Level 99 Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jarek/chip-maestro-an-nes-midi-synthesizer-cartridge I already know at least one of you has already backed this project, but I think any of you chip-oriented people would be interested in this. They've already passed the bar to get funded but there's still a bit over 100 of the standard carts remaining to get dibs to preorder for $50. "I am prototyping, designing and assembling a special cartridge called Chip Maestro which can be used in any Nintendo Entertainment System. This cartridge will accept a MIDI input from any instrument, and by passing the MIDI notes through the NES, the cartridge will make the NES synthesize 8-bits of awesome in true NES squarewavey goodness." There's a video demo on the kickstarter page. Thoughts? Did you back it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenPi Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I am VERY VERY tempted to give $50... also very tempted to get the dev kit..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PROTO·DOME Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I wasn't sure how much the thing actually cost. Is it simply $50 for a preorder and then rest of the money later, or does the downpayment of $50 cover the price of the cartridge too? (£30 seems stupidly cheap for a bit of tech like that.) Apart from that, this thing is bloody effin' sick. Do want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garian Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I'm kinda curious what Chip Maestro offers that MidiNES doesn't-- and as ProtoDome said, $50 seems like a lowball number for the hardware... the MidiNES is going for $110 but each one is built as the orders come in, not mass manufactured. It seems like making a bunch of these for such a niche market is rather silly though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinnyMetal Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Haha you beat me to talking about midines. I think that midines might be a bit over priced just because there is NOTHING else like it until now. Or maybe the Chip Maestro will actually be the same price-ish but just a special "help me get it done" deal right now. It sounds like a pretty awesome deal and I kind of want to go ahead and do the $50 pledge. I've been wanting midines but can't afford $110 for something like that right now. I personally wouldn't know the first thing to do on the dev kit so I don't need that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinnyMetal Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 yessss!~ I'm getting one for my birthday! I was telling my friend how I wanted to get this and was probably just going to go ahead and pay for the pledge but then he was like, "uhm yeah...I know what it is..I'm getting it for you" and I was like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PROTO·DOME Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 SO HOW MUCH DID IT FINALLY COST?!?! Seriously, it still doesn't specify. I'm hanging on the $50 thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinnyMetal Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 it's 50 dollars now with a pledge. official price hasn't been specified yet itl ooks like. I high believe it'll be between 75-100 (with it most likely being closer to 100) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowbar Man Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Maybe because I don't particular have any music capabilities myself to appreciate it being live, but the demo sounded pretty bad. I know of the technical aspects and the limitations of the NES and all that, but if it can't demo it live AND sound good: Not a good sign for your product :/ Definitely not going to hear awesome chiptunes out of it unless its properly tracked anyways, honestly Also a neat feature would of been nice to have the VRC6 chip (contained in some FC games, and real popular in the chip scene right now. Wouldn't work on a NES though) or something to make it different then the aforementioned midines. Someone should do that, the 4 Square would make live MIDI more feasible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinnyMetal Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Maybe because I don't particular have any music capabilities myself to appreciate it being live, but the demo sounded pretty bad. I know of the technical aspects and the limitations of the NES and all that, but if it can't demo it live AND sound good: Not a good sign for your product :/ the quality of how it sounds is related to the fact that they did actually record a track and put it in in post. They simply recorded it playing through a amp on a camera mic so the sound quality is shit. I'm sure if you put in a game into your nes and recorded what it sounded like with a camera and played it back that it would sound very similar to this. I think it's going to sound just fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowbar Man Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 No, I'm 100% sure it would sound better unless you picked a game with a crappy sound track. And that would have to be pretty bad. (Edit: or your LoZ cartridge is very broken, they did play the LoZ theme). I'm not talking about the sound quality, I'm talking about the actual musical tones. It seems like its making up for the ability of not being able to play more than 2 Square channels (standard 2A03) by throwing in the triangle channel as a 3rd tone, which its doing completely randomly every time they press 3 keys simultaneously and just sounds terrible IMO. Not sure if theres a 2 tone mode option or some better control over the triangle they ad later, but that live demo is terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Love the idea behind it, but I do wonder what they use to change the phasing of the rectangle waves. By the looks of the video there was no way to change it, but they have to have something incorporated to make that sound. It'd be daft to say something was using NES hardware if you couldn't use all of the hardware. I also noticed the issues with the triangle wave. Hopefully these issues are resolved someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumUltimA Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 First, I need to get an NES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenPi Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 No, I'm 100% sure it would sound better unless you picked a game with a crappy sound track. And that would have to be pretty bad. (Edit: or your LoZ cartridge is very broken, they did play the LoZ theme). I'm not talking about the sound quality, I'm talking about the actual musical tones. It seems like its making up for the ability of not being able to play more than 2 Square channels (standard 2A03) by throwing in the triangle channel as a 3rd tone, which its doing completely randomly every time they press 3 keys simultaneously and just sounds terrible IMO. Not sure if theres a 2 tone mode option or some better control over the triangle they ad later, but that live demo is terrible. Love the idea behind it, but I do wonder what they use to change the phasing of the rectangle waves. By the looks of the video there was no way to change it, but they have to have something incorporated to make that sound. It'd be daft to say something was using NES hardware if you couldn't use all of the hardware.I also noticed the issues with the triangle wave. Hopefully these issues are resolved someday. ummm... you guys should maybe read the info on that page. How does the Chip Maestro handle polyphony?When 2 or more notes are pressed on a MIDI instrument, the user has the option of selecting which waves are played in which order. When using the Chip Maestro with a computer, sending notes to specific MIDI channels triggers specific waves to play. As for phasing and other options, it will use midi cc What CC messages are supported?My primary focus of the Chip Maestro was the ability to fully use it using the simplest MIDI Keyboard, so settings must be changeable using unused notes (currently the lowest octave -0). I am currently implementing CC controls per requests, so if you would like to see a specific CC message implemented, please wait until later this week when I begin releasing technical documentation. Then you will be able to see exactly how the Chip Maestro works, and send in feature requests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowbar Man Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Yeah but trying to sync up playing in order with your instruments and the hardware would be very akward I imagine and not practical. Again their performance shows it. Hopefully one of those orders is just 2 square and no more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenPi Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Welp.. backed $125 for a dev board. This should be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 ummm... you guys should maybe read the info on that page. My questions are not answered on the page. Just letting you know. When you get it maybe you could answer them for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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