SuperSoniqs

Posted by: supersoniqs | September 14, 2012

Philips MSX-Audio Expander Bios Upgrading

Some users have asked us how to modify the Philips Music Module expander to support the new MSX Audio Rom 1.3 made by Brazilian MSX user FRS. This new bios has quite some new features like better MSX-Music instrument support and support for games that make use of the MSX-Music (FM-PAC) bios. A lot of ASCII MSX-Music now work! Please follow the FRS page link later on in this article for the release notes. We have tested this new rom with our expander and indeed some modifications needs to be done. Although those modifications are not complicated to do at all.

First you have to remove the yellow wires on the bottom of the expander:

Then you have to connect jumpers labeled 2 and 3 on the expander board. See below for the example (done on the bottom of the expander)

And this is all you have to do! Please note that the new MSX Audio bios from FRS does not include the original Philips software.
The latest bios from FRS can be downloaded at his homepage, in the tools section: http://frs.badcoffee.info/tools.html

You need the file msxaudio13.NMS-1205.rom from the MSX Audio Bios v1.3 zip package. Please contact Bas at www.bas-ditta.info if you need help obtaining a new flashed rom. If you own a Music Module and want better support for games and music, please note that we still have a few MSX Audio Upgrade boards left.

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Posted in News

Posted by: supersoniqs | February 22, 2011

MIDI-PAC manual online

Tjeerd of WORP3 just informed us that the first version of the long awaited MIDI-PAC manual is ready!

Inside you will find a lot of information about the MSX-DOS utilities for MIDI-PAC, the setup and configuration options.

You can download this manual from the WORP3 website, www.worp3.com (in the download section).

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Posted in Documentation, MIDI-PAC, News

Posted by: supersoniqs | February 18, 2011

Aleste 2 and MIDI-PAC

Korean MSX user Sinfox uploaded a few video’s to youtube. He used a MIDI-PAC, MSX turboR, Roland SC-55 and a Boss MX-10 mixer for the recordings.

Source: Paradise MSX Forum

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Posted in MIDI-PAC, News, Website

Posted by: supersoniqs | February 7, 2011

News bits

With the MIDI-PAC out in the open and Tjeerd already busy with making a second batch, we can’t complain. Thank you for your support! For new customers: we’ve made a new Order page were you can select the products you want to order. We will then contact you with the payment details.

Also, the PlaySoniq boxes, sponsored by Sunrise are in. If you bought your PlaySoniq without box, please use the order form to get your PlaySoniq box. The box costs nothing, you only pay shipping. Shipping will be around 10 euro for most European countries. If you know other PlaySoniq users in your neighbourhood maybe you can order together to cut down shipping costs.

MsxKun informs us that he is busy with a program to control the MSX PSG and the SID on the PlaySoniq through a MIDI keyboard. For this you need a Philips Music Module to connect your MIDI controller. This is of course very exciting news. Because using the PlaySoniq as a MIDI controllable syntheziser is one of the idea’s we had when we were designing the PlaySoniq. MsxKun also has plans to build in support for the SEGA Audio chip and the SCC of the PlaySoniq. At the moment this project has a low priority but he is willing to put more time in it, if more people are interested. So please let us or him know! Read all about it on his Spanish blog here: PaxBlog.

Also new is the instruction manual how to mount the Toshiba HX-MU900 MSX Audio expander. If you have a Toshiba Music Module lying around and want some more functionality, this expander might be for you. But you need to have quite some soldering skills to install this upgrade (or know someone who does). Check it out at the Docs section. This product can also be ordered from the Order page.

A while ago we adjusted the Commodore Basic instruction manual (sound chapters) so it would reflect the SID mounted on the PlaySoniq. It also contains the Basic listing, adjusted for use in MSX Basic. You can now download this document from the Docs page, in the PlaySoniq section.

If you read the comments on this site, you can find out how to flash your MIDI-PAC with the FM-PAC basic. Please note that afterwards, you can not use the MIDI-PAC together with a FM-PAC anymore (unless you flash the original rom back). The WORP3 website has a new configuration file for MT-32 users. If you made your own configuration file, please consider sharing them so we can add them to the website for other users. This counts for other MIDI equipment or game specific configs (like playing Aleste with only pianos). The MIDI-PAC will also have support for configuring instruments outside the general midi bank on Roland modules soon. So stay tuned.

