bob@ultra.com (Bob Beach) (12/27/90)
I just bought a sound blaster card and discovered that I must now buy a seprate box ($75) to connect up my MIDI keyboard. I looked at the wiring of the joystick port included on the board and found MIDI TxD and RxD lines. Does anyone know if I can just connect these lines up to my MIDI keyboard (adding the appropriate connectors of course). Asked another way, Is there anything in the MIDI box except for some connectors? Also, I am interested in doing some programming of the board itself. Creative Labs sells a "development kit" for ~ $100. Are there public domain definitions of how the board works and/or software? Alternatively someplace where I can buy the dev kit for less than $100. thanks bob beach ultra network technologies bob@ultra.com
woan@nowhere (Ronald S. Woan Jr.) (12/28/90)
bob@ultra.com (Bob Beach) writes:
Bob> I just bought a sound blaster card and discovered that I must now
Bob> buy a seprate box ($75) to connect up my MIDI keyboard. I looked
Bob> at the wiring of the joystick port included on the board and
Bob> found MIDI TxD and RxD lines. Does anyone know if I can just
Bob> connect these lines up to my MIDI keyboard (adding the
Bob> appropriate connectors of course). Asked another way, Is there
Bob> anything in the MIDI box except for some connectors?
There doesn't seem to be anything else... Anyway, for $99 at Babbages
nationwide, you can get the connector box with sequencer plus and 2
MIDI cables. Even discounting sequencer plus, it's only costing about
$40 for the connector box which I have been using as just a joystick
extension cable since I have a MusicQuest card anyway...
Bob> Also, I am interested in doing some programming of the board
Bob> itself. Creative Labs sells a "development kit" for ~ $100. Are
Bob> there public domain definitions of how the board works and/or
Bob> software? Alternatively someplace where I can buy the dev kit
Bob> for less than $100. thanks
I've seen the development kit slightly discounted by some mail order
firms, though the only one I remember offhand is Computer Express on
Prodigy...
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+ other email addresses Prodigy: XTCR74A Compuserve: 73530,2537 +thinman@cup.portal.com (Lance C Norskog) (01/01/91)
I bought the SB card from Creative Labs, Inc. (the vendor) in San Jose, CA. This costs $249 list, and you get the Development Kit and the C/MS chips also if you ask. This is probably comparable in price to getting the pieces at street price, and I wanted to have some pull with the factory. The SB has several functions: voice-quality sound digitization, ditto output, at up to 13KHZ, AdLib compatibility ( 9 or 11 synthesized output channels, which seems to do some MIDI standard?), C/MS compatibility (6 or 12 stereo output channels; CLI's old sound card), a joystick port, and a MIDI port (with a 64-byte input buffer!). Voice output, AdLib sounds, and C/MS sounds are mixed in analog at the back end of the output. (It may be that the MIDI port follows some MIDI standard instead. This is unfortunate, as the Roland MPU-401 card is what everybody clones.) I was annoyed at what I got, because I wanted this sucker for part of a multi-media project, and I badly want stereo sound effects. With the DK you get MicroSlime C libraries (binary) for controlling voice digitization and its output, text-to-speech output, and AdLIb sound output. You're on your own for controlling the MIDI port, but it's explained. However, you get no info on programming the stereo C/MS ports, and I'm getting nowhere with Creative Labs. Is the C/MS stuff available anywhere? I'll check out the UCSF archive mentioned here. The joystick, MIDI port, and voice digitizers are useful for my project, and I will use them, but mono synthesized output just doesn't make it. Thanks, Lance Norskog
gtoye@supernet.haus.com (Gene Toye) (01/01/91)
thinman@cup.portal.com (Lance C Norskog) writes: >Is the C/MS stuff available anywhere? I'll check out the UCSF archive >mentioned here. The joystick, MIDI port, and voice digitizers are >useful for my project, and I will use them, but mono synthesized output >just doesn't make it. I just got a SB for Christmas, including the C/MS chipset. It was purchased locally from a discounter (Soft Warehouse in Dallas). The C/MS chip set included a small manual titled "C/MS Programming Information". It is 7 pages and describes the C/MS register set and how to address it via ports. It includes a small assembly example. Was this included in your copy? If not, perhaps you can get it from Creative Labs. Hope this helps. -- Gene Toye: Harris Adacom Corporation / 16001 Dallas Pkwy. / Dallas, TX 75248 Internet: gtoye@supernet.haus.com or gtoye@supernet.lonestar.org Usenet: uunet!{iex,ntvax}!supernet!gtoye DISCLAIMER: My employer never knows what I am going to say next.
fordke@infonode.ingr.com (Keith Ford x8614) (01/03/91)
In article <37427@cup.portal.com> thinman@cup.portal.com (Lance C Norskog) writes: > With the >DK you get MicroSlime C libraries (binary) for controlling voice digitization >Lance Norskog Binaries only? That isn't very nice. -- | ...!uunet!ingr!fordke OR fordke@ingr.com | Micro Magic BBS (Fidonet: 1:373/12, MaBell: +1 205 830 2362) | "and the Trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe, and saw." -Rush
system@infopls.chi.il.us (SYSOP) (01/03/91)
gtoye@supernet.haus.com (Gene Toye) writes: > I just got a SB for Christmas, including the C/MS chipset. It was purchased > locally from a discounter (Soft Warehouse in Dallas). The C/MS chip set > included a small manual titled "C/MS Programming Information". It is 7 > pages and describes the C/MS register set and how to address it via ports. > It includes a small assembly example. Was this included in your copy? > If not, perhaps you can get it from Creative Labs. > I bought a SB from Soft Warehouse here in Illinois several months ago. It does have the CMS chips on it, but there was no special programming info for it. The only programming info I have on it tells how to use the CMS-VOICE.DRV, which is for the digital channel. Does the manual have information on detecting the CMS chips? I can detect the AdLib and digital portions, but would like to also detect the CMS (which is the Game Blaster.) This is for my Infoplus program, BTW. --------------- Andrew Rossmann | Sysop of Infoplus BBS, +1 708 537 0247 andyross@infopls.chi.il.us | Infoplus Support, latest version available ..!uunet!ddsw1!infopls!system| by logging in as infoplus.
gtoye@supernet.haus.com (Gene Toye) (01/05/91)
system@infopls.chi.il.us (SYSOP) writes: > Does the manual have information on detecting the CMS chips? I can detect >the AdLib and digital portions, but would like to also detect the CMS >(which is the Game Blaster.) This is for my Infoplus program, BTW. No, here is the contents: 1 Memory map - describes I/O addressing to write to CMS registers 2 Register Description - describes use of CMS registers 3 Frequency Table - gives table of frequency values that correspond to musical notes 4 Programming Example - gives a small assembly language example that initializes CMS, then generates a middle C on voice 1 -- Gene Toye: Harris Adacom Corporation / 16001 Dallas Pkwy. / Dallas, TX 75248 Internet: gtoye@supernet.haus.com or gtoye@supernet.lonestar.org Usenet: uunet!{iex,ntvax}!supernet!gtoye DISCLAIMER: My employer never knows what I am going to say next.