Firebee MIDI status

[Xyla]

Hi,

I saw there is an update for the Firebee's FPGA. I didn't see a list of changes though... is there a changelog somewhere? And what is the current status of MIDI on the Firebee?

[ldv-01]

Hi,
MIDI is functional at hardware level, and supported / tested (MIDI IN/OUT) in EmuTOS.

[Xyla]

Awesome, thank you. I'll have to play around with it soon.

[ldv-01]

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few. You can try Midiview (Midi in monitor) and Kara4tos (Midi file player).

[Eero Tamminen]

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few.

Does Music Mouse work: http://tamw.exxoshost.co.uk/mmouse.htm ?

(10-20 years ago when I tried lots of different MIDI applications, that was one of my favorites.)

[sashapont]

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few. You can try Midiview (Midi in monitor) and Kara4tos (Midi file player).

Hi! Where I can find Kara4Tos?

[ldv-01]

No, unfortunately. MM crashes after start on FireTOS or EmuTOS(with 68K EMU).

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few.

Does Music Mouse work: http://tamw.exxoshost.co.uk/mmouse.htm ?

(10-20 years ago when I tried lots of different MIDI applications, that was one of my favorites.)

[ldv-01]

Attached the KARA4TOS archive. FYI, I found it in a floppyshop disk (FALC-5370). KARA4TOS It is a MID and KAR TTP player. To run it in EmuTOS, copy the 68KEMU.PRG (from FireBee setup) to the KARA4TOS folder and rename it to 68KEMU.TTP. Run 68KEMU.TTP and pass as a parameter: KARA4TOS.TTP FILENAME.MID (Just replace FILENAME.MID with the SMF MID/KAR of your choice). BTW, timing seems pretty accurate.. About FireBee MIDI. The MIDI port is a standard Mini Din 6 socked. MIDI OUT are pins 6-4 (up-left), MIDI IN pins 2-1 (bottom-center) and MIDI THRU pins 5-3 (up-right). You can verify if you have MIDI OUT with a MIDI tested (a Led will do the job). FYI, I had to add in my MIDI chain a THRU BOX with schmitt trigger IC (my device is a KENTON THRU5 box) to improve the MIDI OUT signal.

Ldv

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few. You can try Midiview (Midi in monitor) and Kara4tos (Midi file player).

Hi! Where I can find Kara4Tos?

[sashapont]

Is it possible to listen midi files on fire bee without additional midi devises?
I try to execute karatos but there are nothing sound

[AdamK]

No, it is not possible. MIDI does not work that way.

[ldv-01]

No, you need an external MIDI device. The few midi players with sound support available on the Atari platform (PH Player, EPSS.. ) doesn't run on the FB.

Is it possible to listen midi files on fire bee without additional midi devises?
I try to execute karatos but there are nothing sound

[sashapont]

No, you need an external MIDI device. The few midi players with sound support available on the Atari platform (PH Player, EPSS.. ) doesn't run on the FB.

Can you advice midi device that works with firebee?

[ldv-01]

Hi,
Any electronic musical instrument with a midi interface (DIN connector) should be able to communicate with the FireBee (Just like any other Ataris, as an internal virtual synth mapped to Midi OUT is not available). To play easily most MIDI files you need a musical instrument (device) at least compatible with the GM1 standard. If you have a firend musician, I suggest ask advice and lend from him a MIDI instrument.
FYI, in my latest MIDI tests on the FireBee I used as MIDI slave an iPAD with the iRig Midi2 interface and the Roland Sound Canvas app (also available on android), but there are countless options.

Ldv

No, you need an external MIDI device. The few midi players with sound support available on the Atari platform (PH Player, EPSS.. ) doesn't run on the FB.

Can you advice midi device that works with firebee?

[ldv-01]

Is mmouse similar to Midisquare by Dave Snow ? Midisquare was rewritten in C language (and works in FireTOS).
https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirro ... idisq2.zip

In EmuTOS (FireBee) midi apps running via the 68K emulator are very few.

Does Music Mouse work: http://tamw.exxoshost.co.uk/mmouse.htm ?

(10-20 years ago when I tried lots of different MIDI applications, that was one of my favorites.)

[Eero Tamminen]

Is mmouse similar to Midisquare by Dave Snow ? Midisquare was rewritten in C language (and works in FireTOS).
https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirro ... idisq2.zip

Thanks, I didn't know about this, and yes, it's quite similar.

Only odd things were the weird noise between octaves when moving mouse horizontally, and some issue with key handling, at least with EmuTOS.

(After while, program starts beeping after every key press, so I guess it doesn't actually read the keys.)

[ldv-01]

Hi,
Thanks. Didn't tested in EmuTOS. Midsq2 C sources (gcc 2.95.3) are included in the archive. I guess should be possible to fix problems and build a Coldifire Native version. I'll test again in FireTOS if I can replicate the odd keypress behaviour..

Is mmouse similar to Midisquare by Dave Snow ? Midisquare was rewritten in C language (and works in FireTOS).
https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirro ... idisq2.zip

Thanks, I didn't know about this, and yes, it's quite similar.

Only odd things were the weird noise between octaves when moving mouse horizontally, and some issue with key handling, at least with EmuTOS.

(After while, program starts beeping after every key press, so I guess it doesn't actually read the keys.)

[ldv-01]

Tested again in FireTOS. I can’t replicate the issues you experienced. The only problem I found are the dialers of settings (tempo, etc) that scroll the values too fast and need to be slowed down in the code. The record option also works and save a .mid file .

Is mmouse similar to Midisquare by Dave Snow ? Midisquare was rewritten in C language (and works in FireTOS).
https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirro ... idisq2.zip

Thanks, I didn't know about this, and yes, it's quite similar.

Only odd things were the weird noise between octaves when moving mouse horizontally, and some issue with key handling, at least with EmuTOS.

(After while, program starts beeping after every key press, so I guess it doesn't actually read the keys.)

[Eero Tamminen]

I was testing Midisq2 under Hatari (Git build) ST / mono emulation with EmuTOS 0.9.12 using FluidSynth as MIDI device on host Linux.

Differs quite a bit from FireTOS on Firebee...