Absolutely amazing work, thanks for sharing!
This looks great! Hmmm. Writing my own application? Sounds like a bit of a learning curve for me. That said… only one way to learn! I’ll be looking out for those boards at the MIDIBox shop.
Looking good! 
Many greets!
Peter
you’re a king !
Thanks everyone! I’m in the process of testing the boards now.
This looks great! Hmmm. Writing my own application? Sounds like a bit of a learning curve for me. That said… only one way to learn! I’ll be looking out for those boards at the MIDIBox shop.
Please understand, writing the application code will be a major project for me next semester–I absolutely will be doing it, it’s just that if you buy the boards now, it’s not made yet. Just wanted to make sure it was clear.
I’m planning the development to go like this:
- Testing MBHP_Genesis boards, making them available for purchase on MIDIbox Shop (to end of December).
- Developing front panel for MIDIbox Quad Genesis (version for myself and Josh Whelchel), including aluminum and custom PCB. Having those manufactured and assembling all the hardware (to mid February).
- Developing first application code, Tracker Mode. This code puts each chip on a different USB MIDI port and maps voices to channels and CCs to parameters; no front panel controls at all, just the core and the sound chips. I will do my best to follow that one tracker MIDI standard I saw somewhere. I will put up each of these applications as I develop them (on SVN).
- Developing second application code, VGM Player. This code will use a 2x40 LCD and a SCS-like minimal control surface on the DIN/DOUT port (since J10A/B are the parallel interface for the sound chips). The application will let the user stream VGM files from the SD card to a single chip pair. (Hopefully this will also be done by mid February, but probably not.)
- Developing MIDIbox Quad Genesis shell: front panel interfacing, more advanced high-priority sound chip writing, memory allocation, etc.
- Integrating Tracker Mode and VGM Player mode. Polyphony engine.
- Developing VGM-editing-from-front-panel parts of application code.
- Developing modulators and other features.
The MBHP_Genesis boards are tested and working! Here is a video of an Atmel MCU playing a small test “song” on the two sound chips.
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Hmmm not sure about that link… YouTube is saying the video was removed…
Want. To. See.
Awesome work, Not sure what happened to the vid but it was there a little while ago. Hope you post it back up Sauraen, very impressive!
Yogi
Umm… so let’s just say that maybe it wasn’t the wisest choice to use a song from a game owned by Disney as a demo. The video will not be put back up. However it’s sort of for the best, as I’ve significantly improved the software since then, I hope to have a new video up with “flawless” playback in the next week.
OOOOH, yes DRM raises its head At any rate, streaming VGM is very impressive! Can’t wait to see the improved version.
Yogi
PS is there any word from SmashTV on the boards (or is that left to him)? Been checking his site daily
SmashTV has the boards and the photos needed to put up the listing. I emailed him about it a few days ago and he said he’s been very busy but they’re coming soon.
OK very good, I’ll keep an eye on it
You’ve awoken THE MOUSE.
I used to work for the mouse. Best to keep the red eye of Disney looking elsewhere… 
Although… being that it was your arrangement (or was it?) of the composition and not the original recording… that should be legal I would think. I don’t want to hijack the thread on this tangent, but that’s some BS, IMHO. Maybe because it’s possible to make money from a YouTube account they don’t allow it. So weird and hard core. Makes no sense. Considering I’m someone who makes a portion of my income from performance royalties… if someone did an arrangement of one of my tunes [oh, as if] and put it on YouTube, I’d have no issue. If someone else posted an actual recording I had released…well, then my eyebrow muscles could get some exercise.
Anyway… looking forward to your next video!
\o/ Something new over @ AVI Showtech, Thanks Smash Can’t wait to spend some $$
9 hours ago, Blatboy said:
Although… being that it was your arrangement (or was it?) of the composition and not the original recording…
Don’t really want to get into this, but no, it was not my arrangement, it was a verbatim playback of the VGM file of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin on Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. (Well, verbatim, except with timing issues.) I knew there might be an issue, but for two reasons I decided to put it up: (1) I wasn’t the first person to upload a copy of that song, and (2) I didn’t think Youtube’s Content ID system would be smart enough to match a Genesis tune against its original. But I was wrong. No issue for my account, just Disney got to put ads on the video, so I deleted it.
I am excited to announce that the MBHP_Genesis boards are finally available for sale on the MIDIbox Shop!
http://midiboxshop.bigcartel.com/product/midibox-quad-genesis-board
Special thanks to SmashTV for helping make this happen!
As promised, a video of VGM playback on a MBHP_Genesis module!
There is still one issue with the frequency correction, which occasionally leads to wrong notes in certain VGM files, but I understand what the issue is and will fix it when I get a chance. Also, there’s an inherent incompatibilty between the noise channel in the SN76489 and the one in the SN76489-clone used in the actual Mega Drive / Genesis (shift register length and therefore pitch, and also what happens with zero frequency). I may be able to have the software correct for it in certain cases, but it’s not a huge deal overall.
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