CPC - 4 Dollar MP3 Player over USART

[LambdaMikel]

As suggested by @zhulien , and myself also at some point , this one works well:


https://youtu.be/NtUVlTJrOkU
Certainly a good bug for 4 $ ! 

[zhulien]

Now no reason for cpc game coders not to include speech, samples and mp3 music in their games even from BASIC.

[TotO]

I have does this test with a SD-Card reader with MP3 chip (30$) to plug on the MiniBooster 4 years ago.
But it was expensive at this time, and the interrest to replay MP3 on CPC was close to nul.

[zhulien]

the number of minibooster and lambaspeak owners and the other dedicated serial port users must be quite a lot now, it is nice to have ingame music that is programmed with AY, but then again, how many games on non-CPC these days have non-programmed music?  most?  CPC games now have the choice.  if games programmers are a little consistent, eg: let's say max 99 tracks in a game, 1st to 50th track level 1 to 50, 51st to 80th boss fight musics, 81st track splash music, 82nd title music, 83rd highscore music, ...


then we can put whatever track we want in a game and make custom ones too.


for lambdaspeak can also play sound samples for human speech as required, or even sampled sound effects in addition to AY sound effects, music.


this is the SD Card equivalent to CD Audio in games on CD Games Consoles.

[TotO]

Yes, like the PCE CD-ROM. It is probably nice to do something for them... To have a common and cheap MP3 solution.

[LambdaMikel]

Yes, I had no idea that game developers are doing this on the other platforms. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Somebody should try this module with the much more affordable USIfAC as well; maybe that one can even be included with games. LS 3.0 is a bit (much) more expensive.
I am wondering if I should rearrange the pin layout and relocate the LS 3 serial headers such that people can plug in the MP3 module directly into the LS 3 (i.e., replace the male PIN headers with a 4pin socket, or even solder it in).
But then it is also a bit tricky to find the space on the LS PCB... oh well, we can put it on the backside of the LS 3.0 and solder in the headers. I'll do that.

Btw, if you use a little audio patch cable, you can also route the MP3 module's output back into the CPC... so you would have choice if you want to hear Epson speech output in CPC speaker or MP3.

[LambdaMikel]

for lambdaspeak can also play sound samples for human speech as required, or even sampled sound effects in addition to AY sound effects, music.

you could play mp3, SPO256-AL2, AY from CPC, and in addition still have 4 high quality *polyphonous* PCM channels from LambdaSpeak for PCM sound effects or speech or music (8Bit, 16 kHZ PCM or more).


and all this over the CPC internal speaker, thanks to your excellent suggestions! and, all this basically with close to zero additional CPU load, so all CPU resources are available for game play and graphics and AY CPC sound.


you will have to chose between mp3 or epson speech though if you want to use the internal CPC speaker. but you can always have spo256 and 4x PCM in addition, or use an external amplifier.

[LambdaMikel]

The MP3 module can now be added / soldered in as a permanent LambdaSpeak 3 option.

[zhulien]

Given its only $4... Everyone should have mp3 on cpc!


Game developers should consider supporting mp3 spund tracks too... And speech. And digital samples or drums if possible. Make their games sound like no cpc sounded before.

[TotO]

Game developpers never considerate to support anything that is not CPC stock... (sometime if not 64K TAPE for CPC464) or change their minds, because they though that not everybody can use it. That is a shame, because when the hardware is here they kill themselve the concept by not producing software. (CTC-AY, PlayCity, X-MEM ...)

[kawickboy]

I remember B.A.T , Atari ST release from UBI (1989), the game was sold with a card whic was both a sort of soundcard (MV16) and a dongle. Dynablaster was sold wuth a joystick-card allowing to plug up to 4 DB9 joystick, and was a dongle too. Later B.A.T 2 was sold with a more basic dongle but with a MV16 enhanced soundtrack.


So, a hardware addon sold with a great game using it should be a way to get an addon popular.

[asertus]

Adding hardware to (cartridge) games has always been very common, Nintendo, MSXs, etc.. not so in CPC. It also means much more expensive games...


These days, most of CPC games are restricted to 464, (cpcretrodev contest...) but still you get like Operation Alexandra....


Games using much more hardware are difficult to develop for solo developers, not full time.., and only skilled teams can really take advantage of that...

[TotO]

Games using much more hardware are difficult to develop for solo developers, not full time.., and only skilled teams can really take advantage of that...

So, a hardware addon sold with a great game using it should be a way to get an addon popular.

