at it like a champ, we're talking like 64th notes at 200+ bpm with no choking, so WTF am I doing wrong with MIDINES?  I'd have assumed the NES could handle just as much if not more...

I've tried a number of things too to mitigate this, swapping out different MIDI connections in the chain (down to straight up sequencer->NES and nothing else), turning off certain MIDI messages being transmitted from my sequencer (down to basically nothing but note on/off), different controller keyboards, different power adapters, even different NES units (one toaster, one top loader) and to no avail.  Certain combinations made the MIDINES choke pretty bad on even just playing the notes, but I can deal with that issue, it's the HANGING notes that are driving me insane.  Every time a tune stops or I mute/unmute or something I have to either reset the NES or change the MIDI channel offset on the MIDINES (cause it doesn't respond to All Notes Off CCs either, sigh).

I mean, maybe this is way old news and I'm just late to the game here, but does / did anyone else have these issues? And if so, how did you mitigate them (if at all)?  I've seen a ton of YouTube demos of this thing rocking like a champ, so I'm kind of hoping I can fix this shit somehow, any help would be greatly appreciated (or you know, just GPL Family MIDI already *please* haha).

(FYI - this is not a 72-pin issue or cleaning issue, I'm a pro at cleaning carts/pins/connectors, and the pin connector on my toaster is brand new)

Relevant setup:

NES Toaster (w/ pro audio mod, original power supply)
MIDINES 1.1.0
Roland MC-500mkii Sequencer
Roland A500pro Keyboard Controller
Roland MM-4 Thru Box (though direct connections are just as bad)

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22 Reply by untilzero

(27 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

Dogbone for sure! (why would anyone hate on it?) I grew up on the original, but as soon as I scored a top loader there was no going back, no more sharp rigid rectangles for me.  As for the max, the d-pad was really terrible IMO, and the advantage only seemed good for certain games (ie shooters / turbo).  The powerglove was just a twisted evil prank played on the children of the 80's sad

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23 Reply by untilzero

(21 replies, posted in Nintendo Consoles)

WTF? Haha, that's like a 10k cart.  I guess the 'infamous mario' scribble nets another 90k?  That or something is fucking with ebay/price watchers.

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