HuSound

[TailChao]

There is no reason why the PCE couldn't sync with a special cable in the controller port. Full MIDI would be nice but honestly just making it sync to a gate/trigger would be enough for me personally. That's now almost all my stuff works.

I don't think I fully understand your requirements, then.
Do you want just syncing to start / stop music and sound effects? Play individual notes?

[SignOfZeta]

With many old fashioned electronic instruments (either pre-MIDI or just belligerently non-MIDI stuff made this year) the tempo is kept by a 10V trigger. Notes are done on a 1V/octave scale.

This is the normal way instruments like the Doepfer A-100 comunicate. It's actually a lot more flexible than MIDI as demonstrated here:

A click track, basically. Every time there is a click the sequence is re-aligned.

[elmer]

I originally wrote a few nonsequitor sentences here then realized I'm not in any state to think about legal messes. Let's discuss options further via PM if you want to include the driver in any of your work. In the mean time, I suggest playing with it to see if it actually fits your needs.

I'll PM you, and see if you want to backtrack on the WTFPL license ... which is, of course, exactly why it is important to bring this stuff up in any development that uses "free" software!

I do somewhat miss when I started development work in the early 2000s and everything was like this.

The Boost License and the Zlib License are the grown-up versions of the WTFPL license ... they basically add the protection that anyone using the source not sue the author ... kind of important in a world where you can get sued for serving a cup of coffee that's "too hot".

Stuff like Magic Kit doesn't even have mention of a license. Whatever.

Simpler times, I'm afraid.

I don't think that I was ever asked to put a copyright notice in my early games' source. It was all proprietary tech where nobody else ever saw the source.

GNU/FSF changed the world, first by creating the idea of "open-source" that anyone could use ... then by creating a legal framework in which it's openness could be protected ... and then by suing companies that just took the source without complying with the license.

It doesn't mean that theirs is the only way ... lots of alternatives have emerged because people found GNU/FSF to be too dogmatic and restrictive.

But they did make everyone pay attention to the legalities, and not just "assume".

I can't say that I'm happy with all the changes in the world over my lifetime ... but I have to live with those changes, whatever my personal feelings are.

I like to release my stuff under a very permissive license ... but some people can't stand that someone out there might ever make any money when using their stuff, and so want to use something like the GPL or LGPL.

If you look around at open source projects that real companies pay people to work on ... there's a lot less GPL/LGPL these days, and a rise in less restrictive Mozilla or Apache use.

[elmer]

With many old fashioned electronic instruments (either pre-MIDI or just belligerently non-MIDI stuff made this year) the tempo is kept by a 10V trigger. Notes are done on a 1V/octave scale.

This is the normal way instruments like the Doepfer A-100 comunicate. It's actually a lot more flexible than MIDI as demonstrated here:

A click track, basically. Every time there is a click the sequence is re-aligned.

Haha ... you make my want to plug in my Waldorf Pulse again!

One of my "side" interests is in doing a modernized Develo-board ... basically a USB microcontroller hooked up to the PCE's joypad port. I don't think that I have a spare serial port left on the board for MIDI, but there may be a spare A/D converter pin for a gate signal.

No timescale on that though ... too much software to do ... but the hardware is sitting in a box waiting!

[SignOfZeta]

I have Apple Logic for powerful MIDI stuff and I barely even use that. Analog tempo sync is the most important thing to me. With a voltage controlled sync a PCE could sing along with all my other gear and it would be fantastic.

[elmer]

I have Apple Logic for powerful MIDI stuff and I barely even use that. Analog tempo sync is the most important thing to me. With a voltage controlled sync a PCE could sing along with all my other gear and it would be fantastic.

I wondered if that was where you were going with this.

My analog-electronics days are far behind me, but that just sounds like a Schmitt Triggered gate going into one of the data bits on the PCE's joystick port. I'm sure that TailChao will have a better handle on it.

