Meridian, created by Michiel de Vries, is a versatile MIDI-based (delta)steptime tracker supporting both external MIDI devices and Sunrise's OPL4 based Moonsound. It features the following:

• Windowed user interface, controlled by mouse or keyboard
  
• Full support of the GM1 (General MIDI Level 1) standard
  
• Supported fileformats: Meridian (RW), Standard MIDI files (RW), Moonblaster (R), Soundtracker (R)
  
• Selection functions
  
• MIDI playback on the MIDI interface of the Philips Music Module, MSX-MIDI and the Opl4 (Moonsound)
  
• System Exclusive editor
  
• MIDI driver editor
  
• Lots of editors for the Opl4
  
• Online help function
  

Meridian has been in development for over a decade, but active development and published releases stopped in 2004 due to lack of time. Because of this, Michiel de Vries declared Meridian public domain as of today.

We have added the source code for Meridian (latest unreleased version) and the source code for the midi drivers to our download database. The submitted source code is, except for the replayer, rewritten for use with MSX-DOS2, instead of loadable binaries as before. The code itself is written with Sjasm.

Michiel promised to keep an eye on our development forum to aid any development.

Relevant link: Meridian application source code (compressed zip)
Relevant link: Meridian midi driver source code (compressed zip)

Super-X is a Swiss army knife when it comes to debugging or patching on MSX. However it's not the easiest program to get started with because of all the features it includes.

To make things a bit easier, NYYRIKKI has created a series of videos to demonstrate Super-X. Currently there are only three videos online, but more will follow if people find them useful.

Relevant link: Super-X videos 1, 2 and 3

Back in 2008, we saw a stream of ColecoVision/SG-1000 to MSX conversions, fueled by a one-sided arms race between Muffie and his good friend SLotman. Today, Muffie released the complete source code of his Tutankham conversion.

His intention is to help potential MSX developers with converting other ColecoVision games, like Gyruss or Roc 'N Rope. Mufster's code is not very organised though, and will take some time to understand. Use Pasmo to assemble it, msxtut7_main.mac being the main file.

Relevant link: Tutankham conversion source code

A new version of ccz80 was released yesterday. New features in this version:

• New option /include to specify paths to files to be included in the program
• Allowed the use of labels with the operators == and !=
• Allowed assembler undocumented instructions (using registers IXh, IXl, IYh, IYl and rotate/shift instructions)
• If the parameter of the repeat command is set to 0 no loop is executed (previously it was executed 65536 times)
• No runtime error when an element is omitted in a list separated by commas (for instance in function parameters)
• Optimization to remove function parameters from the stack after its execution
• Improvements in multiplication, division and modulo operations and some imprevements to optimize the code
• Improvements in the assembler source code generated when using the option /asm
• A message is shown when the compilation is finished without errors

Relevant link: ccz80 website

Konamiman has updated his MSX page with a new library for the SDCC compiler: ASMLIB. This is a library that allows to execute arbitrary assembler code (for example BIOS routines or MSX-DOS functions) from within C code. Also included are special functions for interacting with UNAPI implementations.

Two example applications are included within the library package: a simple file contents dumper, and a more complex Ethernet UNAPI implementations control program.

Relevant link: Konamiman's MSX page (SDCC section)

For years aorante has had an MRC account, but only since this month he showed himself to us. His first newspost submission is all about creating graphics. In fact, it's about a little tutorial he has put online in which he explains how to use Photoshop (Elements) in order to create MSX1/screen 2 graphics.

Relevant link: Photoshop Screen 2 tutorial

Konami's Metal Gear 2 is surely one of the highlights in MSX gaming. However, people often complain about the speed, which would be too slow when compared to Metal Gear 1. What happens is that the 3.5Mhz Z80A rarely can cope with the target frames-per-second the game was designed for. Probably the elevators are the only place during the game where the framerate is as it should be. But then there was another problem: if you try to run Metal Gear 2 on a 7Mhz MSX2 or turbo-R, the game runs too fast. This happens because its timing routine has a bug that allows it to run at 2x or even 3x the target framerate if the CPU can handle it.

sd_snatcher, from Brazil, has created a patch to fix this bug. Now it is possible to enjoy Metal Gear 2 in its full glory on a 7Mhz MSX2 or turbo-R, you'll have the same framerate as Metal Gear 1. The patch is available in both IPS and XPC formats.

Relevant link: FRS' MSX Page

Franky, the external Sega Master System VDP cartridge by SuperSoniqs, is steadily getting more attention from developers. Yesterday, BiFi opened up a new section on his homepage with Franky mode 4 tools, to encourage development. The toolset currently consists of MSX Screen 5 to Franky mode 4 tile/sprite converters, and a simple viewer to check the result on Franky. BiFi plans to update the site incrementally, so more tools will follow.

Relevant Link: Franky Mode 4 Development Tools

Most people will know KdL from his OCM-PLD Pack, a comfortable update for a bare 1chipMSX that's been at version 2.2 since april 2008. Today, KdL has updated his website with a gift for MSX community: his concept of an unofficial MSX3 logo, provided in several versions, including a wallpaper.

Relevant link: KdL's website

Z80ST-Software has released a new version of their ayFX replayer for MSX. This replayer mixes the ayFX sample with a diferent PSG channel every frame, so the background music is less affected when playing FX.

The biggest change, with respect to the previous version, is that you can now explicitly set priority for each ayFX sample, instead of using an ayFX number as priority like in previous version. There are two different versions of the replayer:

• Fixed Volume: the ayFX samples are played at their original volume.
  
• Relative Volume: the priority of the ayFX samples also controls their volume, so high priority samples will sound louder than low priority samples.

You can find the replayer, as well as a PT3 replayer that works in ROM, on the Z80ST blog.

Relevant link: Z80ST blog