Raspberry Pi Pico Synth_Dexed? – Part 6

One last thing I definitely wanted for my PicoDexed was the option for PWM output. This post is by way of a short coda detailing how to do PWM on a Raspberry Pi Pico. Part 1 where I work out how to build Synth_Dexed using the Pico SDK and get some sounds coming out. Part …

Raspberry Pi Pico Synth_Dexed? – Part 5

Ok, ignore my last comment about Part 4 being my last post on this topic. I thought I ought to pull together all the hardware notes on how to build one as I haven't really written that down anywhere. So this shows the connections required between the Pico, I2S DAC and MIDI IN. Part 1 …

Raspberry Pi Pico Synth_Dexed? – Part 4

I was going to leave things at Part 3 blog-wise, and just get on with filling in the gaps in code now, but I've come back to add a few more notes. But this is likely to be the final part now. Recall so far, I have: Part 1 where I work out how to …

Raspberry Pi Pico Synth_Dexed? – Part 3

The story so far... In Part 1 I work out how to build Synth_Dexed using the Pico SDK and get some sounds coming out. In Part 2 I take a detailed look at the performance with a diversion into the workings of the pico_audio library and floating point maths on the pico, on the way. …

Raspberry Pi Pico Synth_Dexed?

For a while I've wanted to get Synth_Dexed up and running on a Raspberry Pi Pico. This is the library written by Holger Wirtz for use with the Teensy microcontroller, and the core synth engine used for MiniDexed. This is how I got everything up and running although it is too early to know if this …

Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 2

Following on from Part 1, this post looks at combining several of my previous projects to allow me to control the synth of a PSS-680 from a set of potentiometers. Part 1 - Goes into the detail of the MIDI implementation for the PSS-680 and how to handle the SysEx messages from an Arduino. https://youtu.be/aRfAQvwq8lc …

Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 1

I'm still exploring the range of Yamaha (and a few others) keyboards from the 80s with interesting synth chips.  So far I've looked at the YM2413 and the PSS-170.  I also have some YM3812s and a PSS-460. But today I'm looking at the PSS-680 which has a YM3420 in it, with the eventual aim of …

Arduino OPL Bus Sniffer – Part 2

Having now made myself a Arduino OPL Bus Sniffer I've put it to some use grabbing the voice data from the YM2413 based Yamaha PSS-170 keyboard. https://youtu.be/evERlSJY7zY Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! These are the key Arduino tutorials …

Arduino OPL Bus Sniffer

This is a slightly off-track application.  I want to be able to probe a YM2413 chip "in situ" - i.e. installed in a keyboard, so I thought it might be interesting to develop an Arduino application that can monitor the data signals and pull out the data being sent to the chip. Warning! I strongly …

Arduino OPL FM Drum Machine

I've finally returned to having a look at my Arduino OPL FM Synth.  This time I'm taking a look at the drum channels. https://youtu.be/IBDu9h4716U Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! These are the key Arduino tutorials for the main …