Stand alone SID Piano

MIOS programming (Assembler)
1

Hi there!

I would like to make a stand alone sid piano.

My initial plan was to integrate a 2x40 lcd, encoder and buttons into the chassis of a small toy electronic piano,

and solder the piano keys to the Dins of a midibox64 (which act as note on/off by default, which would be perfect for a basic non velocity piano). Then, I could somehow use the small amp to drive the sid output through the little integrated speakers, with switchable headphone input.

I would finaly plug the midi out of the midibox to the midi IN of the Sid, and Voila.

On second thoughts, It seemed a shame to have to use two cores, two PIcs and take up Twice the space to achieve

something that must be some way possible with the sid alone.

This takes me to the question:

How can I make 24 pins (2 octaves) of the sid’s DINX2 send note on/off data directly to “itself” without losing the  Encoder and button for the basic sid controller.

Allthough I haven’t a clue with mios software, I think a portable sid piano would be a great little gadget to take around, and will put all the effort into getting it made, so any help to get me started would be deeply appreciated.

many thanks in advance,

-Alex

2

Hi Alex,

thats only a small routine in USER_DIN_NotifyToggle is required which forwards the toggle events of your buttons to the MIDI processor of MIDIbox SID. But: are you sure that you’ve a dedicated line for each button of your piano, or are the buttons organiced in a matrix?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

3

Hi Thorsten,

Thanks, I’ll put a diver’s suit on and have a look in the .asm files  :-/

As for the little piano keys, I etched a board for them, so that each key leads to a din pin.

I’ll keep posting the progress!

cheers,

-Alex