Wouter wrote on 2023-03-10, 02:41:

I had this same problem on a Pentium MMX 233 with an Aztech 2320 based card. I checked the MIDI IN pin with an oscilloscope, and it had full amplitude high frequency noise on it. My hypothesis was that the level converter on the WP32 could not handle the high capacitance on the MIDI IN line of the sound card, so I added an AC terminator (series capacitor and resistor) between MIDI IN and GND. Now it works perfectly.

I'm having a similar problem with an Aztech 2316 based card. It would be appreciated if you could provide a little more detail regarding the AC terminator modification. What value capacitor and resistor did you use? Did you solder these to the sound card at the back of the wavetable header, or on the McCake itself?

Can anyone let me know what is the expected behaviour of the various LED parts on the rear of the McCake board?

I believe I have an issue with getting enough power to my board, as I get no output at all - but only the first two green LED's are lit; I believe these are '5v' and '3.3v DAC' ... the others all remain unlit ('3.3v Pi', etc).

I don't currently have the FDD power supply in place (lack of free FDD connectors from my Pico PSU supply) - would this be typical behaviour in that situation?

you need to connect the FDD power else the pi will not get power
the wavetable header alone is not made to power a pi4 - even if it's a CM4 running at low freq

That explains it then 😀

Snoozer wrote on 2024-03-17, 12:01:

Wouter wrote on 2023-03-10, 02:41:

I had this same problem on a Pentium MMX 233 with an Aztech 2320 based card. I checked the MIDI IN pin with an oscilloscope, and it had full amplitude high frequency noise on it. My hypothesis was that the level converter on the WP32 could not handle the high capacitance on the MIDI IN line of the sound card, so I added an AC terminator (series capacitor and resistor) between MIDI IN and GND. Now it works perfectly.

I'm having a similar problem with an Aztech 2316 based card. It would be appreciated if you could provide a little more detail regarding the AC terminator modification. What value capacitor and resistor did you use? Did you solder these to the sound card at the back of the wavetable header, or on the McCake itself?

I used a 100 ohm resistor and a 10nF ceramic capacitor, soldered on the McCake itself between MIDI in (bottom row, second pin from the right) and any ground (top row):

MIDI IN --- 100R --- 10nF --- GND.

I assume these values may have to change depending on the board, and in general I found it quite finicky, so would not consider this anything else than a bodge. It works for me though.

I have a couple of questions, apologies if these have been asked before:

- is the LED required for the board to work? Or can that be left off?
- will any variant of the CM4 work OK? There is a 'Lite' version available for example, would that work?

Thanks!

badmojo wrote on 2024-06-09, 07:32:

I have a couple of questions, apologies if these have been asked before: […]
Show full quote

I have a couple of questions, apologies if these have been asked before:

- is the LED required for the board to work? Or can that be left off?
- will any variant of the CM4 work OK? There is a 'Lite' version available for example, would that work?

Thanks!

- the OLED display ? not necessarily needed - so far i always soldered this on the card
- works only with CM4 Lite versions (boots from micro sd card)

Thanks for the reply 👍

Just considering my options here - I was ready to go with the MP32L but I tested out 2 different gameport-to-midi cables I have here and the joystick passthrough didn't work on either of them, so now I'm thinking of going internal.

Do anybody know of buyable front panels aside from the Serdaco ones?
I saw nice ones on Google picture search. But often these were hobby projects and not for sell.

//Edit:
This one looks awesome!

It even has a slot for the microSD 😀

Unfortunalety I have no twitter / X account and cannot look inside his account page.
You can find it here:

https://x.com/jihoda

crusher wrote on 2024-06-20, 12:45:

Do anybody know of buyable front panels aside from the Serdaco ones?
I saw nice ones on Google picture search. But often these were hobby projects and not for sell.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4886340

Note this is using a Pi3 and not a WP32 McCake

Matchstick wrote on 2024-06-20, 14:08:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4886340

Note this is using a Pi3 and not a WP32 McCake

Thanks for the link.
Unfortunalety I don't have equipment or skills to build this on my own.

McCake review by Phils computerlab : https://youtu.be/KRRM1D98yOY

I saw Phil’s review and immediately bought one, with a 3.5” panel!
Already have an X2 and X2GS but I like the MT-32 sound on this one.
Not sure which system I’m going to use though…486DX33, DX2-66 or 386DX40. Probably the 486/33 I guess.

Kouwes wrote on 2024-09-02, 10:05:

I saw Phil’s review and immediately bought one, with a 3.5” panel!
Already have an X2 and X2GS but I like the MT-32 sound on this one.
Not sure which system I’m going to use though…486DX33, DX2-66 or 386DX40. Probably the 486/33 I guess.

The 386DX is actually the best fit in the lot.

Sorry to veer off for a bit here; but does anyone know if the WP32 McCake still has issues in the game "LOOM" in MT32 mode ??

I actually started up that game just yesterday, sound seemed ok to me. I didn’t pay much attention though, but I‘ll check it out again after work.

Kouwes wrote on 2024-09-20, 04:34:

I actually started up that game just yesterday, sound seemed ok to me. I didn’t pay much attention though, but I‘ll check it out again after work.

Here is a comparison during the "OVERTURE" part : https://youtu.be/Yo0I6IF8iDc?si=chIb7s1IJPe-3pF0&t=712

An instrument seems to be misinterpreted as a laser pistol or something... 😕

B24Fox wrote on 2024-09-20, 11:08:

Here is a comparison during the "OVERTURE" part : https://youtu.be/Yo0I6IF8iDc?si=chIb7s1IJPe-3pF0&t=712

An instrument seems to be misinterpreted as a laser pistol or something... 😕

In the comments there's the question of MT-32 versus CM-32 ROMs. And root42 responds they are MT-32 ROMs. But I still think that sounds like one of the added CM-32 sound effects.

I'm not sure if there's a follow up video or something, but that specific version of the game needs to be helped with MUNT itself. It's possible something is wrong with the game. Or there's a bug that's somehow gone unseen. It really doesn't seem like something that would be WP32 McCake specific.

Is there any way that Nuked SC55/emusc could be added to the McCake? That would be absolutely awesome to emulate both MT32 and SC55 in a native type of way, rather than utilising sound banks for the SC.

Tandy1000TL wrote on 2024-11-09, 08:12:

Is there any way that Nuked SC55/emusc could be added to the McCake? That would be absolutely awesome to emulate both MT32 and SC55 in a native type of way, rather than utilising sound banks for the SC.

Maybe, but the McCake just runs MT32 Pi. Nuked SC55 would need to be added to that and Dale the author of MT32 Pi had issues with the license Nuked was released under and said he wouldn't support it. I'm not sure if anything had changed in that regard.

It's always possible someone else could do it instead. But MT32 Pi runs bare metal on the Pi. It's not just a Linux distro with certain packages installed. It also depends on what the final processing requirements end up being. Hopefully the CM4 Lite will have enough juice to run it.