SID + midi on Arduino and YM2149 emulator on atmega8

[xlibman]

I'M very late, but nice video @garvalf . Thanks for sharing.

Have you done any updates to this or new songs, by the way?

[garvalf]

I've worked more on the AY shield, but I didn't manage to draw a correct PCB. I think I'll ask a friend for help, he can do this kind of thing. Then I'll start mass production (between 10 and 15 pieces  ).

No new AY music, but I've made a few for the Megadrive / Genesis chips (FM and PSG). I like using this platform because it's easy to compose tunes with DefleMask, and the Everdrive MD makes it quick to replay from the Megadrive console (using a SD card). I'll post something in my music section.

[xlibman]

Mass production means you're gonna sell some of those, right? :3

[p3n4]

That sounds like a nice Project

[Streetwalrus]

Oh wow, I must have missed this. I remember @Keoni29 made something similar and built it into his 84+ way back in 2012-13. That was a pretty good idea actually, since it frees the CPU to run an actual game together with audio.
Pretty much like old consoles did. Nowadays the DSP functions are integrated into the CPU itself with SIMD instructions, but that wasn't an option and even early 2000's consoles used a dedicated DSP for mixing and playback.

[garvalf]

Mass production means you're gonna sell some of those, right? :3

yes, of course I plan to sell this thing, either the PCB alone, or as a kit with all the parts.

Now for something completely different (but still related to Arduino):

Shiru from the 1-bit forum has released a port of his Octode 1-bit engine to the Arduino plateform. It was originally written in z80 ASM, and it was rewritten in C / Arduino code. It's not exactly the same, but still pretty good. Here is a quick recording I made (of a rather strange tune I must say):
http://garvalf.online.fr/index.php?page=blog_2017-02-12

It's very easy to set up, just upload  in the Arduino IDE the sketch in attachment from the first post there http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?pid=1147 , connect pin 7 and ground to a speaker, and you'll get 1-bit music!

[garvalf]

well, it was long, but I managed to draw to PCB. My friend didn't do it for me, instead he helped me much with advices and corrections. I've used Fritzing, and now I understand better how it works.

The PCB is almost ready for production, I'll send it very soon. It will feature:

- AY-3-8910 emulator (on atmega8), driven by the arduino nano.
 - It can replay sinclair, atari, amstrad chiptunes from the sd card
 - it might be possible to use it as a (very simple and dirty) AY synth! The avray creator helped me for this, for sending simple notes, I just need to code the synth now, I'll reuse parts from the sid synth)

- Sid emulator (on arduino)
 - it can replay some sid files, from the arduino memory, which is limited (so tunes will be cut). I'd like to find a way to stream the tune from the sd card, it's probably possible
 - it can be used as a Sid synth (see previous messages)

- 1 bit music player (on arduino)
 - it can get music from the arduino memory. 1 bit music don't need much memory so this time a whole song, even a complex one, can fit in the memory. It might be possible to stream data from SD if the 1-bit music engine chosen is the same for all the songs.
 - it should be possible to create a 1-bit synth, but I don't know why. Probably not an easy task.

- Mozzy synth (see https://sensorium.github.io/Mozzi/ ), which can output fun FM sounds and many other effects.

There will be also room for adding light sensors and use the whole thing as a noise box...

I'll also post the PCB sources (if it works as expected)

[garvalf]

I've ordered the PCB. I've made a little error on it which I noticed too late, but it shouldn't be a big problem and could be fixed. I hope there are not more

Some more sound examples:

- http://picosong.com/HUGM/ (Xenon / Spectrum)
- http://picosong.com/wseMn/ (Cauldron / Amstrad)
- https://soundcloud.com/memento-somniare/sidarduino-test (C64 SID synth)
- http://battleofthebits.org/arena/Entry/Underground+Water/26509/ (personal creation, for zx spectrum)

In addition this board has:

- a low pass filter
- arduino nano
- SD card reader
- Midi DIN-5 connector

I'll sell the PCB card alone (if it works as expected), for a cheap price like 3 or 4 € without shipping , and also some complete kits and assembled product (should be below 20 € without shipping)

The github project:
https://github.com/farvardin/garvuino

A picture of the PCB:

[xlibman]

Nice to see this is alive and well @garvalf . I will listen to to the songs you made and posted when I get some free time again.

[garvalf]

I've made a little video to present the board: