CoCo2 64 and Orchastra90CC

[Van]

So along while back, ended up with a CoCo2 64K in box, and very minty. But never really did anything with it, more interested in Chip tune stuff.

Researched the Orchestra 90CC, but they are a bit rare, and for me there are better platforms for MOD type music. But seems to be the only music type expansion. The manual does have a schema so IF I really wanted to, could home brew a replica if there's a ROM dump of the software.

Saw CoCoTracker project for the Orc90 but it really pushes the CoCo3 to the limit and needs as much ram as you can throw at it. As far as I can tell it just plays MODs, not really a tracker (?) So where as it looks interesting I don't have the HW. Are there any other third party synth/tracking softs using the Orc90 for CoCo2?

Well, I revisited the idea of what I can do with this nice system and was thinking of options for homebrewing a synth cart of some sort, Either a DAC like the Orc90 or some PSG chip, SN76496 maybe or a AY.

Of course the main part would be the software, so how is the homebrew dev community? Tool chains and such?

Yogi

[JamesD]

So along while back, ended up with a CoCo2 64K in box, and very minty. But never really did anything with it, more interested in Chip tune stuff.

Researched the Orchestra 90CC, but they are a bit rare, and for me there are better platforms for MOD type music. But seems to be the only music type expansion. The manual does have a schema so IF I really wanted to, could home brew a replica if there's a ROM dump of the software.

Saw CoCoTracker project for the Orc90 but it really pushes the CoCo3 to the limit and needs as much ram as you can throw at it. As far as I can tell it just plays MODs, not really a tracker (?) So where as it looks interesting I don't have the HW. Are there any other third party synth/tracking softs using the Orc90 for CoCo2?

Well, I revisited the idea of what I can do with this nice system and was thinking of options for homebrewing a synth cart of some sort, Either a DAC like the Orc90 or some PSG chip, SN76496 maybe or a AY.

Of course the main part would be the software, so how is the homebrew dev community? Tool chains and such?

Yogi

Musica 2 supported the 90cc but I don't remember any stand alone player for the music.

Since the Sound and Speech cart uses the AY chip and it's more capable than the SN76498 I'd stick with the AY.

 

There isn't much of a homebrew community to speak of.

You have less than 10 people that have released titles in the last decade that I can think of.

 

As for tools, the CoCo isn't really hurting in that dept.

There's a port of GCC for the 6809 but I don't know how it is bug wise.

There are several decent cross assemblers, linkers, etc...

And there's always the OS-9 tools which include C, Pascal, BASIC-O9, etc...

There is no music player like RMT for the Atari where you write music in the tracker and then can use a pre-written player to play it back in your program.

Here are a few links to check out.

http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/

http://lomont.org/Software/Misc/CoCo/

http://sourceforge.net/p/toolshed/wiki/Documentation/

 

I purchased the Rainbow IDE and it was buggy. Instead of fixing that the author released Portal-O9 and pretty much abandoned the Rainbow IDE so I wouldn't touch his stuff with a 10 foot pole.

[random_rodder]

 

I purchased the Rainbow IDE and it was buggy. Instead of fixing that the author released Portal-O9 and pretty much abandoned the Rainbow IDE so I wouldn't touch his stuff with a 10 foot pole.

 

 

And he's been working on Phoenix for so damn long, I'm beginning to think it's vaporware...

[Van]

Musica 2 supported the 90cc but I don't remember any stand alone player for the music.

Since the Sound and Speech cart uses the AY chip and it's more capable than the SN76498 I'd stick with the AY.

 

There isn't much of a homebrew community to speak of.

You have less than 10 people that have released titles in the last decade that I can think of.

 

As for tools, the CoCo isn't really hurting in that dept.

There's a port of GCC for the 6809 but I don't know how it is bug wise.

There are several decent cross assemblers, linkers, etc...

And there's always the OS-9 tools which include C, Pascal, BASIC-O9, etc...

There is no music player like RMT for the Atari where you write music in the tracker and then can use a pre-written player to play it back in your program.

Here are a few links to check out.

http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/

http://lomont.org/Software/Misc/CoCo/

http://sourceforge.net/p/toolshed/wiki/Documentation/

 

I purchased the Rainbow IDE and it was buggy. Instead of fixing that the author released Portal-O9 and pretty much abandoned the Rainbow IDE so I wouldn't touch his stuff with a 10 foot pole.

Thanks for your advice JamesD. Especially the info about the Sound Speech cart, I assume it's the "Tandy Speech/Sound Pak", There is another DAC based cart that has a similar name(?).

Anyway, after looking over the service man for the Tandy S/S got very excited; the basic design is very close to a project I've been working on for the VIC20; a PIC 18F uC mapped to the computer via the PIC's Parallel Slave Port, inspired by the MidiNES cart. I originally started the project to leverage the PIC's Uart for a MIDI interface; allowing the PIC to do the heavy lifting on the message handling and leave the VIC20 CPU to handle the VIC1 (PSG) register writes and Fx. But quickly concluded that the basic HW could be extended to adding ext sound chip control also as well as other functions.

