Music 5000 in B-Em

[CHRISJJ]

* Model > BBC Master 128 fails to start a language ROM https://i.imgur.com/wdP9lgZ.png

What does the CMOS config have for the language to start?

Unknown. How can I find out?

* Default settings has f1 operating F0, and nothing operating F9 (HMS jukebox)

Yes, in physical keyboard mode the mapping is based on location i.e. it maps PC keys in the equivalent position to BBC Micro keys so as the BBC micro starts from f0 and the PC from F1, F1=f0. There are two options to change this:

• Logical keybaord mode (under Settings->keybaord) which changes the mapping so the BBC micro key activated should match the legend on the PC keycap. This includes changing shift state if necessary.
• Re-map the keyboard to your own preference with Settings->Keyboard->Remap Keyboard

Thanks. I've switched to Logical and f9 now does F9. But what operates F0?

[CHRISJJ]

It is the binary version number of the ROM, i.e. the byte at &8008 in the ROM, displayed in hex.

Hmm. I wonder if that interpretation was in place at the time. I sure don't know any MOS command that corroborates it.

[CHRISJJ]

Using simoni's M5000-4.ssd (attached - not a standard HMS disc), I cannot get ^AHNF to work. It just spews junk text. Any ideas?

[CHRISJJ]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

[hoglet]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

Could someone with real hardware make a recording of that track please?

[Coeus]

Using simoni's M5000-4.ssd (attached - not a standard HMS disc), I cannot get ^AHNF to work. It just spews junk text. Any ideas?

That's certainly odd. As shown, the !BOOT file loads ANHF into sideways in ROM slot 5. On the BBC B+ I don't believe this is RAM. Certainly B-Em does not have RAM in that slot by default. Sideways RAM is in slots 13,12,1 and 0. But that means when I try "*ANHF RAND", for example, I just get "! Bad command".

If I boot the same disc when emulating a Master, it works fine. The !BOOT could be updated to use a letter name for the bank, as it already does for R.AMPLE, in which case it would then be compatible with the B+.

[Coeus]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

Could someone with real hardware make a recording of that track please?

I will if I have a link to the track or a disc containing it.

On a possibly related thing, I realise I have probably got used to the two Toccatas (Bach & Widor) being played on a cathedral organ with a 32' stop and that sound is obvious by its absence in the Music 5000 versions. It may just be how those pieces are programmed, though.

[Coeus]

Thanks. I've switched to Logical and f9 now does F9. But what operates F0?

F10.

[james]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

Could someone with real hardware make a recording of that track please?

I will if I have a link to the track or a disc containing it.

Some unzipping and grepping of pernod's archive suggests possible matches:

Code: Select all

Binary file Music City_40t.ssd matches
Binary file Music City_80t.ssd matches
Binary file Studio 5000-4B_Issue Disc.ssd matches

Of which I attach the first-mentioned disc.

[Coeus]

OK, recording here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... share_link

[CHRISJJ]

Studio 5000 is the original to which I was comparing. Sorry not to say.

The recording sounds as I recall it from that disc. The bass synth's timbral envelope is uniform across notes.

The FLAC's title tag has a typo. Track 10 also.

[CHRISJJ]

Where does B-em store its user settings, please?

[KenLowe]

Where does B-em store its user settings, please?

In Windows it looks like the user-specific config location is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\b-em.exe
On Linux it is ~username/.config/b-em

[Coeus]

The FLAC's title tag has a typo. Track 10 also.

Fixed and re-uploaded.

[CHRISJJ]

Where does B-em store its user settings, please?

In Windows it looks like the user-specific config location is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\b-em.exe
On Linux it is ~username/.config/b-em

Thanks. I vote for this info being provided by the program e.g. in Help.

Deleting those file does not restore default settings e.g. leaves:



Any idea of a known-working method to restore default settings? None found under Settings. Thanks.

[CHRISJJ]

The FLAC's title tag has a typo. Track 10 also.

Fixed and re-uploaded.

Verified:


If this was to go to a formal archive, one would want to set original Year, of course.

[CHRISJJ]

Thanks for replying. I'll try to describe my Staff editor problem first. I'm using the B-Em download bundle which I had no trouble starting up and it plays existing music files well. I tried the staff editor and successfully entered some notes which I could make sound by pressing F1. Next I wanted to make the notes on the staff into a "word". I enter command mode and try to rename "newword" and make it using NAME MAKE, but then the notes on the staff editor disappear and i am left with an empty staff editor called "newword" and no saved "word". Someone else has had a similar problem, I think. Am I going horribly wrong somewhere?

Regardless that this instance of this problem may have been overcome, for possible recurrence I note here the Staff Editor's reuse of OS memory, documented in the Music 500 User Guide Issue 1:

[SteveF]

It is the binary version number of the ROM, i.e. the byte at &8008 in the ROM, displayed in hex.

Hmm. I wonder if that interpretation was in place at the time. I sure don't know any MOS command that corroborates it.

FWIW, it is in the Advanced User Guide on page 317 where the ROM header is described. (This is actually one of dv8's excellent modern remasters of the AUG, so it's possible this was not present in the original 1983 publication, although I suspect it was. My paper copy isn't handy to check, unfortunately.) I could imagine it being omitted from some documentation, since nothing actually goes wrong whatever value you put there and as you say no OS commands ever seemed to do anything with it. (That's not to say it's useless, just that its use is very restricted. In practice I think it's mainly useful for having a byte in the ROM you can twiddle during sideways RAM testing which almost certainly won't break anything if it gets corrupted by an ill-timed BREAK keypress.)

