H5 MIDI AMP FIX WIP
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:54 pm
UPDATE: The "WINAMP" mod board is no longer available. It was only a prototype of the new audio circuit. I suggest not doing this fix as it will introduce more problems than it solves. If you are not using the synth midi module then its totally irrelevant anyway.
I copied some of this from my build thread as it will likely get lost otherwise... This does not really count as a issue as such, but people using MIDI module may well find a volume is a lower than the YM audio..
Its not overly a massive issue, but the MIDI output needs a preamp to get it up to the YM sound level. So I am in the middle of redesigning the audio circuit to do away with the single transistor amp, which really just seems to act as a buffer, for a dual op amp where I can use one amp to increase the volume of the MIDI, and then use a second amp as the main output audio driver.
The blue line is 5 kHz MIDI simulation waveform. The green is one 1Khz YM sound chip simulation waveform. The red is the combined output of both. I actually made the final amp more of a divide by two because the combined audio input of both of them was taking it to well over one volt which would mean the sound level would be twice as loud as it is now which I think would be too much. In any case the volume level can be controlled by altering a resistor on the board so it should not be too much hassle to just do it by ear anyway.
I have got 30 of these made, I have no idea if they will be correct until they are tried.. Ultimately if this patch board works fine then the amp circuit will be redesigned on a future H5 series board to use the patch board amp instead. The board is basically 2 cm² as that is the smallest board size I can get assembled.
I copied some of this from my build thread as it will likely get lost otherwise... This does not really count as a issue as such, but people using MIDI module may well find a volume is a lower than the YM audio..
Its not overly a massive issue, but the MIDI output needs a preamp to get it up to the YM sound level. So I am in the middle of redesigning the audio circuit to do away with the single transistor amp, which really just seems to act as a buffer, for a dual op amp where I can use one amp to increase the volume of the MIDI, and then use a second amp as the main output audio driver.
The blue line is 5 kHz MIDI simulation waveform. The green is one 1Khz YM sound chip simulation waveform. The red is the combined output of both. I actually made the final amp more of a divide by two because the combined audio input of both of them was taking it to well over one volt which would mean the sound level would be twice as loud as it is now which I think would be too much. In any case the volume level can be controlled by altering a resistor on the board so it should not be too much hassle to just do it by ear anyway.
I have got 30 of these made, I have no idea if they will be correct until they are tried.. Ultimately if this patch board works fine then the amp circuit will be redesigned on a future H5 series board to use the patch board amp instead. The board is basically 2 cm² as that is the smallest board size I can get assembled.