[Coco] Midi engine

[L. Curtis Boyle]

Bill is right. You can make a MIDI cable through the bit banger to just play to a connected MIDI synth (Ultimuse III supports this, with I believer up to 16 voices), but you can’t record what you are playing on the keyboard with this set up. There were 3rd party MIDI hardware boards that supported recording and playback (with a real serial chip, set up specifically for the serial port speed MIDI uses) with up 16 voices, though. The modern option for playback these days is, as Bill has mentioned, Drivewire, where the Coco sends the data throught the bit banger to the PC modern sound chip - but again, that is playback only.

L. Curtis Boyle
curtisboyle at sasktel.net

TRS-80 Color Computer Games website
http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/coco_game_list.html



> On Jun 17, 2017, at 11:25 AM, Bill Pierce via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:
> 
> Bill, basically, you're asking if the orch90 can be used as a modern soundcard. The software overhead needed to implement the synthengine needed as a midi synth is way beyond what a coco would be capable of. Ironically, synths of the 80s/90s ran on smaller and less powerfull CPUs than the Coco and one in particular actually used 6809s (multiple CPUs), BUT synths had huge propriety synth enginge chips with their own rom and ram containg hundreds and thousands of samples and the sounds were generated independently of the OS.
> The orch90 is just 2 DACs and does not generate sound on it's own. This is done in software, in the Coco and sent through the orch90. The  Coco barely has enough CPU power and ram to be able to produce the 5 voices heard in the orch90, much less the alomost unlimited tracks a midi file can require. I have many MIDI songs that produce over a hundred notes at once. Even in the 80s, the limit was about 32 sounds at once.
> For the Coco to even generate a simple single sound, it has to cycle almost uninterrupted at full speed. There is not enough time for the Coco to monitor a MIDI port continuously as well.
> 
> People with no knowledge in MIDI have a tendency to think MIDI is a music format. It is not. MIDI is just a simple serial protocol that controls a sound generator and/or hardware functions. It does not produce music in any form. It just controls the machine that produces the sound. Simply said, MIDI is a control protocol not a sound format.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bill Pierce
> "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull
> 
> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> 
> E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at hotmail.com>
> To: coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Sat, Jun 17, 2017 11:28 am
> Subject: [Coco] Midi engine
> 
> I could probably fiddle with google and find this but I figureit is faster to just ask the experts here.I have a Midi Keyboard.  I have a COCO3.  I have the Orchestra90cartridge.  Is there any software that I could run (along withinstructions on how to set it all up) that would let me use theCOCO3 and Orchestra90 an a Midi Engine driven by my Midi keyboard?If so, how does one hook the Midi up to the COCO?  Does it have to bedone thru a PC using Drivewire or is it possible to make a cable thatlets the Midi connect to the bitbanger port?bill-- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> 
> -- 
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>