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Crazy Idea - MT32 WaveBlaster Card

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Reply 81 of 100, by RJDog

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Rackatack wrote:

Can't wait to see that, any eta or pricing idea?

Eta.. not really sure... given my current schedule it will probably be a few weeks before I get the prototype completed. Pricing? Assuming it does actually get to a stable and sale-able state, I would guess sub-$100.

Reply 83 of 100, by TimMer1981

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Any updates? Very interested. 😀

"I will take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it "My Screaming Chair". Every morning I will sit in it and listen to you scream. Any questions?"

Reply 85 of 100, by RJDog

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Ah, sorry, i've been pretty busy so only seem to have a handful of minutes to myself at any given time, so I usually get distracted with something that I think will only take a couple minutes.

I hope to return to this soon and get a couple boards assembled.

I realized though that what I've made (from a hardware perspective, anyway) is more like a fancy MIDI adapter for the OrangePi, and therefore moreso a generic MIDI computer than specific to something like MUNT.

Reply 86 of 100, by TimMer1981

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N00b question: if that's the case, how is it going to be different from something like this?

Pisound

Pisound - Audio & MIDI Interface for Raspberry Pi

"I will take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it "My Screaming Chair". Every morning I will sit in it and listen to you scream. Any questions?"

Reply 88 of 100, by TimMer1981

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the Goat wrote:

Pisound doesn't connect to the Wave Blaster port on a sound card.

This also won't, it'll be a standalone card with a waveblaster port on it. See this post: Re: Crazy Idea - MT32 WaveBlaster Card

So effectively, it'll be an internal version of PiSound?

"I will take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it "My Screaming Chair". Every morning I will sit in it and listen to you scream. Any questions?"

Reply 89 of 100, by RJDog

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TimMer1981 wrote:

N00b question: if that's the case, how is it going to be different from something like this?

Pisound

Well, I will admit that (a) I have not heard of this project, and (b) they are very simiar. Both have audio I/O and MIDI I/O to a SomethingPi. The software I develop will probably be as compatible with a Raspberry Pi 2/3 as much as it will be on the OrangrPi for which it is built.

The three main differences that I can think of between PiSound and this project is (1) the form factor -- externally, MB-32 is designed to be in a nice case and emulate the appearance of an MT-32. The I/O ports are all on the back to support this form factor. I have a 3D prototype printer onboard to develop a case. (2) internally, it can/will connect to standard WaveTable header and can operate directly attached to a compatible sound card, and (3) it has an LCD and front panel controller that can be attached when used externally (and therefore emumates the front panel I/O of the MT-32) and used internally (theoretically possible to make a 5-1/4" bay I/O unit for LCD and buttons... I should look into getting the 3D printer to develop this too).

But otherwise, I will concede that basic functionality is the same between the two projects.

Reply 90 of 100, by the Goat

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RJDog wrote:

theoretically possible to make a 5-1/4" bay I/O unit for LCD and buttons... I should look into getting the 3D printer to develop this too.

My interest in the MB-32 just when from, "neat but I already have a real MT-32" to ludicrous. That sounds really cool. Hopefully the display can have different modes such as spectrum analyzer (FFT) and maybe a mode similar to a SC-55/SC-88.

Reply 91 of 100, by TimMer1981

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RJDog wrote:
Well, I will admit that (a) I have not heard of this project, and (b) they are very simiar. Both have audio I/O and MIDI I/O to […]
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TimMer1981 wrote:

N00b question: if that's the case, how is it going to be different from something like this?

Pisound

Well, I will admit that (a) I have not heard of this project, and (b) they are very simiar. Both have audio I/O and MIDI I/O to a SomethingPi. The software I develop will probably be as compatible with a Raspberry Pi 2/3 as much as it will be on the OrangrPi for which it is built.

The three main differences that I can think of between PiSound and this project is (1) the form factor -- externally, MB-32 is designed to be in a nice case and emulate the appearance of an MT-32. The I/O ports are all on the back to support this form factor. I have a 3D prototype printer onboard to develop a case. (2) internally, it can/will connect to standard WaveTable header and can operate directly attached to a compatible sound card, and (3) it has an LCD and front panel controller that can be attached when used externally (and therefore emumates the front panel I/O of the MT-32) and used internally (theoretically possible to make a 5-1/4" bay I/O unit for LCD and buttons... I should look into getting the 3D printer to develop this too).

