WILLY - Soundcard adapter (MIDI and OPL3)

[PulkoMandy]

Hello,


With help from LambdaMikel (well, more than help, he wrote all the code and I just had to change the OUT address to adapt it to my hardware), we now have a way to play MIDI music on Willy+S2P!


https://twitter.com/i/status/1487378687242690561

[XeNoMoRPH]

Good news 👏👏👍👍

[GUNHED]

Yes, he's a very nice and supportive guy. 

[Prodatron]

I am currently porting the SA2 player to SymAmp, and I can already play some songs, which is cool, thanks, PulkoMandy
I have one question: the SA2 player by Madram is working nice, but most commands don't seem to be implemented? It doesn't seem to be a problem with most of the SA2 modules, but e.g. the BPM works bad (like "dear rob")Anyway, it's a very cool hardware project!

[PulkoMandy]

Yes, unfortunately the SA2 player does not implement all commands. The BPM is maybe not so easy (or at least it will not be completely accurate) with only the 300Hz ticker of the CPC. Initially I wanted to use the OPL3 timer, but it turns out this is in fact not accessible on the OPL3LPT card.

[Prodatron]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1iELdN3H0I

[Prodatron]

Here you can see the SA2 plugin for SymAmp in action. I already added the speed command (F), I just use the simple formular
ticks=750/BPM
With the exception of pattern break no other commands are implemented yet, so it's quite interesting, that many modules already sound good. I will probably implement some of the commands as soon as I find out how exactly to manipulate the frequencies and the volumes.
The source code of an x86 DOS player for the Surprise! Adlib Tracker 2 is included here...
https://adplug.github.io/library/files/SurpriseAdlibTracker2.zip
...so it should be quite easy to add the other commands.

[XeNoMoRPH]

SymAmp, the ultimate player for Amstrad CPC !!!

[Prodatron]

Here is a new video:



https://youtu.be/jOsQIzqdpRs

Most effects are now implemented:
- arpeggios
- slide up
- slide down

- portamento
- portamento + volume slide

- volume slide
- set volume

- pattern break
- speed

"vibrato" and "release" are missing, as well as these special arpeggio instruments, no idea about them currently.

It always seems to be a good idea to take an existing code and port/use it. This is probably what MadRam thought when porting the x86-based "QDPlayer" (yes, "quick and dirty", at least the austrian guy kept the humor ) for the SA2 format (Surprise! Adlib Tracker 2) in 2000-something. He was able to play SA2 files (Adlib = OPL2) on the CPC via the CPC-ISA project, which was great!
Anyway I think it would be better to recode everything, as the original x86 code is IMHO shit. I tried to remove most of the original stuff and it's quite ok now.

[Matej]

@PulkoMandy - can I buy 2x adapter