[GUIDE] Direct MIDI IO for ST and Amiga Cores

[djhardrich]

I’m not sure with games, but using Octamed/ProTracker on the modified Amiga core is zero-configuration as well (like the ST core).... ao486 update incoming!

[bnz99]

I tried Bars & Pipes on the Amiga and it worked. I started to play around though with my MT-32 Rev.0 and ao486 with the direct midi and noticed the well known buffer overflow messages on the MT-32. For example, with Heart of China and other Sierra games. Indy4 or Day of the Tentacle didn't have problems, but I guess they did not send any Sysex. I'm somewhat curious what Dosbox is doing as I recall that I didn't have any buffer overflow trouble with it and I do have version 1.0.7. I have used SoftMPU with delaysysex and with that, it worked. I'll probably try to see how the delay sysex works in softmpu and whether I can tinker with the delays a little and check whether the eeprom updates floating around on ebay help with this.

[JimBobMcGee]

Demonstration of the USER I/O MIDI Atari ST Core.

Equipment used
Mister FPGA with I/O Board
Latest Mistery Atari ST Core provided by DJ Hard Rich.
Olimex MIDI board wired for User I/O board (thanks DJ Hard Rich)
Ensoniq ASR10.

https://i.imgur.com/RqajN0g.mp4

[JimBobMcGee]

Just received the Mister MIDI I/O from Legacy Pixels. Demos will soon follow.

Really like the case!

jtnrDCg.jpg (207 KiB) Viewed 20267 times

gEgltKU.jpg (488.13 KiB) Viewed 20267 times

[JimBobMcGee]

https://youtu.be/TSEJrpGbqFw

[moebiusrising]

Hi JimBobMcgee

I ordered the Olimex and it arrived, is the color coding in a USB cable consistent so I'm not crossing connections?

I don't have the Analog or Digital I/O board for my MiSTer but I see the USER I/O on the DE10-Nano, is it possible to still wire it this way? (ie: is the power voltage supplied by this port switchable to 3.3v?)

[bnz99]

I'd be surprised if that worked without the I/O board. I'm pretty sure it's mandatory. USB 2.0 cables are to my knowledge mostly consistent in their color coding. Red=VCC, Black=Ground, White=Data-, Green=Data+. If there is some variation to it, I'd guess it would be the data+ color. I'd suggest you use a USB 2.0 cable, it's probably a little easier to work with.

[bnz99]

Just wondering, is there anything going on to move this functionality into the official cores? Especially for the ao486 and minimig, a lot of good stuff has happened since the cores were posted.

[moebiusrising]

No one has moved in on this question and answered, so I'll ask again:

Is direct MIDI implemented in the main official core now?

[Lorenzorenegade]

Hello,

I'm building my first MiSTer fpga. I'm planning to use it mainly with Minimig running OctaMed 4.00 & OctaMED Sound Studio. My aim is to get a system with MIDI-latency most close to a real Amiga (Later other uses as well). Is there any difference in speed with Olimex and MiST midi boards? Also are the non-Olimex midi-boards available somewhere in EU? They would be easier to house in an enclosure.

[djhardrich]

Happy Holidays, everyone!! Here are the latest (compiled today, 12/28/2020) UserIO MIDI builds of all three cores. They haven't been merged into Main yet, I believe work has started on getting things merged, however (the final pinout is going to be different in Main, from everything I've heard so far)! I don't want to crosspost these all over the forum, so let your Minimig/ao486-using musician friends know they're here!

[djhardrich]

Hello,

I'm building my first MiSTer fpga. I'm planning to use it mainly with Minimig running OctaMed 4.00 & OctaMED Sound Studio. My aim is to get a system with MIDI-latency most close to a real Amiga (Later other uses as well). Is there any difference in speed with Olimex and MiST midi boards? Also are the non-Olimex midi-boards available somewhere in EU? They would be easier to house in an enclosure.

Latency will be the same as a real Amiga/ST, no difference in speed/jitter/latency/anything else between the two boards, lotharek.pl has the MiST midi boards in the EU

[Foxandxss]

I had my amiga when I was too young and I remember having octamed but I wasn't remotely interested. Now I own some hard synths and I have a bit of knowledge (not too much tho!).

I just bought a mister and I found this. Honestly I don't understand much yet, but I will research. I love how amiga / ST sound and I would like to try a bit.

[Inspector77]

Hello, i’m waiting for the arrival of my MISTer and the lotharek midi module for start to make music.
Thanks a lot for make this possible.

[Inspector77]

Hi, I have been doing tests with the midilink driver and it works very well when it comes to playing midi to my roland mt32, with my m-audio midisport interface, but it seems that the driver does not transmit or receive MTC or Midiclock. since I use a roland vs1680 recorder synchronized via midi, I have tested it with various midi sequencers, Cubase and Notator on the atari core, Voyetra gold and Cakewalk 5 on the ao486 core, and Music-x and Bars & Pipes on the core minimig.
Next week I get the Lotharek midi module and I will carry out the tests with the direct I / O port, Has anyone tested if the transmission of MTC or Midiclock works with the direct i / o port?
thanks

[moebiusrising]

Happy Holidays, everyone!! Here are the latest (compiled today, 12/28/2020) UserIO MIDI builds of all three cores. They haven't been merged into Main yet, I believe work has started on getting things merged, however (the final pinout is going to be different in Main, from everything I've heard so far)! I don't want to crosspost these all over the forum, so let your Minimig/ao486-using musician friends know they're here!