CTC-AY kits was sent for free to 10 most famous CPC developpers in 2013, for a release 2 years next with games. Finally, for the reason wrote previously, the project was splitted (X-MEM + PlayCity) as the cartridge support + slot was not really approuved. Minds are changing to slowly... Today, peoples are OK for a cartridge to plug to the expansion port, not a cartridge slot with extra common features. So, I'm pretty sure that we will have some games using embedded MP3 into the game cards in the future... For better or for worse!

[zhulien]

In the case of lambdaspeak all the functions are easy to program from basic so really no excuse.

[TotO]

In the case of lambdaspeak all the functions are easy to program from basic so really no excuse.

CTC-AY was easy to program... And Lambda Speak is too expensive (because versatile) to be a base for CPC gaming.
Currently, the gamers like the "all-in-one cartridge" ... Will probably come versions with extra embedded  hardware (SF2, ...) next.

[zhulien]

perhaps i am the odd one out who likes to expand their computers to the max.  You know what I got for CPC, I have Vampire for my A500Plus, and of course turbo chameleon for c64.  A500 only just got it's $4 ethernet, but I didn't yet set it up due to lack of time. As a programmer using extra hardware is fun, much more fun than using the base hardware.  Also most of the time, the software should fall back to base machine (even if base machine means needs more RAM).  Imagine where PCs would be today if everyone had CPC mentality of must support 64Kb only. 

[asertus]

Imagine where PCs would be today if everyone had CPC mentality of must support 64Kb only.

Actually, current PCs are not 80s PCs, although they can "emulate" them, as they emulate CPC, MAME, etc....


I am a happy user of M4 board, mx4 extension and some ram extensions to play with Symbos, but at certain moment you wonder when a retromachine becomes a "different" thing. And I think this is a very personal opinion.


Even in CPC you can develop using enhanced features for the plus range, like MSXs 1, 2 or 2+, etc... Or even using additional components, lambdaspeaker speech effects, the V9990 video card, some memory extensions and M4 for online multiplayer.. and massive storage, but, is that a ¿CPC game?

[zhulien]

If you put a cga card in your 1980s PC that didnt come with one is it still a PC game if the game uses it?

[TotO]

perhaps i am the odd one out who likes to expand their computers to the max.  You know what I got for CPC, I have Vampire for my A500Plus, and of course turbo chameleon for c64.

I have never understood why most CPC users do not want to use the CPC expansion port... Interfaces on it exist since the 80s. But minds started to change since 5 years now and hundreds peoples currently own ROM/RAM/SSD/COM... boards connected. Should be time to use them?!

[LambdaMikel]

Ideally, an MP3 extended cartridge should use this USIfAC because it so much cheaper to build.
Or extend the Dandanator with UART lines. Not so easy to do so without a microcontroller, even though I believe that it should also be possible with just a single CPLD (bit banging etc.) 

[fgbrain]

I really like the potential of such great hardware
and I am into tracker software and such...
BUT on Shame on CPC the interest is very low!!!


Just think that
[size=78%]We dont have a dma sample tracker for the Plus yet[/size]
No existing tracker uses 512kb let along 4mb!!!


Still, I hope that due to pricedrops and capable developers,
things will change..

[TotO]

SOUNDTRACKER DMA (ZIK/FUTUR') does that... I don't know about the last version availability, but it was used for the CRTC3 demo two years ago.

[LambdaMikel]

IMHO proper sample playback is really one of the reasons for a dedicated hardware extension, since the AY is doing so poorly on samples. The SID is way more capable for PCM. 4 Bit just isn't enough.

I always thought SID had 8 bits, so I am a bit surprised to find that this is also only 4 bit samples.
Hmm. Why does it sound so much better then AY for samples? I guess that most be the rest of the analog hardware (filters and such). Anybody knows?

Shoot... now I used edit instead of quote... can I get the old post back? Anyhow. Just wanted to quote myself.

[TotO]

IMHO proper sample playback is really one of the reasons for a dedicated hardware extension, since the AY is doing so poorly on samples. The SID is way more capable for PCM. 4 Bit just isn't enough. Even with DMA, it is more noise and scratching than music.

Hum...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPCyF71098o

Let's use the 4 MB for some real samples in decent quality instead  

Reducing the CPC to a remote control is a pity... 

[LambdaMikel]

Yes, that's an impressive demo that uses 4Bit DMA... played on the emulator.
I don't have a real CPC Plus here, so I cannot try it. The uploader claims it sounds better on a real CPC Plus.