[Arkhan]

We had talked about making a MIDI interface of sorts awhillllllllllllle back.   I'm not sure if CharlieMac ever got anywhere.   From what I remember, doing the hardware part is not hard.

The sound engine that Squirrel was using at the time was perfect for live-playing, which is obviously what you would want out of an instrument you are actively touching.

really though, it's a bit of a wasted effort I'd say, as there would not be many users probably, and you can get the same kind of sounds out of a few of the VSTs floating around.   One does 32-byte stuff like PCE.   

It's basically a PCE/Konami SCC VST.    You can draw the wave sample and control filters/envelopes.   

I generally use that to mockup the tunes I write that end up in games.


EDIT: Also, MML is not too daunting.  It's fairly 1:1 with sheet music.  Most of the work can be cut by simply converting a MIDI to MML.   It's a very fast, practical, streamlined way to generate music, especially on a system designed for it.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm sure it's not hard, but if I have to type anything I'm not doing it. It sounds lame, but ever since my music when fully hardware my productivity has skyrocketed. I'm not typing anymore ever.

[Arkhan]

I'm sure it's not hard, but if I have to type anything I'm not doing it. It sounds lame, but ever since my music when fully hardware my productivity has skyrocketed. I'm not typing anymore ever.

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/chip32_by_sam/details

You just use this in a DAW and drag the mouse around and press a key on your MIDI controller of choice and see if you like the noise you just drew.

I rock FruityLoops for all this crap.  There's no typing.  Just clicky stuff followed by keyboard-smacky-stuff.

[TailChao]

With many old fashioned electronic instruments (either pre-MIDI or just belligerently non-MIDI stuff made this year) the tempo is kept by a 10V trigger. Notes are done on a 1V/octave scale.

This is the normal way instruments like the Doepfer A-100 comunicate. It's actually a lot more flexible than MIDI as demonstrated here:

A click track, basically. Every time there is a click the sequence is re-aligned.

Huh, that's actually pretty cool.
I guess the easiest way would be to just make a little module that plugs into the controller port which can monitor the click track and then convert it to various scan codes. You'd have to poll it on the PCE side and then dispatch the appropriate instruments, but it would be cheaper than a custom cart.

In other news, I've released HuSound v1.2cz which is the first proper open source release of HuSound, HuListen, and HSCC as per Elmer's request. After some thought, I've gone with the zlib license.

[spenoza]

I kinda want to see a side-by-side write up of HuSound and Squirrel. I'm curious to know how they are similar and how they are different. What does one do that the other does not, and so on.

[Arkhan]

Squirrel is basically just an MML compiler that talks to the PSG BIOS.   

so long story short, it is a 1:1ish translation of sheet music that compiles and plays on real hardware with minimal effort/overhead

[Bonknuts]

Squirrel is basically just an MML compiler that talks to the PSG BIOS.   

so long story short, it is a 1:1ish translation of sheet music that compiles and plays on real hardware with minimal effort/overhead

Didn't you guys write a compatible PSG player too, though? For hucard stuffs? I mean, not just a compiler.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm sure it's not hard, but if I have to type anything I'm not doing it. It sounds lame, but ever since my music when fully hardware my productivity has skyrocketed. I'm not typing anymore ever.

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/chip32_by_sam/details

You just use this in a DAW and drag the mouse around and press a key on your MIDI controller of choice and see if you like the noise you just drew.

I rock FruityLoops for all this crap.  There's no typing.  Just clicky stuff followed by keyboard-smacky-stuff.

Moving a mouse is way worse than a typing on a keyboard. Since this is a VST I'll give it a shot. I'll try mapping it to something.

I really hate "computer user" type actions while recording music. It's my creative kryptonite.

[TheOldMan]

Didn't you guys write a compatible PSG player too, though? For hucard stuffs?

No, we modified the cd bios player and Huc stuff to get the player to work on a card (for testing).