Build: MidiBox TIA (atari VCS synth)

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I have been waiting for this for years.. http://midibox.org/forums/topic/1803...ari-2600-synth and the excellent Wiki here: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku...#dokuwiki__top explains the plot.

Up to now, the Atari VCS (aka 2600) had SYNTHCART https://atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareID=3362 so You could access some of the noises it made, but there were severe limitations - it was little more then a toy.

If You worked Your bolix off you could mod your 2600 to respond to MIDI, but even then it's was still stuck at certain notes and tempos (see vid below)

So - now the TIA is free!!! I'm on the shortlist for a board, and i have a TIA chip ready to rock here from the (legendary) peats/emcee stash that gave us all the AY and SID chips, as well as a virgin late model PAL 2600 that i can pull from.

I understand the PAL TIA has summed audio channels, unlike the NTSC which will allow stereo output, so lets see where that goes.. For now, i'm chomping att he bit to get building on this..

A PAL TIA frome the stash of awesum:

TIA-ireland.jpg

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Some hot Synthcart/MIDI 2600 action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDyOSDUAx0

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I did some lurking at midibox.org this week, looking how the project is moving on, and it's for sure gone to sleep..

OK, this is all expected, as anyone technically capable of moving a project like this ahead is usually busy, and this is always a hobby thing for them, so We cannot expect commercial organisation service levels..

BUT, i did do a wee bump on the thread, so maybe this will let the guys know we still want to take part..

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SO!!!

Have my finished unit now, and it's working just awesum.. Next stage is to build a proper bank of patches, then get on using it in some tracks.

The build is not tough, a couple of SMD chips, and some after-thought mods are needed for the first rev of the boards (now updated) and all of it fits inside an atari VCS cart

So this is still in the alpha stage really, despite Bruno (antichambre on midibox.org) having served the early adopters with kits, and the teething issues being worked out, and there is no hurry here. Still time to get involved if You are looking for something nobody else has.