what msx is recommended for tracking ?

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By poke-1,170

Paragon (1782)

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13-03-2013, 15:45

Hello chaps, as some probably know I've been making music with moonblaster for some time,
using an nms 8250. Unfortunately I think one of my cartridge slots is faulty, because only 1 cartridge (fmpac or music module) seems to be working. (tried the call fmpac in basic, as well as booting up music module's general player).
Since I want to continue writing stuff, and already had new tracks I was working on I was wondering what msx could be considered the most useful in terms of sound quality (apparently the 8250 sucks) and usabilty, since I might wanna give oracle a try Smile What do you guys recommend, and how much should it cost ?

Thanks in advance Smile

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By meits

Scribe (6530)

meits's picture

13-03-2013, 18:08

If you want to give oracle a try, a machine with quite a bit speed and loads of memory is what you need...
You'll run into the more expensive MSX models... I'll poke ro (the maker of Oracle) to check this and tell you what you need minimal...

By ro

Scribe (4902)

ro's picture

13-03-2013, 18:58

poke received. Hai there poke ! Smile

Oracle is declared public domain, so grap yer copy at thefuzz.nl or at your fave downloadstation.
Concerning hardware, it all depends. Oracle was written with flexibility in mind; choose your channels, your chips, your rows and your mix. Oracle allows you to have 32 channels, but since it only (fully) supports MSX Music, Audio and PSG you'll have a max of 9(music)+9(audio)+1(adpcm)+3(psg)=22 channels to set your instruments on. Every channel can be one or a mix of more chips. Like MoonBlaster you can do 6 channels with a mix of Audio and Music, 3 channels of Audio, 1 channel of ADPCM and one channel of music drums. In that case, a regular MSX2 with 128M will do. Since Oracle stores as much as possible in memory, a bunch of RAM is advised. You can have up to 256 patterns. Depending on the tracks per pattern it can vary from a few bytes to a few kilobytes.

So, going wild will cost you a turbo R and lotsa RAM. Doin' MB like stuff will settle with regular MSX2. Disabling the realtime note-analyzer will save you some extra CPU time on MSX2 machines too.

have fun!

By Manuel

Ascended (19270)

Manuel's picture

13-03-2013, 20:56

Quote:

a regular MSX2 with 128M will do

Bloatware!

By Pac

Scribe (6956)

Pac's picture

14-03-2013, 00:04

poke-1,170 wrote:

might wanna give oracle a try Smile What do you guys recommend, and how much should it cost ?

Finally someone decide to compose using oracle, "that unknown". Great! Time to discover what capable it is.. Smile

By poke-1,170

Paragon (1782)

poke-1,170's picture

14-03-2013, 14:33

still, considering that the 8250 isn't that useful for sound, what would the better option be ? The upside of those nms ones (8250, 8280) is the 256 kb of memory. Are those hitbit msx2's any better ?
Well, a turboR would be lovely of course. though they're... pricey hah
Ro: yeah I've been reading the manual a couple of times. The multiple channels thing sounds quite cool, and being able to have commands without having to sacrifice a position of course. There's a lot that is cool about it. The only downside is I don't have a pc with diskdrive anymore haha. Sigh...

By Creepy

Champion (335)

Creepy's picture

14-03-2013, 14:35

If you are routing the sound from the FM-PAC/PAK and Music Module directly to a stereo or mixer you are bypassing the audio stuff from the 8250. Considering that you probably do not want a Turbo R since you cannot directly connect the build-in FM-PAC directly to a mixer (the GT does not have the connections, the ST has audible noise). So I guess any MSX 2 without build-in FM-PAC with 256KB or more will do.

By poke-1,170

Paragon (1782)

poke-1,170's picture

14-03-2013, 15:09

Ah good to know creepy. My fm-pac doesn't have a separate out unfortunately (the old one I had did), and indeed I noticed that the volume from the 8250 directly is quite crappy and low in volume. I had it set up before that it went directly into a behringer USB interface. Thanks for the tip Smile

By meits

Scribe (6530)

meits's picture

14-03-2013, 15:40

Poke: There's no Philips computer with 256kB unless someone added some RAM. The 256kB RAM printed on the machines is a combination between RAM and VRAM. They added it up to be more impressive it seems...
Soundwise I always liked my good ol' Sony 700. That machine does have 256kB by default.
Pity you don't have an FM-PAC with its own output anymore since almost every MSX has video noise on its sound output... On the other hand, you'll hear that as well if you use the card's own output.

Philips 8250 and up seem to be relatively easy to fix when it comes to sound output of FM-PAC and SCC. I once had one of my previous 8250s done, but I can't say I was satisfied. Sony 700s are after Philips easiest to find in Holland. If you see one for a nice price, you should try it... Hopefully the one you get has been modified with a fast diskROM because the original one is... Well... Haven't seen slower diskROMs anywhere else Tongue

By poke-1,170

Paragon (1782)

poke-1,170's picture

14-03-2013, 16:36

Meits: so the fmpac ones with a separate output are modded ones I suppose ? I was surprised not seeing a cinch out on the one I ordered recently, and then assuming that they never came with an output in the first place.

The 700 one doesn't have a composite output does it ? only some DIN output that splits video and audio, or ?

By meits

Scribe (6530)

meits's picture

14-03-2013, 16:54

The original Panasonic FM-PAC can be modded to have an output, but does not have it by default... The dutch clones however do. Downside to them is that they have drum and music split in left and right, but since you probably have a mixer, you can overcome that.
You can split the audio out of the rgb lead. I let Bas Kornalijnslijper make a suitable cable for me, but I bet anyone who dares can solder a cinchcable into the scart connector Smile

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