MSX-AUDIO BIOS for Philips Music Module

Source: International MSX mailinglist

FRS has released a new BIOS for the Philips Music Module at MSXPró. By using this BIOS the Philips Music Module becomes MSX-AUDIO compatible, allowing you to play any BASIC music written for the MSX-Music just by changing the CALL MUSIC command to CALL AUDIO. The ADPCM commands are also available to play and record samples asynchronously from BASIC. Many Compile games and DiscStations will now automatically detect the MSX-AUDIO as well. Details on how to implement this upgrade can be found right here

Relevant link: MSXPró

Comments (29)

By snout

Ambassador (13688)

29-04-2005, 12:06

I -want- this upgrade GREAT work, frs!

By Google

By Sonic_aka_T

Enlighted (4129)

29-04-2005, 13:34

That's a pretty cool idea indeed! Too bad I don't have a MM anymore

By SolidEric

Champion (323)

29-04-2005, 18:09

Sonic, you as a REAL msx-fan aint got a music-module anymore???? :-(

By Sonic_aka_T

Enlighted (4129)

29-04-2005, 19:06

I'll do you one better, I hardly have an MSX anymore! I still have my GT lying around somewhere, but the last time I hooked it up must've been over a year ago... Then again, you don't really need one since openMSX/blueMSX. Heck, I only keep it for nostalgia's sake... (that sake, not Sake!)

By legacy

Hero (561)

29-04-2005, 20:14

Where can I get this upgrade ?

By snout

Ambassador (13688)

29-04-2005, 20:28

I'm hoping Bas Kornalijnslijper and/or Sunrise are going to offer a 'convert your musicmodule to MSX-AUDIO'-service on MSX fairs 'n meetings

By Grauw

Paragon (1797)

29-04-2005, 22:08

Doubt it, but maybe if you look at them nicely they will do it for you.

By Sonic_aka_T

Enlighted (4129)

01-05-2005, 03:44

You should make a BIOS that makes it MoonSound compatible next!

By sunrise

Paragon (1090)

01-05-2005, 07:21

It sounds interesting.
I will first see ( the soldering part, meaning if koen has appetite to do it )and if it is possible in a financial way.
I looked at the description how it was done and the components.
This guy uses a very rare 6164(sram), that I cannot find for the time being, but find and alternative in the 6262 (sram).
Details , however, are totally not known such as the access time of the sram and eprom. That should first be known. And also the plans of him to make the uopdate complete with the sampleram of 256.
If I look what the costs of that will be at Bas site well you pay already 25 euro.
The working of the toshiba modul should also be checked out and offer in that case the same service.
But most important is to get your hands on the bios first I see nothing for download as legacy already stated

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

01-05-2005, 07:53

The BIOS was taken offline already? Nah...

There's a link just above the size-reduced shematic behind the "aqui o conteudo" part. I agree the light-yellow link color can be quite close to the white of the text...

By sunrise

Paragon (1090)

01-05-2005, 08:02

Overlooked that , thanks bifi

By jpgrobler

Master (144)

02-05-2005, 08:29

Hi
A13 Pin 26 of the 27c256 should be connected to the eprom socket not bend out .
In the schematic (29/4/2005) is is shown to be not connected!

Works wonderfull!

How about adding an extra call music command - so I do not have to edit basic programs made for msx music?

By snout

Ambassador (13688)

02-05-2005, 09:09

As stated on the MSX mailinglist: Wouldn't this make a combo with MSX-MUSIC impossible? (adding a CALL MUSIC command, that is)

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

06-05-2005, 15:31

Hello,

JPGobler states:

A13 Pin 26 of the 27c256 should be connected to the eprom socket not bend out .
In the schematic (29/4/2005) is is shown to be not connected!

But the only pin 26 not connected is the one from the Sram.
Should the Sram pin 26 be connected to A13 ?

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

10-05-2005, 08:34

Hello everyone,

I made a printlayout for the extension. When it works i wil put it on the internet.
This week i hope to have made my first print.I will send some photo's to MRC when finisched.

Greetings,

Emil.

P.S. is it possible to make a TSR or somthing that will convert the Call Music command to call Audio. Bifi ?

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

10-05-2005, 09:05

TSR or IPS?

I can look into a IPS patch for it. I guess it shouldn't be that hard to do...
A TSR is a second program that runs in the background of main activities, like a RAM-disk or a printerbuffer. Only thing it can do in such a case is do a bit of on-the-fly rewriting which isn't really what you want here.

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

10-05-2005, 09:18

or are you referring to a way to auto-patch a loaded BASIC program with _MUSIC to _AUDIO?

should be possible as well...

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

10-05-2005, 13:12

and it is... need to find a decent place for it where it doesn't do any harm for BASIC, then I'll put it online somewhere...

By BiFi

Enlighted (4348)

10-05-2005, 14:37

_MUS2AUD.LZH:

load with: RUN"_MUS2AUD.LDR" to protect the TSR from being accidentally corrupted. It'll replace _MUSIC with _AUDIO while the program runs. It also replaces it in direct mode and will only replace _MUSIC so for example _MUSICBOX for the Philips Music Module will not be replaced.

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

13-05-2005, 19:40

hello,

I have made the print and tested it, but it din't work
How can i test the Rom ? call audio does not work .
I think the Eprom isn't programmed right.
The pen 26 of the rom is connected to A13.

