VS1103b DIY MIDI Synthesizer

Published on Jul 17, 2013 Harry Axten·1 video

"Yet another rebuild of my VS1103b MIDI synthesizer. It now has nice robust aluminium panels and a working soft-reset button. The tunes are from the game 'The Incredible Machine 2'. Build details, schematics, etc. can be found at:
http://harryaxten.webs.com/vs1103bmid..."

See the VS1103b label below for previous posts. Note Harry changed his YouTube channel and chances are the videos in the old posts will move to it. Currently only the video above is on the new channel though so I provided the link to the channel in the older posts should the old embedded videos disappear.

VS1103b MIDI Synthesizer v3

Published on Oct 8, 2012 by HarryMatic
Channel moved to Harry Axten

"The last version of my VS1103b MIDI synthesizer. I have designed nice front and back panels which are made of laser-cut plastic. I have also gotten rid of the noisy volume control and the MIDI thru, instead adding separate left and right audio outputs. Schematics, stripboard layout, more photos and a full writeup can be found at : http://www.instructables.com/id/E82VEK1GXUZ7YJA/"

Follow-up to this post.

"The VS1103b, manufactured by VSLI Technology, is a single-chip MIDI/ADPCM/WAV audio decoder and ADPCM encoder that can handle upto three simultaneous audio streams. It can also act as a MIDI synthesizer.

It is this MIDI synthesizer capability that we are interested in. Make no mistake - the quality of the MIDI voices isn't stunning, but it has a charm to it that reminds me of the FM synthesis found on old Soundblaster cards of yesteryear. The VS1103b MIDI synthesizer mode conforms to the General MIDI standard - 15 melodic channels and 1 percussion channel.

The only problem with this chip however is that it is a very small 48 pin surface-mount package. Fortunately, SparkFun make a break-out board for this chip that has a 20 pin DIP package - much more suitable for DIY electronics."

DIY MIDI Keyboard Encoder

YouTube Published on Jul 13, 2012 by HarryMatic
Channel moved to Harry Axten

"This is going to be part of a project which will add a full size keyboard to a Korg Monotron, along with other modifications. It is a two octave keyboard (which was liberated from a well and truly ruined keyboard controller). The control circuitry was built by me on stripboard, and uses a pre-programmed PIC microcontroller bought from http://picsynth.000space.com/midi.html

Although it does not use velocity sensitive keys, the fixed velocity can be set using a potentiometer. I had to assemble a new circuit board which was attached under the keys, on which were 24 tactile switches. As a key is pressed, it closes the switch. The keys are arranged in a 2 * 12 matrix, although the PIC software supports up to a 4 * 12 matrix.

The sounds in the video are generated from some of the softsynths that come with GarageBand."

VS1103b MIDI Synthesizer v2

YouTube Uploaded by HarryMatic on Feb 1, 2012
Channel moved to Harry Axten

"A video of the new and improved VS1103b MIDI Synthesizer I have made. Schematics, stripboard layout, more photos and a full writeup can be found at : http://www.instructables.com/id/E82VEK1GXUZ7YJA/"

VS1103 MIDI Synthesizer

YouTube Uploaded by HarryMatic on Jul 17, 2011
Channel moved to Harry Axten

"A small MIDI module made using a VS1103b Breakout Board and some extra circuitry. It has a very warm and synthy sound - a lot like the OPL chips found on SoundBlaster cards of yesteryear.

If you want to make your own - http://www.instructables.com/id/VS1103-MIDI-Synthesizer/"