I've yet to write the PIC's firmware, so using and extending the CMD protocol from the Tandy cart would work just as well on the VIC version with the only system specific HW being the Expo Port interfaces. Plus there is a certain 'kool factor' of recreating classic HW

The goal would be to maintain backwards compatibility for support of original music and softs, but extended modes to allow more modern and CPU intensive effects (the PIC at 40MHz could execute env, portamento or arp macros without the CoCo's CPU intervention at the frame level).

As far as TRS software, it might be possible to edit a midi package. Doing away with the serial routines and sending the note/CC/PC messages straight to the PIC, saving the serial speed bottleneck. While I'm dreaming, could also have a duel mode, some channels handled local via the AY and others pushed out the PIC's uart.

Well, first things first; knocking together a Drive Wire cable and Flash/IO interface cart. Aftter reading a bit, anyone have insight to the ROM packages @ Cloud9: HDB-DOS and DW3DOS? One is a 8K bin and the other is 16K; is one a patch of RS-DOS, for Drive Pak users? I think my machine has Extended Color Basic, but ECB doesn't include any DOS support? I.E. DOS is added by the DrivePAK ROM?

Thanks again,

Yogi

[JamesD]

Check the available commands on the Speech and Sound Pak. I think I remember checking this at one time and found they were all used. You'd need some sort of added control.

*edit*
You are correct, DOS only comes with the disk controller.

I don't use any of those DOSes as I rarely mess with my color computer.

Edited June 3, 2015 by JamesD

[Van]

Check the available commands on the Speech and Sound Pak. I think I remember checking this at one time and found they were all used. You'd need some sort of added control.

 

*edit*

You are correct, DOS only comes with the disk controller.

 

I don't use any of those DOSes as I rarely mess with my color computer.

Yes good point, but I could use the high nibble of $FF7D as a write only mode register. Don't even need a full 4bits; really just a single bit to alert the PIC of a Mode Change byte to follow at the main port $FF7E.

Atm I need to have at least a single buffer @ $FF7D for the software /RST, so using a octal latch and having a full 8bits mapped isn't a problem.

We'll see,

Yogi

[JamesD]

I've recently gotten into Verilog and was considering doing something like you are talking about but adding some other hardware to the board using a CPLD.
I have another project I want to finish first though.

[papa_november]

A device that adds just the AY half of the Sound & Speech cart would be very cool. Not enough games used it, but in the sound department the CoCo needs all the help it can get.

 

(Heck, with only minor changes you can drop a YM2203 into the design and wind up with something even cooler.)

[Van]

A device that adds just the AY half of the Sound & Speech cart would be very cool. Not enough games used it, but in the sound department the CoCo needs all the help it can get.

 

(Heck, with only minor changes you can drop a YM2203 into the design and wind up with something even cooler.)

The design could be scaled back but there isn't too much savings. the majority of the hardware would be the same for two or one AYs. NOS AY 3-8912s are available via EBay so sourcing isn't too bad.

Dropping the SPO speech chip does save the cost of finding one now but in my case I have one OH, had it stashed in my parts bin for years. So including it, for myself, seems a 'must have'.

Support for stereo DACs does have me weighing the options. Adding a memory mapped TLC7528 is minor with the ADR decoding in place for the other HW. OTOH, controlling the DACs from the PIC adds far better control and lessens the CPU burden on the CoCo; at the expense of backwards compatibility with existing software.

My first goal is to include the functions of the classic hardware and software, and add features where possible to enhance the classic design. In some ways, it's tempting to add unique, new sound and functions but every unique function requires software support that is yet to be developed. Kind of a chicken and egg problem.

ATM I've been building a buffered expansion port card, with the intent of connecting it with a ribbon cable to a MPI/sound system 'box' for the main hardware. A modular design allows for faster prototyping and expansion without the restrictions of fitting the 'PAK' outline.

Yogi

[papa_november]

So the idea is to clone the Sound & Speech but make the speech part optional? And maybe add Orchestra-90 functionality if it's feasible?

[Van]

So the idea is to clone the Sound & Speech but make the speech part optional? And maybe add Orchestra-90 functionality if it's feasible?

The short answer is yes, with enhanced capabilities.

The long answer is the main project is mapping a PIC to the system's memory. Orc90 and S&S support is a sub-set of what the PIC can be used for. With IIC and serial ports, Midi and audio sampling applications are possible. Think of the PIC as a co-processor, like the SAM or GIME but programmable. My personal interests are mainly chiptune related but anyone willing to do PIC programming could tailor the base HW to their own plans.

Yogi