Synthesix

Modular MIDI synthesizer for MSX

Copyright 2013 Laurens Holst

Project information

Synthesix is synthesizer for MSX sound chips. It lets you play and tweak your MSX sound chips in real-time, using external MIDI controllers and DAW software.

Patches are edited in a modular sound design paradigm. This architecture lets you insert modules which perform various functions into the control chain between your MIDI keyboard and the sound chip. This gives you great and flexible control over the sound that is played.

Downloads

See the release notes for what’s new.

System requirements

Media

User interface.

Supported output devices

Support for more sound chips will be added in the future.

Supported input devices

Synthesix currently supports the following input devices:

If you have another input device which you’d like to be supported, let me know or file a ticket for it in the issue tracker.

Usage instructions

Synthesix can be loaded on an MSX using a Konami Snatcher SCC+ cartridge, or compatible devices such as the MegaFlashROM SCC+ or the ESE Mega-SCC+ (built into the One Chip MSX).

When Synthesix boots you are presented with a list of modules, these are the elementary building blocks of a sound. A specific configuration of modules is called a patch. The simplest patch takes input from a Note source module, and connects it to a Voice destination module.

A module has inputs and/or outputs. Inputs are indicated by notches on the left and outputs have notches on the right. The modules are linked together by defining virtual “patch cords” between their inputs and an outputs. How you connect up the inputs determines the output of the module.

You can scroll through the modules with the cursor keys. Moving up and down selects the module’s input and output ports. Select an input port of one module and press `return` to make a connection. The cursor will move to the currently connected output, and you can select a new one and press `return` again to establish a new connection. The cursor will turn gray if you select a port which is not an output, and you can press `escape` to cancel the selection.

You can also select an output port and press return to make a connection, however as one output can be linked to no or multiple inputs, the cursor will stay in place and turn gray until you select an input port to connect to.

Taking the simplest patch consisting of Note and SCCVoice modules as an example, to produce the most primitive sound connect the SCCVoice.note input to the Note.key output, and the SCCVoice.amplitude input to the Note.gate output.

Note that all inputs are always connected, if not to another module with variable outputs, they are connected to a fixed value provided by the Constants module. To disconnect an input from its current output, press the `backspace` key and it will replace the connection with one to Constants. To quickly increase / decrease a constant value press the `insert` and `delete` keys. This will also replace it with a constant connection.

By default you see bars indicating the signed values, with the middle position representing 0, however by pressing `caps lock` you can see the actual values which range from -127 to +127. Because the values are one’s complement, there are two representations of 0: -0 and +0, usually these are treated identically.

Some final notes; the polyphony of the patch is predefined to 4, this means that for every module you see there are actually four copies operating independently, one for each note / SCC voice. Essentially, there are 4 layers of modules.

Also, it is currently not possible to add or remove modules, so you are limited to the pre-defined set of modules for your sonic exploration.

Absent a MIDI keyboard, you can also play notes on the keyboard with the alphanumeric keys. Additionally, `space` sets the modulation controller to the maximum value while pressed.

If you experience stuck notes, you can send a MIDI All Notes Off message or press the `shift-F5` key combination.

Module information

Constants All 256 different unchanging output values.

Channel MIDI channel values. Program provides the currently selected program. C.Press provides the channel pressure (aftertouch). Finally, Bend Course and Bend Fine provide the pitch bend amount.

Controllers MIDI controller values.

Note MIDI note information for each note pressed. Key specifies the note number, Velocity the note’s velocity, Gate indicates whether the key is currently being pressed, Trigger provides an impulse when the note gets pressed, and Off velocity provides the note-off velocity (a seldom-used MIDI feature).

AD envelope A triggered attack-decay envelope function. Attack specifies the speed at which the value increases, Decay the speed at which the value decreases after the peak has been reached, Trigger connects to an impulse which (re)starts the attack phase, and Reset resets the value, used if you want retriggered in stead of legato envelopes.

AR envelope A gated attack-release envelope function. Attack specifies the speed at which the value increases, Release the speed at which the value decreases after the peak has been reached, Gate connects to a gate which will keep the attack phase active until it goes low, and Reset resets the value, used if you want retriggered in stead of legato envelopes.

Sustain Latches high gate values while held. Gate provides the gate value, low (off) when below 40H, Hold specifies when the gate value needs to be held. Typically connected to the sustain pedal (CC# 64).

Mult counter Increases a counter by a value for each trigger. Trigger makes the counter increase, Increment specifies by how much the counter is increased, Reset resets the counter if it receives an impulse, Counter outputs the current counter value, Tally maintains a count of how often the counter overflows, and Overflow generates an impulse every time the counter overflows. If the trigger is connected to constant 127, the counter will run at control rate (60 ticks per second).

Sine wave bipolar Takes a signed Phase input representing a -180 to 180 degrees phase, Value outputs the corresponding signed sine wave. Typically phase is connected to a counter to generate a bipolar sine modulation.

Triangle wave Takes a signed Phase input representing a -180 to 180 degrees phase, Value outputs the corresponding position of an unsigned triangle wave. Typically phase is connected to a counter to generate a triangle modulation.

Attenuate Attenuates (weakens) a signal. The Multiplicand specifies the value to attenuate, and the Multiplier the value to attenuate it with, Value is the output. For example, attenuating value 0, 64 and 127 by 80 results in 0, 40 and 80 respectively.

Attenu-add Attenuates a signal and then adds a value. Addend specifies the value to add after the attenuation, see attenuate for the description of the remaining values. Typically used to coax an input value into a certain range, e.g. n ⋅ 80 + 30 makes values 0-127 go between 30 and 110.

Pitch bend Translates a pitch bend value to a note range. Bend coarse and Bend fine specify the signed input bend value, Range Up and Range Down specify the range of the bend in the up and down directions, and Note and Detune output the bended note and detune values. Typically connected to an add-pitch module.

Add pitch Adds pairs of note and detune values. Note A and Note B specify the notes to add, and Detune A and Detune B specify the detune values to add. The result of the addition is found in Node and Detune. Typically connected to a voice.

MIDI clock MIDI clock generator with divider functionality. Port selects the source of the MIDI clock, 0 being the internal clock (fixed to 150 bpm). Divider selects how many ticks it takes to trigger and increase the counter; there are 24 ticks in an 1/4 beat, 12 ticks in an 1/8th beath, etc. Trigger generates an impulse when the number of ticks were reached, Counter counts how many impulses were generated and Fraction is the divider’s remainder.

Sequence 8 Steps through a sequence of 8 Steps on every Trigger impulse. Length indicates how many steps to step through before wrapping. Reset restarts at step 0. Value outputs the value of the current step, and Position counts the number of triggers, selected step is position modulo 8.

SCC voice Produces an SCC voice. Note selects the note, Detune specifies a signed detune in the range -50 .. +50 cents. Amplitude specifies the amplitude of the sound. Wave specifies which wave to choose from the pre-defined 128-entry wave table. Phase reset restarts the wave’s phase.

Development information

Synthesix is free and open source software. If you want to contribute to the project you are very welcome to. Please contact me at any one of the places mentioned in the project information section.

You are also free to re-use code such as the MIDI support routines for your own projects, provided you abide by the license terms.

Label naming convention:

Release notes

For the complete list of changes please refer to the revision history.