But otherwise, I will concede that basic functionality is the same between the two projects.

Thanks for your speedy and extensive response! 😀

It wasn't yet clear to me that you're also planning on building an external version and a LCD/front panel (and perhaps even a bay) version. Very, very interested. 😀

Would the external version connect to a MPU-401 (or UART in combination with SoftMPU) port?

And this will be a software emulation, using MUNT on RPi? If so: that would bring a lot of flexibility, given the ability to change the software, upgrade the software, etc.

"I will take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it "My Screaming Chair". Every morning I will sit in it and listen to you scream. Any questions?"

Reply 92 of 100, by gdjacobs

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TimMer1981 wrote:

N00b question: if that's the case, how is it going to be different from something like this?

Pisound

Pisound - Audio & MIDI Interface for Raspberry Pi

I looked at this project a while ago. Ultimately, I wanted to connect peripherals via USB rather than I2C or SPI so I could avoid having to make and maintain a custom BSP overlay.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 93 of 100, by jarreboum

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Damn, I had a similar idea in the back of my mind for a while. Googling "buildroot + munt" brought me here. I wanted to use the GPIO for MIDI IN and a 20x1 LCD display, along with a single volume button to replicate the look of an original MT-32 at a much smaller scale.

Obviously you have given much more thoughts about it than I have, so I'll take a step back and follow this thread now 😀

Reply 94 of 100, by TimMer1981

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Any updates? 😀

"I will take your bones, still alive and in great pain, and make them into a chair. I will call it "My Screaming Chair". Every morning I will sit in it and listen to you scream. Any questions?"

Reply 95 of 100, by Phreeze

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this looks cool, how do we understand this: you put a waveboard on a soundcard that has a cable going out to another board ? I don't really get it

ArGUS Parts list: http://bit.ly/2Ddf89V

Reply 96 of 100, by Tandy1000TL

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So... this is an old thread but it appears an MT32 on a Waveblaster compatible card is now available! Serdashop do the WP32 McCake which is SF2/MT32 emulator on a waveblaster card. It uses a compute module 4, and runs MT32-PI software.

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Reply 97 of 100, by terryfi

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Tandy1000TL wrote on 2022-01-05, 13:35:

So... this is an old thread but it appears an MT32 on a Waveblaster compatible card is now available! Serdashop do the WP32 McCake which is SF2/MT32 emulator on a waveblaster card. It uses a compute module 4, and runs MT32-PI software.

Using CM4 for MT32 pi is an overkill; a RPi Zero 2W is cheaper and has smaller power and size footprint.
The Serdashop bare board costs 60 USD by it self; and it is not adding much to MT32 pi project. It is combination of i2s DAC HAT and level shifting logic for MIDI TTL and extra function such as LED, buttons.

I am thinking of making an adapter card for Rpi Zero 2W that will cost less than 30 USD total compared to 125 USD cost of Serdashop's.

On Waveblaster header relevant pins are 5v (3x), TTL Midi in, Aud Out L, Aud Out R, AGND (6x), DGND (6x) and RST 5v.
i2s DAC hat is available from Aliexpress. The TTL Midi needs to be at 3.3V level to connect to Rpi GPIO, cheap two-way level shifters from Aliexpress can do this.
The output of DAC can be connected directly to Aud Out pins .

I think solutions such as Serdashop's board are neat but there is cheaper options for DIYers too.

Reply 98 of 100, by furan

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terryfi wrote on 2022-03-15, 03:42:

I think solutions such as Serdashop's board are neat but there is cheaper options for DIYers too.

Part of the cost in these things is the time that had to be invested - it's not just materials cost. If you do it yourself that can be fun, but you hit a lot of the annoying things they did. I'm fine paying a little more to avoid those annoyances, because I know I'm unlikely to iron out the last 10% of the issues - which are often 90% of work.

Reply 99 of 100, by Rackatack

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I agree with furan here, I don't mind paying a little extra for not having to deal with some of the issues, and my soldering skills are ... Well I won't say they don't exist, but they aren't that great. And you're helping a guy with a small company.

Last edited by Stiletto on 2022-03-15, 23:07. Edited 1 time in total.