[Coco] SirSound project update

[Jim McClanahan]

This looks really interesting, not just for the CoCo but as a way to
put audio on other homebrew single-board systems. The only bad thing
is that it would conflict with using Drivewire on the serial port.

I'd definitely be interesting in giving the Jr. a go when you feel
like it's ready. Gives me a reason to order a few more nanos. :-)

Thanks,
Jim

On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 12:36 PM, Allen Huffman <alsplace at pobox.com> wrote:
> I posted a demo video to my Sub-Etha Software Facebook page last night:
>
> https://www.facebook.com/subethasoftware/videos/1711894792204849/
>
> The SirSound prototype is demonstrated hooked up to the bitbanger port and playing background audio.
>
> Instead of:
>
> PLAY”CDEFGAB”
>
> You send it out the serial port:
>
> PRINT#-2,”CDEFGAB”
>
> Then you continue to run code while the music plays. This enables background music from BASIC programs. And, since the PLAY format is implemented in the SirSound device, it would work on non-Extended Color BASIC machines as well.
>
> I am also going to post details of making a “SirSound Jr.” device, which you can easily wire up (no soldering required) probably for less than $10, with stuff ordered from Amazon or eBay.
>
> Jr will not use a sound chip, so it won’t do multi-voice audio. But, it will let you have background audio form BASIC, with one-voice like the PLAY command.
>
> It would just be something like a cheap Arduino (the Nano is under $4), an RS232-to-TTL adapter ($1-$3.25), and a 3.5” audio jack to go to headphones or amplified speakers.
>
> I’ll try to post an article showing how to do it, and my SirSound code for it, soon.
>
> I have a bit more work to do on the SirSound code before Jr can be posted, but I should be able to knock that out the next evening I get to work on.
>
> More to come...
>
>                 — A
>
>
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