[CHRISJJ]

FWIW, it is in the Advanced User Guide on page 317

FWIW indeed. Not to diss the excellent AUG, but just the unimplementable "To be recognised the first few bytes must conform" casts doubt here.

Thanks.

[Coeus]

FWIW indeed. Not to diss the excellent AUG, but just the unimplementable "To be recognised the first few bytes must conform" casts doubt here.

I don't see what is unimplementable here. The text reads "first few bytes" rather than giving an exact number because the start of the copyright string varies according to how long the title is. When populating its internal table of ROMs, the OS does fetch the copyright offset pointer and checks that this points to the four bytes: &00, &28, &43, &29, i.e. a zero byte followed by (C). In fact this is the only check it makes that the ROM is a proper paged ROM. It does not check that the two entry points are there, the ROM type, the binary version number or that the title is printable. After establishing it is a proper ROM, it then checks for duplicates due to incomplete address decoding so it only makes one entry in its table.

See: https://tobylobster.github.io/mos/mos/S-s10.html#SP15

I suppose what the AUG doesn't specifically say is that "first few bytes" means to the end of the page, not the stuff at the top of page 318.

[CHRISJJ]

FWIW indeed. Not to diss the excellent AUG, but just the unimplementable "To be recognised the first few bytes must conform" casts doubt here.

I don't see what is unimplementable here.

Recognising that &8008 holds the version number.

The text reads "first few bytes" rather than giving an exact number

Regardless, if the first few bytes are to conform to what follows, conformance must include &8008.

In fact this is the only check it makes that the ROM is a proper paged ROM.

Indeed - the "to be recognised" claim is often false.

I suppose what the AUG doesn't specifically say is that "first few bytes" means to the end of the page, not the stuff at the top of page 318.

I think, properly read, the grammatical object of "the first few bytes must conform to:" is everything down to a), since pagination sensitivity would be nonsensical.

[stevei2791]

Thanks. I've switched to Logical and f9 now does F9. But what operates F0?

F10.

This was reported in a separate thread, the F10 key in b-em is redefined for debugging shortly after being defined for F0. The original thread was https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewt ... f0#p395136

Line 678 in keyboard.c should be commented out, if you want F10(PC/Linux/Mac) to map to F0(BBC).

Code: Select all

   2     { "pause",        ALLEGRO_KEY_PGDN,  false, main_key_pause,          do_nothing      },
   1     { "full-screen1", ALLEGRO_KEY_F11,   false, toggle_fullscreen_menu, do_nothing      },
678  //    { "debug-break",  ALLEGRO_KEY_F10,   false, debug_break,             do_nothing      },
   1     { "full-screen2", ALLEGRO_KEY_ENTER, true,  toggle_fullscreen_menu, do_nothing      }

[CHRISJJ]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

It might help to know that M5 PHSET's writes to the synth are (unusually and probably uniquely in M5) timing critical. IIRC a minimum of 128 synth processing cycles must pass between setting phase mode and unsetting it, to ensure to span the target channel's processing slot. At the 6MHz cycle rate, that's just under 23us.

[dp11]

"Assault on Precinct 13" bass synth sound is very not as per the hardware. I'd guess PHSET is failing.

It might help to know that M5 PHSET's writes to the synth are (unusually and probably uniquely in M5) timing critical. IIRC a minimum of 128 synth processing cycles must pass between setting phase mode and unsetting it, to ensure to span the target channel's processing slot. At the 6MHz cycle rate, that's just under 23us.

Thanks for pointing this out. The issue is the phase ram is being set to zero instead of the current frequency when PHSET is set. I'll try and test it here. I need to check modulate bit works in this case as well,

[CHRISJJ]

On a possibly related thing, I realise I have probably got used to the two Toccatas (Bach & Widor) being played on a cathedral organ with a 32' stop and that sound is obvious by its absence in the Music 5000 versions. It may just be how those pieces are programmed, though.

For interest, the best Music 5000 church organ sound I've heard is here (by Hideaway Studio), but that might be just due to the added reverb. The human control certainly plays a part. Sadly I don't have the instrument definition.

[CHRISJJ]

The issue is the phase ram is being set to zero instead of the current frequency when PHSET is set.

Phase set to zero (upon ON GATE) is correct behaviour (of ON PHSET) - as per the Music 5000 User Guide:



The issue I hear is it not being set at all. I.e. ON PHSET acts as OFF PHSET.

Try this:

and repeatedly press RETURN. Each note should sound with identical timbral envelope. It doesn't. It differs.

Thanks for looking into this. A fix would be a great improvement.

[dp11]

Coeus recording of assault has L and R swapped compared to B-em.

[CHRISJJ]

Coeus recording of assault has L and R swapped compared to B-em.

Well spotted.

The one source of L-R to trust 100% is the pan pot on the Mixing Desk... first verifying the emulator is not flipping the display L-R.

[dp11]

I've fixed the bug I spotted, but that isn't the whole answer. I'll continue to look in more detail.NB this has been around for year long before I played with the code.

[dp11]

opps