mothergoose729 wrote on 2021-02-24, 21:53:

Love this project! Feature request time!

Will there be ways to cycle ROMs for munt (CM32L, old MT32) as well as load different sound fonts from within DOS like you can with MDF and a midi PC emulator?

These are already features of MT32 Pi.

NM: I keep thinking this is going to run MT32 Pi, which is should if possible as that's bare metal versus running MUNT under Linux.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2021-02-24, 21:53:

Love this project! Feature request time!

Will there be ways to cycle ROMs for munt (CM32L, old MT32) as well as load different sound fonts from within DOS like you can with MDF and a midi PC emulator?

yes, especially as MT32 supports this, the new pcb there will have a 'SYN' button to switch between synth engines (MT32 or Fluidsynth)
and a 'BNK' button to cycle between ROMs (for MUNT) or soundfonts (for fluidsynth)

redesign almost ready, hope to have prototypes made soon.

I want one, this is better than a real mt-32.

4 button pins: What if Dale decides to use the encoder button 🤣 I can see myself already modding an old case.

I am very excited by this product, its ideal for those of us who can only get away with one retro system.

I am doomed to a purchase, its a perfect upgrade for my "jack of all trades" system : 440BX, C3 Ezra, Voodoo 3, YMF719 + DreamblasterS2

Do you intend to make it possible to change synths with sysex commands?

Good things coming up. We're really interested in updates and progress on these new options.

WP32 McCake or MP-32 ... already forcing hard decisions on which one to get ... probably both ... where is that "order now" button 😉

bnz99 wrote on 2021-02-24, 22:29:

4 button pins: What if Dale decides to use the encoder button 🤣 I can see myself already modding an old case.

Dale definitely will use the encoder button soon, I'd strongly recommend adding a pin for it... 😉

This thing will make a real MT-32, hardmpu and just about every soundcard project obsolete. Can't wait.

Warlord wrote on 2021-02-26, 01:24:

This thing will make a real MT-32, hardmpu and just about every soundcard project obsolete. Can't wait.

I tend to disagree. We still need good sound cards with good SNR and a plethora of options.We already have the Orpheus (I’m not talking about availability) and the upcoming AWE Legacy which are very exciting, too.

We agree, can’t wait 😉

Warlord wrote on 2021-02-26, 01:24:

This thing will make a real MT-32, hardmpu and just about every soundcard project obsolete. Can't wait.

Won't this still require hardmpu / softmpu for games that need it for a real mt-32? Not to mention you still need a card with otherwise bug-free midi.

Oetker wrote on 2021-02-26, 07:45:

Won't this still require hardmpu / softmpu for games that need it for a real mt-32? Not to mention you still need a card with otherwise bug-free midi.

Yes, all of that with the addition of needing a clear-sounding input on the card since the audio out will be routed through the sound card.

Everything this does can be accomplished externally with a regular Pi, but making this internal cuts out a ton of clutter and additional cabling. Even with this, I'd probably still use external synths with it. Fluid synth can sound great and you can make some amazing per game instrument mixes, but it still doesn't sound like a real SC-55 or MU-80.

Even with all that, for most people having something inexpensive they plug into an otherwise unused port on their sound card that can give a big upgrade over FM or PC speaker music. Ya, this will be awesome.

Oetker wrote on 2021-02-26, 07:45:

Warlord wrote on 2021-02-26, 01:24:

This thing will make a real MT-32, hardmpu and just about every soundcard project obsolete. Can't wait.

Won't this still require hardmpu / softmpu for games that need it for a real mt-32? Not to mention you still need a card with otherwise bug-free midi.

It wont require hard MPU. Of course you can use soft softmpu. You can probably get away with a OPL3 SAx card no special card needed.

Warlord wrote on 2021-02-26, 12:47:

It wont require hard MPU. It's a Waveblaster compatible card. So it just goes into the wavetable header. You just need a card that has one without bugs, thats not that hard to find.

You still need either a HardMPU or to run SoftMPU for some games that require an intelligent MPU401 interface. The wavetable header passes the MIDI I/O, Power, and audio over it. On the MIDI I/O side of things it's not magic and doesn't do anything connecting a synth externally doesn't already do.

That said you likely can get away with just running SoftMPU. The games that require intelligent mode are all older and I'd don't believe any have their own memory managers so you can use EMM386 or QEMM which SoftMPU requires while running those games.

Warlord wrote on 2021-02-26, 01:24:

This thing will make a real MT-32, hardmpu and just about every soundcard project obsolete. Can't wait.

a real MT-32 is already obsolete :p that's not the point, if you wanna listen to and have the feel of using a real MT-32 you need a real MT-32 this exists to get support without having to try track down and pay for a MT-32 :p and on top of that no external devices needed.

This is a truly magnificent project. I can't wait to see the final result (which I will also want to buy 😉

Latest revision works fine now,
with button and LCD support.
I will make a first very small run.

Nice, hoping to get one of these soon 😀

Day 1 buy for me .

Funny how just today I have told myself I should check the status of the project. And here's the update. I'm looking forwards for some hands on experiences from others.

I'm curious though: it seems to be designed for use without a fan or heatsink. Won't that possibly cause thermal issues with the cm4?