Happy MSX-ing!

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Posted in MIDI-PAC, News, PlaySoniq, Sample Code, Website

Posted by: supersoniqs | January 9, 2011

MIDI-PAC on sale at Nijmegen!

In two weeks the MSX fair in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) will take place. Tjeerd of WORP3 has been working around the clock to get some MIDI-PAC’s ready for the upcoming fair in Nijmegen. The MIDI-PAC will convert OPLL (MSX Music/ FM-PAC) data to MIDI data on the fly. This means that you can play all your favorite games with your favorite MIDI equipment. The first tools were programmed in MSX Basic. Luckely Tjeerd decided to reprogram them all for MSX-DOS. Tools for loading custom configuration files are ready.
The first release of the new configuration tool to adjust the musical instruments and all kind of other MIDI parameters is almost finished. We would like to thank Tjeerd’s wife for her patience and Manuel Pazos for arranging the product packaging. Hopefully we will have the product packaging too before Nijmegen. Tjeerd has made some recordings available for those of you who cannot wait until the Nijmegen fair. The recordings are made with a custom build Yamaha XG module based on a DB50 expansion pcb. And although the MIDI-PAC works on most General MIDI equipment, we recommend Yahama XG MIDI Modules if you are planning to buy a module and don’t want to spend a fortune. If you don’t want to spend money on MIDI modules at all: instructions for using a PC as a MIDI module will also be provided in the manual. Anyway, listen to our latest recordings and be amazed!

Aleste:
Compile soundbite
Aleste

Fire Hawk:
First level

Fray:

Song 1 (you can compare it with an old one we posted earlier to hear the advancements: Old song 1).
Song 2 (you can compare it with an old one we posted earlier to hear the advancements: Old song 2).
Song 3.

Tower of Gazzle:
Song 1

Princess maker
Song 1

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Posted in Design, MIDI-PAC, News

Posted by: supersoniqs | December 7, 2010

MSX meetings

Unfortunately we could not attend the latest MSX meeting held by AAMSX in Barcelona due to an unexpected strike of the air traffic controllers in Spain. Luckely Spanish MSX user Salva managed to bring his PlaySoniq to the party so at least visitors could take a peek. Thank you Salva for demoing the PlaySoniq. We did however manage to attend the nice MSX Info Party in Helsinki last August and made a small video of the PlaySoniq in action for you to enjoy.

To make up for not being around in Barcelona, we will pay the shipping costs for our items bought by Spanish residents until the end of December and we hope to see you again next year.

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Posted in Fairs, News, PlaySoniq

Posted by: supersoniqs | October 12, 2010

PlaySoniq and MIDI-PAC together

Last Saturday, the monthly MSX Mariënberg meeting was held. We still had all the PlaySoniq, MIDI-PAC and MSX gear in boxes due to the Bonami retro fair that was held one week before. So we could easily also show a little demonstration in Mariënberg.

At the Bonami fair, people liked the PlaySoniq and the MIDI-PAC. For the PlaySoniq we had to convince people that it was actually a MSX that was playing Sega games. For the MIDI-PAC we’ve got questions about which CD’s we were playing (while we actually were demo-ing MSX games). This was also partly due to Tjeerd bringing his Yamaha XG wavetable MIDI module. Which actually blows away our simple Yamaha TG-300 tone generator.

Over the last weeks, we also managed to let the PlaySoniq work together with the MIDI-PAC.There are about 64 Sega Master System games with support for OPLL (the same chip as in the MSX Music standard or the FM-PAC has). Since the PlaySoniq can reroute that music and sound effects to the MSX, the MIDI-PAC can pick those up too and convert that to MIDI data on the fly. In short: with the PlaySoniq and the MIDI-PAC combined, you can also enjoy your SMS-FM games with your MIDI equipment. Try that with a Master System Console

We recorded a little video at Mariënberg to show the MIDI-PAC and the PlaySoniq working together. A big thank you to Filip Slagter who was willing to demo YS2 FM and Scramble Spirits on the PlaySoniq and MIDI-PAC combined. And Firehawk with the MIDI-PAC. we hope you like this video. But keep in mind that this demo was recorded with a phone (and the TG-300). A lot of the lower frequencies in the bass and drums sounds are therefore missing in the sound output.