Appreciate the work you've been putting into this DJHardRich! I'll for sure pass along this to a few Amiga communities on Discord, and make sure you're credited.

[limi]

I just bought a mister and I found this. Honestly I don't understand much yet, but I will research. I love how amiga / ST sound and I would like to try a bit.

Then you probably are not looking for MIDI, which is something that was used in studio settings — not in games and demos and such.

ProTracker was responsible for most of the Amiga “sound”, so I would start there.

(Not saying MIDI isn’t useful, but it’s not the “Amiga sound” )

[drastikterror]

Hi all! I'm new to FPGA. I started being interested when casually I found a video demonstration of a MIST running Cubase for Atari.
Now I would like to know if some of you can make a test: running Dos on AO486 and use the software Fastracker 2, especially test if it can send midi out to the real world.
Thank you very much!!!

[Inspector77]

Fastracker2 loads in msdos and the samplers can be heard through the hdmi output, I have not done more tests because I have never used a tracker program, seems difficult, the program has many options

[Inspector77]

Lotharek midi module arrived today:

I tested the i/o port, atari and minimig cores all perfect midi in/out and sync in/out working

In the Ao486 core nothing works, something is wrong with this release. no midi at all.

[drastikterror]

Thank you guys!
Fastracker version 2.08, in the configuration menu can set Sound Blaster variables, especially the midi port, 300 or 330.
Then, in Advanced Instruments settings, midi channel can be activated and selected (1-16).

[bnz99]

Do these modified cores from djhardrich still work with the recent main updates? I briefly checked the mt32-pi pcb schematics and it seems that the pinout from the user i/o there is different as TXD seems to be located on RX+/Pin 9 instead of D+/Pin 3. I thought that maybe this is somehow controlled by the core itself, but my mt-32 connected through the olimex board and my hand-soldered usb cable + softmpu in the ao486 core (see post of mine above) just outputs weird stuff now. I'm guessing the main update causes the modified cores to also use the different pinout? Unfortunately, I don't have an usb3 cable for testing at hand right now. I'm waiting for stuff to arrive.

[bnz99]

Hm, I'm confused. From the USB pin table in mt32pi.sv it seems midi out/tx is on D-/white and midi in/rx on D+/green. This would match the old pinout. But then again, it's the first time I read system verilog. I'm guessing there is some pin switching that takes place depending on whether mt32-pi is detected?

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ao486_M ... cf5d3f1f5c
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/ao486_M ... /mt32pi.sv

[bnz99]

Nevermind, it all magically started to work again with the official mister cores. It seems the patched ones are really no longer necessary. Not sure what I did differently.

[Inspector77]

Currently with the last changes the main core (Sorgelig) of AtariSt already has the midi input and output fully working through I/O serial port
Tested with Cubase 3.1, Band in a Box, Notator3, IMS_47 and Breakthu.
Remenber put UART mode to "none".

These have been my tests:

The Minimig and Ao486 main cores (Sorgelig) have midi output working through I/O serial port , but no midi input yet.

The Minimig build from MickGiver is full working tested with Gajits Sequencer One, Bars & Pipes and Music-x.

The ao486 from MickGiver doesn´t work at all, only incomplete sounds when play a midi file and not midi input. Tested with Voyetras sequenzer Gold and Cakewalk 5 in Msdos, and cubase Score 2.8 in windows 3.11

Im using the Lotharek´s midi addon.

We are very close to having a multiplatform midi sequencing studio!

[bnz99]

I think midi in was added to minimig and atari st just earlier today. I don't have a midi keyboard at hand to test it, but I can at least say that midi out via user port works with minimig. I have just played back the brandenburg demo song in bars and pipes on my real mt-32 unit. So I really think these experimental cores are no longer needed.

[Inspector77]

Yes, mi test are from the today builds.
Midi in is not working yet in ao486 and Minimig cores
Midi out work in all cores

[Inspector77]

I have found on the ao486 core that if I turn on the midi keyboard AFTER launching the audio sequencer the midi input works perfectly.
Tested with Voyetra Sequencer Gold 4.11 and Cakewalk 5 on Msdos

Edit: Tested Cubase Score 2.8 in Windows 3.11, midi in/out and sync in/out all working

[Inspector77]

With the last update the AtariSt, Minimig and ao486 cores have full midi I/O through I/O serial port

[piers]

This is really exciting I can't wait to get Octamed wired up to some gear again. I've got a couple of questions;
- Can I access this directly through the GPIO pins on the DE-10 or do i need the expansion board?
- Would it be possible to use the serial port for a midi interface AND a port for a low latency game controller port?
- Ideally I want a midi interface without full size DIN ports and use 3.5mm TRS sockets instead so that I can fit in my home made case, can I build my own use through hole soldering and common parts or does someone sell me a suitable kit?
Thanks for all your hard work in getting this working, can't wait to start making music with this.