By sd_snatcher

Paladin (842)

14-05-2005, 06:20

Hi,

> I have made the print and tested it, but it din't work
> How can i test the Rom ? call audio does not work .

You can test it using openmsx. To do this, create an extension directory named "audiobios". Inside it, put the following hardwareconfig.xml file. It's the Music-Module file with the ROM portion modified.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE msxconfig SYSTEM "msxconfig2.dtd">
<msxconfig>
<MSX-AUDIO id="Philips NMS 1205 Music Module with MSX-Audio BIOS by FRS">
<io base="0xC0" num="2"/>
<sound>
<volume>12000</volume>
<mode>mono</mode>
</sound>
<sampleram>32</sampleram>
</MSX-AUDIO>

<primary slot="any">
<secondary slot="any">
<ROM id="MSX audio BIOS by FRS">
<mem base="0x0000" size="0x10000"/>
<rom>
<sha1>7f115ff923a1cc0d1944cf280168add946fde854</sha1>
<filename>roms/msxaudio.rom</filename>
</rom>
<mappertype>MSX-AUDIO</mappertype>
</ROM>
</secondary>
</primary>
</msxconfig>

> I think the Eprom isn't programmed right.

It is the original BIOS, slightly modified to separate ir from the rest of the Panasonic ROM. I only removed the switch verification on boot and fixed a little bug on the initlialization routine.
If it's not programmed right, don't blame me, blame ASCII.

> The pen 26 of the rom is connected to A13.

Yes.

And this pins are wrong on the diagram also. I've already sent a fixed version of the documentation to Sturaro of msxpro, he will be publishing it soon.

74LS139
pin-12 -> 6164,pin-20
pin-13 -> 27c256,pin-20

By sd_snatcher

Paladin (842)

14-05-2005, 06:32

Hi sunrise,

> It sounds interesting.
> I will first see ( the soldering part, meaning if koen has appetite to do it )and if it is possible
> in a financial way.
> I looked at the description how it was done and the components.
> This guy uses a very rare 6164(sram), that I cannot find for the time being, but find and
> alternative in the 6262 (sram).

As I said in the article, you don't need to use exactly the same sram CI, just any ordinary SRAM will do it. jpgobler used a w24m257 he got for free from an old pc motherboard, for example.

> Details , however, are totally not known such as the access time of the sram and eprom.

Any EPROM will do it, you may even rewrite the original EPROM.
My 6164 is 6164-35, but I don't believe MSX needs such a fast access time.

> That should first be known. And also the plans of him to make the uopdate complete
> with the sampleram of 256.

My plans are to make one single board, just for unifying everything on a single upgrade. The idea is to get something like "a upgrade kit for MM, containing both the SampleRAM and BIOS upgrades".

> If I look what the costs of that will be at Bas site well you pay already 25 euro.
> The working of the toshiba modul should also be checked out and offer in that case the
> same service.

I can't say too much about the HX-MU900 since I don't have one to check it.

Regards,
FRS

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

14-05-2005, 19:17

hello FRS,

I made the corrections on the print, you wrote"

- And this pins are wrong on the diagram also. I've already sent a fixed version -- of the documentation to Sturaro of msxpro, he will be publishing it soon.

- 74LS139
- pin-12 -> 6164,pin-20
- pin-13 -> 27c256,pin-20

But it still does not work, Pin 13 of the 74139 connected to the pin 20 of the 27256 will hang my computer (8245).
The caps lock will turn on and the computer does not responde.
My email is sokolowski1@zonnet.nl

Greetings,

Emil

Maby you could email me the schematic of your version ?

By sd_snatcher

Paladin (842)

14-05-2005, 20:16

My previous msg about the wiring is wrong again, i copied from an old msg. The correct conections are:

74LS139
pin-11 -> 27c256,pin-20
pin-12 -> 6164,pin-20

By sd_snatcher

Paladin (842)

14-05-2005, 20:19

This is the fixed schematic:

http://www.msxpro.com/hardware/mm_upgrade/msxaudio-BIOS.gif

Regards,
FRS

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

14-05-2005, 23:59

The compile disk stations are working, but the call Audio command still causes my msx to crash.
Any ideas about the cause?

GRTZ,

Emil

By sd_snatcher

Paladin (842)

15-05-2005, 22:05

> The compile disk stations are working, but the call Audio command still causes my msx to crash.

Humm. This means the initialization routine on boot is working well.

Try doing some tests using Mega-Assembler (or Simple3) to see if your SRAM is ok and if the ROM does'nt have unwanted mirroring. You can also try dumping it again on your MSX to compare with the original ROM file on your PC. Just remember that the 3000h-3fffh and 7000h-7ffffh will not match, because this is the work-area, where the SRAM is mapped.

> Any ideas about the cause?

I had this problem once, and was caused by a miswiring, which resulted in a extra-mirror effect on 6000h, from 2000h.

By roadfighter

Expert (83)

15-05-2005, 22:59

Oke finelly it works,
I could not find anything wrong with my print so i decieded to put pin 26 from the ram to the + 5volt by a 10 K resistor.
Wel it did the trick.
I can't say that this is or was the problem but hey it works perfectly.

BTW, the program _mus2aud works nice, great work BIFI

I will make some schanges to my print layout en will put it here on MRC.

Nice expansion for the Music module.

GRTX,

Emil

By Pentarou

Resident (50)

19-10-2007, 23:09

Sorry to bring up this old stuff, but I would like to know where to find roadfighter's print layout.