Making ANOTHER $75 synth! (MT32-pi)

video upload by Guinan

Follow-up to this post.

"I made ANOTHER Raspberry Pi-based $75* synth to pair with my Circuit Tracks.

(*approx price depending on a whole bunch of local factors...)

The commentary is long and unscripted (full of ums & errs!) so if you want to jump to a particular section the sections are as follows,

00:04 Intro
00:21 MicroDEXED synth
01:00 MT32-pi
01:52 Why emulate the Roland MT-32?
02:55 General MIDI vs. MT-32
04:03 Soundfonts (.SF2)
05:21 MT32-pi bootup
05:55 JV-1010 emulation soundfont demo
08:23 Using the Circuit Tracks Mixer and Effects on the MT32-pi
09:55 Selecting presets from the Tracks
12:00 Conclusions

This time I've used open-source hardware and software designed around the MT32-pi project. See link here,
https://github.com/dwhinham/mt32-pi

There's a very excellent detailed build and demo video from ‪@mr_floydst‬ here, • MT32-Pi DIY synthesizer: bare metal 80s no... [below]

Oddly the hardware worked out cheaper (despite a bigger display) as this is a commoner target build.

This excellent project uses any Pi from the Pi Zero 2W upwards to recreate a multi-timbral emulation of the Roland MT-32 synth and also act as a player for soundfonts in the .SF2 format.

Roland MT-32,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_...

Editing software and library of downloadable soundfonts,
https://www.polyphone.io/en/soundfonts

I used a pre-assembled hardware kit from Ebay with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W (with header). The assmbled complete hardware can also be bought from sites such as Etsy etc."

MT32-Pi DIY synthesizer: bare metal 80s nostalgia

video upload by Floyd Steinberg

"This week, let's build and take a look at the #MT32 PI, another "bare metal" synthesizer running on #RaspberryPi. This is an emulator for the late #80s Roland MT-32 sound module, which was used by a lot of games for their sound track. The MT-32 PI can also load soundfonts, so you can use it as a ROMpler in your setup. Table of contents:

00:00 introduction
00:36 hello
01:28 hardware needed
02:34 breadboard explained
03:09 building the UI
03:28 wiring
03:55 LCD setup
04:32 software installation, ROMs and soundfonts
05:04 config file setup
05:31 using the device, soundfont editing
06:31 important considerations
06:48 demo 1 (MT-32 emulation)
08:43 demo 2 (soundfonts)
09:45 bye-bye

HÄLP ZIS CHANNEL
https://www.patreon.com/floyd_steinberg
https://floydsteinberg.gumroad.com/
https://floydsteinberg.bandcamp.com/"