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Posted in MIDI-PAC, News, PlaySoniq

Posted by: supersoniqs | September 26, 2010

PlaySoniq tips

Some users report that their FM-PAC is not working with the PlaySoniq. Others report that the joysticks are not working. For FM-PAC support you first have to activate the FM-PAC. After typing CALL MUSIC (or add this enty in the sega.bas file) everything works. Albert Beevendorp wil release a tool with which you can activate the FM-PAC from MSX-DOS. We hope to make this available soon. For joystick support you also have to edit the sega.bas file. By default only the keyboard is active. To change this, change line 120 by entering ‘ 120 OV=4 ‘ and save “sega.bas” again. Please note there’s an overlay matrix in the manual were you can check which option best suits your needs, or the game you want to play. PCEFAN reports that overlay code 3 works best in most situations. Just try and check the results for your configuration.

If you experience soft SCC sound, there a few ways around this. First of all, there’s a volume adjuster on the PCB which you can adjust to balance the SCC mixing. Please check the manual for details. To get full control over the audio mixing, also for mixing OPLL sounds with PSG, MSX with PlaySoniq and our upcoming MIDI-PAC we bought a Behringer VMX-300 3-Channel audio mixer. These can be picked up for about 50 euros at local or webbased trade-in markets. New it’s about 120~150 euros. We got ours for 50.

You can see the VMX-300 and the MIDI-PAC prototype in action here:

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Posted in Documentation, MIDI-PAC, News, Sample Code

Posted by: supersoniqs | August 31, 2010

PlaySoniq on Sale

Already spotted in the wild by some of you, but now it’s official: the PlaySoniq is on sale! The price of this multi-expander is set to 150 euros. The default connector cable from the PlaySoniq to Euro-SCART is 15 euro. A customized cable for J-SCART, CVBS or extra audio outputs can be made for you (please allow for some extra delivery days), prices are around 25 euro. Worldwide shipping not included. Please ask for details.

The first software package is ready and we have been busy with the instruction manual. Detailed information for users and programmers included. Check the PlaySoniq User Manual v1.3 on our documents page for all its amazing features.

Our product packaging (the outside box to shelve) will be produced by Sunrise by the end of this year and all buyers can apply for a free one (shipping excluded) when they’re ready. Please note that all PlaySoniq expanders will be send with a cartridge enclose (as seen on the above photo). We will start to process your orders at Monday the 6th of September. As all expanders have to endure testing, not all orders can be send out immediately.

Send your pre-orders to info@supersoniqs.com. We will contact you when we are ready to process your order. Until then!

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Posted in News

Posted by: supersoniqs | June 20, 2010

SuperSoniqs announces ‘PlaySoniq’

After months of preparation we are now at a point that it is safe to announce our next product the PlaySoniq: This exiting new multi-expander for MSX compatible computers will open up a great deal of new possibilities. It’s main features are:

Sega 315-5246 Audio/Video chip (found in latest Sega Master System II game consoles)
PAL/NTSC Encoder (50/60Hz real-time software switchable)
MOS Technology 6581 or 8580 Sound Interface Device (SID), also found in the Commodore 64/128.
Up to 128 Megabit RAM (16MB) addressable memory
Memory switchable between MSX or Sega Master System mode
Spartan FPGA running at 80Mhz
SCC/SCC-I (in FPGA) + 512KB Konami mapper, compatible with romload, loadrom and others
JTAG Connector
PSG to SCC redirecting in FPGA hardware, software switchable
Real-time Joystick, Keyboard and OPLL to MSX remapping when in Sega Master System mode.
Support for +/- 400 Sega Master System, SC-1000 and SG-3000 games
Software switch for VDP addresses: MSX1 Mirror mode, SEGA (Franky) or Colecovision mode
Total of 13 extra sound-channels, SID filter controllable
Gold plated slot-connector for durability

At the moment the production of the PCB with the SMD components has started. Afterwards, we have to finalize the PCB’s and product packaging. Some final testing and programming also needs to be done. We hope to start shipping in August. We’ll do our utmost best to keep the final sale price between a Moonsound and a OPL4 shockwave . We have published a little video about the manufacturing process for you. Enjoy! (If you get an error while playing, please select 480p resolution first.)