Pimp my PSG #1 - Das Piratenboot by Meits

And the first entry to the Pimp my PSG challenge is in! MRC webmaster Meits kicks off the challenge with a mix of Makaijima - Higemaru by Capcom (1987). In his medley he includes Island Start, Ocean Theme, Pirate Ship Theme, Chuck Island Theme, Boss Theme and Game Over.

The track was composed in Moonblaster 1.4 and Moonblaster for Moonsound WAVE 1.03. A previous version of this mix was released in 2011 on Near Dark's DISK music disk and rebuilt for MRC's Pimp my PSG music challenge to support MSX-Audio, MSX-Music, SCC and OPL4 at the same time on three MSX computers running in sync using the MIDI protocol. To make it work, Meits even had to buy a third Music Module. One of the most crazy combinations of MSX hardware ever seen! Meits provided a video where you can enjoy this Frankenstein's monster of MSX music yourself, definitely worth watching!

For completeness, here's an overview of all the hardware Meits used to create his track:

MSX 1

Panasonic FS-A1ST
MSX-Club Gouda Slot Expander 5.0
Sunrise CF ATA-IDE Interface
Philips NMS 1205 Music Module as MSX-Audio
Retro Factory FM-PAQ as MSX-Music
WORP3 MIDI-PAC as MIDI interface (MIDI out)
Running Moonblaster 1.4

MSX 2

Sony HB-F1XDJ
MegaflashROM SCC+ SD 2
Philips NMS1205 Music Module as MIDI interface (MIDI in/MIDI through)
Running Synthesix

MSX 3

Panasonic FS-A1WX
MSX-Club Gouda Slot Expander 5.0
Philips NMS1205 Music Module as MIDI interface (MIDI in)
Dal-So-Ri (OPL4 sound cartridge)
Running WAVEDRVZ.BIN version 1.00 in a replayer waiting for MIDI data on MIDI in to start the OPL4 data in sync with the rest.

Also have a fun idea for a pimped PSG track? Make sure you send in your entry before May 1st!

Relevant link: Pimp my PSG - Das Piratenboot by Meits

Comments (18)

By Manuel

Ascended (19469)

20-02-2016, 17:06

... w t fu............

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

20-02-2016, 17:15

Most crazy setup ever!

Probably most amount of MSX sound channels at the same time ever too

Or, TL;DR version: OMG extra liek!!1!

By ray2day

Paladin (743)

20-02-2016, 17:55

Wow! I am speechless.
As you all know Higemaru is one of my favourite games.
This is done very very well. My compliments!

By evulopah

Paladin (669)

20-02-2016, 18:01

And we have a winner

By KdL

Paragon (1451)

20-02-2016, 18:48

Wooaaahhhh!!!

By WORP3

Paladin (864)

20-02-2016, 19:33

Wow that is a very giant setup you build there

By Sander

Founder (1871)

20-02-2016, 20:52

holy cow!

By poke-1,170

Paragon (1783)

21-02-2016, 01:23

haha the bar has been raised ^_^

By FiXato

Scribe (1743)

21-02-2016, 03:01

I wonder what the original composer thinks of this

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6935)

21-02-2016, 14:04

By syn

Prophet (2123)

21-02-2016, 14:18

Sounds nice!

@meits: Interesting setup. I had (before this contest) thought about using synthesis through msx midi software but I didn't wanted bother with learning to use yet another msx tracker/sequencer.. so I thought you using the midipac and some software you are familiar with was pretty clever.

By snout

Ascended (15187)

21-02-2016, 15:55

Whoa, this entry definitely ticks the 'experimental setup' boxes I didn't even know there was a MIDI-synced MBwave replayer (was there?!). Pretty epic, this...

23-02-2016, 17:09

Guys, thanks for the replies. Quite humbling to be honest.

As for the setup. It's really just a test on what's possible on the hardware side. And I'm in the lucky position to have enough stuff to do weird things. Making things go in harmony is the challenge.
First thing I tested was having Erik Maas' MIDI2OPL4 player handle the Moonsound data. This turned out to be possible in theory as there's a little "bug" in it making the percussion go wrong when there are other instruments being played. Therefore this test video has the Moonsound recorded in two takes.
As this method would disqualify my entry, I decided to let go this otherwise nice tool and settled for the plan B option:
A second music file being done in MBWAVE.
This gave me some freedom in what in the mix as the Moonsound would not just play whatever Moonblaster 1.4 threw at it. but when I thought I was done with the Moonsound part, I ran into the sync problem. The later MBWAVEs use the Moonsound's internal clock to keep the music on the same tempo on 50Hz and 60Hz. Nyyrikki pointed me on that and I should go find myself an older version of MBWAVE. Luckily BiFi still had this older version.
Starting both MB1.4 and MBWAVE at the same time was just one big party to the ears. It synced flawlessly.
To let de Moonsound start at the same time as the Moonblaster 1.4 computer (the main computer), I decided to use the MIDI signal as a trigger. As MBWAVE doesn't listen to MIDI I could not play the Moonsound data in MBWAVE but had to write a little basic program which loads the music data and listens to the MIDI in if there's anything happening there, and if so, start the tune. So indeed snout, there isn't an MBWAVE replayer that's MIDI synced ;)

Sadly Synthesix only listens to channel 1 of my Moonblaster tune. But actually this came quite in handy. As Synthesix doesn't care about what volume a channel is set, I muted channel 1 on Moonblaster. This muted channel was now being played on SCC, be it with a slight delay. Because of this delay I chose to just play long notes on SCC and use a not to steep attack. In the mix this slight delay can hardly be heard. In the clip it can be seen though.

As Jorito says this could be the situation with the most MSX channels at the same time... Nah... SME beats this easily... It could however be quite some bigger when using this MIDI trigger to start a Moonsound. The main computer having one MIDI device to start the chain playing would be one of the sixteen possible computers. If one has 15 computers with a Moonsound in spare, that could unleash some crazy music :D

For what it's worth. This was a proof of concept. It does work. But I could have pulled this tune off with just one Moonsound as well. So audio-wise I don't think it's that special. :)

By marcos.m.carvajal.1

Expert (85)