ooohhh I have one of these toys! good to see it revealed 😁
Basically it's a standalone X2 inside a case with either USB or MIDI connection. Added bonus is that it also acts as a full USB soundcard when it's connected via USB ie it plays system sounds not just midi.
I have tested it in a pc as low as a p2@450 with USB1.1 ports, under XP SP3 it just works without any drivers needed.
Certainly an option for anyone wanting an easily portable X2 for their dosbox setup or (real)dos-box build 🤣

Quality-wise it's the same as the X2: same banks (even the GUD betas), same sounds , same rendering. So all previous X2 recordings apply to this as well 😎
I also never noticed a hickup on the usb-midi interface or the real midi one, they both just work fine.

The PCM output is excellent. I haven't pulled spectrum to confirm sampling frequency, but subjectively this is a great sounding DAC.

Here are the 7 PCB's, latest X3M revision, from the assembly factory.

All parts are in now 😀
Just need to add MIDI and RCA connectors, and enclosure.

Dude you are like the Willy Wonka of wavetable 😀

I would be interested if I could afford it, but it may end up being just another electronic gadget that goes semi-unused around here. And I don't exactly have 100 euros to toss your way at the moment.

I would, however, like to see Rightmark Audio Analyzer measurements of that AK4388 DAC, as sampled by a known high quality ADC. And maybe an ADC measurement of whichever solution you happen to be using, maybe it's on the other side of the circuit board?

I trust it's a high quality DAC, but there don't appear to be many known consumer devices using it that have been measured and reviewed.

It all sounds neat, though.

E: Of course you aren't using an ADC, you're piping the digital output of the USB sound output device and adding it to the digital output of the 5504 and piping it back into the USB interface. Not sure which chips are responsible for the USB interface, though. Not planning to duplicate, just curious.

kode54 wrote:

E: Of course you aren't using an ADC, you're piping the digital output of the USB sound output device and adding it to the digital output of the 5504 and piping it back into the USB interface. Not sure which chips are responsible for the USB interface, though. Not planning to duplicate, just curious.

Hey, you are right I am not using an ADC, it is all digital processing.
The DSP chip I am using is the SAM5504B from Dream, it has 4 24/56 bit DSP cores, and a 16 bit general purpose core
On X3M, 1 of these is used for USB audio streaming, 1 for effects and 2 for MIDI synthesis. --> 56 voices polyphony = 2 x 27 voices
On X2 it was 1 for effects and 3 for MIDI synthesis. --> 81 voice polyphony = 3 x 27 voices

The new version X3M is now available in larger quantity, professionally assembled : The X3M "Keropi" edition

This version has 3 green jumpers to configure the function of the MIDI Connector : this is the "keropi" feature 😉
Put in the 3 jumpers on the right positions : MIDI IN

Put in the 3 jumpers on the left positions : MIDI OUT

The preset editor allows to configure the 'route' of MIDI IN.
USB MIDI out is always sent to the synth and the MIDI OUT DIN connector.

This way you can now use X3M for even more purposes, for PC, for raspberry pi, ...
- X3M as MIDI interface : send USB MIDI to MIDI OUT, for example to connect to Sound Canvas
- X3M as MIDI module : receive real MIDI signal
- X3M as USB DAC and/or USB MIDI module : complete soundcard, for example for raspberry pi
- X3M as interface for MUNT : receive MIDI in from a DOS PC and play back the sound over USB DAC
-...

I think it needs more demos, tutorials,... on various platforms (for example I don't have a mac, I'm not a regular linux user).
Your ideas are welcome, and if you are interested in helping, you can PM me for a special offer (limited to a few people).

Yes this version is the best, it's in the name 🤣
In all seriousness the X3M is turning out to be a multi-purpose device, I'd say M stands for it.

Hi All! Great BB, BTW.

I've received the X3M+ board yesterday and found it very interesting. I'd like to thanks the Serdaco people for nice idea and its implementation. But the links for downloads (for X2 as compatible) is broken. Is it temporary event or not? I've downloaded X2 banks earlier but without the GUD bank. Is there a way to get it?

Also, please, reveal the purpose or pinouts for J2 and J4 connectors. Thanks!

sigma wrote:

Hi All! Great BB, BTW.
I've received the X3M+ board yesterday and found it very interesting. I'd like to thanks the Serdaco people for nice idea and its implementation. But the links for downloads (for X2 as compatible) is broken. Is it temporary event or not? I've downloaded X2 banks earlier but without the GUD bank. Is there a way to get it?
Also, please, reveal the purpose or pinouts for J2 and J4 connectors. Thanks!

Hi sigma
sorry for the trouble,this is temporary,
my hosting company moved servers a few days ago, and apparently file browsing does not work anymore.
I noticed this yesterday evening, and now have a ticket running with their support : they promised to fix it ASAP, but so far it seems all they got is a 'hello world' test ??
--> http://serdaco.com/downloads/

The files will become available again on the same place, if the issue is solved.

meanwhile just pm me your e-mail address and I will send you the latest GUD version.

sigma wrote:

Also, please, reveal the purpose or pinouts for J2 and J4 connectors. Thanks!

J2: bootup jumper header : when a jumper is placed, the X3M boots with all default settings instead of configured presets.
J4: proprietary programmer header for the Dream DSP chip

Here's an overview :

And this is the exact pinout for J8 :

put jumpers on the left 3 headers --> DIN connector has midi out function
put jumpers on the right 3 headers --> DIN connector has midi in function

dreamblaster wrote:

sigma wrote:

J2: bootup jumper header : when a jumper is placed, the X3M boots with all default settings instead of configured presets.
J4: proprietary programmer header for the Dream DSP chip

Thank you!

dreamblaster wrote:

And this is the exact pinout for J8 :

So it's also possible to add an external DIN to 8, 10, 12 pins of J8 to get the MIDI OUT simultaneously with MIDI IN?

sigma wrote:

So it's also possible to add an external DIN to 8, 10, 12 pins of J8 to get the MIDI OUT simultaneously with MIDI IN?

Yes

Hi,
the hosting issues persisted, so I put an indexing php script up there, to make the X2/X3M downloads available again :
http://serdaco.com/downloads/
I think this solves it. If you still notice a problem, let me know.
S

Does it work under GNU/Linux?

X3M audio and midi will work under linux

But the utilities for flash preset editing and upload are windows utils. maybe in wine.
The settings are persistent, so you can flash it on one pc, and then use it on another

I just read that you can choose between the standard 16M ROM and the GUD ROM.
Is it possible to flash it myself with software or idk jtag?

flashing is done via the micro USB connector without any special hardware - so you can easily update/revert/test banks 😀